Advice needed on my ex taking me to a small claims

[Tracy999]

Hello all,

 

four years ago my now ex needed to move his bedroom furniture out of his flat as he wanted to rent it but not have his bed used .

 

He asked if we could get rid of my bed as he was 6ft 4 and my bed was only a double and his was a superking size.

 

I voiced my concerns on what would happen if we ever split up and he assured me he would replace mine .

 

Well he moved all his bedroom stuff in as it matched the bed but i had to then get rid of all mine.

Now a year after we split up ive received a txt saying he wants to collect in two weeks but only offering me £100 towards a new bed ???

 

I agreed silly enough but said i would need more time as im now unemployed and cannot raise enough money to replace in that time .

 

Now he is threatening to take me to a small claims court to retrieve.

 

How can he not be responsible for replacing mine ? he did not contribute to me financially all the time he lived with me , not one bill did he share either .

 

Does anyone have any advice how i stand legally

 

Thanks

Tracy

Edited July 22, 2013 by citizenB

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I'll try this on the legal forum and see if the guys can comment for you. I'll leave a short term redirect from this forum that you can follow from here.

 

My best, HB

[Tracy999]

Oh Thankyou honeybee,

Should i copy and paste it here as well ?

[honeybee13]

You don't need to do anything. If you look higher up, your first post is there.

 

You've followed the link from the Welcome forum.

 

HB

[citizenB]

This does seem rather spiteful of him.

 

I would think that the verbal agreement that you had would stand.. after all who would agree to dump their entire bedroom furniture for £100.00 ?

 

I wonder if you could make a counterclaim for some contribution towards the bills ?

 

Has he actually issued a claim or is it still at the "threatening" stage ?

 

 

I will try and find someone to help

[citizenB]

 

If he can prove the bed was his she will have to give it back. In the long term she didnt have to get rid of her bed, she could of sold it and if she did then basically tough, the bed is his property and he is with in his rights to have it back. however she can make a counterclaim for the bed she got rid of so to accommodate his bed which would be of a second hand value. Which would be about a £100.

 

 

If it went to court, she would end up paying cost's. She would be better off letting him have it and getting the £100, which in my book is pretty fair.

 

 

 

 

 

I doubt very much that a court would agree to her having anything for bills that he didnt contribute too. Its very hard to prove what he paid and what he didnt pay. Unless she wrote everything down and he signed a contract to say he would pay it.

 

 

 

Sorry, it looks like my understanding of the situation might have been wrong. See advice above..

[AndyOrch]

Retain the bed (possession is 9/10th of the law) and let him issue his claim (which I doubt very much) but if he does then you can have your say in your defence

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Surfer01]

Can he prove that the bed actually belongs to him? BTW thank your lucky stars that you never married the jerk!

[Tracy999]

Hi thanks everyone,

My Dad never liked him lol so marriage thank god was avoided lol . I think i will take the advice of waiting to see what comes n the post ,i appreciate we only had a "verbal agreement " but my bed was too small for his frame physically so it wasent really an option unless he was going to pay for storage which he couldnt do when out of work .

I am not sleeping on a "second hand mattress " that makes my skin crawl ...ewww .

Thanks Citizenb i think a "counter claim you mentioned would make sense .

[AndyOrch]

Then buy a new mattress...far simpler than mounting a Counter Claim on a claim that may never materialise.

[Tracy999]

Is not just a "mattress" is the rest of my bedroom furniture i got rid of (not sold ) as it all matched his bed and he had to get it out of his flat as he was renting it . The verbal agreement was that he would replace if the relationship broke down and i was naive enough to take people on their word.

He has now decided hes not paying anything towards replacement , so i think perhaps i am better waiting for a small claims letter and seeing if i need to go to court . Bit of a daunting prospect but i wont be bullied into being left in the lurch ..i didint refuse his offer initially but when he got verbally abusive when i said i needed more warning to replace than two weeks ..( we had split up a year ago ) then i think i need to stand my corner ?

