Money claim online, anyone know anything?

[s2art]

First I have heard of this;

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/frontendcontr...

A friend of a friend has had a claim made against her regarding unpaid rent from a place she left more than 6 months ago. The claim
is for approx 12 months of back rent, approx £5000.

I thought this was what the small claims court was for. Apparently you make a 'statement of truth' and then, again apparently, someone makes a judgement. No court case as such, no cross examination etc.

It all seems a bit strange.

[Plotloss]

Small Claims cases still can be heard, moneyclaim just streamlines the process.

Or complicates it enormously

[randlemarcus]

Tell her to pay her fecking rent then.

It is the small claims court, just simplified so you dont need to get lawyers involved.

[Zumbruk]

randlemarcus said:

Tell her to pay her fecking rent then.

It is the small claims court, just simplified so you dont need to get lawyers involved.

Well, you don't need to get lawyers involved in SCC, either.

Sadly, I can't help in defending against a Moneyclaims case, 'cos I've only ever brought them, and in both cases the defendant folded and paid up immediately. Dunno if that's good news or bad.

[s2art]

randlemarcus said:

Tell her to pay her fecking rent then.

It is the small claims court, just simplified so you dont need to get lawyers involved.

And there is the rub. She did pay the rent, on a small hair salon, in cash, but didnt get monthly receipts (just an annual statement, which isnt good enough apparently). So has little evidence that it was paid. This is a stitch up by the landlord, the woman in question is very honest but very naive.

[JustinP1]

s2art said:

randlemarcus said:

Tell her to pay her fecking rent then.

It is the small claims court, just simplified so you dont need to get lawyers involved.

And there is the rub. She did pay the rent, on a small hair salon, in cash, but didnt get monthly receipts (just an annual statement, which isnt good enough apparently). So has little evidence that it was paid. This is a stitch up by the landlord, the woman in question is very honest but very naive.

Money Claim Online is just a streamlined version of the County Court.

The rules are identical whether you file papers at your local court or online. The reason it is popular is that something like 97% of cases are resolved before court anyway - one party gives in or the claimant doesnt want to pursue the case to court as this costs more.

For a £5000 claim this would have cost him a fair bit - so he must be serious.

Basically, if she defends the claim she needs to make her statement as the forms request. The claimant will see the defence and decide whether to take the matter further and go to court, which will be the local court of the defendant should they wish.

The court case would be reasonably simple and based on the balance of probabilities. If she is telling the truth there is nothing to worry about. She has an annual statement, and she will swear on oath that she has paid in cash, and she should be able to back this up with bank statements etc.

Secondly, a court would look at the matter how the amount got to £5000 - thats a lot of rent. He surely would have send letters about that amount in the meantime. He might fake these, he might not, but one would expect that the proceeding to a court case something would have been sent by recorded delivery - can he prove this for example?

It does all sound very strange to me, I certainly would not expect someone to bring a case of that size if it is a scam, as the cost of taking it to court is about £400 or so. If she is telling the truth she should have nothing to worry about.

[Jasandjules]

Does she have monthly withdrawals from her account in the sum of the rent?

If she is telling the truth and has some form of evidence then she needs to defend it within 14 days.

[s2art]

JustinP1 said:

s2art said:

randlemarcus said:

Tell her to pay her fecking rent then.

It is the small claims court, just simplified so you dont need to get lawyers involved.

And there is the rub. She did pay the rent, on a small hair salon, in cash, but didnt get monthly receipts (just an annual statement, which isnt good enough apparently). So has little evidence that it was paid. This is a stitch up by the landlord, the woman in question is very honest but very naive.

Money Claim Online is just a streamlined version of the County Court.

The rules are identical whether you file papers at your local court or online. The reason it is popular is that something like 97% of cases are resolved before court anyway - one party gives in or the claimant doesnt want to pursue the case to court as this costs more.

