CCJ against sole trader who has not paid

Alvister

I have a CCJ against an individual (sole trader) but the debt of just under £5,000 has not been paid. The debtor did not attend any of the court hearings.

As I had paid by bank transfer (to two different bank accounts) I went down the Third Party Debt Order route. I did not know the names on the bank accounts but understood that I would be advised by the bank within a week whether either was in the sole name of the debtor. The bank did not respond within one week. It took four reminders and two court hearings (over a period of four months) before the bank responded to say that the bank accounts were not in his name, by which time a different company had been established at the address we had for the defendant, with a different member of his family named as director.

As the debt is against him personally, I wondered whether it now worth engaging a bailiff service. He has had time to conceal any assets - or say that they belong to the new company at the address we have for him.

Another option I understand would be to issue an order for him to attend court for questioning about his assets. However, the problem seems to be in serving this order on him. Do I ask the court to deal with this - and what happens if they fail on their first attempt to serve the order? Do I have to pay for each subsequent attempt made to serve the order?

I would appreciate the advice who has been through a similar experience.

Stevie_Palimo

Advice here :- https://www.gov.uk/county-court-judgments-ccj-for-debt/overview


And here :- https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/creditor-takes-you-to-court-for-debt/

Marktheshark

Does he own property ?
A charge on the property might get his attention.

Alvister

Thank you but the two links are aimed at the judgement debtor, not the judgement creditor.


I seek advice from anyone who has personal experience of going through the process of issuing an 'Application for order that debtor attend court for questioning' - Form N316 - particularly in respect of the service of the order on the debtor. What are the problems? Is there a charge for each attempt at service?

Stevie_Palimo

Alvister wrote: »

Thank you but the two links are aimed at the judgement debtor, not the judgement creditor.


I seek advice from anyone who has personal experience of going through the process of issuing an 'Application for order that debtor attend court for questioning' - Form N316 - particularly in respect of the service of the order on the debtor. What are the problems? Is there a charge for each attempt at service?

You can navigate through the sites to see what options and costs are involved here.

Alvister

Thank you Marktheshark - we're not sure whether he owns any property or even his car but hopefully he would have to provide this information when attending court for questioning and we could take it from there.


Thank you Stevie Polimo - it is not clear whether the cost of service could escalate if the debtor is difficult to serve with the order and several attempts are required, or if another payment is required if an order re-issued for a second hearing because he fails to attend the first one - and he has never attended a hearing so far. I would check this with the court but have been misinformed on costs in the past. The information given seems to depend on how knowledgeable the person is who deals with the query. This is why I hoped someone who had gone through the process might be able to help.

FairWorldCitizen

Hi Alvister,

There is no charge for each service when you start any of the available options that the UK court system offers, the fee is on each application - e.g. 100 on an AEO, 100 on TPDO etc.

However, I would strongly recommend that you chase the court several times regularly. I do not know how they implement their procedures, but my own experience was that they did not progress anything with a post-judgment enforcement application unless I called them.

Since the debt is already high, another route would be to "switch" the case to the higher level using high court + sheriff enforcement?

You should also try to keep an eye on the debtor. Has he purchased a car recently? Does he own a property (as suggested above)?

Hope it helps.