Long story short. 16F was taken on by foster mother after escaping abusive father. During that time foster mother took out credit for iPhone (in image).

16F has now moved back in with original biological mother after foster mother stopped paying 16F her allowance.

Foster mother is now trying to claim that biological mother is liable for the finance of the phone. She's managed to get a social worker to ask her if she'd be willing to take on the finance agreement.

Now I'm almost 100% certain that real mum is not liable for this credit at all. The phone is still in possession of 16F at this point in time.

I am a mutual friend of the biological mother. My first impression is that biological mum is not liable because the debt was taken out in the name of the foster mum.

The price of that phone is far more expensive than what the biological mum would be willing to pay for a phone, so would not even be the sort of thing she would have bought anyway.

What would you advise is the best route forward for biological mum?

In England, I've received this letter chasing a debt for a former resident of my property. I purchased the house over 10 years ago from the previous owner (not the person to who the letter is addressed).

I'm slightly concerned that they are claiming a charging order has been placed on the property. Should I contact them to make it clear this person hasn't lived here for quite some time. Or is this a scare tactic and it's best to ignore?

I have checked online and there is currently no charging order showing against my property.

I need some help & advice! This was in England

I visited Sainsburys on the 9th August 2026 for a grocery shop ans Argos collection.

I was visiting my mum and went to the Uxbridge branch which I hadn't visited in a long time because I don't live closeby.

I did my shop and left and didn't realise I needed to do anything. They had newly implemented a Euro Car Parks machine to scan your receipt for free parking.

That is my fault.

I received a fine for £85 (discounted if paid in 2 weeks) on the 20th August and called in Sainsburys to check if I could send in my proof of shop or need to pay. I was told to email them a proof of shopping and they will waive it.

I double checked the email address contact and I sent it all in, card payment, proof of Argos purchase and collection email as well as the fine.

I got another letter in September with an outstanding fine.

I called in and was told the staff member was dealing with them and not to worry. I give my contact info and confirm his email address.

I have now today received a DCBL (Debt Collection Bailiffs Ltd) letter for £155.

It is dated 16th Oct and due on the 30th Oct. It was only mailed in today.

I have called Sainsburys, they say thats not right call back after 2 and they'll be in.

I called DCBL they said cant do anything have to pay.

Euro car parks say no longer in our hands.

I am also currently 37 weeks pregnant and emotional atm so extra stress yay (:

If I was told initially, yep new system you have to pay, then I would have paid the discounted amount 2 months ago.

I don't think have that option anymore. If I pay £155 then can I claim this back from Sainsburys due to negligence? I have proof and calls are all recorded now, but pregnancy has been very stressful.

What can I do to get this sorted and what are my legal options?

Me and my girlfriend went to a gig this past Saturday, and when we came home we noticed a few strange things, like lights being on that were turned off, door to our daughter's room being open that had been closed, footprints on a deflated air bed. Nothing had been stolen but someone had definitely been inside my house. One of my neighbours has a ring doorbell so the day after I asked if they had seen anything and if I could look at the footage. They told me that the police had been at my address around 8-9pm, banging on the door and threatening to break in. They have a warrant for a family member who briefly used to live with me, he hasn't lived at my address for at least 2 years and the police have been notified about that on a number of occasions by both of us. On the sunday I contacted Merseyside police asking for some clarification, and to report a break in. I was told police had not entered the property as it would've come up in the system, so it had been reported as a burglary. One hour after the phone call an officer arrived at my address to inform the police actually did enter my property as I had left the back door unlocked ( pretty sure I didn't but there wasn't any damage to the door so, maybe I did? ), but regardless, they came to my house looking for someone they know does not live there anymore and entered my house without leaving a note or anything to say they had been in. I have two rescue dogs at home and they must've been petrified. Is there anything I can do about this legally? I understand they have a warrant ( I have not seen this in person though ) but this does not feel right to me. At the very least I want to be shown the bodycam footage to make sure my dogs weren't harmed and make sure they didn't actually break in. Is there anything I can do or is it just tough luck?

My coworker with a superiority complex believes that he can call me off my break if im needed, and I cant leave site. Im a security guard in a shop in a mall, my breaks are either 1 hr or 1 + 1/2 depending on if im working 9 hrs or 12. These breaks are paid and my coworker is now demanding i come off my break if he calls bc he needs me. I told him thats illegal. Am I right?

