A question about : Advice urgently needed about CCJ dispute
Good morning everyone.
This kind follows on from my previous issue I had with an landlady from hell and I posted it up on here ( it wont let me post the link but its in my old posts )
Well, she said we owed her a lot of money even though in our eyes the flat was in good, clean condition except 2 instances we had already discussed and asked her for advice about.
So we disputed it through the TDS (The Dispute Service) thinking we were protected and I immediately pieced together a 48 page document with photos, contracts and the signing in form - which clearly show discrepancies from what she was saying.
* (landlady) kept sending me threatening emails about the money and her course of actions - all of which are logged (including my replies). I stated I was not going to pay anything until the TDS had decided the outcome.
On this she said right then - she's taking us to a small claims court for the money owed + court costs. Totally undermining the jurisdiction of the TDS and the reasoning it was put in place.
Anyway, by the time the TDS had released all my evidence I received a letter saying we hadn't responded within the week period and the defence was struck out, so they couldn't accept my evidence.
Great, * won just because she'd done that so quick, almost knowing they wouldn't release our documents.
Now as it stands I received no further communication from the court. Only * to ask for the full payment within 7 days.
I said we could not do this due to our financial situation (brought on by this very situation in hand) and that I was seeking debt management counselling from the CCCS as to where to go. She said fine ok and left it at that.
She then got in touch to say she demanded payment by 11th of September in FULL as I had not instructed the TDS to release the deposit to her (the amount owed is more!!! explain about that in a bit) - otherwise she would be taking a CCJ out against my father as he was my guarantor at the time.
I explained that this was nothing to do with me and that she needed to get her Court to send the TDS a court order to release the monies to her. She replied saying I have let you know my full intentions, a copy of this is sent to your father.
So I then contacted her court, which didn't know anything that I was talking about and said payment of the CCJ was nothing to do with them and to contact *. Great.
So I called the TDS and they said in June they sent her and me (I have my copy still) a letter stating that no money would be released unless the court sent an order to TDS stating she had won the case. Otherwise they would not release money - this was nothing to do with me and that they definitely sent her the letter.
Which brings me to now - she hasn't replied and I envisage fully intends to take a CCJ out against my father.
I had stated clearly in my communications to her that we were willing to pay, could pay, but due to debt management would like to do this in instalments; that she needed to get the TDS to release the deposit for the rest.
Can she take a CCJ out against my father?
We have suffered nothing but professional harassment from this lady all of which is recorded in a file I've kept. But it stings me to think everything she has done is perfectly within the law and she has used our naivety as new tenants to do this.
A number of things she did:
Came into our home when we weren't there and took pictures
Used to sit opposite in the car park watching our flat for hours when we didn't want to answer the door to her.
Text me and my girlfriend and NEVER go through the letting agents.
Say she would get jobs done and never did.
She really is evil and I need some advice where to go on this. We said we will pay but she is not having any of it and hasn't replied, I dont know what to do! 
Best answers:
- If she has a court order, she can take all measures to get her money, including going after the guarantor. You cannot just ignore a court appearance and expect it all to go away.
- I completely agree,
which is why I have stayed in constant touch with her! - So she doesnt need to accept instalments, she can get a CCJ out against my father even though I have agreed to pay her? (On a number of occasions)
- You have 14 days in which to file a defence, not just a week.
If you needed more time you could have filed an acknowledgement of service form within the 14 days and that would have extended the period to file a defence to 28 days.
More useful information can be found on the Citizens Advice self-help website www.adviceguide.org.uk or by calling the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline (0845 4040506) or contacting your local CAB office. - Many thanks for your reply,
but that is all in the past now - there is nothing I can do about it.
I came on here for some advice and feel i'm getting slightly victimised here!
I need advice about the current situation - The TDS needing her/the court to contact them to release the deposit and for us to be able to pay the rest in instalments. - The first thing you need to do is remove the name of your landlady ...
- Whys that?
- As already stated by another, as the LL now has a court order (and you say the court struck out your late defence) then you owe the LL the money.
As you agree to the debt and say you are willing to pay, my advice would be to pay up. The complainant does not have to wait any longer than specified and is not compelled to accept any offer of staged payments.
If you really can't pay, you can ask the court about staged payments. They will ask for your full financial current situation and decide what is appropriate. Be aware they may say pay up in full now too.
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but I prefer to let you know the facts rather than give you false hope. It's better to pay up than get a CCJ recorded against you. - From LLs point of view.
Why would they accept installments when they can hit the guarantor for up front payment? - Thats great and very informative, thanks alot.
The issue I have is that I called the court she used (it was a small claims court, money claim online or something) and they said it was nothing to do with them. The CCJ has already been filed against me by this court - but they said they dont have to send me anything in terms of payments and how much I can afford, that I need to go straight through my ex landlady.
Im really not sure where to go, we (unhappy but) happy to pay but this is tieing things up for us. - many thanks,
we did not receive anything from the court - no response pack or anything to that effect. When I called the number on the form they said they did not have a clue what I was talking about in terms of payment.
This will help enormously in moving forward! - Hi glowsticks thank you for your post regarding CCJ dispute
I would first suggest that you seek advice from a specialist debt adviser as this seems to be a very complex case which relies on evidence which we cannot examine. You can find your local Citizens Advice Bureau at www.citizensadvice.org.uk. The decision you need to make now is whether you want to continue to try and dispute the debt or accept the debt and make an offer of repayment.
If you decide you want to dispute the debt you could ask for a set aside of the judgement but there is a fee for this and it is at the district judges discretion whether they consider your reasons for missing the defence deadline are adaquate.
If you decide you do not want to dispute the debt further or do not feel you have strong enough grounds to do so then you can apply for a variation of the County Court Judgement using form N245, on the form you have to provide details of your income and expenditure and employment and housing status and make an offer of repayment which will be considered by the claimaint and the court. Again there is a fee for this application Ј40 but you may get fee remission depending on your financial circumstances. If you intend to apply for a variation CCCS should be able to assist you with this.
You can find more information about applying for a set aside or variation at www.adviceguide.org.uk
Hope this is of assistance.
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