Southern Water Bailiff

[Afrodite]

Hi Guys,

 

We had a judgment against us for xxxx amount from Southern Water, which has been paid. We even have the bill showing this amount as a credit.

 

Since all this trouble, we set up a direct debt and have been paying the new bills via this method. However, when we rang initially to set this up, we were told that there was another very old outstanding amount showing on our account, which we believe is incorrect. Looking at all the payments we've made, we have actually overpaid and believe that if we did owe this money, this is also paid.

 

However, yesterday we received a warrant of execution, which we are assuming is for this 'very old amount.' The warrant has the same claim number as the court papers for the previous amount, which is fully paid.

 

My husband rang Southern Water and the lady in the litigation department admitted the amount was wrong but only by £73 odd. Surely, that in itself is not allowed?

 

So my questions are, what are the laws and regulations on them issuing a warrant of execution under the guise of a judgment which is already paid?

 

If the judgment amount is showed as paid (which it is and does) then they would have to start a whole new court claim for the amount they believe we still owe wouldn't they?

 

If you have any legalise I could add into a letter of complaint in support of the above, I would be very grateful. Or if I'm completely wrong, can you set me straight.

 

xx

[wonkeydonkey]

You should have received all the usual notifications prior to it having reached this stage. they should have:

1. sent you a bill for the alleged amount owed showing what period it covers, how much is owed.

2. if you did not acknowledge their requests for payment then they could apply for a CCJ for which you should have received a claim pack (to allow admission to the debt/a defence/counterclaim/payment proposal etc etc)

3. If you did not attend the hearing (which you couldn't if you did not know about it) they can then apply for a warrant of execution to the Judgment awarded by default (in that you did not attend a hearing and the Court ruled in your absence)

 

They cannot simply tag this debt onto a previous debt that has been satisfied.

You will need to write to Southern Water them asking:

 

1. what period the alleged amount owed covers

2. how much the alleged debt is for

 

Once you have that info you will be able to reconcile with the amounts you have paid, then if you disagree you will be able to challenge their action.

Always follow the Golden Rules. send all correspondence by signed for mail, only discuss it on the telephone if you can record the call and, most importantly refuse any Bailiff that will call any access to your home and do not ring them under any circumstances, there is no law that says you must speak with them so keep them at bay until you get everything together and get to look at this as a whole.

 

Southern Water appear often on cag and many battles have been won against them, can I ask how much they say is owed? reason being it has been known for the HCE firm they use to edge the debt up, by applying various dubious charges, to the £600 required to transfer up to the High Court and obtain a writ of Fi'Fa'.

 

WD

[Afrodite]

Thank you for your help Wonkey. I really appreciate it.

 

Your first paragraph is exactly what happened, everything was fine, all paperwork received and an offer to pay was made and accepted.

 

It's the fact that they have tagged another amount on that I was wondering about, I didn't think it was correct and you've cleared that up for me, thank you.

 

I guess I should try and suspend the warrant while I write my complaint letters?

 

As to the amount they say is owed, I don't have the paperwork in front me at the moment, but the warrant claims we owe around £510 and when we rang they said that amount was in fact wrong and it's £430 odd. That in itself must mean the warrant isn't valid surely?

 

Surely the amount they are saying we owe must be correct on the warrant at least by their records. Are they allowed to say "oh actually, you know what, we got that wrong. The amount should be xxxxxx sorry about that" Doesn't that invalidate the warrant?

[wonkeydonkey]

Have you been given the period this alleged debt covers? You need to write to them and get all they have said in Black and White, also ask them:

 

1, The date they issued a claim for the alleged debt

2. A copy of the CCJ to which they now claim to hold a warrant of execution.

 

Then use the Court reference number they have given you and file an application to set aside and a stay of execution.

They are going to have to convince the Court they had "forgotton to add the alleged amount owed to their initial application" and although you have paid what was asked of you in relation to that action" they thought they could just amend a court order to suit their purpose !!!!!!!!! They have a lot of explaining to do me thinks?

 

WD

[wonkeydonkey]

By the way the vultures that handle enforcement for SW are clever in getting a sum of £430 to leap up to £600, then transfer to the High Court for writ of Fi'Fa'

so they can at least double the debt. So getting the paperwork in place swiftly is very important.

 

WD

[Afrodite]

Thanks again Wonkey, I have the original court claim together with the judgment and the sum total shows a figure of £768, which has been paid and I even have this exact amount showing as a credit on the next years's bill.

 

The amount owed covered up to end of March '09 and end of March '10. It shows as a credit on the bill April '10-March '11.

 

The warrant just says we haven't paid as we were ordered to, but we have. Every single penny and there is a DD in place now so this doesn't happen again.

 

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate your time.

[ploddertom]

You may have to produce this when the Court Bailiff turns up. Make sure that SW don't sting you with £100 it has cost them to issue the Warrant.

 

PT

[evilgoat]

Sit tight an fight it, dont let them get to you.

 

About a montha go we were in the same place, we'd had a nasty-o-gram from Sherforce for a CCJ on an amount Southern Water couldnt actually explain. They tried to take the car and it was moved. After a lot of of heratache, frenzied calling around etc I spoke to a loveley guy at Verisona and although he couldnt help he gave some tips and pointed me in the right direction.

 

I filed an N244 to make them go away and then went to the Portsmouth CAB on London Road. They looked at the case, agreed that it stunk and their solicitor did some digging. Upon being confronted witht his Southern Water rolled over and said they had not only duplicated our account, but were applying out DD payments to another, third account. Its taken weeks to sort it but today after asking why nothing has been done they have again admitted their fault and corrected it all. The CCJ will be set aside tomorrow.

 

I really dont think that Southern Water are even fit to run a business let alone a utility as I've heard so many repeats of this mismanagement over the last weeks. We were driven out of our home because of these clowns and made to fear our property would be seized.

 

Oh, they offered me a £25 discont to say sorry.

 

Persist and it will come out in your favour.

[wonkeydonkey]

£250 would be more like compensation for all the stress and inconvenience they put you through and if that didn't come to the table they would be reported to the OFT swiftly.

 

Sherfarce from this site alone must realise they are being sent innacurate writs to enforce by SW and yet they still refuse to give people the chance to prove they do not owe the debt, it cannot be cost effective to continue with enforcement when they know the alleged debtor will fight SW and the chances of them getting their pound of flesh are slender.Then again I doubt SW even question the bill from Sherfarce they just pay up and add the costs to the rest of their "costs" used as an excuse to hike up our bills.

 

WD

 

 

WD