The Civil Procedure Rules, came into effect on 6 April 2006.  How will the rules affect your organisation, especially if you issue your own legal proceedings, for example in respect of rent possession.

What are the changes?

• There will be new rules and practice directions detailing the information which should be provided to the Court to issue a claim.
• Provision of a postcode for any address supplied will be mandatory.
• Defendants will be asked to provide their date of birth when replying to a claim.
• Claimants will be asked to provide the Defendant’s date of birth to the Court (where known) when applying for a Judgement.
• You must provide the full name of each party where known. The full name means: a) In the case of an individual, their full, unabbreviated name, including the title by which they are known (ie Mr, Mrs, Dr etc); b)In the case of an individual trading under another name, their full, unabbreviated name, including the title by which they are known and the full name under which they are trading; c) In the case of a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership LLP) the full name of the business followed by the suffix “a firm”; d) In the case of a registered company or an LLP, the name of the company or partnership followed by the appropriate suffix ie Limited, PLC or LLP; e) Finally, in the case of any other company or corporation, its full name and any suffix if appropriate.

What if you do not know all of the Defendant’s details?

• You should find out as much information as possible about the person you want to sue before going to Court and the Court will accept claims against individuals if you are unable to provide their full, unabbreviated name, as long as you provide as much information as you can find out about the person.

Where can I find information about the Defendant?

• If a Defendant is an individual, you may be able to find their details from the Electoral Register available from your local Council.
• If the Defendant is in business, you will be able to find out about them from headed notepaper or invoices they have sent to you. Registered companies also should also be registered at Companies House.

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