Someone owes me about £5000 so I’m thinking about going to small claims court, looking online it doesn’t seem to difficult but has anyone done it who could tell me how not to make mistakes
mac12:
Someone owes me about £5000 so I’m thinking about going to small claims court, looking online it doesn’t seem to difficult but has anyone done it who could tell me how not to make mistakes
If £5k is at stake and the matter is straightforward (i.e. the debt is not really disputed, it just requires enforcement), consider consulting a solicitor to send a demand, and then draft and issue the claim.
That will likely avoid any mistakes or oversights in the pleadings, be a source of advice, and will help reinforce to the defendant the seriousness of the claim.
You can then take over from the solicitor, and attend the final hearing on your own if it gets that far.
You can’t normally claim costs on the small claims track, but if you win you can claim “fixed commencement costs” that will help cover the solicitor’s expenses in drafting the claim. That is in addition to the court fee which you are entitled to claim.
And even if expenses were not entirely covered, and ran even to 10% out of your own pocket, that doesn’t seem unreasonable if it means you get 90% of what you otherwise wouldn’t.
I think the other side will dispute it even though I have texts from them agreeing to pay
Done it twice, won both times. Dead simple, just you, the other bloke and the registrar sat around a table in an office saying your thing, no robes or wigs or anything like that. Basically he either owes you the money or he doesn’t and it won’t take the registrar long to work out what’s what.
Harry did you use a solicitor,if not how hard is the paperwork
No, I didn’t use a solicitor and unless it’s changed since I did it you won’t be able to reclaim the cost of using one. This is exactly to prevent the little man from being deterred in bringing an action against a more powerful and wealthy party.
Basically on the paperwork there will be a short space in which to set out your case and you should do this as simply as possible, without emotion- “The plaintiff worked for the defendant for three weeks and was not paid for work carried out” would be more than adequate (as an example).
As I said earlier, it’s just you, the other bloke and the registrar sat around a table and saying your thing, and it’s totally transparent to the registrar from the body language who is telling the truth and who is telling porkies.
You can check out the procedure here moneyclaims.service.gov.uk/ … ligibility
Thank you for that Harry it’s against a friend so something I don’t want to do but been left no choice
mac12:
Thank you for that Harry it’s against a friend so something I don’t want to do but been left no choice
Judge Rob Rinder. You get your money without losing a friend
I think I’ve already lost the friend