One of my multiple major headaches may just may go away. We received a lawyers letter last weekend demanding a large sum of money for a case we had to settle in 2008....we were funded by our household insurance, but they have a £50K limit and almost all was spent before we even got to court. So they pulled the plug on us and said if we wanted to carry on we had to self fund which of course we couldn't afford to do. So we had to pay the cowboy builder who hadn't finished the house an exorbitant sum for not doing it and then spend another 4 years arguing with NHBC and then finally taking NHBC to the ombudsman where we won the case and got enough money to finish the house so that it was sellable.
I used the BHS helpline to get advice on whether we still had to pay this given it was 10 1/2 years since the debt was incurred. They checked it out and under the law, they could pursue you forever, no time limit, so they could pursue you to the cancer ward, nursing home, dementia ward whatever. and until they ask for payment there is nothing you can do, the lawyers acting for us repeatedly asked but received nothing.
The other side never submitted a claim for their legal expenses until last Saturday but the advice I got on Friday morning was that despite the total unfairness of it i.e. if it had been asked for at the time, we would have had the money to pay for it but don't now without cashing in pensions, it was a valid debt. We had a second court case with them to obtain access to our water supply as they kept turning it off as punishment and wouldn't be us get into the borehole which was on the builders' land. I rang the firm that dealt with that and again they had never been billed for the other sides costs but there was money in the pot to pay it if we got a second letter. Then he threw me the bombshell.....
The client, a limited company, was dissolved, i.e. no longer exists. So as far as case 2 was concerned he said that he would dispute it as you can't make a payment to something which is no longer a legal entity and the company was the plaintiff in both cases. Not an individual and not the law firm chasing us. He said there was a doubt as to who they were asking the payment for as the court judgement was for blah blah blah ltd versus mr and mrs w. I forwarded this nugget to the BHS lawyer who said that this changed everything, as he confirmed that there is now no-one to pay as the company does not exist.
It is now in the hands of the legal insurers and the company which dealt with the first claim which we have been asked to pay, and they are going to look at both cases and consult and advise. So perhaps by the skin of our teeth we may not have to pay around £20K.....
It is an appalling situation, the law changed in 2018 putting a time limit on how long a claim is valid when it has been to court but anything before that date has no end to when a claim can be presented. In both cases the other sides legal firm have not submitted their bills to our lawyers. Which makes me wonder why, tax or vat dodge?
I used the BHS helpline to get advice on whether we still had to pay this given it was 10 1/2 years since the debt was incurred. They checked it out and under the law, they could pursue you forever, no time limit, so they could pursue you to the cancer ward, nursing home, dementia ward whatever. and until they ask for payment there is nothing you can do, the lawyers acting for us repeatedly asked but received nothing.
The other side never submitted a claim for their legal expenses until last Saturday but the advice I got on Friday morning was that despite the total unfairness of it i.e. if it had been asked for at the time, we would have had the money to pay for it but don't now without cashing in pensions, it was a valid debt. We had a second court case with them to obtain access to our water supply as they kept turning it off as punishment and wouldn't be us get into the borehole which was on the builders' land. I rang the firm that dealt with that and again they had never been billed for the other sides costs but there was money in the pot to pay it if we got a second letter. Then he threw me the bombshell.....
The client, a limited company, was dissolved, i.e. no longer exists. So as far as case 2 was concerned he said that he would dispute it as you can't make a payment to something which is no longer a legal entity and the company was the plaintiff in both cases. Not an individual and not the law firm chasing us. He said there was a doubt as to who they were asking the payment for as the court judgement was for blah blah blah ltd versus mr and mrs w. I forwarded this nugget to the BHS lawyer who said that this changed everything, as he confirmed that there is now no-one to pay as the company does not exist.
It is now in the hands of the legal insurers and the company which dealt with the first claim which we have been asked to pay, and they are going to look at both cases and consult and advise. So perhaps by the skin of our teeth we may not have to pay around £20K.....
It is an appalling situation, the law changed in 2018 putting a time limit on how long a claim is valid when it has been to court but anything before that date has no end to when a claim can be presented. In both cases the other sides legal firm have not submitted their bills to our lawyers. Which makes me wonder why, tax or vat dodge?
