Any legal Eagles out there.

rizla01

Hi,

Does anyone know anything about Sueing someone for £20,000.00+. Putting a charge on their property with a view to forcing a sale or making them bankrupt and the best way of going about it along with all of the pitfalls involved? Phew!

Riz.

Joe_Bloggs

It sounds like a win-win situation for the lawyers involved for both parties. You may not be the only creditor that has a claim. Don't do anything silly and don't put your faith in the courts.
J_B.

Bossyboots

If you go to the Court Service website and then select forms and guidance you should find a downloadable pdf file which will tell you what to do.

Basically, you will have to prepare your application for an order together with a statement of facts, exhibiting any proof you have of the debt. This then has to be served on the other side with sufficient notice. The other side will then have the opportunity of filing a defence and/or attending the hearing. How it goes from there depends on the proof you have.

Assuming you obtain judgement, the debt has to be paid in full or by agreed instalments. You cannot apply for an order for a charge on their property until they have defaulted on payment. You would apply for an interim order, which gives them the opportunity to say why a full order should not be made. If you are successful at the hearing for a full order, you can then register the charge against the property at the Land Registry. You can subsequently apply for an order for sale. Simply having a charge on the property does not entitle you to demand a sale, you will need a court order. With a court order for sale, you should not need to make them bankrupt and surely with the latter you run the risk of not getting your money back anyway.

If you are confident enough, you do not need a solicitor to act for you. All the instructions and forms are on the Court Service website.

rizla01

Hi Bossyboots.

This has come about by the people in question stopping paying me the £125.00 per Month as was originally agreed, back in january. They now owe nearly £1000.00 in payments.

They have had judgement served upon them for the full amount of the debt 23k and I am going for an interim charging order at this moment, with a hope of finally getting a charge on their property for this amount.

Ons solicitor spoke of making them bankrupt as a way of getting my 20k+ but another suggested that once the charge is put on the prop then it would not be difficult to force a sale, if they are not able to pay the outstanding payment and continue from here onward.

Prob is, I understand that in making them bankrupt, if they owe more than the 40k or so equity in the property then I shall have to sing for my money despite paying TWO lots (joint) of £650 reqd to make them bankrupt.

1 How easy would it be to get a judge to oreder sale of their home to pay me off?
2 What would cause the judge to give that decision?
3 Does it make any difference that they have a 3year old daughter?
4 What other problems are likely to arise and what can I do to protect myself against them?
5 How long do the proceedings normally take?

Any other suggestions as I need this money and cannot afford to lose it.

Thanks,

Riz

Bossyboots

The issue of the 3 year old daughter would be taken into account as the Court would not want a child to be homeless.

I think the only real issue will be how good their defence to an order for sale is and there is not much you can do about that. I think your money is more at risk if you have them declared bankrupt than if you go for the charging order.

I would imagine your best tactic will be to leave a gap between the charging order and applying for an order for sale, to give them a chance to re-start the instalment payments.

If there is sufficient equity in the property for them to start again or they have sufficient income to rent somewhere then you have more chance of getting an order for sale. The court are going to need a lot of convincing that this is an appropriate order to make.

rizla01

Bossyboots wrote:

est tactic will be to leave a gap between the charging order and applying for an order for sale, to give them a chance to re-start the instalment payments.

Sounds like a good tactic.

Just waiting for an application form for the office copy of the title deeds to arrive. alas, apparantly the courts won't accept a £2.00 printout. Has to be the real thing (£4.00) whaich has to be applied for by post. :mad:

Anything to delay matters, huh?

M_Thomson

Is this really a question for the budgeting and current accounts board??!!???

Turning_into_scrooge

M_Thomson wrote:

Is this really a question for the budgeting and current accounts board??!!???

Maybe not but it was answered. does it really matter?