Quick context:

• I live in England

• I'm 24 years old

• My upstairs neighbour is likely in his 60s

• For this post, I'll refer to my upstairs neighbour as Pete

Rough timeline of events of things he's done:

• 4 years ago: I move in

• For the first year, Pete parks in my parking space. It didn't bother me as I didn't have a car, but was annoying when family came to visit.
  Although, oddly, Pete's parking space is directly next to mine, and he wouldn't use it.

• 3 years ago: My mum is visiting, and as she's leaving, Pete drunkenly enters the building.
  My apartment door is near the main building door, so we see one another straight away. This is my first time actually seeing him in-person.
  Pete looks at me and says "You need to keep the fucking noise down. Slamming doors at 3am every night."
  I laugh, as I think he's doing a bit and joking around. He replies "I'm not joking", and storms off.
  To my knowledge, I am not a noisy neighbour. I'm not even awake at 3am, let alone slamming doors. I go out of my way to make sure I'm never noisy. I turn the TV down is a movie starts getting too loud. I don't even own a speaker, so music is always in my headphones. Etc etc.
  As Pete walks away, my mum asks "Is that the guy parking in your parking spot?", and Pete lost it. He starts walking towards my mum, threatening to fight her. (My mum is about 15 years younger than Pete). She stands her ground and he walks off.

• He stops parking in my parking spot at this point.

• After the above event, he consistently was petty towards me.
  Small things like sighing when he walked past me, ignoring me when I said hello to him, or blowing raspberries at me from his window.
  Some things were more aggressive, like slamming the main building door only when I'm standing right next to it to check my post.

• After a few months, on one occasion, he actually waited until I was walking behind his car to start reversing, and myself and my fiancée had to step out of the way.
  I obviously cannot prove that this was intentional, but with everything else stacked up, it felt intentional.

• All the while, he's been playing music exceptionally loudly. On one occasion, it was so loud that I have a video of my living room door loudly vibrating in its door frame.

• Around 2 years ago, I get a video doorbell. Specifically because I want to have footage if Pete is ever gets aggressive again.

• December, 2 years ago, Pete gets home late at night, and shakes his fist at my doorbell camera.

• April, last year, he gets home late at night, and shakes his fist at my doorbell. For longer this time, and more aggressively.

• Summer, last year, Pete gets home late with his wife, and loudly shouts "We're being recorded! Careful what you say!", his wife is embarrassed and tells him off, to which he is embarrassed that my camera caught him being told off.

• 3 months ago, my windows were open during the heatwave. Pete stands outside and loudly tells a passer-by: "Don't trust him. He's dodgy", whilst pointing at my window.

• 2 months ago Pete tells another neighbour that I'm a "twat", "horrible", and that he "can't stand" me.

• 3 nights ago, he gets home with a friend, and without his friend seeing, sticks his middle finger up to my doorbell camera.

• Last night, he gets home, looks at my doorbell, and says "Wanker!"

I'd understand all of this slightly if I had done something wrong. (Although even then, a mature person would talk to me about what I'm doing, instead of this.)
But, to the best of my knowledge, I've done nothing. I feel like I'm always making sure I'm not bothering my neighbours, whilst he seems to go out of his way to bother me.

The cherry on top is that I've only seen him in-person a handful of times. The time he drunkenly threatened my mother was the first. The other 4 or 5 times have just been walking past each other.

Thinking about it now, I really don't think I've actually seen him in-person for at least the past 6 months. So I truly don't know what he could possibly have against me.

I try to not let it affect me, but I'm not somebody who likes confrontation. So I feel unable to speak to him or his wife about this.
It's making me feel unhappy and threatened in my own home.

Is there anything I can actually do about this situation? Or is everything too petty & mild?

I found a small bone in the middle of London and someone told me it is likely part of a dog bone (Talus). I'm currently on vacation here and gonna be leaving England with the Eurostar for Brussels. I myself am living in Germany on the 31st. Now I'm questioning whether I can take that small bone with me as a souvenir or whether I need to leave it behind. I don't want to get into any trouble with security or customs or whatever so I thought I'd ask here first. So can I take the bone with me to Belgium?

As the title suggests, my dad is being chased by solicitors for his brothers outstanding legal costs.

His brother (my uncle) has an outstanding invoice with a solicitor of £2200, the aforementioned brother passed away two weeks ago (we aren’t sorry to see this as he was a total wrong ‘un and dragged our family through the dirt) as far as we know there was no will left, he died penniless and owed money to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Are the solicitors coming after my dad as he’s been named next of kin? They’ve threatened my dad with small claims court, can they do this? Where does he stand?

