CCJ - Help

littlespectacles

Hi All,

Apologies first of all if this is in the incorrect forum.

I would love some help on a matter I have been dealing with for the last year, in 07/2015 I rented a room in Chelsea, London. I paid a deposit of £1575..I moved out and this was never paid back to me or held in a DPS scheme.

I registered a claim through the money service online and this eventually went to court in August this year, thankfully I won my claim and the amount is now owed to myself. The court gave the debtor two weeks from the trial date to pay the money, the debtor chose not to do this.

After varying emails trying to get back my money, I was told to contact a high court bailiff to obtain a writ and have the debt satisfied. I proceeded to do this (again paying more money), they have visited his property three times and have been unable to get in touch with him therefore they only visit 3 times before its 'end of the road' time. He doesn't own a car therefore they would actually need to get into the flat to seek goods.

The amount owed to me including initial costs is £1690 as awarded by the judge, I am now a year down the line and it seems I am just chucking good money after bad and my costs have reached nearly £400 now.

My question is, I could possibly do an attachment of earnings option but have been told this is pointless as the debtor can agree to a very small amount of £10 a month for example or even less so this would be pointless.

I feel I have reached the end of the road, I wondered what happens if I don't do anything and the claim is still held in my favour against him ? Will the court just keep it on file and he will have a CCJ against him or will they proactively chase him to get the debt.

Thanks for any help so far, It is all very sad that someone can get away with this in 2016.

sourcrates

Hi,

You, essentially are the creditor here, so any recovery action is entirely up to you, the CCJ will be valid for 6 years, after which, if you haven't enforced the judgement, you would have to go back to court for permission to do so.

You have already played your trump card, high court enforcement, and he's managed to evade them, if the amount owed was over £5000 you could apply to make him bankrupt, but that's not an option here.

littlespectacles

Thank you for your swift reply.

I did think as much, like you said I have played all my cards now and it's time to give up rather than wasting more money chasing.

fatbelly

I disagree - you went straight for bailiffs without checking whether that was the best option. As he doesn't have a car, and they cannot force entry to where he lives, it was not.

An order to obtain information (which you can still do if you need to) would force him to complete a form with a court officer about his entire situation - it's quite thorough. If he refuses to attend he can be jailed for 2 weeks.

Options still open to you are: attachment to earnings (no reason why that would not work) or third party debt order (taking money from his bank account, maybe the day after he gets paid),

However ... presumably the debtor owns the property that he rents out but does not live there. Why not apply for a charging order, followed by the threat of an order for sale? Should focus his mind.

Add 8% interest from the date of judgement and all your court fees and costs