Should I be worried?

[newmummybear2019]

Can anyone help?

Received this e-mail which was from person who owes me money to solicitor:

'could you contact your client (me) and ask him to stop harassing my family members on fb and messenger otherwise I will be taking legal action against him and a counter claim will be put forward for the violent threats and distress he is causing for me and my children and after plastering my home address and childrens school over the interment I am now concerned for my children's safety I have copies of all the messages and things your client has been posting and copies of all messaged your client has been sending and replies he has received and legal action will be taken against him'

Firstly, all I did was send 'Hi, have you heard from 'xxx' he owes me money and has deleted my number so can't get in touch, do you know where he is as he's done a runner' to about 15 people with the same surname, only one person replied saying he didn't want to get involved and I said 'OK no problem, thanks' the rest didn't even read my messages (it's still a white unfilled tick in my FB inbox)

Secondly, I didn't mention her address or her childs school anywhere, that is complete and utter lies and I also have a copy of all messages sent which can prove this.

I've got nothing to be worried about right? I've done absolutely nothing wrong and if these people go to the police and say i've been harassing them then it's just wasting police time and they won't be happy right?

What about the fact she is blatantly lying, can I do anything about that? Sue him for slander or defamation or whatever it's called? Can use this as proof that he is a lying piece of shit when i'm trying to get my money back so will it work in my favour?

Sorry about the bunch of questions any help much appreciated thanks.

Why are you spamming unrelated people chasing a debt? It is probably a misunderstanding but must have struck a chord with this individual. Do you even know them?

Wouldn't say they are unrelated, they are all related to her in some way, she had done a runner and had no way to contact her so there's nothing wrong with asking these people if they know where she is/heard from her is there? One person replied saying 'sorry don't want to get involved in this' and I just said 'OK thanks, no problem'

If someone I knew had done a runner with someone's money i'd be perfectly fine with them messaging me asking if I knew their whereabouts, how is this possibly 'harassing'?

Harassment 101 whether they owe you money or not. You shouldn't be approaching other people, you shouldn't be telling anyone they owe you money and you shouldn't be making claims saying they've "done a runner".

Tread very carefully, use the court process and enforce the debt professionally if it is worth it. Don't pursue this course of action as ultimately it could cost you a lot of money, time and even (if you took it far enough) prison time.

You were way out of line contacting people who have no responsibility for this debt. You have a solicitor. It's their job to sort this for you.

Was it you that posted about money that was supposed to get paid into your account? You could have messaged people without saying they owed you money or that they had done a runner

I think it was rude/inappropriate to contact those people, but you haven’t broken any laws and if you’ve only contacted them once it’s not harassment.

Tell your solicitor that you deny those allegations, keep proof of what you have done, and just follow the court process from now on.

Don’t worry though, they obv don’t have a claim against you from what you day here.

I actually don't have a solicitor, the solicitor i'm using has kindly agreed to e-mail her for me to find out her own solicitors details and address etc as she isn't telling me anything. (He's doing this for free, I can't afford a solicitor) once I know her address then i'll start by sending the letter before claim and then make the claim itself which I don't need a solicitor for.

She does owe me money and has done a runner though? Her house is empty and I have no idea where she is so what's wrong with asking her relatives if they know where she is? I'd be happy to help someone if they asked me this stuff but maybe i'm just not a snowflake like most people

Everything she has said in that OP is 100% lies anyway, I didn't mention anything to do with her address or her kids etc and didn't use 'violent threats' at all. This is defamatory, surely I can use this against her to prove she is a lying piece of shit?

Thanks.

Yes thanks @auntieavacado, I personally don't see how it's rude/inappropriate but fair enough if other people feel that way, i'm just not a snowflake who gets offended about the tiniest of things like most people seem to be nowadays.

Yeah will do, thanks. I knew messaging them more than once would be harassment so that's why I just messaged them 1 time, if I got a reply then great, if not then no problem i'll just leave it.

Ridiculous imo that this is considered inappropriate, wow.

Odd that it’s considered harassment when I’ve been told I can’t divorce my husband without consent unless I can prove I’ve contact every single one of his family members including his teenage child to ask for his contact details

This is an extract for further information. All debtors are protected from actions such as these that can render the debt unenforceable.