My dad is in his mid 70’s and in poor health so he really doesn’t need this on top of everything.

Any information greatly appreciated, thanks!

Was at a club in Budapest. A hostess was bugging me asking to buy her a drink, so I agreed to a Coke for a few quid. (Currency was in Hungarian forints)

She later came back with an entire bottle of wine. I immediately told her I hadn't ordered that, but she reassured me it was on the house and she was only pouring a glass and she was welcoming me to Hungary.

I'd had one sip, but after a while I started getting wary. Everyone was being unusually friendly, including the bartender making small talk. Something didn't feel right and the club was a small one with very few people.

I eventually went to the till to pay for the Coke. The bartender quoted me a price in Hungarian forints equivalent to a couple of pounds, so I tapped my First Direct Visa credit card.

Only when I got home and checked my banking app did I realise I'd been charged just under £200.

Looking back, it's pretty clear I was played. The card terminal was facing away from me, and I was never given a receipt. Also why would she ask for a coke? if she has the authority to get a whole bottle of wine on the house then surely she should be able to get a glass of coke on the house for herself?

I contacted First Direct, but they basically said I should've checked the amount before tapping. I understand that, and obviously I've learned my lesson.

But think about it. If you walk into a restaurant or shop, buy a basic item and the cashier verbally quotes you £3, would you seriously expect them to secretly charge you £200?

Most people, especially for small transactions worth a few quid will simply tap their card and move along with their day.

Surely there's a difference between authorising a payment and being deliberately misled about the amount?

First Direct have escalated it to their complaints department.

Has anyone successfully challenged something similar? Would I have a chance with a Visa chargeback or the Financial Ombudsman on the grounds of misrepresentation, despite physically tapping my card?

I know I was played, but surely there's some consumer protection for situations like this?

Any advice appreciated.

This is England

Recently terminated an AST and surrendered the property

The landlord requested i sent him proof of fully paid utility bills and council tax accounts and send him a forwarding address

The landlord is a professional landlord, has no accounts on his name whatsoever. All accounts are under my name

Told him - in no uncertain terms - all accounts including council tax are under my name, i have notified them the last day of tenancy and any outstanding balance would be between me and them. Whilst not obligated, I also sent him a proof of latest council tax bill showing I’m liable until the last day of tenancy, with my name, the address of the property and account number all clearly stated. And I also told him he can reach out to me on this e-mail for any unresolved matters but not giving him my new residential address.

He now raised a deposit claim, simply stating “the tenant did not provide proof of payment of council tax”

I can deal with the deposit scheme easily. I just uploaded my bill covering tenancy period on my name, as well as full payment, and statement of no balance

I also told council, hey this guy is attempting to collect council tax on your behalf even though he’s aware council tax is under my name- you may wanna check it out, is he entitled to do so etc

I now wonder if this also satisfies sec 2 of the fraud act and whether / how i should report to the police

The landlord
- explicitly knew i’m liable for the council tax
- knew council tax is on my name not his
- nevertheless submitted a claim for council tax payable to himself
- no evidence he paid any council tax himself or suffered any loss

I simply cannot believe he, a professional landlord with dozens of properties, honestly represented himself being entitled to my council tax payment. If he dishonestly represented himself in this case, is it fraud and what should i do?

Bought a second hand car 2018 from a VW dealership about 7 weeks ago.

I took it back into them to have the car checked over as it was leaking from a couple spots on the car. They wanted to charge for the inspection work £800+ and then for parts etc on top as water ingress is not covered under warranty.

I have negotiated that it is unfair that they sold me a car that leaks and when they bought it and sold it on to me it was the middle of one of the driest summers so that it wouldn’t show signs of leaking. They’ve done the investigation and now want £800 to fix the issue.

Can I get thoughts / advice as I would expect the Consumer Rights Act to come into play here, they’ve sold a product to me which doesn’t function as it should do.

Thanks

I bought a second-hand wool coat from a UK charity shop. I’ve discovered the label says Made in North Korea (DPRK). eBay removed my listing under its embargoed goods policy. The coat is already in the UK, and I would only be selling it to another UK buyer. Is this prohibited under Regulation 50 of the UK’s North Korea sanctions regulations, or can older second-hand clothing be legally resold domestically?

I’m in England and currently negotiating a private tenancy.

