Civil and consumer disputes in the UK - support in Polish

1. Organise the evidence - contract, invoices, correspondence, proof of delivery.
2. Send a Letter Before Action stating the debt, the amount and a deadline (usually 14 days).
3. Consider a payment plan or settlement.
4. Issue a claim - through Money Claim Online or the County Court.
5. Enforce the judgment - bailiffs, deductions from earnings, charging orders or third-party debt orders.

Claims of up to about £10,000 normally go to the small claims track in the County Court: hearings are less formal and often remote, and you may act without a lawyer. Legal costs are generally not recoverable from the losing party, so it is worth assessing whether a claim makes economic sense. Contract and debt claims are normally time-barred after six years.

Do not ignore court papers. Deadlines are short - usually 14 days to acknowledge and up to 28 days to file a defence. Failure to respond can lead to a default judgment and a County Court Judgment (CCJ), which affects your credit file. Paying in full within a month of the judgment can lead to its removal from the register.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 goods must be of satisfactory quality, as described and fit for purpose, and services must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. For faulty goods you generally have 30 days to reject; in the first six months the seller must prove the fault was not there on delivery. Credit-card payments for items costing £100 to £30,000 may be covered by Section 75, and debit-card payments by chargeback.

A tenancy deposit in England must be protected in a government-approved scheme, and the landlord must give you prescribed information, normally within 30 days. Otherwise you may claim between one and three times the deposit. In England no-fault Section 21 evictions ended on 1 May 2026; a landlord now has to rely on a statutory ground. Wales and Scotland have their own rules.