Livery disappeared and now I'm left with 2 horses? Help!

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milliepup

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Ok to cut a long story short I have a livery owner who has 2 horses with me but since the beginning of the year has not been paying her bills. She missed a couple of months early in the year but after a few emails and voice messages suddenly the money owed appeared in my account. The next month or 2 the money turned up but was always late. The last 2 or 3 months we have had no money and no amount of phone calls and voice messages, emails or recorded delivery letters (which are all returned unsigned for!) have worked and I am now at the end of my tether. We have finally tracked down another family member and they said they would talk with said owner but when we said we would like to get this sorted in the next 7 days it didn't go down so well.
Has anyone else had anything else like this and what can we do legally as 2 extra horses that are not being paid for is not really an option. I know in years gone by people used to sell horses to re-coup monies owed but don't think you can do this any more so what other options are there!

Many thanks
 
Are you a member of the BHS? Might be worth ringing their helpline if you are. Otherwise, could you write to them and say that unless the outstanding bills are settled within 7 days you will be delivering the horses to their home. (But then again if you are anything like me you wouldn't be able to go through with that, for the sake of the horses)!
 
You can either instruct your solicitor to assist you either by giving you advice or by writing to the owner (If you are a BHS Gold Member then you can get free legal advice - worth joining just for this and free 3rd party insurance).

Alternatively you can make a claim through the small claims court: https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp
 
I think if you haven't got a contract with the owner like Kayleigh has, then you really need some legal advice. Maybe a solicitor's letter to the owner stating that if she doesn't remove the horses or pay up, then you will sell them to settle her debt? I know letters you've sent have come back, but at least you can retain them as proof that you took all reasonable steps to contact her. What a cow to do this to you and to her horses. Hope you get it sorted soon.
 
I had something similar happen to me quite a few years ago. I had one horse at full livery and never saw the owner again after they brought the horse to me apart from when they finally took it away.
They paid initially and then I was constantly sending letters to remind them payment was late. Finally they stopped paying.

I don't believe you can just sell the horses to recoup your losses, I think that would not be legal. Same as you can't threaten to tie them up outside your yard gate until they come and get them.

What I did was to write a letter to my owner telling them how much money was outstanding and also stating that if they did not pay up within 14 days and come and collect their horse I would take legal action against them. Luckily for me it had the desired effect. It may be worth you taking legal advice first anyway to be sure of your ground. Hope this is helpful.
 
Write to owner via last known address and via 'family member' saying they have 21 days to pay all monies owed and that this is their formal notice to collect horses from you within that time. State that if the monies are not paid in full and horses removed from your premises you will commence action via the small claims tribunal (£128 to file the claim) to recoup your monetary losses and you will file an Abandonment Notice under the Abandonment Act 1960.

You will need to put up an Abandonment Notice for a minimum of 14 days. This will notify passers-by that the equine(s) has/have been abandoned and give the owner a reasonable period of time to come forward. The notice will state that if no owner is found, the animal may be legally rehomed or sold. It is good practice to issue another 7 day notice if no owner comes forward within the initial two week period.

Fill in the details appropriately, protect the notice from the elements (eg. wrap it in a clear plastic bag) and display it prominently at the gate to the field or yard where the equine has been found. It is not necessary to keep the equine where it was found, or for it to be kept where you display the notice. It can also be useful to put up a card in local tack shops, supermarket and post office or put a notice in the local Free Ads.
Keep copies of all notices that you put up and notes of where you put them and for how long. If no owner comes forward after the horse has been rehomed, you will need to prove that you followed all procedures correctly and made a significant effort to find the owner of the horse. If you can do this, your actions will be protected by the law.

Here is notice.

http://www.redwings.org.uk/documents/AbandonmentNoticeWeb.pdf

Hope it helps you, there is no easy answer to this one..
 
I hope you get everything sorted out, and soon.

The trouble is that people do this and presume that you will care for the horse regardless, as most of us would, because, let's face it, the horse itself isn't to blame. Then there is that awful situation where the longer things get left in the hope it will magically go away, the worse is gets, until some people reach the stage where they would rather give the horse away than face you and sort out the problem.

I know exactly how you feel as I have one Boarder here who owes me over $1000 in board and hasn't even been seen since May! All the advice you have received here would have been very useful to me too if I wasn't where I am.
 
Small claims court woul dbe one way forwards. Probably best to get a solicitor involved, sometimes it only takes a scary solicitor letter to make people pay up.

If the amount owed to you is at least or greater than £750, and the amount is not disputed, then you may be able to issue the owner with a Statutory Demand. This is served upon them in person usually, and they have 21 days in which to pay the debt or secure or compund it to the satisfaction of the creditor (you). If they do not pay up in that time, then you can petition for their bankruptcy. This is a drastic step and I would take legal advice before going down that route (if the owner has no assets then arguably no point bankrupting them as you won't see any £££ out of it).

Good luck!!
 
Some of the replies I have read are brilliant but I know how you feel my neighbour went through a similar situation but the horse owner didn't turn up for half a year and he couldn't contact her at all but he isn't horsey so had no idea about drawing up a contract for two ponies in a little field. Unfortunatly the rent was never paid even after I had reported the ponies to the ILPH and they have since been moved by their owner to god knows where and in what condition. I really hope your story has a better ending and you get something sorted out.
 
I think personally that I would want the horses removed from my farm and then I would persue the money. They still owe you the money even if the horses aren't there for the back rent, and the longer you keep the horses the more money they will owe you. You can use a company called Thomas Higgins (google them) and they charge about £2 to send out a solicitor letter and then start court procedings, it's so cheap with them as it is all they do, we use them and they are very good.

I wouldn't worry about not having a written contract as you do actually have a contract as you have been providing this service for x amount of time and they have been paying up, so they have accepted your T&Cs due to the length of time they have been with you.

Good Luck
 
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