The original tenancy start date was supposed to be at the beginning of November. However, because of delays from both sides, it has now been changed to mid-November.

The landlord is insisting that the first rent payment must still be made on or before 1 November, even if I move-in in mid-November.

They explained that this was because of tax purposes, and tied to their salary, and that they had already submitted a declaration indicating that rent would start being received on 1 November.

They claim they also checked with whoever handles the arrangements but was told it could not be changed at this late stage.

My questions are:

-Is there any law or HMRC requirement that means a landlord must receive rent before a certain date because of a monthly tax payment or declaration, or tied with their salary?
-Is it possible for a landlord to have submitted a tax declaration stating that rent will be received from 1 November, but then be unable to change the payment date?
-Does the landlord’s tax payment deadline genuinely prevent the tenant and landlord from agreeing to a different first rent payment date?

Thank you.

Scotland (Forest Holidays)

Edit: I understand the power outing is outside of their control, my question is regarding them being unable to provide us any basic necessities. Once they close at 6pm we have no access to water.

Currently staying at a forest holiday park in Scotland (we live in England). There has been a power outing for the entire camp and the village nearby, this was since last night and won’t be back on until tomorrow evening, by which time we will have left.

My question, are we legally entitled to anything paid back?

We paid for Friday-Monday, no electricity since late Saturday night. We also paid for the premium WiFi and film package.

The fridge is off so food has gone bad, oven and hob are electric so can’t cook, heating is electric, hot tub is electric, hot water is electric (water in general is on a pump so no water without power).

So we have no food or way of cooking, no access to additional things we paid for, no hot water or heating and no lighting. We asked for supplies and were given a bottle of water (2 litre) and some tea light candles.

We’re in woodland with literally nothing. Essentially in a shed that we’ve paid over a thousand pounds for.

Are we entitled to anything form of refund or food etc? They’ve said we aren’t at the front desk.

Property Type: Purpose-Built Student
Accommodation (PBSA) managed by a national provider (Homes for Students).
Total Contract Value: £9,282.00 (Paid in full upfront via bank transfer ).
Country: England

Hi everyone, I am looking for legal verification on my position after formally repudiating my student accommodation contract due to severe statutory breaches and unlivable conditions.

1. Core Breaches & Timeline
Uninhabitable Move-in: Upon initial handover, the room was in an unacceptable state (dirty, broken fittings. They gave me another room since i refused to stay in a dirty place. The new place came with heating issues and dirt and spiders as well).

12-Day Total Loss of Water: The building suffered a complete loss of running water for 12 consecutive days. Only in my room

Unauthorized Storage: During the water outage, maintenance staff left their equipment overnight and didnt even let me know they were coming beforehand.

Medical Impact: I have a clinically proven diagnosis of anxiety and am on prescribed medication. The extreme stress of living without water and basic sanitation directly triggered four severe panic attacks and severely exacerbated my condition.

2. Actions Taken So Far
Formal Repudiation & Notice: I served written notice terminating the contract under Common Law. I explicitly refused their offer to sign a new portal link/transfer for the new room they gave me.

ANUK National Code Complaint: I lodged an urgent complaint with the ANUK National Code. Code Complaints Officer accepted the case as an urgent Priority 1 Breach (loss of water) and has issued Head Office a hard deadline of November 3rd to respond.

Environmental Health: I formally logged the housing standards and public health violation with Local Environmental Health.

Vacant Possession: I am in the process of cleaning all my personal belongings from the property, taking timestamped videos/photos of the empty room, and surrendering my key fob to reception.
Financial Recovery: I am currently in the process of submitting a £9,282.00 "Services Not Provided" chargeback with my Bank.

My Questions for Legal Experts:
Repudiatory Breach: Given a 12-day complete loss of water, am I legally sound under English contract law in treating the contract as terminated and accepting their breach?
Bank Chargeback Success: Has anyone navigated a debit card chargeback (£9.2k) for student housing under Services Not Provided? What specific evidence should I emphasize to Lloyds to make sure the claim succeeds smoothly?
Ongoing Liability Risk: Once I have given vacant possession, returned keys, and raised the chargeback, can the landlord realistically pursue me for rent given the ANUK investigation and Environmental Health log?

Hi everyone,

Apologies for any formatting as I'm on mobile.

I’m looking for some legal advice and recommendations on what type of solicitor we need to look into the purchase of my house and the situation on our estate.

