CCJ-What next?

RichyL

Hello all,
I've been passed from pillar to post with this. The CAB, MCOL and Trading Standards keep sending me in a circle telling me to ask someone else, so here goes!

I have a CCJ against a guy that owes me money (currently up to just under £1400) for wedding photography that he never performed, after saying 'See you in court' to me he has ignored every single letter from the court etc.

Anyway, I'm now at the point of getting a warrant through MCOL, but how likely am I to get anywhere with this? Can he just ignore it like he is ignoring everything else? I know he flits between here and a couple of other countries quite regularly.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. At this point, if the £1400 was shaken out of him and given to a charity it would still be better than thinking he has made off with it all.

waamo

If it's been to court and you have a ccj you can enforce it. Google HCEO and look at having uplifted to the high court. They have much better results than baliffs.

DoaM

Is he a sole trader or a limited company? Which did you take to court?

As above, elevate to HCEO (The Sheriffs Are Coming) as they have much more power to enforce a judgment than a bailiff.

RichyL

Thanks for that, I've just phoned them and was told that if he chooses to just ignore them, he can. I'd have to pay £66 to transfer the CCJ to them, and £70 if they can't do anything. Seems stupid to me that I have to pay them £70 if they can't do anything.

Lesson here is, you can steal from people and get away with it by ignoring the problem until it goes away >.<
He's a sole trader.

waamo

If they get some money you pay nothing. They take their fees from him and they charge way more than £70 so it's in their interest to collect.

RichyL

Yes, but he has no incentive to pay anything. He can hide behind a closed door or leave the country (not being dramatic, he works overseas a fair amount). They can't force their way in and I don't see him inviting them in any time soon.

pmduk

Try doing your homework first, do you know his premises? does it look as though he has any property for them to seize?

RichyL

Homework already done, he has plenty of property on the inside of his house, his car is in his wife's name.

waamo

RichyL wrote: »

Yes, but he has no incentive to pay anything. He can hide behind a closed door or leave the country (not being dramatic, he works overseas a fair amount). They can't force their way in and I don't see him inviting them in any time soon.

Does he have a car? Seeing that loaded onto a trailer tends to prompt action.

Anyway it's your call as to what you want to do. Doing nothing is an option if you want to go down that path.

Edited to say we posted at the same time. Having the car in the wife's name doesn't mean it's not his.

RichyL

I'll be going through the High Court, just to be sure. But having read around, there is a library of advice for how he can avoid paying anything (parking the car in the next street over etc etc) once he gets the 7 day notice.

Seems skewed that there is no 100% way to ensure that now I have the CCJ against him, I can get the money back.


Thanks for everyone's input.

waamo

There is no guarantee but if he has anything of value the HCEO are good at getting it. Hiding a car works against a baliff but not so much against these guys.

They only need reasonable suspicion he owns it to lift it. If he drives it most often then he has to prove it's not his. That's actually more difficult than it sounds. A V5 in the wife's name doesn't cut it.

There are other options like freezing his bank account. If he goes abroad a lot that will hurt him.