Suing someone for £30

[John Dorian]

Basically I have a guest that stayed at my property and they didn't pay £30.00. The remainder of the payment (£50) was collected indirectly through an online booking site.

I realise it's only £30, but this guest is a nasty piece of work and is now basically ignoring my messages.

I want to let this guest know that I won't be walked over. I'm getting my solicitors to send a letter to the guest to see if I can get payment. It is a black and white case in that the guest has admitted that they owe the money but that they're not paying for it. The contract states the total is £80 but they only paid £50.

I don't care about solicitor's fees. At the end of the day, if it went to court, I'm pretty confident that they would rule in my favour.

If the guest doesn't answer/pay when the solicitors letter is sent, what are the next steps I can take. Would I be laughed out of court because of the amount or is it legally possible to get a CCJ against someone for such a small amount.

I know I'm going to get a lot of responses saying let it go but that is not an option.

Thanks.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Moneyclaim online

 

[Jazz1966]

You are using a solicitor for a £30 debt?
Why not do it all yourself. You won't get any of your solicitor's fees back and will be well out of pocket by the time it is all settled.
Have you asked him why he is not paying?
You call your customer a 'nasty piece of work'. Maybe you should ask yourself whether your attitude has contributed to the position that you find yourself in?

 

[MBE2017]

Simply write a letter yourself, you need to give them a minimum of a week, preferably two weeks to pay, send it registered mail, stating you will be claiming through small claims court, and no further correspondence will be made.

Then do it.

If they are a UK resident you should win, collecting the money might be a different matter. You will need to pay the court fees up front, there is plenty of details on the money claim online service on the web.

 

[smallclaimsassistance]

I don't care about solicitor's fees. At the end of the day, if it went to court, I'm pretty confident that they would rule in my favour.

The above is a classic example of a phyrric victory. If you're so concerned about making a point to him, do you think that point will come across when he knows you have spent far more than the value of the debt to recover it? You're better off using MCOL.

If you're intent on throwing money at solicitors, your money would be much better spent by instructing them to redraft your terms and conditions to include a clause which provides that, in default of payment, you will be entitled to recover any legal costs and expenses from them in addition to the debt.

Properly drafted, a contractual agreement to this effect will transcend Civil Procedure Rule 27.14, which prohibits the recovery of legal costs. In that event you will be legally entitled to recover your legal fees, or at least some of them (costs recovery still subject to the proportionality rules), regardless of the amount.

Dean

 

[Lisa Thomas]

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

 

[CW Legal Services]

Never go to court on a matter of principle. You may well spend 100 pounds then the guest could file a defence and it will be switched to their home county Court. Our advice is write it off and spend your time putting in place procedures that preclude you being 30 pounds out of pocket in future. The mental anguish is costing mnore than 30 quid.

 

[Mr D]

I know I'm going to get a lot of responses saying let it go but that is not an option.

Thanks.

It is an option but not one you want to follow.

Nice to be able to afford to spend money to claim less money,

Now if you do eventually go to court - what then? A pound a month from the other party? Months missed?

How much time and money are you willing to spend over a £30 debt that you should never have had created in the first place?

Has anyone ever found solicitors letters to achieve more than a letter themselves to a person in terms of debt payment?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I know someone that spent 3K taking an ex employee to court over £250 that they did not pay back from their final wages after refusing to work the last week .

He won but at a cost . He answer to everybody's question was . She wont be going around here bragging that she had one over me now ! He was right and some times its not about money .
Our history rarely mentions money it just mentions when we won

Sometimes doing something about it is more important than the money

 

[Mr D]

I know someone that spent 3K taking an ex employee to court over £250 that they did not pay back from their final wages after refusing to work the last week .

He won but at a cost . He answer to everybody's question was . She wont be going around here bragging that she had one over me now ! He was right and some times its not about money .
Our history rarely mentions money it just mentions when we won

Sometimes doing something about it is more important than the money

Even if it then proves to other people something different than they wanted to prove?

 

[Bob Morgan]

Perhaps I have been doing 'Wrong' all these years?

 

[estwig]

 

[Gecko001]

Go for it if you think it is a matter of principle. If nobody acted on principle despite the cost it would be a free-for-all.

However what is the principle here? It seems that the OP is not after all hotel bill dodgers but only certain ones going by their comment about the guest being a nasty piece of work. Will the OP take the same action the next time this sort of thing happens and the guest is not a nasty piece of work but quite ordinary?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Some years ago I helped a desperate work colleague out with accommodation in a property I rented out. After a few weeks he left the company, vacated the house without notice and done a runner owing £70, a small sum but on a matter of principle and having tried to get payment the nice way, eventually got a CCJ against him.
I didn't get paid but heard from those who were still in contact with him that he was unable to get credit and at one point a couple of years later he wrote asking me if i'd write to the court to clear the debt if he paid the overdue sum plus a few quid on top as he couldn't get a mortgage. I still didn't get paid.

For me it was something I simply had to do, irrespective of the cost. I doubt it helped change his ways but certainly helped other tenants appreciate their responsibilities.

 

[CW Legal Services]

Nike ad: just do it and stop talking about doing it.

 

[AnneLou]

I'm struggling to understand how the guest paid an online agent £50 and yet still owes you £30?
What was the additional £30 for and why can't the online agent help you to collect it? Also, what do your terms and conditions state about collecting payment?

I'm with other posters about using money claim online. You don't need a solicitor if your terms and conditions are tight and you can prove the guest owes the outstanding amount. If the guest booked through an online agent, then they really should be helping you - that's what they are paid commission for!

 

[Gecko001]

I'm struggling to understand how the guest paid an online agent £50 and yet still owes you £30?

A few gin and tonics from the mini bar?

 

[Bob Morgan]

A few gin and tonics from the mini bar?

Or probably found the way of By-Passing the 'Coin Slot' on the Toilet Roll Dispenser!

 

[paulears]

How much has the solicitors letter cost you already? There is no business advantage in being vindictive. It's foolish and simply not worth the hassle. Satisfaction would be short lived when you discover another guest has accidentally broken something and you didn't notice till too late, and your smile vanishes in a puff of smoke. Yesterday I discovered one of our visiting bands has 'accidentally' taken a mains power adaptor - sometime in the last two weeks, and it's going to cost me fifty quid to replace. It's another annoying thing that being in business has as part of what it is. I'm not going to email maybe 10 people and ask if they accidentally took my cable, and expecting them, if they have got it, to post it back. It won't happen, and looks bad and penny pinching. Sure - they got one over on us, probably did it on purpose, but that's life!

 

[The Resolver]

Lisa - while the 10 yr old MoneyClaim Online service still operates there is now a new civil money claim online service at https://www.moneyclaims.service.gov.uk/eligibility

Its in public beta which means anyone can now use it. It still reverts to paper after the Defence has been filed but there is a bit of an effort at a guided pathway to checking for eligibility and help with presenting the claim. The is heralded as the first incarnation of HM Online Court but it falls far short - For those interested in the future for the online court see my criticism in an article I wrote earlier in the year for the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers (including my court claim against Chelsea FC!) .