Southern Water/shumans/Shakespeare Martineau claim form - debts from 2007 - 1st claim struck out - now 2nd claim.

[Bekki0405]

Dear xxxx

Following my phonecall with you on the 14th January and subsequent email from you, I would like to clarify that I still require all the water bills that the claim is relevant to.

 

I did not receive the Pre Action Protocol from Southern Water and as a result, had no opportunity inspect the charges prior to the claim form arriving from the court.

 

Also, the court claim form sets out the particulars of the case, however there is no breakdown of how the particulars are made up, and the dates are inconsistent with my time at the property. In addition to this, there is a large part of the claim with is statute barred which you have yourself agreed with, although you have not detailed how you calculated the reduction.

I have requested a CPR 31:14 from Shulmans and have yet to receive the requested information.

 

OR

 

Dear xxxx

Please send me a copy of all water bills relevant to the county court claim form sent to me reference …..

 

I’m thinking the second approach as the first alerts them to their errors early in the process.

[dx100uk]

urm..yes!!

[Bekki0405]

got it!!

[Sparks_]

When you sort out this court thing maybe look into this......https://www.southernwater.co.uk/newstart

[Bekki0405]

Looking for some extra advice.

 

I’ve received the copy bills, and they are all in order, and the total outstanding, corresponds with the updated total that Southern Water came back with after affording that some of the debt was statute barred.

 

I’ve also received from the court, a letter which says that my case is suitable for fast track to the small claims court,with a mediation form and details of how to request mediation with the company for free.

 

Does anyone have experience of this?

I’m inclined to fill the form off a send it to the court asking for mediation to help agree a payment plan.

Is that what the mediation can help with?

 

and what happens with the county court claim, as I assume the small claims process is different?

Edited February 7, 2019 by dx100uk
spacing

[AndyOrch]

What have you received from court....? a Notice of Proposed Allocation... or Notice of Allocation?

 

Andy

[Bekki0405]

Yes that’s what it is

[AndyOrch]

Which one ?

[Bekki0405]

Oh sorry I thought they were the same thing. Notice of proposed allocation to small claims track

[AndyOrch]

So you have the Directions Questionnaire N180...dont be inclined to fill it in ...you must fill it in its the next part of the process.. and file and serve a copy on the claimants solicitor by the date stated..failure to complete the DQ will result in your defence being struck out.

 

This allocated the claim to track ...Small claims in this instance and transfers the claim to your local county court.

 

Simple to complete.

 

Yes to mediation (you are expected to participate in mediation whether it actually happens is another matter)

Yes to SCT

State your local county court

1 witness...you.

 

The rest is self explanatory tick boxes.

 

Run 3 copies ..(Court/Sol/file) you can use the following link to complete it on your PC....looks far more professional than pen.

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?406099-LEGAL-N180-Directions-Questionnaire-(Small-Claims-Track)-**Correct-at-Sept-2016**

 

Andy

[Bekki0405]

The solicitors have already sent me a form to say that southern water have taken the case over. I’ll fill it in online. Do I continue to try and negotiate with SW though?

[AndyOrch]

You cant fill it on line...you complete it on your computer and print 3 copies

[Bekki0405]

All done. Thank you.

 

Should I try to make an arrangement to pay the outstanding debt.

I agree with the amount, but I didn’t receive the pre action protocol and the original debt being claimed included some debt which was statute barred.

SW have amended this, but I don’t want a ccj if possible.

 

If I agree that I owe this money, should I ask for time to pay (I have a small lump sum I can give to reduce the debt) by way of a Tomlin order.

This was mentioned before.

Or do I wait for the court process to progress

Edited February 8, 2019 by dx100uk
spacing

[AndyOrch]

No.... by all means attempt settlement..the further this progresses the more it will cost SW.

[Bekki0405]

I'm back for Round 2 of my Southern Water debt issue.

 

Situation so far:

 

I received a claim form from Northampton County Court in Dec 2018 with Southern Water being the claimant. 

The amount being claimed was for dates 11/07/2007 through to 07/07/2018 for £4559.62.

 

After advice on this forum I ran off a defence citing Statute Barred for some of the dates, and that I had no Pre Action Protocol.

 

A solicitor letter preceded this from Shulmans, who I believe are linked to UK Search who are the preferred debt collection company for Southern Water.

This is a Letter Before Court Action letter .

I'll get back to this in a bit.

 

Shulmans then wrote to say that they were no longer involved in the case, referring me to Southern Water.

After I had sent a defence off,  I received correspondence from the courts to inform me that they were transferring the case to a court local to me, and allocating the claim to small claims track. They also sent forms for the mediation service which we have both agreed to, and are waiting for this department to contact either/both of us.

