Worth chasing a debt from someone with lots of debt?

vtc6

I rented out some garage storage space to a friendly young bloke, but after six months he started delaying paying the fee and then totally stopped. When we entered the garage he'd cleared out his valuables and left it full of rubbish, left damage, and he's also been giving false meter readings. The electricity meter was in my name, he was sending me false readings making the bills come to very little which wasn't surprising for a garage, but it looks like he'd been living there and the electricity bill was £400. In total he owes around £1500 including damage and license fee for renting the space.

He is now homeless, last I heard he was using a local pub as his mail address. He has thousands of pounds of debt from business loans as his business failed. The loans were from some charities or government trusts. He also has dozens of outstanding parking tickets which he ignored and have mounted. And I think some credit card debts.

I have a professional contract that he signed. I've looked online and read that once small claims court has ruled the debt does not have a deadline. So the 5 year limit on debts doesn't apply after the debt has been claimed in court.

So what would happen if I did take such a person to court? Can he be found if he ever takes up residence again? He's "off grid" now, but what will happen if he ever goes back "on grid" and tries to get a job or house? Is such a person likely to be able to claim bankruptcy? I can only estimate his debts but they are between £8000 and £20'000.

Guest101

6 years, not 5 (in England anyway) but yes ultimately even a court order expires (after 10 years I believe).


Anyone can file (not claim) for bankruptcy.


He can also apply for a DRO, which writes off all debt after 1 year.


In short you are throwing good money after bad.

hazyjo

Did you have insurance for it and did they know you were renting it out?


Jx

undaunted

I guess it depends what you're really asking / hoping to achieve here.


If you hope to get your money, in theory you could obtain a CCJ - though it will cost you to do so & the 6 year statute of limitations would then no longer apply to chasing the debt. though you may need court permission to begin seeking enforcement more than 6 years after issue.


In practice however, if he has no assets you're probably wasting your time & even more money. He hasn't got a property so you can't take out a charging order (which bankruptcy wouldn't over ride) so he could still apply for bankruptcy & render any judgement worthless.


if you really mean I'm willing to kiss goodbye to my money but want to make his life more difficult / prevent him doing this to anyone else as a result then a CCJ or bankruptcy would make it far more difficult for him to obtain credit of any form in the future


The choice is yours

AnnieO1234

Personally, it's not low hanging fruit so I really wouldn't bother. Xxx

theartfullodger

Always take court action, get a judgement.....

Once you have that three things...
a) He gets a CCJ and will find it hard to get credit, rent property, get a mobile 'phone contract...
2) If he gets a job, has/gets assets, wins lottery you can collect...
iii) He stops telling everyone what a soft touch you are....

vansboy

You say you think he was living in the garage, then he is/was already in a very vulnerable position, for some reason. If he is homeless, then there are many reasons for this and another debt for him could either be just ignored, or cause him more grief.

Long term you may well get some money back from him, if you made a claim against him. Short term, it would be better if someone - maybe one of the charities who supported him, were to offer more help in sorting his life out.

VB

Thrugelmir

Always apply for a CCJ. You never know what the outcome will be.

tlc678910

Put it down to experience. A "friendly young bloke" could have been using your garage for any manner of illegal activities (to state the obvious storing stolen goods/vehicles, growing cannabis). It doesn't sound like you did any due diligence of background/earning checks or referencing, or inspections of the garage.

Someone who is living in a garage and then homeless is not going to pay you back so I would move on. In my humble opinion getting a CCJ is not something I would want to pursue. If the guy does drag himself up and sort his life out at some point I wouldn't want to be trying to damage his credit rating simply for revenge (with little prospect of being paid back in any foreseeable future). Be grateful that you are not walking in his shoes and be more diligent if you rent out the garage again.

Tlc

Richard_Webster

Always take court action, get a judgement.....

Once you have that three things...
a) He gets a CCJ and will find it hard to get credit, rent property, get a mobile 'phone contract...
2) If he gets a job, has/gets assets, wins lottery you can collect...
iii) He stops telling everyone what a soft touch you are....

His credit will be shot through anyway - so why waste money on it?

fishpond

Richard_Webster wrote: »

His credit will be shot through anyway - so why waste money on it?

The sheer pleasure.