How long can CCJ's be enforced for?

WorriedATT

Hello all,

This is my first post and I'm just looking for some solid advice from you knowledgable lot.

Basically... my husband and I met at the end of our 3 years being students, 8 years ago now. We must arried after 4 months of being together and have been together ever since. When we met (I didn't know this till a year or so later) my husband had just finished renting a student house for a year. My husband was not eligible for student finance funding that year due to taking a different course for 2 years before moving to the one he now has a degree in. As a result of his finance being pulled, and him being unable to find a job. He got behind on his rent, and built up £2000 in arrears. I can honestly say he didn't have a penny as I paid for all his food etc.

I found out about the above when he was served a ccj after the landlord when to court (completely irrelevant side note: my husband received letters to the property for the landlord after the landlord was claiming jobseekers and housing benefit for the property :mad: )

Anyway, my husband has never been stressed about it. He just said he physically couldn't afford it, after unsuccessfully trying to find a job he moved out so landlord could re let and that's that.

But I cannot stop thinking about this CCJ. It really worries me all the time.

After leaving uni my husband found it very difficult to get a permenant job in his field and for a few years has just gone from temporary job to temporary job inbetween bouts of unemployment. He thankfully now has a permenant job and has been there a while. I've been steadily saving with my steady job, but due to maternity haven't got that far with savings this far).

Nevertheless I'm now at a point where I'm starting g to think more and more about getting a deposit together for a mortgage and hopefully buying our own property in the future. However... now getting to the question... how long does a CCJ stay on my husbands credit file? And can bailiffs turn up at any point till we die and recover £200 from us? I am so scared of them turning up one day and demanding £2000 from my account!!

Please advise,

Very worried.

StopIt

How long ago was the CCJ obtained?


A CCJ can be enforced for 6 years before it would need to be re-applied at court for enforcement.


It'll also stay on your credit files for this period of time.


A big however here is the source of the CCJ. As it isn't a consumer debt, it can also be escalated to the High Court at any time in this period, greatly escalating the costs and powers of recovery.


I'd take the CCJ to the CAB and get some advice on how to proceed. if it has been 6 years, it'll likely go unenforced but if the Landlord can convince a court they didn't enforce the debt because they couldn't trace your partner, it may be grounds to re-activate the writ.


If your partner is able to, it may be worth coming up with a payment plan if it is not older than 6 years old, to avoid any chance of escalation.

sourcrates

You will most likely discover the debt has risen considerably since judgement, there could be interest, court fees, bailiff fees, all added to that.

As "stop it" says, most important question is when was the CCJ granted ?

WorriedATT

It was over 6 years ago. But does that matter if he could just reapply to court anyway?

Thank you for your replys.

StopIt

WorriedATT wrote: »

It was over 6 years ago. But does that matter if he could just reapply to court anyway?

Thank you for your replys.

It matters because the claimant would need to show why they haven't enforced the CCJ in the 6 years, before the courts would allow further enforcement.


If they haven't bothered to chase the money for 6 years after getting a CCJ, it's unlikely going to be enforced at any point now but it isn't impossible. I wouldn't worry about it unless if anything actually happens though.


The CCJ should be off your partners credit history by now.


Get them to sign up to Noddle, ClearScore and the MSE Credit Club (All 3 are free and cover the 3 CRA companies) to make sure.