I hope someone can help. I have just served a tenant a section 8 before I go to court to evict them. They owe £3680 in unpaid rent and this will increase on the 8th by another £1000. The debt has gone on for over a year now and as they are on benefits I am wondering what my options are to try and recover the money owed. Has anyone had any experience of this. Thanks

I am a freeholder with a covenant to pay for the upkeep of communal facilities - which is shared with other freeholds and leasehold flats. My Transfer (TP1) does not have an annexed 'right of entry' clause. The service charges are regarded as estate rentcharges (although not explicitly stated in the transfer). I have very good grounds on disputing the service charges, for which I would actually like to the County Court to make a judgement. The management company employed a solicitor firm a few years ago to threaten me into paying all costs. I paid for costs that I thought were reasonable, which they did not accept as a settlement. I expected a county court summons - instead nothing happened for a couple of years and now the management company have employed another solicitor firm. I've asked the new solicitors to go to the county court for a judgment. Instead, they've decided to approach my mortgage company based on section 121 of the Law of Property Act 1925. I understand that under this law, the management company can take possession of my property only to recover the cost of the rentcharge. However, my dispute is that that I have not broken the covenant as the costs I'm being charged for are unreasonable. The solicitors wrote the mortgage company saying that "under section 121 of the Law of Property Act 1925, to obtain possession a County Court Judgment is not required... if payment is not made within 14 days, we will enter into possession without any further notice". My mortgage company has told them that they won't be taking any action (at least for now) and for me to contact he solicitors to sort out the issue. I'd be really grateful if someone can clarify how they can enter possession without a County Court Judgement?

Hi, I lent my son and his then partner (not married) £10k as a deposit to buy a house in 2014. A verbal agreement was reached between all 3 parties that once they were in the house, I'd give them 9 months grace and then they could pay the £10k back at £150 per month (between them). My financial advisor produced a very short document which stated the £10k was a gift to both parties. This was signed by both parties. However it is very important to note that despite this it was always very clear the £10k was a loan not a gift. I did not sign this document nor was I requested to. I do not know the whereabouts of this document now and neither does my son. The 9 month mark came and my son and his partner both set up monthly direct debits which deposited £75 (each) into my account. At 12 months they separated and approx. 4 months later sold the house and were left with £3000 'profit'. My Son and his ex-partner agreed this should go back to me as part payment. The £3k was transferred to my account after the sale completed. They've now been separated 13 months and my son has continued to pay 'his' £75 Direct Debit each month. During the first 4 months post-separation the ex-partner only paid her share twice (month 1 and month 4) and stated she couldn't afford to pay it back as her other commitments were to great. We had dialogue via text and she stated she'd return to the £75 direct debit as soon as she was 'on her feet'. I received nothing for the next 6 months despite 2 prompts via text to which she didn't reply. I texted her again at the 10 month mark and she stated she would only be able to pay the £75 per month back once my son started to give her Child Maintenance as she had recently commenced a claim for this. At the 11 month mark my son began to pay the child maintenance (£105 per month) so I contacted her again by text. She replied that she was now unwilling to pay any of the remaining money back and that legally it was a 'gift'. 2 months down the line she has not made any further payments. I can see her argument as the document states it was a 'gift'. However, my argument is that if it was a gift why did she return 'her half' of the £3k profit? why has she made 2 payments of £75? and why has she sent texts stating she'll pay it once she's on her feet or when the child maintenance comes though? I'm considering a small claims court application, what are my chances?

My daughter came to live with me and her mother is refusing to give her possessions back. Quite valuable (probably £1000) and sentimental value. We tried contact to no avail. We tried mediation informal via neighbour/friend to no avail. Got solicitor to send letter, to no avail. Have been advised that seeking a specific issue order in family court is likely a dud as it will not be enforced and she is likely to ignore it. But the small claims courts seem to be all about money owed, consumers, tenants, etc. Can I still file such a claim on-line using that system? My funds are limited but my daughter (who is 15) is desperate. Any advice will be much appreciated.