[AndyOrch]

I personally dont think a court would entertain this (either side of the argument) you need to get together and resolve this amicably.

[Tracy999]

Hello again ,

please bear with me once more

I received his "Claim form" ... particulars are stated ....

 

Tracy .is an ex girlfriend of mine . While i was with her , i moved my bedroom furniture , consisting of a super king size bed worth £2000, chest of drawers , 2 bedside cabinets and a large mirror , which i had in my Bournemouth apartment previously . It was agreed at the time of break up that she could use my stuff until a time i wanted it back . I was unemployed at the time so could not afford storage .

On about the 14th June ,i informed Tracy that i wanted my stuff back and gave her three weeks to sort herself a replacement for herself . She is being totally unreasonable and is asking me for payment to replace hers before the return of my own .

Ive seeked (yes should have been sought ) legal advice and they have advised me to take this action .

All i seek is the return of my possessions fore with.. i must note there is a unique way of taking the bed apart so i would need to do this to limit damage .

 

Im not a spiteful person and its not about that .. but i felt pressured into having it as he was so tall his bed made sense .. and all the furniture matched .. he assured me if we ever split up he would replace mine and being offered a £100 is not acceptable nor feasible ... hes left it a year after we split up .. i know it might sound petty to some but its causing me a lot of worry and stress .. i cant afford to replace as ive lost my job .. so a single parent with two children ..i cant get legal aid to fight it .. this cant be right ?

Ive filled out an online money claim , disputing the claim and asking for 28 days .

There is no way on gods green earth i want the man in my house again to dismantle the bed as he was verbally abusive in front of my children and i would feel completely intimidated by him being in my bedroom, i cant leave him in there on his own either .

Can anyone give me any advice ?

Thankyou

Tracy

[citizenB]

I can see why you don't want him in your home. Could it be arranged that a friend of yours be present at any time of dismantling and that he attend on a date that is convenient to you, no matter how inconvenient to him.

 

I think I can see a court wondering why you hadn't started saving towards replacing the items once they were removed. On the other hand, he has used you for free storage for a year ?

[steampowered]

Ultimately the items are his property, so he is entitled to have them back. If having him in the house is a problem then you need to think about alternative solutions - you could ask him to get a friend to pick them up, you could get a friend to remove them or he could pay for removal men.

 

If he promised to replace your mattress you could always include a counterclaim in your Defence.

 

It would be sensible for this to be resolved amicably ... perhaps write to him setting out your offer.

[Sparks_]

Can he prove they are his? Also leaving them with the OP for a year sounds like he abandoned them, he wants them back he should pay storage fees! Also he promised to replace those she got rid of to make room for his goods, should honor that promise!

[brokebutnotbeatn]

"while I was with her..."

So, how long were you living together?

[Tracy999]

Hi citizenB

Its not a matter of saving , at the moment im claiming unemployment benefit and have two teenages , its hard enough keeping them , i swear they cost me more now than ever so there is no money to "save" plus if i took my perfectly good furniture out for his then at least it must be seen as joint property ?

[brokebutnotbeatn]

This is why I asked how long you had been living together?

[Tracy999]

Hiya,

We were together four years , three of them he stayed mostly at mine , the other times with his Parents , who have two spare double bedrooms and outbuildings ... he could have actually "stored " them there if money was the apparent issue in where he chose to put them .

[brokebutnotbeatn]

A split after 4 years would entitle him to something under family law (I assume) so I might be inclined to agree but seek a court order that specifies he has no further claim on any goods; property etc. A family lawyer could draft that for you for not a lot of money. Family law does not always appear 'fair' to the one who has to pay out but it is objective so a 30 minute (usually free) consultation with a family lawyer might not be a bad idea either. Just Google one in your area and give then a call. Just an opinion of course.

[citizenB]

This thread is now in "General Legal Issues"

 

It is purely an administrative move.