Recovering owed money.

I had a housemate last year who was a replacement for someone who dropped out. As a result we didn't know her very well and she made very little effort with us over the course of the year. Although we were fairly amicable whilst living together, I always had to remind her about bills and the money she owed each of us. Now we have finished for the summer and still have bills to pay she's not answering any of my messages about it, her name isn't on the bill as she joined us late. She owes myself and two other housemates for several bills so it's quite a lot of money, does anyone have advice or experience in a similar situation?

bump

Was her name on any of the bills?

Reply 3

sw3

if you can't contact her, not much else you can do. Perhaps try her facebook? Do you have her address (from a contract if she signed one)? Have experienced this before, didn't manage to get it back and lost out on a few hundred. Not much you can do really except learn from your mistakes...

Reply 4

Ed3003

Original post by thecrimsonidol

Was her name on any of the bills?

No because she moved in after we'd sorted them all out and stupidly forgot to add her :s-smilie:

Reply 5

Ed3003

Original post by sw3

I've facebooked her a few times, it's so frustrating!! As you say, something to learn from!!

Reply 6

Origami Bullets

If she's refusing to pay, and you have some sort of evidence that she should be paying, then you could take her to the Small Claims Court. I'd suggest speaking to CAB first though, to see if they think you have a case.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/Makingacourtclaimformoney/DG_195639

Reply 7

mfaxford

Original post by Origami Bullets

I was going to suggest the same, or at least threaten it. The threat of action like that might be enough to make her pay.

Reply 8

cl_steele

yar take her through the county court and have a CCJ issued against her, if that fails im sure a debt collector would be more than happy to screw her intro the ground :colone:

Reply 9

Ed3003

Original post by Origami Bullets

Thank you, have you ever dealt with the small claims court personally? I'm just wondering about fees and how much hassle it'll be?

Reply 10

Origami Bullets

Original post by Ed3003

Thank you, have you ever dealt with the small claims court personally? I'm just wondering about fees and how much hassle it'll be?

No, although I've had to look into it recently (desperately hoping I won't need to use it!). I have, however, previously threatened to take someone to court using a formal document with the relevant legal language. They paid up very rapidly, which just goes to show that the threat of court action is often enough to make people pay up!

You can get a fee waiver if your income is under £13,000, or you're on certain benefits.Even if that doesn't apply to you, the fees are related to how much you're claiming, starting from (IIRC) £35. From what I've heard, the amount of hassle involved isn't ridiculous, but there is preparation to be done in terms of gathering documents and evidence, thinking about what you're going to say etc.

Reply 11

mfaxford

Original post by Ed3003

Thank you, have you ever dealt with the small claims court personally? I'm just wondering about fees and how much hassle it'll be?

Small claims is for smaller amounts of money (usually up to £5000) which this is likely to fall into. There's some info online if you search for it. I think the procedure is fairly simple for a small claim.

Hopefully the threat of court will do the trick without you actually needing to fill out the forms although if you really want your money back you need to be prepared to go through with it.