Help with Sheriffs Office

[deanoa100]

Hi,

 

Thanks to anyone who may be able to help. Just a brief summary of my situatiion:

 

I had a debt which got transferred to sheriffs office (was a genuine mix up of addresses and I never got a court hearing). They eventually visited and I paid £1700 of the £4500 owed. I agreed to pay £400 per month with the help of my family. In truth, we could never afford £400 but we panicked because they threatened to remove goods etc.

 

I then contacted the court regarding what we could afford (can't remember what form I filled out) suggesting £50 per month. They set a hearing but the original solicitors dealing with the debt vacated the hearing and accepted monthly repayments of £50. 6 months on, I haven't missed a payment and recently increased my offer to £65 per month.

 

The sheriffs office have now contacted me stating I have missed several payments with them. They are getting a bit rude and arsey over it, saying I should be paying them.

 

As I now have an agreement in place, can they do anything re offering £400 per month?

 

Thanks for any help and advice, much appreciated.

 

Dean

[sequenci]

Hello there, are you in Scotland?

[deanoa100]

Thanks for your reply. I am in England though.

[ploddertom]

I'll move your thread to the Bailiff Forum where you will get some help.

[ploddertom]

Who are you actually making the payments to?

[tomtubby]

I would suggest that you contact the solicitors for the claimant and advise them that you have been making payment as ordered by the court and you may want to ask them if THEY have been receiving any of the payments !!!

[HCEOs]

You will need to advise the HCEO that you are making payment directly. It is often the case that that some solicitors may take direct payment but not inform the HCEO as they do not want t be liable for any fees. Most HCEOs will have T&Cs stating that all payments should come to them.

[tomtubby]

HCEO...good advice....

[wonkeydonkey]

I don't want to complicate things but.....you say the amount being pursued was £4000, what of that figure was the actual debt owed to the Claimant ? by that I mean the debt alone without the fees to enforcement?

 

Because you never received the summons you had the opportunity to apply to set aside the judgment (N244), this meant you could have attended a hearing to defend the debt and the fees associated with it....if set aside had been given you could have, at that moment in time, made a reasonable offer to repayments.....alternatively you could have applied for variation to payments (N245)and stay of execution to the writ(N244)..it sounds as if the solicitor has 'persuaded' you not to go back to court by suggesting the creditor accepted your offer to pay £50 and those payments have been maintained ...but who have you been paying because as HCEO says the Claimant appears to be accepting payments direct from you cutting out the HCEO and by doing that, it can be argued you are not responsible for the HCEO fees?

 

I hope you can understand this process but if not please come back and ask any questions you can think of. Meanwhile please follow HEO's advice and write to the enforcement office to tell them you have agreement with the claimant to pay them/solicitors direct.

[deanoa100]

The solicitors I refer to are those of the claimant. They passed their debt on to their solicitors. The fee of just over £4000 included those fees of the HCEO's. I let them in as I never had any intention to avoid the debt had I known. I did apply to the court, we filled out income and expenditure forms and we could only afford £50. A re-hearing was set, but the claimants vacated the hearing as we agreed a settlement. I have been paying the money to the claimants solicitors ever since.

 

Thanks for your help so far,

[wonkeydonkey]

Ok...I think you need to contact the claimant in the first instance....ask how much of the amount you have paid has been received by them?

 

Next you would be better to get this back into Court and go ahead (regardless of what the solicitor has to say) with getting the Stay of Execution, it would also be of benefit to you to get the variation to payments set down with the Court that assures there can be no mistake at a future date to how much you agree to pay,more importantly WHO you are to make payment to....contact the sheriffs office as per previous advice and advise them you have been making payment to the solicitor as per the agreement you have with them.

[dodger247]

I have been paying the money to the claimants solicitors ever since.

 

Hi,

 

This is the root of your problem. Once the Sheriffs Office has been instructed by a creditor or their solicitors all payments towards the debt must be made to them.

 

If your creditor's solicitors have been accepting payments from you, provdie the Sheriffs Office with the details (i.e. payment amounts and dates if you have them, plus make sure you tell them they have agreed the new payment plan of £50 per month) and they will take it up with the solicitors for you.

 

I do agree with the others though, you should try and get this back in to court so the payment plan becomes formalised and you avoid the costly bailiff fees.

 

My advice, make an application to set aside the judgment at court (costs £45 off the top of my head) and lodge an income and expenditure form showing what you can afford to repay(go to the CAB and complete one there as they carry some weight in court).

 

I hope this helps.

 

Dodge