County Court judgement

trailingspouse

I needed to get a refund from a tradesperson. Went through small claims court, he admitted he owed the money and agreed to pay by the end of March. He hasn't made the payment. What happens next? Trying to get to talk to someone at the small claims court is impossible (believe me, I've tried…).

fatbelly

If it's for over £600 you don't need to involve the county court. You can ask any firm of High Court Enforcement Officers to take it on. You will have to pay £200 to escalate it to High Court but the HCEOs will get the rest of their fees from the debtor.

Isthisforreal99

Was this against a sole trader or Ltd company?

Okell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6663070/county-court-judgement

To clarify - did you actually win a judgment against this trader in court or did he agree before the case actually got to court to pay up?

trailingspouse

Hi

Many thanks for responding.

He is a sole trader. He agreed to repay before it actually got to court.

Hope that helps.

Okell

so you don't actually have a ccj in your favour?

what did - or have you done - with the claim?

is it still active or have you discontinued it?

if still active you continue with it.

if not i'm not sure how you reinstate it, but somebody here will know

even if you win, can he pay?

[edit: have you asked him why he's not paid? do you trust him?]

Isthisforreal99

Sounds like you fell for the oldest trick im the book - "I'll pay it this time, honestly"

As above what happened with your actual claim?

trailingspouse

The actual claim resulted in him offering to pay the full amount on/before 31st March. He hasn't.

This was an agreement reached via the small claims process, not something I've entered into privately with him. The claim is still active - I certainly haven't closed it.

His explanation (via the small claims process) was that he'd broken his foot and therefore wasn't able to carry out the work. Sadly he didn't explain why his fingers were also not working, thus making it impossible for him to tell me earlier… Or why he didn't respond to any of my attempts to contact him.

Do I trust him? Of course not!! That's why I'm attempting to get my money back.

Yes, I know I need to continue with it - my question is, how do I do that? It's impossible to contact anyone by phone. Does it just happen automatically? Surely I need to inform them that he hasn't paid, but it's not at all obvious how I should do that?

user1977

Not sure what you mean by "an agreement reached via the small claims process" - if he hasn't actually lodged a defence then you should get judgement by default. You then decide what steps to take to enforce that judgement.

born_again

This was an agreement reached via the small claims process, not something I've entered into privately with him. The claim is still active - I certainly haven't closed it.

He is a sole trader. He agreed to repay before it actually got to court.

So there is no actual court order/judgment on him to pay then.

So you now need to go through the court process.

sheramber

what paperwork from the court do you havre showing he agreed to pay?