Charge of payment & now Citation undelivered?

[G.stockes]

Hello, Looking for a bit of advise.

My Business stop trading earlier in the year after 6 year of blood, sweat & tears.

The main reason for this was the landlord revoking the lease, there is an outstanding debt to them for about 30k, we offered payment plans to make up the short fall which were refused.

We also make an offer of part payment before we vacated the unit, thought our lawyers, which went without reply, Iv been in full contact with the landlord trying to resolve this, but with no joy the Landlord is one of the UK largest shopping centre owners. There is a PG in place with this landlord, it was signed under pressure and landlords lawyers represented both sides.

 

An issue I have is my last registered address is with my parents.

where iv not stayed with for a number of year, my parents are sick and tired of debt letter and sheriff officers turning up at the door looking for me. So now any letter that arrive with either my name or old LTD company name are getting returned to sender with a text update to me of “yet another debt letter returned Bla Bla Bla… Not happy and not great for me ether.

 

Iv been issued with a charge of payment which I signed back in the early part of the year while the unit was still trading. I got a phone call from a sheriff officer the other day saying they were trying to reissue another charge of payment but were unable to deliver it that the 1st contact iv had in 5months.

 

So getting to the point iv been issued with a Citation, hand posted thought the letterbox, I know no details of it as its been retuned to sender bit am sure I know who’s it from,

What happens now? very worried.

 

Am not a home owner and own nothing, iv hand no income since the shop closed a few months ago and I live in Scotland.

 

Thanks for your advice,

Edited August 29, 2014 by G.stockes

[tomtubby]

There is an expert on the admin team with specialist knowledge of the regulations in Scotland (which as you will know are very much different from those in the UK). I have sent a message to her so hopefully she will assist you very soon.

[ploddertom]

As you live in Scotland then the procedures are different to what we follow here in England. I will move your thread to the Debt in Scotland Forum and alert someone to have a look for you - but if they are at work then this may not be until later today.

[G.stockes]

Ok, thanks for that I though that might have been the case, thats why I added that on at the end.

Edited August 29, 2014 by G.stockes

[AndyOrch]

If you could read and complete the following GS posting your reply here.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?428590-You-have-received-a-Claim-**ISSUED-IN-SCOTLAND**-What-you-need-to-do.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

The citation will have been hand delivered by Sheriff Officers.

 

In Scotland for most diligences, the creditor must arrange for the service upon the debtor of a Charge for Payment before the debt can be recovered. The Charge for Payment is a formal demand for payment of the amount owed to the creditor. It includes any interest and associated costs, and generally gives the debtor 14 days to make payment. If the debtor does not satisfy the debt withtin the period specified, the creditor may then use diligence to recover what is owed.

 

You need to know what is on the citation, I'd say from the amount you mention in your first post this will be an Ordinary Cause action for debts over £5,000.

 

I'd advise you take Legal Advice on the matter.

 

Ignoring the court documents is not recommended.

 

There's a 'link' here that explains how Ordinary Cause actions work.......

 

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/ordinary-cause

 

Regards,

 

Scott.

[G.stockes]

Outstanding rent for a business unit, with a PG in place.

 

No.

 

after 2007

 

Original creditor

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

No

 

Downturn in sales after landlord opened outer food outlets.

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? yes & no

 

Yes, asked for reduced rent, any debt management was rejected, due to the landlord feeling the business could pay its way,

when a payment plan was accepted it came with the clause that allowed the landlord to terminated the lease at any point with one months notice.

They had already found a new tenet for the unit by this point.

 

Thanks for your advice.

Edited August 29, 2014 by G.stockes

[IdaInFife]

Is this your only debt or are there others?

[G.stockes]

My only real debt thats not getting paid,

Got a 2k on a credit card, and a loan both are getting paying off.

[IdaInFife]

can you realistically pay for the debt?

 

I mean if it goes through court 8% per annum gets added to the total so to look at paying it you need to afford to pay it?

 

you say you have no income so i am assuming that you cannot offer much?

[G.stockes]

I can cope and pay for my personal debt as my outgoing have been massive cut back over the years.

Ill struggle to pay the outstanding rent payments, without the trading shop.

Its a catch 22, the landlord took away the means to pay the outstanding debt.

 

Thinking about it, I guess it depends how long I get to pay it off.

Not sure how long the court would allow me to pay it up?

My dealing with the landlord in the past has always been FULL Payment today.

So I would think they would reject any payment plan if its not paid in full.

[IdaInFife]

in the end its the court that decides whats reasonable and you can get years to pay it off but on the realistic side because of the interest can you afford to pay over £2400 in the first year ? so to pay the loan and something to the interest so the balance comes down each year you would need to be able to afford to offer more than 250 per month and then that would take you over 20 years to pay it off - anything less and the interest is gonna make you pay forever

 

i hope you can see what i mean -

 

 

or have you though about going down DAS or trust deed or because of the amount you may want to consider bankruptcy unless you somehow have a substantial offer amount

 

 

you can find more info here under debt options:

 

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/S/information/fact%20sheet%20library/Pages/default.aspx

[G.stockes]

I did look into the trust deed, but the advise I was given due the landlord being the biggest creditor they would reject this.

To be honest, not really that keen of paying a few hundred a month for a trusted for the next 7 years, don't really see the advantage, if my credit file is shot to bits anyway, think id be better bankrupt. (but I really don't want to do bankrupt)

 

So what happens now? I know a Citation has been delivered but its been retuned to Edinburgh without me seeing it?

[maroondevo52]

 

So what happens now? I know a Citation has been delivered but its been retuned to Edinburgh without me seeing it?

 

Hi,

 

The court will presume you owe the money and issue a decree which will order you to repay the debt, plus interest and expenses.

 

 

Here are the options when receiving a Citation..........

 

The summons or initial writ will ask you to make the court aware what you intend to do by a specified date. Do not ignore this date. You can:

 

Pay the money you owe.

Tell the court that you will repay but require more time to pay – if the time to pay request is granted, the court will issue a decree detailing how much you have to pay and how often.

Tell the court you owe the money but do not ask for time to repay. The court will normally issue a decree which will order you to repay the debt as well as interest and other costs.

Dispute the amount owed – a hearing date will be set to allow the court to listen to you and your creditor(s).

Do nothing – the court will presume you owe the money and issue a decree which will order you to repay the debt, plus interest and expenses.