Hi I'm new here so please treat me gently. I have a dispute with a letting agent and landlord who will not return our deposit. We have an agreement that is recorded as an ‘Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement’ which states that it is governed by the Housing Act 1998. I have requested on a number of occasions for details of the Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme that they have used and they have not provided any answer. I have also asked for details of the Landlord but again they have failed to answer. The only information I have is the agents details and the line on the tenancy agreement that lists the landlord as ‘person’s name (letting agents name)’. I suspect that the agent, or a family member, is the landlord. I want to start legal proceedings but do not know who I should proceed against, if I take action against the agent for recovery of the deposit will this fail if they arenot the landlord? Does anyone know how I can gain the details of the landlord so I proceed against the right individual? Also, does anyone know if I make a claim through the small claims court whether they have the power to impose a fine for not complying with the TDP scheme or landlord. Can anyone advise me on how I should proceed please? Thanks Martin

Hi I have been seeking advice for my situation because I have no choice but to serve a writ to try and recover a loan I made to a friend. I did contact my local CAB but they were really not helpful. I did not think there may be any listings on CAG for issues like mine, so I was so glad I searched through CAG. I found the thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?356814-The-Process-of-Litigation..-Court-Claims-Defences by Andyorch very helpful and am grateful for this. I have been quite ill over the past few years and thankfully now recovering and getting my life together. when I was healthy and well off, I helped a desperate friend repay his credit cards over the period 2005 to 2008. What a mistake. ! whilst i have been really ill and desperate over the last few years the guy was no where to be found. I do not have a signed agreement, but i do have substantial paperwork to prove the loan and a documented admittance from him that I made the payments on his behalf. I have more than enough paperwork to prove the loan and that none has been repaid. After many, many phone calls and getting no where I finally wrote to him a couple of months ago and asked for my money back. To my surprise I received a 'Without Prejudice' letter from his solicitors basically stating that a. some parts of the loan is too old and therefore no longer applicable b. if it goes to court they will defend c. they will ask the court for indemnity from me for their fees. I did not take the comments from his solicitors too seriously other than just a threat to put me off. How ever it was clear that i have to sue. Some parts of the loan is old as the initial payment dates back to 2005 - however, they are part of the same loan spanning over three years and that can be proven quite categorically. My first question is on the subject of pre-action protocol; I asked for my money back and his solicitors pretty much told me to get lost. So what more can I do? As its a Without prejudice letter, I cannot include this in my documents, but I can summarise their comments as I have done above. My second question is can they apply to the court for an indemnity from me? I guess my credit history is not great but I am not a registered bankrupt. However, I am on ESA and I understand that as a result, I am exempt from having to pay the court fees. I understand from the county court that I have to prove I am on ESA when I serve my writ and the court will waiver the fees. My third question is how do I go about trying to get legal aid. I cannot afford a solicitor. I asked this to CAB and I am sorry to say but they said they cannot help. The amount of loan is quite substantial as its over 5K. Will some one help please? Thank you Burmafriday.

