Defendant owes debt and has no assets, please advise...

harry112

Hello All

I am after some advice. I have a summary judgement in my favour in which the defendant owes me quite a fair bit of money. As the money owed is greater than the limit for bailifs I have had to go through High Enforcement Officers. The HEOs have not managed to obtain any money or goods for me as the defendant apparantly has no assets. The defendant is a company, they have issued me with a notification of dissolution intent.

I have contacted Companies House and they have advised me to regularly check their database and contact them when the status of the defendant changes to 'dissolved', they will then try to put a stop to this as they owe money.

What can I now do? Is there any possibility of obtaining any money? It is very frustrating that these businesses can rake up a debt and then claim that they have nothing of value and try to dissolve their company. If the High Enforcement Officers have not been able to collect my debt do I have any chance at all?

Please advise...

Thanks

Quentin

Always a risk when chasing bad debts - you need to be sure before paying out for a court case that the defendant is a "won't" pay, rather than a "can't" pay.

All you can hope us there are some assets, though your defendant seems to know the ropes, and your court victory looks like good money after bad.

Annisele

Are they just "claiming" that they have no money, or do they actually have no money?

If they actually have no money, there's nothing you can do. If you believe that they do have money - what do you base that belief on? If you can find the assets you might be able to go after them.

harry112

Hi

How can I check what assets belong to the company? The company is in no other debt, has been running successfully for atleast 5 years.

Quentin

You can get hold of their accounts via companies house.

(And you can get credit worthiness checks done commercially.)

patman99

If you suspect the company has assets, but has hidden them, then you could try what I believe is called an 'Anton Pillar Order', this will cost you money, but will give the Court the power to seize all their paperwork including accounts and Bank Account statements.
This is not something they should be made aware of and if successful, can be devastating to them.