Ccj advice

Trevelyan1971 · 7 January 2018 at 11:38PM

Hi , I’m in a situation where I have a ccj but I feel it’s undeserved for the following reasons ....about 4 years I did a lot of work for a lady , my only mistake was that I mixed business with pleasure and although my work was faultless the personal side of things hit a low. To cut a long story short when it came for me to be paid , a figure which was very much reduced , approx £2000, she refused to pay ...I totally incensed and thinking I was in the right told her I was going to take her to small claims court ...her exact words were , “if you do that , I will counter claim and I’m rich enough to bury you “ ...in all honesty I wish I had taken her threats seriously but I thought she was bluffing , I had done at least 4K of work at a good standard and was charging half of that , the law would surely be on my side.
However she did counter claim with a load of spurious claims , I was told I needed to get a solicitor and could I’ll afford it ( no thanks to her) and immediately fell into a depression...I was so saddened I buried my head in the sand and was quite ill...
Well in my absence she won a ccj against me to the sum of £7000 ? A crazy figure I can only assum was plucked out of the air ....
Within the first few months of her award she tried to get a deductions of earnings which did not work as due to my ill health I had already left my job ....she then went for a charging order on my property which I believe was successful but as I never intend to sell I never really thought about it much ...
THEN ...nothing , for 4 years now , nothing ...all I can think is that she has calmed down , feels she has punished me enough and has forgot about it ..I reall y don’t know....
My question is , I’m now fit and well , business doing great and have my confidence back ...I have read you can have these judgements set aside but I’m afraid this might stir her up and she might want to get nasty again.,.so do I wait 6 years , I really don’t know what to do and as far as the charging order goes I have not got a clue about that either ...all I know is I don’t want to pay her , in this situation i really did suffer the scorn of a woman scorned...any advice will be appreciated ...sorry about the back story but I felt it was important to make you aware that in this case I’m not just trying to get away with a dept ...

sourcrates · 8 January 2018 at 12:18AM

Hi,

Ouch, a lesson to be learned there me thinks, but I can sympathise with your situation.

As for the set aside, I would forget that idea, in order for a set aside to be approved, you need a Defense with a reasonable chance of success, then there is the time that has passed, 4 years is a long time since judgement.

Every stage of enforcement costs the client money, that’s most likley why she has gone quiet, I would let sleeping dogs lie if it were me.

After six years, although CCJ’s don’t go statute barred, she would have to seek permission of the court to enforce.

As for the charging order, again, most sit dormant until either the house is sold, or it’s removed for another reason, may be take advice on that from National Debtline.

Trevelyan1971 · 8 January 2018 at 8:05PM

Hi , Thankyou for your reply . The lady is a millionaire so I don’t think she’s gone quiet due to costs , I’d like to think her conscience has kicked in ....I fitted a kitchen for her and simply never got paid as a form of punishment for crossing her ...my defence would be that I was mentally unfit to defend myself at the time , I was shell shocked and had never experienced being done over until then ! But I agree best keep quiet as I feel if you are rich enough to have smart lawyers , you can’t compete and had I fought her would have been totally penniless....
As for the charging order , if anyone can shed more light on this I’d be thankful .....
Thanks in advance ....

sourcrates · 8 January 2018 at 8:59PM

The charging order can be more of a problem, but there are ways and means of dealing with them.

Some info here :

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-collection/charging-orders-and-my-home.aspx

National_Debtline · 9 January 2018 at 5:01PM

Hi there and welcome to MSE,

This is quite a difficult situation and I appreciate there is a personal side to this. There are several things to consider here. I am afraid I have not heard of a set aside application being done where you raised the original claim (she won on a counter claim). Essentially when you apply to set aside the court will normally look at how promptly you have made the set aside application (4 years may be an issue), why you didn't reply to the original claim forms (which is not the issue, as you raised the claim) and do you have a realistic prospect of a defence. It could cost up to £255 to apply, plus you will need legal advice. I will also warn you that if you apply and lose you can incur legal costs of the other side. I cannot say for certain that it isn't an option, but you certainly need legal advice before going any further down this road.

If you don't / can't apply to set it aside, then you are liable to repay the debt. The other party is able to use other enforcement action within 6 years of the judgement without any real barriers (she could apply for bailiffs) but sourcrates is right, after 6 years should would need permission from the court to use standard enforcement options.

The charging order will need to be repaid gradually or upon sale of the property. There is also a risk that the claimant can apply for an order for sale, which, unfortunately, is what it sounds like. She can apply to force the sale of the property, and whilst this is very rare with a standard creditor, I wouldn't rule it out in this situation due to the background. You can apply to the court to vary the judgement and pay instalments, and put something called 'conditions' on the charging order. These conditions can state that as long as you maintain the payments set, the claimant cannot apply for an order for sale. All of these applications cost money but would be a minor cost compared to solicitor if she decides to apply for an order for sale.

This is a very complicated situation and I would suggest calling one of the debt free charities for more advice.

Laura
@natdebtline

Ccj advice

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