I lent the friend a large sum of money to pay a deposit and first months rent on a house, now he's refusing to pay it back, can I take him to court ?

Sue them in small claims court... win a judgement, then get a writ of garnishment against their bank account.

Thank you, £1,150 is that amount classed as a small claim

Call local/visit your small claims court and get the facts and procedure of how you go about getting your money back.

As Talaniman mentioned... procedures may be different where you are located. My advice was based on if you were in the USA or Canada.

I realized that. Thank you

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Originally Posted by talaniman

Call local/visit your small claims court and get the facts and procedure of how you go about getting your money back.

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Thank you.

Please note that you will need to prove that you loaned him the money. If you gave him cash with no documentation then you may have a hard time proving it. Even if you can prove that you gave him the money you will then have to prove it was a loan, not a gift. Whenever you loan money, you should have the borrower sign a note detailing the amount borrowed and the repayment terms. Without that you will have a hard time winning a judgment.

Even if you do win a judgment, that's actually the easiest part. Collecting what was awarded you is the harder part. The court will only help so much. If you know where he banks or where he works, you can attach his bank account or his salary.

To help prove you loaned him the money, (not a gift or other) try to get them to chat with you in email about the loan, and at least admit it was a loan and to how much.

The Statute of Frauds may also be a problem. It depends on the particular terms of the SoF in OP's jurisdiction.