Hidden assets suspicion.

baldelectrician

If he owns a property you can check online for a few quid.


https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry


If has any rental properties you could attach them too - I know in Scotland a sheriff officer (equivalent of baliff) can serve a rent arrestment on a tenant once the court decree has been made and the arrestment order given.


Remember any charging order on a house has the sum of 8 % interest per annum added, so better than putting the money in the bank


Any sale would not go through until the monies in the order are paid

EssexHebridean

A charging order really only has any value if there is any prospect of the debtor selling - or being forced to sell - his property. Having said that it is a good safeguard, and generally speaking if there is an inclination to sell, people tend to pay them off beforehand to get them removed as a lot of the time they don't want them visible on the title to prospective buyers.

JJG

Mgman1965 wrote: »

Edit.
The car was about 5 yrs old and had from new but still worth good money so assume any finance was paid off.

It could've been a PCH and he never owned it in the first place.

MrsTinks

JJG wrote: »

It could've been a PCH and he never owned it in the first place.

Could have been many types of credit agreement... the way my husband funds his cars is minimal payment on the agreements with minimal deposits and handing them back after about 2 years - they are ALWAYS in negative equity. 5 years would be the longest agreement I think you can take out, but not sure. However you are assuming that he hasn't failed to pay for it for a long time and they have only just repossessed it.

I'm not defending the guy here, not in the slightest - just trying to point out that things may look one way, but be fairly different in reality.

If he worked largely in cash then it is possible he has a massive HMRC bill if they caught up with him, but that would explain him flashing the cash for years. Also if he has the gadgets but the receipts are all in a partner or children's names then the bailiffs are unable to touch it.

There are plenty of ways to protect yourself from bailiffs if you're that way inclined and if he doesn't care about the possibility of being made bankrupt. Could his house be in a partners name? Sadly things are never as straightforward as you might wish...