Claiming money (tenancy deposit back) from someone into IVA / court fine

dan201

Hello,

I am about to start a procedure to sue someone to court because he hasn't refunded my deposit after I rented a room from him. This person has entered into an IVA scheme in August 2019 (after I left his place in May 2019 so after I was owed the money), but did not add me as a creditor.

I am looking to sue him in Small Claims court to get my deposit back (£800 + interests), and on top of that to sue him for non-protection of my deposit, as he gave me a fake deposit certificate (up to 3 times the deposit amount so £2,400) so my deposit wasn't protected.

Now my concern is, even if I win on both cases and he gets a court order to pay me back, will he actually have the money to pay me?
I have read that court fines are excluded from an IVA scheme. If that's correct then surely I can issue a warrant of control to seize his assets / tax money directly from his job or bank account OUTSIDE of the IVA scheme?
Also if he gets the court order to pay me back can this be in action longer than the IVA, therefore forcing him to pay me after the IVA ends?
What about issuing a statutory demand since I was not added as creditor in the IVA?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Dan

fatbelly

I would suggest running this past someone like National Debtline.

The only contribution I would make is to point out that you would have a money claim against him, not a criminal fine.

So it would not be an excluded debt for IVA purposes.

foxy-stoat

He is insolvent - doubt you will get anything while he is in his IVA.

You can get a CCJ on him, try and recover your money using baliffs to sieze assets, you wont be able to tax his money at source, dont know why you think you can do that.

You have 6 years from the date of the CCJ to get your money, so the longer you leave it the better.

dan201

I've spoken to someone about this on the National Debtline Chat.

I was told on another forum that I am possibly bound by the terms of the IVA as the debt was pre-IVA, even if I didn't know about it. Can someone confirm if this is true or false?

dan201

foxy-stoat:
Please read this extract from Gov.uk attachment of earnings order to collect money on his salary
"Get money deducted from wages
You can ask the court to take money from the debtor’s wages to pay the debt. They do this by sending an order to the debtor’s employer.

Download and fill in a request for an attachment of earnings order form N337.

Freeze assets or money in an account
The court can freeze money in the debtor’s bank, building society or business account.

Download and fill in a request for a third party debt order form N349.

The court will decide if money from the account can be used to pay the debt."

foxy-stoat

You wont be able to get his money direct from wages if he is insolvent. Your debt cannot be given a higher priority than other debts.

If your added to the IVA terms then you may only get back 20-25% of it, if you win.

foxy-stoat

dan201 wrote: »

I've spoken to someone about this on the National Debtline Chat.

I was told on another forum that I am possibly bound by the terms of the IVA as the debt was pre-IVA, even if I didn't know about it. Can someone confirm if this is true or false?

Maybe the deposit can be added, doubt the fine can be.

Good luck.

dan201

Okay thanks for your advice.
What about the possibility of waiting until the IVA ends? If I get a CCJ that is valid after six years, can I wait around a bit before going to court, then there will be a larger gap after the end of the IVA so he will have no choice but to pay me?

foxy-stoat

dan201 wrote: »

Okay thanks for your advice.
What about the possibility of waiting until the IVA ends? If I get a CCJ that is valid after six years, can I wait around a bit before going to court, then there will be a larger gap after the end of the IVA so he will have no choice but to pay me?

Thats what I was saying about leave it as long as you can. His credit file will be clean in 2025, so the longer you leave it before getting a CCJ the worse it will be for this person.

Shame he doesnt owe you over £5,000 as I do not think you can make him bankrupt for anything less. As he has at least 1 property that he rents making him bankrupt will also certainly ensure he loses his rental property. Maybe try and find him on the insolvency register, contact his IP and see if he has declared that he is receiving income from the rental property....maybe shop him to the HMRC as well, he may not be declaring to them either.

dan201

This rental / tenancy turned out to be a illegal sublet (he was just a joint tenant of the flat) so he doesn't really uses it anymore.
I have tried to contact his IP but they would not disclose any information to me as I am not a creditor in the register.
Then do you reckon my best chance of seeing my money back is to just sit and wait a few months, then get a CCJ for both small claims of £800+ and high court of £2,400 ; then just wait for the end of the IVA to collect my money?

sourcrates

He might not have any money to collect, it’s one thing obtaining a CCJ, another thing entirely enforcing it, if you instruct bailiffs, all he has to do is keep the door locked, an admonishment on his wages, he could leave his job, basically if he doesn’t want to pay you, you cannot make him if he is smart enough to play the system.