Statutory Demand for Person Overseas - HELP!

[spurious]

I have been informed by my parents that a Statutory Demand has apparently been hand delivered (dropped through the letter box) by representatives for Capquest. The SD is for my brother, who has never lived at the property, but gave several creditors that address as a UK base for his mail before moving to America in March 2006 to get married. He has been there ever since.

 

The SD refers to a judgement made against him in court (they give a claim number although interestingly fail to mention when the judgement took place) and give him the standard 18 days to apply to have it set aside.

 

He is tricky to get hold of, so I will attempt to deal with this for him. Is it possible to have the SD set aside by the owners of the property it was served on writing to the court and advising that he has never lived at the address, or would he need to do that (and prove it?). The debt is for around £1,500 and is not statute barred.

 

Incidentally, all his mail gets re-directed to me, and no court summons was ever received concerning the CCJ capquest refer to. After we've dealt with the SD, I'd like to apply for the CCJ to be set aside too, on the basis that a) he wasn't here, b) even if he was, no summons was issued, and c) the account was in dispute at the time anyway - I'd CCA'd them and heard nothing back.

 

I'd be really grateful if any of you could let me know the best way of dealing with this. I've not applied to set aside an SD before - is it just a case of applying to the court? Is there a form or any formal procedures (or charges) that need dealindg with?

Edited June 16, 2009 by spurious

[42man]

Any mail you receive for your brother needs sending back as not known at this address.....is your brother going to appear in court to defend this ? What is the demand for ? (credit card ? loan ?).....what do the particulars say on the demand ? (don't be specific with the figures)...

[42man]

This could be tricky as all the mail that is being sent to him is not being returned !!! they could possibly progress to bankruptcy as if they can show that they have made a reasonable attempt at serving the documents, then a process server can sign an affadavit in front of a judge and a judge can then approve substituted service and it will lead the way to bankruptcy, how far Capquest would take this is another question of course......

[spurious]

Surely a letter from the property owner confirming that he has never resided at that address and has not received any mail in connection with this or he would have returned it would be sufficient?

 

The main thing we're trying to do is stop bailiffs or whoever else showing up at an address the debtor doesn't reside at. Does anyone know the best way of doing that?

[spurious]

Things took an interesting turn today. I contacted the county court that Capquest said the judgement was made at. I gave them the claim number and they told me it didn't exist on their system - the lady tried three times until she told me that they had either "made it up" or "made a typo". I wouldn't think they'd make a typo on a document as serious as they kept on telling me it was, so the only other option was.... no - surely not.

 

So I phoned them. I never normally do for obvious reasons, but I was curious as to what they'd say when I told them that the claim didn't exist at the court, and therefore the SD was invalid. The lady on the other end just wanted the debtor's contact details and didn't give anything away until she slipped up and said it would be "referred back to the trace department".

 

Now - could it possible be that Capquest made up a claim number and issued a false SD as part of a desparate attempt to trace the debtor? I'm sure it's illegal but as we all know, DCAs often consider themselves above the law anyway. What's also interesting is that on the letter accompanying the SD, they quote the claim number but the letter doesn't say what date the judgement occured on (despite them writing "the judgement occured on ______" - there's just a blank space).

 

Do you think it's best to leave it?

[spurious]

Bump - any comments on this, anyone?

[42man]

It would seem to be an attempt to frighten you into paying....please, please email the OFT with what you have received....

[spurious]

I certainly will. Do we have any templates for that?