# Owed money - can I get it back?



## zxcvbnm (11 Jan 2012)

Ok - here is my situation.*
I rented out a car space to someone. They stopped paying 5 months ago. I only noticed now.*
Not sure if we had a lease at the beginning but if we did I don't have it now.*
I am owed 750.*
They are in fact a car space letting company as far as I can gather. At least the money was paid in by a name that appears to be a car space company. Nothing on google other than their address though.*

I was only dealing with one individual though.
I now think he was subletting the car space.*
I have just now taken the car space back. Since i pointed out the 5 months owed he now refuses to answer my calls or texts.*
Prior to that he was asking me for his months deposit back and organizing to get the zapper back to me.*
My own belief us that he doesnt know much about who uses the space.*
Regardless, he still owes ne the cash.*

Where do I stand legally?
Is there a small claims court I cam take him to?


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## nuac (11 Jan 2012)

Car parking spaces are usually licensed out.   Have you a license signed by the licensee, or any correspondence confirming the arrangement?

If not, good luck.


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2012)

Why the asterisks? *


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## zxcvbnm (11 Jan 2012)

Not sure why the asterisks were appearing. 

No. I don't have a signed agteement. There either was none or else I lost it. 
However there were payments for 18 mo this from this person which then stopped. 
So the only issue is was if stopped by agreement or was it a case of non payment. I know non payment is the reason. 
And I do have texts from the person recently which support that. 

Would this be sufficient ?

For example - I do know the continued payment of rent legally implies a continuation of an expired lease even if a new lease is not signed. 

Could similar logic be applied in this scenario ?
I was never notified of the end of an agreement. Therefore could it be legally viewed that the agreement is ongoing ( which it certainly was in my eyes)


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2012)

We're in the legal forum and you mention the term "legal" a lot so I'm curious if you are seriously considering chasing down a debt of €750 via legal channels? If so then it seems like using the proverbial sledgehammer to break a nut.


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## zxcvbnm (11 Jan 2012)

Er....yeessss....quite obviously the first thing I need to establish is who's side the law sides with. 
Because if I know in advance the law won't side with me then obviously the whole thing is done and dusted. 

If you read my first post my query did refer specifically to a small claims court. Hardly a sledgehammer.


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## ClubMan (12 Jan 2012)

zxcvbnm said:


> No. I don't have a signed agteement. There either was none or else I lost it.
> 
> ...
> 
> For example - I do know the continued payment of rent legally implies a  continuation of an expired lease even if a new lease is not signed.


Are you sure that the _Small Claims Court _is relevant here at all? This does not seem to be a "consumer" issue and ...

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/courts_system/small_claims_court.html



> Consumer claims cannot be made in the Small Claims Court for debts, personal injuries or breach of *leasing* or hire-purchase agreements.
> 
> Businesses can make claims against other businesses in relation to contracts for goods or services purchased. It does not apply to claims in relation to:
> 
> ...


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## Bronte (12 Jan 2012)

zxcvbnm said:


> No. I don't have a signed agteement. There either was none or else I lost it.


 
How on earth do you not know this?  If you did go to court how would a judge be able to deal with that when you don't even know what type of agreement you had. 

Is this the first time you let that car space?  As you didn't notice you hadn't been paid, and obviously didn't need the money and as you don't seem to know what agreement you had I'd let it go and next time download a lease agreement and get it signed.  In any case €750 is  not worth going to court about.


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## zxcvbnm (12 Jan 2012)

It's been over 2 years since I first let it out to this person. That's why I can't day for sure if we signed an agreement at the time. And if I did I have lost it since.


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## ClubMan (12 Jan 2012)

zxcvbnm said:


> It's been over 2 years since I first let it out to this person. That's why I can't day for sure if we signed an agreement at the time. And if I did I have lost it since.


As _Bronte _says - not exactly the footing on which to be going to law/court about such a matter. Even the _Small Claims Court _if that is even relevant here - and I suspect that it's not. Assuming not then if it was me I'd just chase the individual(s) a bit more for the amount but if (as seems likely) that yielded nothing then I'd probably just forget about it and move on. But then again not everybody could get by as easily with the loss of this amount so perhaps easy for me to say...


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## Brendan Burgess (12 Jan 2012)

It's rough, but I think you just have to forget about it. 

You don't have a written agreement. 
You don't really know who the contract is with - a person or a company.
They didn't pay for 5 months and you didn't notice. 
So you don't really know when the contract ended or even if it has ended. 

You could try writing to this guy if he has the address. But I don't think you should spend money on a solicitor. They are unlikely to win and if they do they probably won't be able to collect any judgement they might get. 

I don't think you have a leasing agreement, but you have nothing to lose by running it by the Small Claims Court. 

Brendan


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## ClubMan (12 Jan 2012)

Brendan Burgess said:


> I don't think you have a leasing agreement, but you have nothing to lose by running it by the Small Claims Court.


Well - just another 2.4% on top of the outstanding amount.


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## Leo (12 Jan 2012)

I don't think the Small Claims Court is an option here. They don't deal with leasing agreements or debts. See [broken link removed].

As Brendan mentions, it's rough, but it will likely be a lot cheaper in the long run to put this down as a lesson learned and move on.
Leo


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## One (14 Jan 2012)

The small claims court is not used for chasing debts. The only process that is available to you is first go to a solicitor and ask him will he write a letter asking for the money owed to you and if payment is not made then issue a civil liability summons. If the person renting your car parking space was paying you directly into your bank account, then that leaves enough evidence that he was renting your car parking space, don't worry of you don't have a contract. Talk to your solicitor.


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