Long story but will try and keep it breif. A friend of the Mrs went out with a bloke several years ago and he moved in with her for about 18 months in which time he put in a new bathroom (which he got at trade cost from his workplace) with the asssistance of his brother and paid for 2 holidays that he insisted that they (him, her and her 2 kids)went on. Meantime he decides to invest in a property letting business against the advice of virtually everyone he told of his plan. As I said above after 18 months the relationship had run its course and he moved back to his own house that he had manged to refurbish during his cohabitation with should we call her “H”. Well the business went from bad idea to unmitigated disaster and he ends up driving a taxi and that was the last we heard of him, until recently that is. Just before the 6 year limit he puts in a claim against her for her share of the holidays and for the increase in the value of her property as a result of him installing a new bathroom something in the region of £15000 to £20000. After consulting a solictor herself H decides to offer him £2000 hoping he would just go away. He declines this against his solicitors advice so the whole thing escalates but he fails to pay his solicitor forcing her to apply to the court to stop representing him, so it looks like the whole claim will end up being dropped. Great News!!! but it leaves her facing a bill of £2000 to £3000 for her solicitor to try and defend herself against some chancer who in my opinion had no valid claim in the first place. How can this possibly be Right, Fair or Legal in this country? Sorry for the long post,

How can it be fair that my ex stopped me seeing my son for 6 months and i had to take her to court to get access???

Cost me ££££££

The laws an ass..

the law is indeed an ass 😥

Flip I know where you’re coming from regards solictors fees but my point is how can somebody say “you owe me £10000” but I’ll go away if you give me £3000 knowing that it will cost you £5000 just to try and defend any claim.

without going into detail I know someone who this happened to. Almost exactly how you described. He sued the person for increase in value in house because he put a kitchen in and redecorated.He was there 13 months.

He had a valid claim in law but was claiming £15000 (grossly inflated).
Settled out of court but still received £5000+.

He is a proper ****t. Your not in Bolton are you ??

No not Bolton but not far off!

Her bill seems pretty large IMHO for defending. Also he may still proceed if his current solictor comes ‘off the record’

good , was just wondering whether it was the same chap scamming people.

I would suggest that if proceedings are ongoing and he has abandoned them or is failing to respond to any directions that the Court has given, even if only management directions, then an unless order could be applied for and thereafter, assuming he ignores this, his claim can be struck out with an order for costs in your friends favour. That order would need to be enforced i.e attachment of earnings etc. He would appear to need stamping on HARD.

Nipper99 – Member
I would suggest that if proceedings are ongoing and he has abandoned them or is failing to respond to any directions that the Court has given, even if only management directions, then an unless order could be applied for and thereafter, assuming he ignores this, his claim can be struck out with an order for costs in your friends favour. That order would need to be enforced i.e attachment of earnings etc. He would appear to need stamping on HARD.

what are you on about ???

No suggestion he has abandoned his claim or not complied with court directions. Its unlikely you would have a CMC for a claim of this nature, it too straightforward.

He can just represent himself as a ‘litigant in person’and proceed to comply with the Court directions (not that there would be many for claim of this nature).

Nipper99 The way he was heading I don’t think he has a pot to piss in, I believe he was applying for or had got legal aid but I think his actions were probably more the last throw of the dice for a very desperate man.

He wouldnt get legal aid for that.

i suspect that it would be hard if not impossible especially today that changing a kitchen added to the value of a property especially if you were unable to show the previous valu and current value or provide an accredited value of the work completed. chancer and the legal bods on both sides for going along with it. did the ladies in qusetion not counter sue for putting a roof over theses guys heads and cooking washing etc etc..

read the post. I sai ‘if’ and who said anyrhing about a case management conference. Plenty of other management directions applicable.

totalshell – Member
i suspect that it would be hard if not impossible especially today that changing a kitchen added to the value of a property especially if you were unable to show the previous valu and current value or provide an accredited value of the work completed. chancer and the legal bods on both sides for going along with it. did the ladies in qusetion not counter sue for putting a roof over theses guys heads and cooking washing etc etc..

impossible, its piss easy to show !! think about it. Plenty of experts that will do a detailed report, receipts to show cost of kitchen, photo’s to show improvements etc etc

totalshell all kinds of valuations of before during and after his residence were dragged up from somewhere, I suppose this is the sort of thing solicitors love to do as it adds £££££s to their bill for very little effort.

your post doesnt seem relevant given question was ‘does he have a claim’. Would seem proceedings have been issued given that 6 year limitation period has been referred to applying to court to come off record.

anyway, my point is that the person does have a valid claim in answer to the OP’s post and its easy to show.

the cost of defending/fighting the claim is something the defendant should have been advised on by their solicitor. No point throwing good money after bad if you are ultimately going to have to pay the claimant something !

Mabolsa Richie – Member
totalshell all kinds of valuations of before during and after his residence were dragged up from somewhere, I suppose this is the sort of thing solicitors love to do as it adds £££££s to their bill for very little effort.

as I said , easy to show. Its not something solicitors LOVE to do , its something that is required to make the claim succeed, without then the liklihood is that it will fail.

Margin Walker I think we’re going slightly off track here, my original point was that somebody can say that you owe them money and you either just give it them or give it to somebody else to stop you giving to them! That cannot be Right or Fair but certainly Legal>

Mabolsa Richie – Member
Margin Walker I think we’re going slightly off track here, my original point was that somebody can say that you owe them money and you either just give it them or give it to somebody else to stop you giving to them! That cannot be Right or Fair but certainly Legal>

sorry, I must calmdown (too much red wine).

Ok. He has a valid claim and was claiming £15k. If he had done it properly you can assume he would have achieved a % of what he claimed. Now H could have paid him £15k and the matter is closed. It would now seem that she will have to pay him nothing but has a legal bill of 2/3k. Can she not look at it on the basis that spending the money on the legal representation has saved her paying out much more than the £2/3k she now owes her representative. She could have ended up paying legal costs and a sum to the chap claiming against her.

whilst she feels it is unfair and the guy may be a bell end, she seems to have got off lightly albeit it will leave a sour taste in the mouth. The person I know ended up paying £8k and her own legal costs on an original claim against her for £18k.

It is legal but whether its right or fair ??

anyway – good luck to her , being sued in these circs is no fun.

Margin Walker, My point is why can people just find some “legit” reason to demand money from you and you can’t just tell them to go away and stop harassing you without it costihg you thousands of pounds and your point of hergetting off lightly with it “ONLY” costing £3000 or whatever as opposed to £18000 really isn’t very comforting because at the end of the day this guy had improved the value of his property well beyond hers while he was in residence at her proerty.

I know what your point is and most people wouldnt proceed with this course of action but between us we know of two that have. 🙁

Yeah just makes my blood boil coz eeza toe talc hunt!!!!

I bought my ex wife a KFC in 1990 I am now going to sue the b*tch for half the money back 👿