CCJ for private car sale

[samint]

Good afternoon,

 

I recently received contact from a person I sold a car to (privately) at the beginning of the year, asking for my address. After about 5-6 messages claiming he wanted to pass a letter on to me, he finally tells me he has obtained a judgement against me and needed to provide the Bailiff's he has instructed with an address.

 

This started shortly after I sold the car to him, when he claimed he was not happy with the car. Out of goodwill, I attempted to negotiate with him, but he would accept nothing less than a full refund. Eventually, I told him I was not willing to offer a full refund and eventually the emails stopped.

 

It seems he found a very old address of mine and entered a small claim against me at that address, for the full purchase price of the car, which he was obviously granted by default (In June) because I was not given the opportunity to defend it.

 

I have been in contact with the court, who have not given me much information on the claim but have advised me I need to make two applications; one to have the claim set aside and the other to stay the writ - carrying a fee of £155 each.

 

I am waiting for an appointment with my local CAB, but I fear that may not be soon enough if the Bailiff were to find my new address.

 

So I was hoping to get the advice of people more knowledgable than me, here;

 

The N244 form is very ambiguous, can anyone advise how I should fill out the form for each application, if they are indeed both needed?

 

The claimant has expressed an interest in obtaining my address from any application I make, no doubt to instruct his bailiff - can he do this?

 

£310 is quite a lot of money. From reading the EX160A, I may be entitled to a part remission on the basis that I do not have disposable capital over £3k and my gross household income is under £5,490 - However, I'm concerned applying for such remission may add unnecessary delays.

 

Are the fees incurred reclaimable if I'm successful in defending the claim? If so, perhaps the previous point is not such a concern.

 

Any help would be most appreciated.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome.

 

I'll move you to the general legal forum where you will be given advice on this, and leave you a short term redirect to follow from this forum. The guys should be along later.

 

My best, HB

[samint]

Ah, I obviously interpreted financial legal issues incorrectly, my apologies.

[honeybee13]

Not a problem, we have a lot of forums to choose from.

 

HB

[FairWorldCitizen]

Obtaining these fees back is probably very disconnected from the initial case.

 

You would have reasonable chances of getting the judgment set aside IF:

1) all court forms were sent to an address other than a last known address (i.e. if the claimant has communicated an address with was indeed an address you have been living in recently, this condition isn't met). Also, if the claimant has tried to contact you, then this condition isn't met.

2) there is a ground for having the court reconsidering its decision. This obviously depends on the matter and you would need to convince the court. If a judgment by default has been obtained, it means the claimant has provided the information and the law has applied (the law is very simple for private sales). I think you should clarify what "he was not happy with the car" meant. What was the matter?

[ploddertom]

Yes you can claim the fees back at a later date - unsure of how long you would have though. Submitting the EX160 with the N244 does not delay the procedure providing you submit the correct information.

 

You say you have a CCJ for this and also mention having to Stay the Writ. Do I take it that Enforcement has begun? If so we may need to move you againg the Enforcement Agents (Bailiffs) Forum. Filling the N244 is fairly straightforward and can help with that if required.