I bought a new build house four years ago. This is a small development of 50 houses in England. The developer was a small, single site developer, which we found out is based in Ireland. 

The development is still unfinished—the roads and pathways are incomplete, and there are still homes left to be built on a small piece of land at the front. Earlier in the year this land with, planning permission, went to auction but didn't sell. Recently the developer went into administration and is now going through liquidation.

Around 18 months ago residents were on at the council about it being unfinished, as the developer was impossible to contact. We discovered that the developer failed to pay the Section 38? bond to the council before starting to build the estate for completion and adoption of the highways.

A slight caveat to this is my property is on a small cul-de-sac that plans say it's a private road and was not to be adopted, but it is finished, however I do not know who owns this road and whether the S38 would still apply to my property.

Because funding was never secured, the council are claiming they aren't in a position to complete the infrastructure, and since the builder is in liquidation, there are no company assets left to clear it up so we are all a bit stuck with how to proceed.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? We want to investigate our original property purchases to see if our conveyancing solicitors missed this during the buying process, to check that our property isn't at risk of a loss of value and figure out how to force a resolution regarding the unfinished estate.

To make matters worse, when I asked my solicitors to look through our paper work they said their governing body wouldn't allow them to do so as they may be found at fault and so it would be a possible conflict of interest and they were not longer able to communicate with me so I had them email all my documents over to myself.

1. What specific type of solicitor should we hire to check through our documents to make sure our house purchase is okay?

2. Do we have any way to force the local authorities to act, given that the infrastructure is a safety issue and they didn't secure the bond? There have been a few accidents due to the road and pathways. 

3. Should I pursue the original solicitor for negligence for failing to flag the road bond? 

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Due to the today’s storm, my neighbour’s trampoline has blown over the fence and gone straight into and landed on my car. The damage is fairly severe, there’s a big gash in the door, and many scratches on the side and roof. Looking at the law, the neighbour is responsible for the damages, as this storm was a known and warned weather event, and they did not take any precautions to tie/ weigh it down. I have plenty of evidence of the trampoline on my car, the damage, and where it came from, clearly showing there’s been no attempt at securing it prior to the storm. I have spoken to my car insurance company, they have advised I get the neighbours details, and contact their financial recovery department tomorrow regarding the matter. Unfortunately they would not answer the door, so I put a note explaining the situation and their liability through their door and pictured myself doing it.

Do I need to be doing anything else regarding this? The damage is probably going to be £0000s, I don’t think I should pay for their negligence.

Hello.

Hope everyone is well. Met police had seized my property ( my phone a while back in june) and they had not returned it even after the case went NFA. None of my emails are responded ever by the OIC and I have made plenty of phone calls to 101 that led to somebody phoning me back which led to nowhere. I was told the OIC has been long tern off sick ( which I think is a lie) has miraculously arranged for me to collect the phone twice via my duty solicitor but I was made to stand outside the station for hours and eventually I had to go away. He was not available, I was told. I also made a complaint but apparently the caseworker can't help with property collection and only deals with public complaints although he sent an email to the OIC. I was also phoned by a non withheld number and was asked to come a few days ago to collect it but they didn't open the door and the number they phoned me from was apparently not on their system.

Idek what I couod do at this point. Each complaint through 101 leads to a callback and they say "leave that with me" and nothing happens

4 times I was asked to show up at the station and they simply ignored. The station is not open to public and has no front desk. It's only got a buzzer outside.

Pls any help is greatly appreciated. Also I cannot afford a solicitor and my duty solicitor said his duties are over once the case was NFA d. I even contacted an MP who sent them a letter and even that led to nothing.

Any suggestions?

I locked my car and house keys in my car. My housemate let me into the house, but I couldn't access my locked bedroom.

I contacted my letting agent (all of our comms were email), who suggested getting a locksmith as they couldn't help until Tuesday (this was Friday). I agreed and arranged for one to change my bedroom lock.

I told the agent a locksmith was coming. 15 minutes after the locksmith had left, they clarified that they meant a car locksmith, as the house uses a special suited lock system.

I've since found out there was a spare key in the property's lockbox, which they never mentioned.

They're now saying I'll have to pay to restore the original lock, which could be expensive. I accept that locking my keys in the car was my mistake, but I feel their unclear advice and failure to mention the spare key contributed to the situation.

They said they would invoice me, but I have not received this yet.

Do I have any legal grounds to dispute the full charge or argue that they should share some responsibility?

