Consumer law - ownership question.

[wehaveonlyjustbegun]

Hi all - to cut a long story short - we have a decree that states a firm has to pay us a sum of money. They admitted liability, however we have still not received the money. They wanted to remove the cooker and then send us a cheque. Our own solicitor has strongly advised us against this. We then instructed the Courts Service to send him a Notice of Intention to Enforce. We have just received an extremely aggressive letter from his solicitor threatening to take court action to recover the firm's property - the cooker.

Our solicitor told us that in the eyes of the law, we have done everything by the book. He has stated that as we have received no money, we own the cooker. So can I ask why would a solicitor threaten court action if he knew that the cooker is still legally ours?

Because he has been instructed by his client to do so. Sometimes it is done to intimidate. This must be some cooker if it is worth all this court action.

We went through the Small Claims Court - so it only cost us £100 to take the action. Sorry but Is it ethical for a solicitor to threaten action when he knows that it is not lawfully based?

Bump

I've had all kinds of absolute nonsense sent to me by solicitors of people trying to be clever. If you believe you're in the right, stick to your guns and don't spend any more than you need to to recover the money owed to you.

Thanks ItsDecisionTime - I'm ashamed to say that I cried when I opened the letter. I felt very intimidated. The letter was in my opinion very unprofessional. It even stated that they had sent a copy to the Enforcement Office. When I telephoned the Enforcement Office, they seemed bemused as to why they were getting a copy. The decree was issued 2 months a go and we haven't received a penny.

We will enforce it, if we have to. Thanks for the encouragement !

Let me tell you a very quick story. I sold a house that I never lived in - it was my dad's. There was a door under the conservatory that my dad put in there to store wood etc. During the sales process after my dad passed away, I told the buyers I couldn't locate the key for the door but presumed it was packed away in storage and if I came across it, I would forward it onto them. Two months after they moved it, I got a very nasty solicitor's letter saying how upset his clients were as I hadn't given them the key and that I had 7 days to send it or they would take me to small claims court to recover the cost of putting on a new lock. Initially, I went through a range of emotions from fear to sadness but after a few days I reflected on the letter and realised what a load of bs it was. I haven't heard from them since. Don't worry, even if they took you to court for it (which they won't), you'd win. Ignore it and move on. Good luck x

Thank you ItsDecisionTime - the penny has dropped. Before we took this action I had never received a nasty letter from a solicitor. I naively thought that they all behaved ethically. It was just a shock - but I am over it now and have had my eyes opened.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with me x