Taking bailiffs to court
Make a claim on Money Claim Online (MCOL)
This is Money Claim Online
When you bring a money claim for irregular enforcement, you always make the claim against the creditor or the council that instructed the bailiff.
Do not litigate a Bailiff company. They hire solicitors and mess you about.
Before starting your claim.
Write down all the events leading to the enforcement in chronological order.
Gather your supporting evidence.
Make a Letter of Claim containing the following:
When the deadline passes without payment, start a claim at moneyclaimonline.co.uk.
After the court has issued the claim to the defendant, they have 14 days to acknowledge the claim, and a further 14 days to give their defence.
If you receive neither the payment nor a defence, you can apply for judgment in default.
If the defendant gives their defence, the court will ask you to complete a form N149 Allocation Questionnaire. Complete the form and allocate your claim to the "small claims track".
Look over the defendant's defence statement and start work preparing your witness statements, a skeleton argument, and assemble your supporting evidence. Your evidence is called an Exhibit.
A skeleton argument sets out the legal basis of your claim.
You might get long statements chronicling the history of the debt being enforced.
If your claim is more than £10000 or is a complex case, then you can recover your solicitor’s fees.
You can also consider a no-win-no-fee claim. This involves making over a part of your claim award to the solicitor if your claim is successful.
As a Litigant in Person (LIP), a person representing themselves, you can recover your legal expenses and disbursements.