Good evening everyone,

I’m looking for a spot of advice please. In June 2026 I hired a car from Europcar, booked in England but for a rental in France. I took a video of the cars condition upon collection for my own protection - or so I thought!

Upon returning the car the agent who spoke very little was trying to highlight a small mark to the very bottom of the front bumper, I consulted my video and you can see a mark on the bumper that matches the damage. Unfortunately the agent was having none of it and insisted it was new damage - the whole car was covered in damage - the majority missing from the pre-rental condition report I later found.

There was a language barrier and I wanted to get home so I left the matter there thinking I would be able to sort it out when I got home - my biggest mistake.

By the time I’d got home they had already charged my card for €350. I’ve now been on a back and forth with them for months over numerous emails and eventually a credit card chargeback which ruled in my favour.

I thought the matter over until I received an email a couple of weeks ago from Europcar claiming I owe them the money again! I sent them a long response with all the evidence and email chains I have accumulated over the past months.

Their latest response is attached.

My ultimate question is do I just take this one on the chin, pay them and move on with life - vowing never to use them again.

Or

Do I continue to fight them - even with their threats of legal action.

Apologies for the long post I am just at my wits end and I’m close to paying them and giving up.

I appreciate any responses 🙂

​

Hi everyone,

I'm assisting my daughter with a small claim against a car dealership concerning a faulty used vehicle.

The car developed serious engine problems shortly after purchase and was subsequently examined by an independent specialist garage. The garage provided diagnostic findings, photographs and written comments by email, including an opinion about the nature and age of the engine damage.

These findings form an important part of our claim, and the documents have already been shared with the dealership.

We've now received the court's directions for a three-hour hearing, which state:

"No expert evidence is permitted. Any party seeking to rely on expert evidence must make a formal application to the Court identifying the name, expertise and cost of the expert being sought."

I'm trying to understand how this applies to existing garage inspection and diagnostic records, as opposed to commissioning a formal expert witness report specifically for court proceedings.

My questions are:

Can the garage's diagnostic records, photographs and written findings be submitted as ordinary documentary evidence without expert permission?

If the mechanic expresses a technical opinion, particularly about whether the damage was pre-existing, does that automatically make those comments expert evidence requiring permission?

If permission is necessary to rely on the existing written findings, would this require an N244 application, or could a written request to the court suffice?

We are not seeking to appoint a new expert or have the mechanic attend the hearing. We simply want to understand whether the existing evidence can be relied upon and what procedural steps are necessary.

I've contacted the court for clarification but would appreciate any experience or guidance from those familiar with small claims proceedings in England and Wales.

Many thanks.

Hello everyone,

My boiler recently stopped working and I called for a tradesman to come out. He was 2 hours late and quite rude when he arrived. He told me the issue was the thermostat and that he'd be back to replace it - in the meanwhile he said he couldn't turn make the boiler work by turning a dial.

As he was leaving he told me the boiler flue was not safety complaint - he wiggled it and showed it was loose. He made me sign on an iPad otherwise he wouldn't turn the heating on. I was stressed at work and just signed cos I need the heating.

After he left it inspected the flue by trying to rock it - it was completely solid and not loose. He evidently slackened it to mislead me.

He later sent a gas safe certificate that says my boiler is dangerous - apparently this has implications for if I want to rent the place later. At some stage this will cost me money.

He has me over a barrel in a way as he's coming back to fix the thermostat.

What are my rights here? Can I complain and get this gas safe certificate overturned? Can I get him to do the work and then just refuse to pay as compensation?

Any advice would be appreciated
Jonny

I have received a judgment in my favour in an English court after taking a sole trader through small claims / MCOL. The requirement is to pay £2050 immediately - the £1500 it cost to repair his poor work plus fees. That was the judgment in August.

My original intent was to pass this up to a HCEO but the fee of £180 is putting me off slightly. He has been completely disengaged with the whole process, not responding to the letter before action, failing to turn up to the first mediation appointment, the original court date, and the rescheduled date, with a new excuse each time. The HCEO I have spoken to claim market-leading debt recovery, but have advised there is a 25% success in recovering debts in these circumstances. Given that he has no morals, if he just shuts his door in their face then that’s in with the 75%.

Is the figure of 25% accurate? Is there another option that may be more successful? £1500 was a lot of money and I want it back but if I end up throwing more than £700 more at this with nothing to show then I’ve just spent a lot more money to prove this cowboy is a cowboy.