Help with court payment

Eileenmoon

Hi not sure if I'm on the right forum but here goes. My husband had a debt with Mnba who passed it to Arrow Global who in turn asked Reston Solictors to act on they behalf. We received a letter from the court and as my husband was self employed at the time and was on a low wage the judge agreeed for us to pay £1 per month off the £1900 debt. Reston then applied for a charging order on our property because the debt would take a long time to clear. We wrote to the land registry and court contesting this. We went to court and offered to up the payment to £5 as my husband is now in a paye job. The judhe gave us a few months to see if we could up the payment. When we returned to court neither the judge or the solicitor acting for Reston had any knowledge of the charging order! Plus the judge was in such a hurry he had no time to listen to our side of the story. We have now received a letter from the court saying we have to pay the full amount by 29th September we cannot afford to pay this and are worried as to what will happen next. We are paying £5 a month towards the debt but that is all we can afford. Can anyone please give us any advice?

sourcrates

Hi,

You need to fill in court form N245 (application for an installment order).

Send it back to the court ASAP.

Details here :

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/changing-a-court-order-for-debt/changing-a-court-order-for-debt/

fatbelly

Yes, you've now got a 'forthwith' judgement, which you can try to vary back to an instalment order.

There is no need for Restons to keep objecting to this if all they want is a charging order but other forms of enforcement can only be used if the judgement is defaulted.

Are you sure the charging order wasn't granted? Courts do not normally block these applications.

As it sounds like they don't know what they are doing then getting this back to an instalment order would stop bailiffs, attachment to earnings and third party debt orders.

Eileenmoon

Thank you for your advice. This case has been taken to court and the judge granted us to pay £1 we then went to court to object to the charging order Reston were trying for. On that day the judge tool into account my husbands new job and the fact we were now paying £5 towards the debt, she set a new date which was last month to review our circumstances. When we arrived at the court last week no one knew about the charging order, and when we went through our finishes with the judge he just dismissed it and went for a judgement. We never got a chance to mention we already had a ccj regarding this debt and are currently paying £5 off the debt. If we already have a ccj can we have another one for the same debt?

sourcrates

Eileenmoon wrote: »

If we already have a ccj can we have another one for the same debt?

No you cant, it looks like confusion is raining here.

To move this forward, you need to follow the advice given, and hope you get a judge whose not late for their round of golf.

fatbelly

If you check the reference numbers they will be the same.

The original court claim number becomes the judgement number (mixture of letters and numbers) then the terms of the order can change if either party objects.

Eileenmoon

Been in touch with the court apparently charging order has already been granted back in June we weren't notified. They have told me to send all emails to them in an e mail. So now Reston have aharging order on my house plus we are paying each month all up to date but they still won't the full amount!!!

fatbelly

Yep. Thought that might be the case.

If you are not getting remission of the fee for the N245 I might be inclined to leave it until/unless Restons go for bailiffs, as the form can be used both to suspend an warrant and vary an order.

They are not particularly likely to do that. The most likely outcome now is that the debt just sits there until you decide to sell the house.

Even then, if this is a solely owned debt on a jointly owned property, you should see that the Land Registry have recorded this as a restriction not a charge, and it may be possible to sell without paying it.

Eileenmoon

Thank you I'm so confused by everything. Will email the court the whole story and hope for the right outcome. Just feel we are being hounded for a small debt. No way are we saying we don't owe the money but really feel this has got out of hand and Restones has no idea what's going on.

zippygeorgeandben

Two very different ways of making a similar point above.
What I would say though is that you are suggesting it has 'got out of hand' because someone has the temerity to want more than £1 a month to be paid against a debt. They pushed and you could then offer £5 a month. Who's to say that they push a little further and you agree £10 a month.
I think dresdendave has an excellent idea. Post a SOA and people can advise on how to cut down monthly costs. There are some great people here who can point you in the right direction. Good luck.

Eileenmoon

Hi The judgement against my husband was on Friday, we could no pay the full amount so waiting to hear from the court as to the outcome. In the meantime Reston has sent us an expenditure form to fill in. If this case is being dealt with through the court do we have to deal with Reston directly?