Southern Water/Shulmans Claimform + Judges N24 - help

[Rango Tune Star]

I have received a claim form for a debt some time ago;

~ It relates to a period between 04/2009 – 10/2013,
~ It was at an old address that I lived at with my ex husband, who is a co-defendant, he is also listed as living at my current address which he is not, he is homeless,
~ This if the first time I have heard of the debt as all other correspondence was sent to a different address, at the front of the pack it has an application notice with an approval to send it to my current address.

~ The claim form also has an N24 with an aproval form a judge to chenge the court papers to my current adress and extent the application date to the 23 )ct 2019

 

Can any one help, will some of this be statute barred? 

 

Rango

[dx100uk]

 

please complete the above

 

 

[Rango Tune Star]

Name of the Claimant ? Southern Water Services Limited 

 

Date of issue – 29th July 2019

 

 

Particulars of Claim

 

What is the claim for – the reason they have issued the claim? 

 

The claimant is a statutory water and sewage undertaker pursuant to the water industry act 1991 (the act).

The claimant claims the sum of £1387.99  for unpaid water and/or sewage charges payable under section 142–144 of the act and the claimants charges scheme

The unpaid sum of 1387.99 is for water and all sewage services provided by the defendants at [OLD ADDRESS] for the period of the 01/04/2009 to 01/10/2013.

The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts act 1984 at a rate of 8% a year from 01/10/2013 to 22/10/2018 on £571.32 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at the rate of £0.30

 

What is the total value of the claim? £2144.31

 

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC ( Pre Action Protocol) ? No

 

Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred? Yes

 

Did you inform the claimant of your change of address? No - but there is a N24 at the beginning of the pack saying that a judge has allowed them to move the address on the court papers and that the life of the claim has been extended

Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? unpaid water and/or sewage charges

 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ? No, we moved to that house after 2007

 

Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ? N/A

 

Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/ Equifax /Etc...) ? No

 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. This is being acted upon by Shulmans LLP . - no!! Southern Water Services Limited - dx

 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? No

 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Not to my knowledge 

 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? Not to my knowledge 

 

Why did you cease payments? We couldn't afford it at the time 

 

What was the date of your last payment?  I don’t know excaxtly but SW have confirmed it to be 2010

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? N/A

 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? no

[dx100uk]

pop up on the MCOL website detailed on the claimform.
.
 register as an individual
 note the long gateway number given
 then log in
.
 select respond to a claim and select the start AOS box.
.
 then using the details required from the claimform
.
 defend all
 leave jurisdiction unticked.
 click thru to the end
 confirm and exit MCOL.
.
 get a CPR 31:14 request running to the solicitors [if one is not listed send to the claimant]
https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/332546-legal-cpr-3114-request-request-for-information-when-a-claim-has-been-issued/
.
type your name ONLY

no need to sign anything
.
you DO NOT await the return of paperwork.
you MUST file a defence regardless by day 33 from the date on the claimform [1 in the count]
 

[dx100uk]

read these...

 

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-8889411648654839:3134625398&q=Shulmans&oq=Shulmans&gs_l=partner-generic.12...612132.612132.0.613120.1.1.0.0.0.0.152.152.0j1.1.0.gsnos%2Cn%3D13...0.0...2.34.partner-generic..1.0.0.kcY1wciTWZQ

 

yes part of the claim will be statute barred

get ahold of SW after reading the above threads so you know what to do / say.

enquire about the water aid scheme thingy as well

 

don't forget if 2 people are named on the claimform you BOTH must do everything in duplicate as post 4

[Rango Tune Star]

Ok, thanks so much for the starting advice, I am getting on the above right away. 

 

My only issue now is the duplication for my Ex-husband. I don’t know his address and he has little desire to do anything to help. What will happen if he doesn’t complete his part. Shoul I do it on his behalf? 

[dx100uk]

yes its a difficult situation

the issue is if he's is not done a CCJ will be issued against him by default.

[Rango Tune Star]

If he gets a CCJ by default will I? I don't think he is bothered but I certainly am. 

 

Currently going through the MCOL bits btw.

 

A quick question, all correspondence is in my married name. Should I continue with that name while registering on MCOl. I have since moved back to my maiden name. 

 

Another issue, my claim form doesn't have a password in the important note box? I've looked through the rest of the pack but can't find one anywhere. 

 

Any ideas? 

