Sells Property Before I Could Get A Charging Order

BijouDrains

I am owed £20,000 by a "friend". He promised to pay me back after 6 months. That was 4 years ago, and now he refuses to communicate with me, as he says he has no money. He has a property worth over £60,000 with no mortgage, (which he bought 9 months ago!) and I am about to issue court proceedings hopefully to obtain a charging order on this property.
What worries me is, what if he sells or puts the property in someone elses name after he receives the court order, to avoid a charging order or forced sale of the property. Could he legally do this?

dealer_wins

Was it a secured loan, if it was then he cant sell. If not then you are up the creek without a paddle if you ask me.

jonesMUFCforever

You do not need a court order to put a charge on a property - just to enforce it.
Telephone the Land registry who will tell you the form to fill in and the fee to be paid.


Hurry ! Do it first thing tomorrow.

BijouDrains

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

You do not need a court order to put a charge on a property - just to enforce it.
Telephone the Land registry who will tell you the form to fill in and the fee to be paid.

Thanks jonesMUFCforever...that sounds interesting....if I did that, would that prevent him selling or transferring the property, and would I still need to go to court to enforce it?

greenface

It may not be a loan but monies owed for work done etc. we need to know a little more and what sort of paper trail there is to the £20k .I could say my sister owes me xx to stop her selling her house ..you just cannot put a charge on another persons property (surely ?)Plus you only get your wonga back when and if they ever decide to sell. I had a charge on a property way back that was never enforced when i sold.Never sure why didnt want to ask. But the person who wanted £xx from me has died now also.

BijouDrains

He used the money to refurbish his properties and now he rents them out. He promised to give me a return of £25,000 within 6 months.
No contract was drawn up, (Yes I know, I know ) but I have proof of the money lent via emails and bank details. Since then, all he has paid me is £5,000, and nothing else for over 3 years. I have around two dozen emails where he promises to pay me back when he can, and proof of 3 separate payments he has made. He claimed in January he had no money, and no way of repaying me, two weeks later he bought a pub for £50,000 and spent more money refurbishing it, and he now rents it out. There is no mortgage on the property.
I know that he also owns 15 properties which he rents out.
I contacted him in June this year and asked him to draw up and agreement for the money I lent him, and he replied via email saying that "that’s not an issue at all. I will speak to my solicitor and draw something up then forward it to you". That was 5 months ago. Since then he has not returned my phone calls or answered over 30 emails I have sent him.

izools

Sounds like you have all you need and he's agreed he's liable on more than one occasion, in more than one way.

You're pretty much a shoe-in for winning a court case. Get writing to your local court and land registry post haste

greenface

But dont tell him anything about anything you intend to do . You can keep up the where is my money emails though and how about a knock on his door ??
+ if you have a promise to return 25k in writing thats ok but if not you may find he owes you 15k as he has repaid 5k already. Take legal advice as you have so much proof as you can claim intrest from monies owing (BACK TO THE ORIGINAL DEBT START) at around 8% i think check this out too.

BijouDrains

Thanks everyone! I certainly have no intention of letting him know what I am doing. I just hope he doesn't read any of this!! :shocked:
I have just contacted a solicitor and he wants £1,000 upfront to start proceedings . As I am unemployed and skint that is a no no at the moment. There is the option of DIY though, but I would have to do a bit of research :huh:
Getting back to my original question, regarding the property he purchased in January, after he receives the court order, what if he sells or puts it in someone elses name to avoid a charging order or forced sale of the property. Could he do this?

jonesMUFCforever

You do not need a solicitor.
By getting and filing the right form at LR - the worst thing that can happen is that a court would not enforce it - you would not be in a worse situation than now.

pete1968_2

From reading the previous posts it appears that no formal contract or charge was entered into. Before the money you are owed can be 'attached' to the property you will need to go to court and if successful in the first instance the judge will grant an interim charging order. This will obviuosly depend on the type of evidence you have.

The application for a charging order is made to the appropriate court normally without notice and considered by a judge without a hearing who will normally make an interim charging order and after a subsequent hearing on notice (i.e. you're friend will be told and can defend) a final charging order can be made.

Both the interim and final charging order can be noted on the register of you're friends title which will give notice to anyone who should buy the property that money may be owed. This will then have a priority date in the register. Whether there is a power of sale attached with the charging order is further down the road. The noting of the charging order won't stop the sale but will ensure any money secured from it is paid to you out of the proceeds of sale.

Any interim or final charging order noted will need to be cancelled before a purchasers solicitior would allow his client to buy the property and the only way a interim or final charging order can be cancelled is by supplying evidence from the court that it has been annulled by the court or the debt has been paid and released by the court.

Does you're 'friend' own the property by himself or with another. This is important because if it is owned with another you won't be able to note a charging order on the title. You will only be able to enter a restriction (Form K). The reason for this is to do with beneficial interests and the fact that a charge created this way will be a charge against his beneficial interest (share) in other words an equitable charge. The matter can then get quite involved.

The restriction will require that written notice is given to the person with the benefit of the charging order of any disposition (i.e. sale or further charge to name a few).

You really should see a solicitor about this. You may be able to add your costs to the sum owed plus interest.

The above is a very brief and quick account!

In response to Jonesmufcforever's post above, you need to get the court order first so that the interest is created. You then get that interest noted on the register of the persons title. (or suitable restriction).