If the creditor tries to do any of the following things to try and get you to pay back the money you owe, this could be considered harassment. They include:

contacting you several times a day, or early in the morning or late at night
pursuing you on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook
putting pressure on you to sell your home or take out more credit
using more than one debt collector at a time to chase you for payment
not telling you if the debt has been passed on to a debt collection agency
using paperwork or business logos that appear to be official when they’re not, for example sending you letters that look like court forms
putting pressure on you to pay all the money off, or in larger instalments when you can't afford to
threatening you physically or verbally
ignoring you if you say you don't owe the money
trying to embarrass you in public
telling someone else about your debts or using another person to pass on messages, such as a neighbour or family member
falsely claiming to work for the court or be a bailiff
implying that legal action can be taken when it can't. For example, implying that your home can be taken from you without a court order
giving the impression that court action has been taken against you when it hasn't
giving the impression that not paying the debt is a criminal offence. For most debts, it is not a criminal offence if you don't pay them.

So your "solicitor" is actually not someone legally advising you on the situation? Did you message them individually or together? Might you have inadvertently alerted people she may have been avoiding to her address etc? Don't take your frustration out on them.,

What's your source Annie ?

@Noeuf - UK legislation as far back as the 1970 Administration of Justices Act. The extra I posted was specifically from Citizen's Advice but summed it up nicely.

I'm just wondering if it applies to private debts?

Another that you would fall foul of through the course of action you have taken:

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Engaging in harassment during the debt collection process is also deemed a criminal offense. The harassment may be verbal or written and includes making repeated calls during non-social times or to the workplace of the debtor. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 considers it a criminal offense for a person to take any action that is known, or should be known, to be harassing to another person.

@Noeuf - it applies to all debts, whether from Sandra loaning you £50 or Bank of Scotland lending you £50,000

No it's a proper solicitor for a proper firm but he just kindly agreed to e-mail her for me and ask for her solicitors details and her own address so I can send the letter before action (I need her address to do this)

And no I didn't mention her old address at all to anyone the only thing I said was 'do you know where she is/heard from her?' that's all I asked them as I had no way to contact her as she has blocked my number and doesn't have social media etc

So the email actually from the person who owes you the money or one of those you contacted to locate them. Maybe she moved due to dv or family problems unrelated to this and feels vulnerable.

@newmummybear2019 - You can technically serve court papers against her last known address and then apply to have it enforced. However enforcement costs money after all the court costs involved which may be considerable depending on how much money she owes (it's stepped to a specific value then percentage after than on the small claims track).

You are treading on very thin ice contacting random people (whether you know for a fact they're related or not) because it's to do with the debt. Have you considered contacting a tracing agent? Most agencies would also be able to run a credit report to give you an idea of the risk involved in pursuing the debt. If she has no assets, for example, it may be that even if you did get to a court order that she pays you £1 per month but after a considerable outlay from you for the court fees.

Has the solicitor (I know you've said it's free of charge what he's done so far) given you any indication as to the likelihood of success?

Just another thought but have you attempted to search via the electoral roll? Did she own the property she moved from?

The e-mail came from her to the solicitor which he then forwarded onto me

Yeah looked into tracing agents etc but I just can't afford it (like I can't afford a solicitor, this one is sending these e-mails etc for me free of charge since he's a nice guy)

I'm hoping I don't need a solicitor once I find out her address, apparently don't need one to send the letter befor action (I can go into local CAB for help with this) and I don't need one for filling in the claim form and sending it off (CAB again should help me here)

I genuinely don't understand what is wrong with messaging them asking if they know where she is/heard from her.. if one of my friends/family had scammed someone and done a runner with the money and I received a message from the unfortunate person asking if I know where they are i'd be happy to help.

How in the hell can that be harassment? Absolute ridiculous, snowflakes everywhere nowadays

Just stop harassing people!

The law is ridiculous and a snowflake?

Because legislation makes your actions a criminal offense. Legislation that's now decades old. It isn't about snowflakes, it is about protecting people as far as possible from horrendous treatment by creditors and their agents.

Do you have the money to pursue this to court? If she's taken advice (it sounds like she perhaps has) she won't act until there's a stamped N1 claim in front of her. LBA's aren't really about scaring the debtor they're about proving to the court you've given due process.

If you want to PM me I will see if I can help you further.

@aridane explain to me please how sending 1 message asking if you've heard from/know where a certain person is (in a nice way, I said please and thank you) is harassment?

I mean are people seriously taking her side? What about all those lies she has said about me making violent threats and mentioning her address/child school details etc which is complete and utter bullshit. Surely this is libel or whatever it's called? And I can prove it as I have all the messages I sent saved