Best way to proceed following a successful small claim CCJ judgement? 19 November 2022 at 12:44PM in Consumer rights 19 replies 562 views

Theagg

 Having won a CCJ judgement (by default), with the debtor being ordered to pay 'forthwith', (amount is over £600) what would be the recommended next steps to enforce the judgement if the debt isn't paid voluntarily ?

Given the trader is self employed, the available options seem to be bailiffs or third party debt order. (I do have the traders bank account details but do not know how much is currently in it). Advice and experiences ?

macman

Bailiffs is the usual first stop, assuming there are assets to be seized. Actual seizure is not the purpose, it's to elicit payment as an alternative.
Ltd company or sole trader?

DanDare999

Looks like a Sole Trader. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6387091/small-claim-against-sole-trader#latest

I don't think theres a need for a thread per question. 

Theagg

macman said:

Bailiffs is the usual first stop, assuming there are assets to be seized. Actual seizure is not the purpose, it's to elicit payment as an alternative.
Ltd company or sole trader?

Sole trader. Ok, so bailiffs first and if they fail to get any results (I've noted on other threads where bailiffs are mentioned this is a distinct possibility) then move onto the other options. (which in this situation would only be either an order to obtain information or the third party debt order) Reason for asking is that I have always assumed that the bailiff option being the most 'personal', would be left for last.

macman

'Personal 'is exactly what you want, because if it's a sole trader, bailiffs can seize personal assets. A car, if not on finance, is the favoured option, and clamping that is most likely to bring out the debit card very rapidly.

diystarter7

macman said:

'Personal 'is exactly what you want, because if it's a sole trader, bailiffs can seize personal assets. A car, if not on finance, is the favoured option, and clamping that is most likely to bring out the debit card very rapidly.

High court ballfis - do they have more powers than ordinary blaiffs and if so why does everyone that needs a bailiff go for them

OP - does the person that owns your money have money/etc that can get you your money back? If yes, pursue otherwise think again

DanDare999

diystarter7 said:

macman said:

'Personal 'is exactly what you want, because if it's a sole trader, bailiffs can seize personal assets. A car, if not on finance, is the favoured option, and clamping that is most likely to bring out the debit card very rapidly.

High court ballfis - do they have more powers than ordinary blaiffs and if so why does everyone that needs a bailiff go for them

OP - does the person that owns your money have money/etc that can get you your money back? If yes, pursue otherwise think again

High Court Enforcement have move powers but if the OP wants to use them they must first send it to the High Court. 

Theagg

diystarter7 said:

macman said:

'Personal 'is exactly what you want, because if it's a sole trader, bailiffs can seize personal assets. A car, if not on finance, is the favoured option, and clamping that is most likely to bring out the debit card very rapidly.

High court ballfis - do they have more powers than ordinary blaiffs and if so why does everyone that needs a bailiff go for them

OP - does the person that owns your money have money/etc that can get you your money back? If yes, pursue otherwise think again

No idea how much money they have, that's where the order to obtain information option would come into play I guess. As I said, I know the details of their bank account (sort code, acc no etc)  but not how much is actually in there.

macman

£600 is a sum that is relatively easy to recover from a sole trader if you use bailiffs-you're not going to be agreeing a repayment schedule for a small sum like that, and I doubt that a bailiff would accept less than 50% down on an initial visit.
Does the trader have commercial premises, or are you serving to a private residence?

Theagg

macman said:

£600 is a sum that is relatively easy to recover from a sole trader if you use bailiffs-you're not going to be agreeing a repayment schedule for a small sum like that, and I doubt that a bailiff would accept less than 50% down on an initial visit.
Does the trader have commercial premises, or are you serving to a private residence?

The claim amount is actually for just over £1000, but being honest I'm not too fussed over a short term repayment schedule or similar being agreed if it came to that. And yes, it's a private residence.

Farfetch1

Theagg said:

macman said:

Bailiffs is the usual first stop, assuming there are assets to be seized. Actual seizure is not the purpose, it's to elicit payment as an alternative.
Ltd company or sole trader?

Sole trader. Ok, so bailiffs first and if they fail to get any results (I've noted on other threads where bailiffs are mentioned this is a distinct possibility) then move onto the other options. (which in this situation would only be either an order to obtain information or the third party debt order) Reason for asking is that I have always assumed that the bailiff option being the most 'personal', would be left for last.

Bear in mind that you'll be fronting the bailiff's costs, so if they fail to extract the required funds you'll be likely looking at doubling that debt as bailiffs will typically want £400-600 as "costs."

Personally, I'd be looking at a Garnishee Order, unless the defendant is particularly stupid.