 

During the time since I sent the defence back to the court, I have corresponded with Southern Water via the litigation department after I wrote to them asking for a breakdown of costs being claimed.

 

They agreed that some of the costs being claimed were statute barred, and adjusted their claim via email with attachments of the bills being claimed.

 

I have offered a token payment (without prejudice to save costs) which has been accepted, and they are open to offers of regular payments. They also suggested mediation and suggested a Tomlin order may be a viable option.

 

Finally, I have now received a Notice of Allocation to the small claims track which states the following:

1. Allocate this claim to small claims track

2. The Claimant do send a reply to the defence to the court and the Defendants by 4pm on 8th April 2019

3. This order having been made by the Court pursuant to CPR Rule 3.3 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, any party affected by this order has the right to apply to set it aside, vary or stay it by application made not more than 7 days after this order was served on the party making the application.

 

Here goes:

Back to the Shulmans issue.

On 30/10/2018 I received a 'LETTER BEFORE COURT ACTION'.

The claim for from the court arrived on 12/12/2018.

Which means this is definitely the letter sent prior to instructing the court to issue the claim form.

 

My question, before I decide whether to continue defending this claim, is that I wasn't to be sure I'm legally sound on believing that this letter is not classed as a Pre Action Protocol

 

What does number 3 on the newest form from the courts mean? 

This is the part that  have copied above.

 

Finally, I'm the defendant, so what should the Claimant be replying about on number 2.

Do I need to do anything regarding this form. I'm reading it as there is work for Southern Water to do, but nothing on there suggests I have anything to send off.

 

Thanks in advance,

Bekki

 

 

[dx100uk]

rigHt ive moved your post to your thread

please post here not on someone elses.

 

letS now read your latest POST.

 

 

[dx100uk]

YOU DONT NEED TO DO ANYTHING.

BALLS IS IN THE CLAIMANTS COURT TO COMPLY WITH THE JUDGES ORDERS BY 8TH APRIL.

 opps sri caps

 

dx

 

[Bekki0405]

And the Pre Action Protocol situation? I'm tempted to run with it, as if I'm right, this could be struck out on the basis that the rules to take it to court, weren't followed as per the Oct 2017 ruling

[dx100uk]

you cant on that alone no AFAIK.

[Bekki0405]

11 hours ago, dx100uk said:

you cant on that alone no AFAIK.

What is AFAIK? 

Mom getting notifications for both my thread and jerrythompson thread, so when I have replied, looks like I’ve replied on the other thread by accident 

[BankFodder]

As far as I know

[Bekki0405]

Thank you!

 

The reason I thought this might be the case, is because I believe the Pre Action Protocol should have given me the amount being claimed, the costs and how they were incurred, and at least give me a statement of the costs I was incurring.

 

Instead, it was a letter for £4000+ from Shulmans which said Letter before court action.

I ignored it at this point, as we’ve had a few of these type of letters in the past, and they’ve then bounced them back to the original debtor. 

 

Interstingly, although I can’t prove it, the tiny date on Shulmans letter is October 31st, and the Claim Form from Northampton court is 12th December, so the we’re super prompt in sending it through to court proceedings after 30 days. 

[dx100uk]

It's a mute point but worthy of a mention if this ever got back in court

As it is..theyve run out of time .

[Sparks_]

Have you looked into this...... https://www.southernwater.co.uk/newstart

 

or this.... https://www.southernwater.co.uk/water-direct

 

https://www.southernwater.co.uk/watersure-tariff

[Bekki0405]

I applied for help with my water bills back in February. In my email to Southern Water this month, I explained I was waiting for someone to contact me.

 

This was his reply 

 

As yet I have not received any contact form the mediation service. Please feel free to contact me direct to pay the £1,500.00 and at the same time we could run through your income and expenditure to agree repayment options. I could also refer you to our Debt advice team to discuss the various schemes and tariffs you may be eligible for? 

 

I am available Monday – Friday 9am to 5pm on 0330 303 1261.

 

I feel this is coercing me to pay and then arrange to see if I am eligible for a scheme.

I believe this should be a separate issue, and cannot understand why they can’t deal with this independently.

I wanted to make payment towards my current bill, and feel this is holding me back from doing so. 

 

I don’t see why he should be referring me to the debt advice team when they can contact me from my water scheme application in February 

 

Can someone advise me what I would do if the claim was struck out.

I know it hasn’t been, it’s a general question on how a debt like this works.

 

 The debt would still be there, so would I speak to Southern Water to negotiate payment? 

By that I mean, if it’s struck out, the debt isn’t written off so what happens to the debt??