 

[dx100uk]

the issuance of an N24 to extend filing is a new one to me

others will pop up with the correct course of action.

 

it might be that you have to post the AOS and p'haps copy it for him too.

 

TBH: going by the other threads in post 5 this might resolve itself once you ring npower.

or certainly resolve some of it.

 

from what I gather SW are none too pleases hulman has issued all these 100's of claimform for most old SB bills within them.

 

[Rango Tune Star]

OK, thanks for the response. 

 

I am happy to settle this out of court if I can get a reduced figure but I don't want to make a mistake in trying to settle. 

 

So I don't have a claim form password.

Suggested actions now?;

 

~ Fill in the N9 AOS letter ticking the box saying I intend to defend all of this claim and send recorded del asap

~ Complete a CPR 31:14 and send it to Shulmans Recorded del asap

~ Call Southern Water and get through to their litigations team, tell them that I believed the figure to be wrong and ask them to sent a revised figure in writing and take it form there.

 

Does that sound about right? 

 

[dx100uk]

and investigate the water aid thingy too.

 

 

[Rango Tune Star]

Ok, I’ll look into that. 

 

When sending back the forms, do I complete the N9b, defecnce and counter claim? 

 

Also do I send the full pack back to the solicitors / court or just the specified pages? 

[AndyOrch]

Yes but take copies.

 

Return to the court which issued...not the Solicitors

 

If you could scan redact and post up all the paperwork you have received so far...Claim form /Application Notice/N24

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Rango Tune Star]

Update - Made contact with Southern Water Litigation team 

 

I called the genneral account number and went around the houses with the agent. She tried to get me to call UK Search Ltd multipul times. I told her that “I’m being taken to court by Southern Water not UKSL, I’d like to speak to your litigation team” she then passed me on. 

 

The litigation agent was helpful, when I said the a proportion of the amount should be SB’d and we wanted to look into a revised figure, he said “that’s absoutly something we can look into, it’s likley we could revise the figure” 

 

He then went on to say that I should defend the case to extend the time and then hey would look at a new figure. 

 

I just need a little help in filling the forms corectly. 

 

Also a question about the N24, extension of claim life. If the claim has been extended to now and the debt period ended over 6 years ago. Would that make the entire amount statute barred ? 

[dx100uk]

you need the date the claim was made

it will be 6yrs back from that date as the original claimform date pauses the SB clock, the extension to file time doesn't change that date.

 

so it looks like just the last years bill 01/04/2009 to 01/10/2013. will be payable,

I wonder if they'll let you setup a payment plan for that sum and drop the whole claim?

no harm in ringing back and asking?

[Rango Tune Star]

@Andyorch Will do, I will scan in all and redact tonight. I’ll be sure to send the claim pack back to the court not Shulmans. 

 

@dx100uk That makes sense, there isn’t any other claim form with an issue date before 2018 so I guess you’re right with the last year sugestion. 

 

I did ask the SW litigation agent if he could come back to me with a revised figure so I could settle out of court. He said that now things have gone through the court,  I need to action my defence to avoid getting a CCJ by default. He will then respond back via the court with a new figure. Does that sound about right? Or am I being led down the garden path?

 

Also when completing the N9b, should I say I complete the full amount or do I try and work out a figure of how much I owe and select the specified amount? And what do you sugest I write in the deffence box?  

 

 

 

 

[AndyOrch]

You defend the full amount...no adjustments 

[Rango Tune Star]

OK thank you.

 

Any advice on defence words? 

 

[AndyOrch]

Not time to submit a defence yet.....need to see your redacted documents.

[Rango Tune Star]

Apologies, I got confused I thought I had to send the N9b along side the AOS. 

 

Redacted papers uploaded. Let me know what you think. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

one multipage PDF only please

read upload

 

dx

 

[Rango Tune Star]

I tried to but the file size was too big. I’ll try and reduce it 

[Rango Tune Star]

Reduced file uploaded, let me know what you think.

RTS reduced.pdf

[Rango Tune Star]

Letters posted yesterday recorded delivery 

[AndyOrch]

I'm moving your thread to the General Legal Issues forum....to keep it with the other similar claims.

 

Have a read of the following thread it will give you an idea of the process and what to expect next once a defence has been submitted.

You can start to prepare and submit your defence within the next 2 weeks no need to wait until October.

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/414573-southern-watershumans-claim-form-unpaid-waters-debts-from-2007/#comments

 

Andy