For a £5000 claim this would have cost him a fair bit - so he must be serious.

Basically, if she defends the claim she needs to make her statement as the forms request. The claimant will see the defence and decide whether to take the matter further and go to court, which will be the local court of the defendant should they wish.

The court case would be reasonably simple and based on the balance of probabilities. If she is telling the truth there is nothing to worry about. She has an annual statement, and she will swear on oath that she has paid in cash, and she should be able to back this up with bank statements etc.

Secondly, a court would look at the matter how the amount got to £5000 - thats a lot of rent. He surely would have send letters about that amount in the meantime. He might fake these, he might not, but one would expect that the proceeding to a court case something would have been sent by recorded delivery - can he prove this for example?

It does all sound very strange to me, I certainly would not expect someone to bring a case of that size if it is a scam, as the cost of taking it to court is about £400 or so. If she is telling the truth she should have nothing to worry about.

I reckon there is more to this as the cash paid was often straight out of the takings, so no bank evidence. Makes me suspicious that the landlord is well aware of this and is gambling that the defendant has not declared all her earnings properly.

[Jasandjules]

Is there a record of demands over the last 12 months for payment of rent? If not, why not? (if his claim is true)

What terms are in the Rental agreement re: Payment? I suspect they need to be paid, rather than left for 12 months........

[JustinP1]

s2art said:

JustinP1 said:

s2art said:

randlemarcus said:

Tell her to pay her fecking rent then.

It is the small claims court, just simplified so you dont need to get lawyers involved.

And there is the rub. She did pay the rent, on a small hair salon, in cash, but didnt get monthly receipts (just an annual statement, which isnt good enough apparently). So has little evidence that it was paid. This is a stitch up by the landlord, the woman in question is very honest but very naive.

Money Claim Online is just a streamlined version of the County Court.

The rules are identical whether you file papers at your local court or online. The reason it is popular is that something like 97% of cases are resolved before court anyway - one party gives in or the claimant doesnt want to pursue the case to court as this costs more.

For a £5000 claim this would have cost him a fair bit - so he must be serious.

Basically, if she defends the claim she needs to make her statement as the forms request. The claimant will see the defence and decide whether to take the matter further and go to court, which will be the local court of the defendant should they wish.

The court case would be reasonably simple and based on the balance of probabilities. If she is telling the truth there is nothing to worry about. She has an annual statement, and she will swear on oath that she has paid in cash, and she should be able to back this up with bank statements etc.

Secondly, a court would look at the matter how the amount got to £5000 - thats a lot of rent. He surely would have send letters about that amount in the meantime. He might fake these, he might not, but one would expect that the proceeding to a court case something would have been sent by recorded delivery - can he prove this for example?

It does all sound very strange to me, I certainly would not expect someone to bring a case of that size if it is a scam, as the cost of taking it to court is about £400 or so. If she is telling the truth she should have nothing to worry about.

I reckon there is more to this as the cash paid was often straight out of the takings, so no bank evidence. Makes me suspicious that the landlord is well aware of this and is gambling that the defendant has not declared all her earnings properly.

Hmm.

If rent has gone up to over £5000 owed, firstly the rent is a substantial amount, hundreds at least? Secondly, it must be over a good few months, there must be at least one that was from the bank?

What I am saying is, I doubt that the rent is a days takings, or even two days takings so surely some must have come from the bank unless you friend was systematically not cashing the cash from her business on purpose. This makes the situation more sticky - that would smell fishy to me unless there is a particular reason why she might leave a grand in cash lying around, not banked.

I am not saying that this is the case, and maybe the landlord is banking on this being exposed - or, more likely as a bargaining tool for exposure to the HMRC for not disclosing profits etc, and hopes it wont reach court for that reason.

In any case my advice would be is if she knows she is innocent to call his bluff and go to court. Once the reality hits that she is definately not going to back down and he will have to come to the courtroom and lie, the chances are he wont show...