Small claims - won judgement, advice on next move?

hs04avp

Hello all,

I made a claim through the small claim's court against a 'friend' for money they owed me and failed to pay back. I had the friend's address (rental) and now have his place of work (unless this has changed in the last 2 weeks).

He has failed to reply to any of the court letters so judgement has been entered in my favour.
The logical next step seems to be to file for an Attachment of Earnings, as I'm not 100% confident he is still at his current address. However, there seem to be a lot of different options and I'm really unsure of what to do next, plus the further steps have further costs.

What happens if he ignores the letters regarding Attachment of Earnings? Will he be forced to pay somehow or will I have to make further payments for things like bailiffs?

Any advice on this would be gratefully received, particularly where people have been successful in using Attachment of Earnings proceedings.

Many thanks

arcon5

What's the value of the judgement?

Do you know his current address or is he still at the judgement address?

zzzLazyDaisy

An attachment of earnings order is served on the employer who must make the relevant deductions

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/dmbmanual/dmbm667550.htm

Of course if he changes jobs you are back to square one.

Enforcement costs money, and although the cost is added to the debt, that doesn't help if he doesn't pay. The fact that he is in rented accommodation does not bode well as he can move at any time. The simple fact is that it is not difficult to evade payment if he doesn't care about having a CCJ (which seems to be the case).

Also, be aware that if he moved and the court papers went to his earlier address, he may not have been aware of the court action. If that is the case, when it comes to his notice through the employer, he can apply to have the judgement set aside.

vaio

if you have information on his bank accounts you could think about a garnishee order

hs04avp

arcon5 wrote: »

What's the value of the judgement?

Do you know his current address or is he still at the judgement address?

It's about £600. I have no way of knowing if he has moved house or not really.

zzzLazyDaisy - You say the enforcement is on the employer who then makes the deductions, but then further down that it doesn't help if the defendant doesn't pay. How does it work that the defendant can not pay in this situation? It would be really helpful to know the ways he can get out of it so I can decide whether it would be the best course of action or not.
I'm confident he is still at the same place of employment, not sure if that helps? He definitely received my letter before action as I posted it and emailed it and he confirmed receipt of it in an email.

Agricolae

hs04avp wrote: »

It's about £600. I have no way of knowing if he has moved house or not really.

zzzLazyDaisy - You say the enforcement is on the employer who then makes the deductions, but then further down that it doesn't help if the defendant doesn't pay. How does it work that the defendant can not pay in this situation? It would be really helpful to know the ways he can get out of it so I can decide whether it would be the best course of action or not.
I'm confident he is still at the same place of employment, not sure if that helps? He definitely received my letter before action as I posted it and emailed it and he confirmed receipt of it in an email.

I think they mean there is nothing to stop him just quitting that job and applying for another one you don't know about.

Sounds a little extreme, but I guess it depends on how much he wants to get out of paying the money?

zzzLazyDaisy

Yes, sorry, what I meant is that people move and change jobs.

If he lives in his own house and has a good professional job, that's less likely.

If he rents and has an unskilled minimum wage job, that may be more likely. Yes it is less likely now than when work was more freely available, but the fact remains that people with few ties are more likely to be up and off leaving their debts behind them.

hs04avp

Thanks lazydaisy,

I understand what you mean. He has a fairly decent professional job, working for a care company as a manager/administrator. I'm not 100% certain what his title is, but we previously worked together and were both managers on a decent wage so I assume he has remained on the same level or gone up.

zzzLazyDaisy

Since you are reasonably sure he won't change jobs to avoid paying, I would suggest that you first write to him (a proper letter, not e-mail) saying something like

Dear [Name]

Anytown County Court, case number [........]
Hearing date [........]

I refer to the above hearing when judgement was entered against you in the sum of [£...]

As you have failed to make the payment as ordered, I am now writing to inform you that unless I receive a cheque from you in full satisfaction of the judgement debt within 14 days of the date of this letter, I shall seek an order of the court requiring your employer to deduct payment from your wages and remit the monies in direct payment. Should this become necessary I shall also seek an order that you pay my associated costs and expenses.

I trust this will not be necessary and look forward to receiving a cheque in the sum of [£....] by return.

Yours etc

NOTE: If interest/costs were awarded, you need to include this in the letter.

Often just the threat of getting the employer involved is enough to make the debtor pay up.

hs04avp

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Since you are reasonably sure he won't change jobs to avoid paying, I would suggest that you first write to him (a proper letter, not e-mail) saying something like

Dear [Name]

Anytown County Court, case number [........]
Hearing date [........]

I refer to the above hearing when judgement was entered against you in the sum of [£...]

As you have failed to make the payment as ordered, I am now writing to inform you that unless I receive a cheque from you in full satisfaction of the judgement debt within 14 days of the date of this letter, I shall seek an order of the court requiring your employer to deduct payment from your wages and remit the monies in direct payment. Should this become necessary I shall also seek an order that you pay my associated costs and expenses.

I trust this will not be necessary and look forward to receiving a cheque in the sum of [£....] by return.

Yours etc

NOTE: If interest/costs were awarded, you need to include this in the letter.

Often just the threat of getting the employer involved is enough to make the debtor pay up.

That is a very good idea, I was thinking of doing something like this but wasn't sure if it would be appropriate.

I really appreciate all the advice you've given me, many thanks! Fingers crossed I get somewhere with all this!

hs04avp

Hello there, I'm after some more advice!

I sent the letter but by email in case he is no longer at the address and have had no response as yet. I also texted him to the two numbers I have to let him know I sent him an email.
I have discovered that he is definitely still at his job but I don't have any way of establishing if he is still at his address.

I'm worried that I may apply for the attachment of earnings and if he wasn't at the address when judgement was served that he could apply to have the judgement set aside as someone mentioned earlier.
What I wanted to know was in the event that he moved at some point during the proceedings, but in his application to set the order aside, his tenancy showed he was at the address when the first court letters came through so he had to have been aware of they proceedings, could he still apply (successfully) to set the judgement aside?