Lowell BT Claim Statute Barred or not?***Claim Discontinued***

[dx100uk]

debt being SB will kill the claim dead.

you must be 1000% sure though

as

you cant mix that with any other defence.

its for them to prove its NOT SB'd not for you to prove it IS.

[agirllikeme]

The debt being statute barred depends on how you look at it. If I personally have to have made payments to the debt for it to be open then it is definitely statute barred as I moved out in 2009. However my former landlord appears to have made payments but the account was changed to his name. So it depends if they take the account as still being open because of those payments.

[dx100uk]

huh.

an account cant be changed to his name..not possible.

 

and if you didn't authorise the payments then YOU didn't make them.

 

why is this part of the story only just coming out..

[agirllikeme]

I'll refer back to my first post admittedly where there was a lot of information but I did mention it...

 

"Any Other Information or Background Details:

This account was from 2008/2009 when I was a student.

I had a BT line to allow us to get broadband at our house.

When I moved out of the house in 2009 the landlord took over the account as he was providing this as part of the house rental going forward.

The name and payment details on the account were changed online.

 

I have not paid anything towards this account since May 2009.

Having spoken to BT they said the only information they have is that Lowells made the last payment to the account on 29/11/13 the date the account defaulted. "

[AndyOrch]

Its not ....its been discussed post#1- 16 DX

[dx100uk]

i'll get me coat..

[agirllikeme]

So I've been looking through a lot of the old threads trying to put together a defence but I think the only option is to put a statute barred defence in. How much detail do I need to put in regarding moving out/landlord taking over/not having made payments or do I not need to include any of this? If I don't mention it would I be able to use it as a defence if they took this to court?

 

This is what I have so far:

 

1. The Claimant's claim was issued on 30/01/19.

2. The Defendant contends that the Claimant's claim so issued is a claim in contract and is statute barred pursuant to the provisions of section 5 of the limitation act 1980. If, which is denied, the claimant contends that the Defendant is in breach of the alleged contract, in excess of 6 years have elapsed since the date on which any cause of action for breach accrued for the benefit of the Claimant.

 

The Defendant resided at this student property from June 2008 to June 2009. No acknowledgement or payment towards this claimed debt by the Defendant has been made since that date.

 

3. The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £200 (I’ll put full amount on claim) or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.

 

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I've got until Sunday 3rd to submit my defence (from 30th Jan) but need to submit Friday as I'm away this weekend. I've not had anything back from my SAR with Lowell yet.

[dx100uk]

E&W

....

 

 

The following defence is all you need if it is SB

 

1 The Claimant's claim was issued on (insert date).

 

2 The Defendant contends that the Claimant's claim so issued is a claim in contract and is statute barred pursuant to the provisions of section 5 of the limitation act 1980.

.

If, which is denied, the claimant contends that the Defendant is in breach of the alleged contract, in excess of 6 years have elapsed since the date on which any cause of action for breach accrued for the benefit of the Claimant.

.

3 The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £[insert figure from their POC] or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.

..

..ends..

[agirllikeme]

Do I not need to explain the circumstances then? That I moved out, haven't made a payment since June 2009?

[AndyOrch]

No...simply submit the above...you can expand later should they wish to challenge and proceed the claim

 

 

 

Andy

 

CAG will be CLOSED due to a major upgrade from 14:30PM Tuesday 26th 2019 for at least 48hrs and will be in Read Only status during this process

[agirllikeme]

Thanks to both of you for your help. I'll leave it until Friday to submit my defence just in case they do send anything through following my SAR. I'll update if I do get anything.

[agirllikeme]

Quick update. I submitted my defence on Friday as advised above. How long do they usually take to get back to you regarding next steps and is this usually a letter from the courts?

I've still not had anything back from Lowell regarding my SAR which was started on 1st Feb. Anything I can do regarding this?

[AndyOrch]

The court will send you an acknowledgment that a defence has been submitted...the claimant then has 28 days to decide if they wish to proceed.If they do you will be informed....if they dont the claim becomes " Stayed"

[agirllikeme]

Cheers. I'll see what I get in the next 28 days then. 

[dx100uk]

sar is 30 days

[agirllikeme]

Thanks. It's day 33 by my count as I started the SAR process in the phone conversation I had with them on the 1st of Feb. I followed up with a letter on the 5th referencing the conversation on the 1st but haven't heard anything. Is there any punishments for not complying with SAR requests?

[dx100uk]

go by the 5th so not 30days yet

yes a complaint to the ICO but id wait till atleast the end of the week

and you are in no rush anyway.

its not for you to prove its NOT SB'd anyway

and any docs they want to use in the case must be exhibited  in their witness statement if they don't bottle before then.

 

dx

 

[agirllikeme]

So I got back to a signed for letter last night dated 04/03/19 so they pushed it right until the last date. 

The pack doesn't show any of the information they'd need to prove the debt isn't statute barred, and they advised for full account info I need to contact BT. I have done an SAR with them but they have next to no information to provide from what they said over the phone.

The pack of letters contains a basic snapshot of the account details, a log of all calls they've attempted and all the letters they're claiming to have sent. The letters are interesting because the dates suggest they sent some to my current address, then part way through started sending to an old address, then switched back to my current address. The old address is where the letter before claim was sent which I never received. Magically they included a copy of a letter before claim they say was sent to my current address dated a few weeks later which again was never received. There's really not much information in any of it,  I'll wait to see what comes from the BT SAR. 

[agirllikeme]

I've had documents from the BT SAR come through. Looking at the details it doesn't say who made the payments only that payments were made. The account was £2.35 in credit when it was closed, however BT have charged 12 months usage following the cancellation. I thought there was a limit on how much they could charge if an account was cancelled based on them no longer having to provide the service. Is that correct?

[dx100uk]

should the alleged amount claimed include an early termination charge(s) amounting to the total balance of the remaining contract, OFCOM guidance clearly states that any Early Termination Charge, that is made up of the entire balance of the remaining contract, is unlikely to be fair, as it fails to take into account the fact that the provider no longer has to provide and pay for their service.

[agirllikeme]

So I've had a copy of Lowell's "Directions Questionnaire Small Claims Track". They've proposed mediation, I got a copy of this on Monday but haven't had anything from the courts yet. How long do they usually take to get back to you? Is there any info off the questionnaire you need to advise? There wasn't that much on it to be fair. 
 

Note: In my last post I put that the cost was 12 months charges, it was actually 15 (I was slightly out with my maths). 

Edited March 22, 2019 by agirllikeme

[AndyOrch]

Take a read of the following from post #49 onwards

 

 

 

Andy

[agirllikeme]

Thanks for the link. I'll wait for the courts then. Apologies you're having to go over this twice!

 

I checked the mcol website and it doesn't say they have received anything yet. Lowell are probably trying to get documents regarding the debt because what they have is insufficient, I'm just guessing though. 

[BazzaS]

Just as an aside, Lowell’s letter said “as mobile phones have a service agreement and not a credit agreement”.... but is this not for a landline?

 

Nice to know L’s pay such close attention to detail.......

[agirllikeme]

Correct this is for a landline. I'd missed that myself. It doesn't surprise me they've missed something like that though. In all the letters they sent me in the SAR pack there are letters offering me discounts to pay off the debt, in one they offered me a 100% discount with £0 to pay.