I was involved in an RTA with another vehicle August 2012. I was insured fully comprehensive but this policy only provided for third party claims cover for the trailer and its contents which I was towing at the time of the accident. The trailer and contents were not otherwise insured (foolish me). The trailer and its contents were substantially damaged with repair costs estimated in the region of £5-10K. My towing vehicle has been repaired under my insurance with my insurer recommending settling liability at 50/50 between myself and the other party. There were no witnesses. I rejected this proposal (trailer was hit in the rear after a lane change) because I believed it would jeopardise my chances of a successful claim for my uninsured losses. 6 months on after lengthy correspondence and an independent accident investigation arranged by my insurer, their recommendation remains the same, accept 50/50 liability. Since to take this further would involve the courts and, despite my protestations the accident was entirely the other driver's fault, I'm pretty sure there will be some detail in all the papers and statements that will indicate my driving was less than 100% perfect (whose is?) and we will be back to 50/50. So, as far as trying to keep a clean accident claims record, its probably time to give up and accept the insurer recommendation. But, and having set the scene, there is still the damage to my trailer and contents to consider. Now, since both parties insurer's seem set on a 50/50 allocation of liability, how does that sit with my being able to claim for 50% of my insured losses? And who do I take on - third parties insurer, third party through small claims, court, both? So far, and since I have expected throughout that the other party insurer would eventually accept liability, I haven't pursued the issue of uninsured losses other than to write to both third party and his insurer on the day after the accident that I held them liable. Any advice in this regard would be really appreciated as would any need I have for legal advice and my chances of success. I'm going to end up out of pocket regardless, but getting back half of that loss would be something. Also any thoughts on how I might have handled he whole thing better. I'm 7 months on, its been a lot of aggravation, and I still have a damaged trailer and its contents sat here doing nothing.

Hi, really hope someone can help me out here, a little back-ground on my story. Late Jan 2010 and it was a very cold winter, my house was flooded severely from the flat above, the actual cause of the flooding to the best of my knowledge was this: A mains water supply pipe to a header tank in the loft space had become frozen and uncoupled, when the ice started to thaw this mains water pipe started flooding the loft space, brought down the ceilings in the flat above mine, flooded that property and then brought my ceilings down, every room in my house was water damaged except one bedroom which was at the other end of the property. This flat was owned by a local housing association and had lay vacant for approx 6 years. My claim was all settled by my insurance however I had to pay £200 buildings and £200 contents excesses. As far as i know my insurance has still not recovered the cost of my claim from this housing association, in the last two weeks I've had an independent architect sent to my property to try to establish the cause or basically who was to blame. We gained access to the loft space and the independent architect was of the opinion that my flat (prior to me moving in) had joint use of this header tank in the loft with the flat above until my flat got a combi boiler installed (again prior to me moving in). He basically said that as far as the insurance recovering their money there was no-one to blame and that my insurance would need to cover their costs as would the housing association. He however suggested I may have a case to recover my excesses for several reasons, 1 - The property had lay vacant for such a long time and no maintenance had been carried out (neglegent) 2 - I had no access to the loft space as the only access was through the flat above. 3 - This architect discovered this mains water supply pipe can only be isolated from a stop-cock across the street from our flats, there is no way to shut off the water to the flat above on its own. The stop cock across the street shuts the four flats off in our block. ave spoken to a legal I have spoken to a legal advice line I get through my union and they have advised I would need to go through the small claims courts (Scotland) and I am unsure of this process or what I am required to do. Really hope this is enough info however if not please ask and thanks in advance for any help

Hi All, I've had a read of some threads which have given me some really helpful advice, but I was hoping someone could offer something more specific to my husband's situation. My husband recieved a letter from Link a couple of months ago regarding an old (pre 1998) student loan. We sent off a statute barred letter only for them to reply saying the account was subject to a ccj and so cannot be sb'ed. I do not think they knew about the ccj to start with as the original sum they were asking was about £3300, and this dropped to £2400 in the ccj letter. My oh has no knowledge of the ccj (Link claim he has paid £104 towards it but as he didn't know about it this is unlikely!), but rang the county court who confirmed a ccj was given to the slc in 2000 (Link had ref no of the ccj). The lady dh spoke to at the court was quite helpful and told dh it would no longer be enforceable but would speak to the Judge. I assume she got 'told off' for discussing it with dh as he recieved a strangely short email from her saying Judge said they would need to seek permission to enforce but this is likely to be given! We were planning on replying to Link just asking them to prove the ccj, that they are the claimant etc - not telling them we had spoken to the court and see what they come up with. The debt helpline suggested we could offer 30-40% of debt as settlement - is this a good idea? Reading on here we assumed it would be unlikely to be re-enforced, but the reply from court suggests it could be likely. Can anyone suggest what would be the sensible way forward here? Thanks