help please dont know what to do

[sheffgrow]

im hoping someone can help me here please as i dont know what to do,

i have had a letter today off of a debt recovery agency saying that they are going to seek enforcement of an order that was made in the county court for over £500 for an outstanding vet bill, i have no knowledge of this as every vet bill ive ever had ive paid and it turns out this county court judgement is going back 10 years i never received any correspondence from any vets saying i owed anything and never received anything from the court at the time, what should i do as i havnt a clue and its the first i have heard of it??

they have a case number regarding the judgement and the court details on the letter. we have lived in the same house for 15 years so its not like they didnt know where we were, how would you go on about this??

also how can i defend something that was 10 years ago as obviously all the receipts etc are long shredded

[Hardupnotfedup]

Don't worry you are in good hands here I cannot see any court in the land enforcing this, it is statued barred anyway, just ignore them. Have you checked your CRA file recently.

[sheffgrow]

nothing on it at all first we have ever heard of it

[Hardupnotfedup]

If you want you can send this letter to prove what the debt is for

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/573-general-debt-letter-if-you-know-nothing-of-the-debt

See what you get back, but do not worry at all, come back to the thread when you get a reply.

It is just annoying but defo nothing to worry about

[harrassed senior]

Fairly sure too mach time has past. A CCJ never becomes statute barred but the OC/DCA would have to have an extremely good reason as to why it was never enforced at the time, or indeed many years sooner.

[Jasper1965]

Sirs I acknowledge receipt of your letter threatening enforcement of a County Court order which you allege was made against me on xx/xx/xxxx.

 

I have no knowledge of any such order ever being made against me and I draw your attention to the fact that you have provided me with no evidence any such judgment exists.

 

I therefore can neither admit or deny any liabilty under this order whatever you might allege.

 

I draw your attention to Section 24 of The Limitation Act 1980 which I reproduce for your convenience in its entirey herein:

 

Limitation Act 1980

24 Time limit for actions to enforce judgments

 

(1)An action shall not be brought upon any judgment after the expiration of six years from the date on which the judgment became enforceable.

 

(2)No arrears of interest in respect of any judgment debt shall be recovered after the expiration of six years from the date on which the interest became due.

 

I state hereby that no action has been brought against me in respect of this alleged County Court Judgement within the relevant limitation period and that I have neither acknowledged nor made any payment against this judgment within the relevant period, I hereby also state that as a result any action under this judgment is permanently forbidden under the above statute and that I have no intention of making any payment against the amount claimed whatever my original liability.

 

In the event you attempt to instigate any legal proceedings for the enforcement of this judgment or attempt and/or succeed in selling this account on to a third party without making them aware of this claim herein that any debt is neither acknowledged or denied but that any alleged debt under this judgment is Statute barred by the virtue of Sec 24 Limitations Act 1980 you may find yourselves not only the recipient of a stoutly defended claim but also the subject of litigation for damages against myself without further notice.

 

A copy of this letter serving you notice is sufficient proof that you have been made aware of both that fact and the fact I do not intend to make any payment on a voluntary basis whatever my original liabilty under this judgment might be proven to be.

 

Yours....

Edited June 10, 2010 by Jasper1965

[Hardupnotfedup]

Fairly sure too mach time has past. A CCJ never becomes statute barred but the OC/DCA would have to have an extremely good reason as to why it was never enforced at the time, or indeed many years sooner.

 

:oops:Wrong choice of words but its as good as because no judge will enforce it anyway

[sheffgrow]

thank you both i will fire them off and see what they come up with

[BankFodder]

As has been said above, if there is a CCJ, it will not become statute barred.

 

I don't see any problem with enforcing a CCJ of any age.

 

You should consider having the judgment setaside. Normally this would be difficult after such a long time but I think that you may have an argument to make by saying that as the enforcement is so late, it might be exceptionally be possible to have the judgment setaside too.

 

However, I think that you would have to agree not then to try and rely on the expiry of the debt in order to frustrate a future claim.

[sheffgrow]

rang the court this morning and spoke to a snotty woman who was most unhelpful however she did say the judgement was from june 2000

[42man]

If I may add here....have you moved house since that time ? I would agree with Bankfodder that the debt does not become statute barred but the emphasis is heavily placed on the creditor to explain why the debt hadn't been collected for so long....I haven't yet seen a judge allow enforcement on a CCJ after 6 years.

[sheffgrow]

If I may add here....have you moved house since that time ? I would agree with Bankfodder that the debt does not become statute barred but the emphasis is heavily placed on the creditor to explain why the debt hadn't been collected for so long....I haven't yet seen a judge allow enforcement on a CCJ after 6 years.

 

no we have lived in the same house for over 15 years and havnt received any correspondence from any court or vets in that time

[42man]

I personally cannot see a judge allowing enforcement....he would not be happy at all that they have not enforced this for such a long time....

[sheffgrow]

just received this response back from them from the above letter templates that were sent

 

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

 

 

 

Dear xxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

xxxxxxx VETERINARY GROUP & xxxxxxx

IN THE xxxxxxxx COUNTY COURT

 

CLAIM NO.: xxxxxxxx

 

JUDGMENT DEBT & COSTS: £501.50

 

 

 

Thank you for your recent emails in which you set out your views and in which you quote guidelines and a statute, the latter being the Limitation Act 1980. Although we have noted your comments, proceedings were issued and judgment entered under the above claim number.

 

 

 

We discussed the judgment with the Judgment Creditor before writing to you. Indeed, we have also duly conveyed to them the contents of your emails.

 

 

 

A judgment creditor is entitled to enforce a judgment after the six year period with the permission of the court, indeed our letter explained that such an application may be sought. To date, an application has not been filed.

 

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

xxxxxxx & CO

 

[unclebulgaria67]

They are basically saying that they have to go back to court, if they wanted to pursue this. As has been said already, this does not seem likely, so they have lost the chance.

 

Looks like you can sit and ignore, until they try to go back to court, which if they do, you should receive some paperwork from the court, so you can submit your side of the story.