Claim form
A Claim Form is a formal legal document used to make a claim at the County Court. The Claim Form sets out the basis of the claim together with the amount being claimed from you.
We send this to the Court for it to ‘seal’ and ‘issue’ the claim. The claim is given a unique claim number. The Court will then send you the claim.
Why has the court sent me a claim form?
Because we issued a claim (described above), following your failure to either make payment or contact us with payment proposals; or no formal repayment arrangement has been agreed.
What is the consequence of a County Court Judgement (CCJ)
Judgements stay on the Register of Judgements for six years. Banks and loan companies use this information to help decide whether to give you credit. Your judgement is only removed from the register if:
- you paid the full amount within 28 days from the date of judgement
- it is set aside (withdrawn) by the court.
If you pay the full amount within 28 days you can remove your judgement by sending a fee and proof of payment to the Court. If it takes you more than 28 days to pay the judgement, you can send a fee and proof of payment to get the judgement marked 'satisfied' on the register. It will stay for six years but people/companies searching the register will see that you have paid it.
You can search the register yourself for a fee. If your details are wrong you can get your entry checked with the Court. Some companies offer ‘credit repair’ checks, but you can usually sort things out yourself with the Court more cheaply.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’d strongly recommend that you read it carefully. You should also seek independent legal advice if you are not sure about any aspect of the Claim Form, or what we are claiming, and what you need to do next.
If you acknowledge the claim, by sending the ‘Acknowledgement of Service’ back to the Court, the 14-day deadline for providing a full response to the claim is increased to 28 days. This extra time allows you to investigate the matter and seek advice.
We’d be happy to discuss the claim with you at any time during this period.
If you make an instalment offer at this stage, it either means it is the first time you have made the offer or you are repeating / increasing an offer we have previously rejected. You should send the offer to us and we’ll send our response to the Court.
If the Court decides to make an order for instalments which we don’t think is reasonable, we may appeal the decision and seek either an increased instalment amount or a ‘forthwith judgement’ which means that you pay the full debt immediately.
This will mean that the matter is transferred to your local Court. The Court will issue directions and a hearing date which you / your legal representative will have to comply with.
Even if at this stage, the Court will expect both parties to try and settle the matter, narrow the issues in dispute, and avoid the need for a hearing. At any stage we would encourage and welcome a conversation with you to try and achieve this.
If you don’t respond to the claim after 14 days, we can request a Judgement in ‘default’ of your failure to respond, which allows us to move to the enforcement stage.
When we incur solicitor and Court costs we add these to the amount claimed on the Claim Form as we are asking the Court to award us these (order you to pay them). These costs form part of the claim balance
Contact our debt team
Speak to an advisor
If you have any queries or concerns on paying your water bill, please speak to our friendly advisors.
8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. This is a toll-free telephone number.