To successfully enforce payment of the money owed to you on a Judgement, you have to use the right method of enforcement.
TYPES OF JUDGEMENT
There are two types of Judgement:
1. A Default Judgement -
This is the type of judgement you will get if the debtor has not bothered to reply to the Court, or has failed to file a Defence.
The debtor can apply to have this type of judgement set aside (i.e. cancelled). If that happens, enforcement is stopped and the whole case has to go back to a full Hearing.
The trick is
not to try to enforce this type of judgement within 28 days of it being granted. After that time, the debtor has to show a good
reason before the Court will set judgement aside.
2. Judgement after a Hearing -
This is the type of judgement you will get after a court hearing at which the Judge has considered the evidence. This type can be enforced immediately.
ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES
1. Order to Attend (fee of £45)
2. Charging Order (fee of £55)
3. 3rd Party Debt Order (fee of £55)
4. Warrant of Execution (fee of £35 or £55)
5. Statutory Demand (leads to Bankruptcy for an Individual, or a Winding Up Order for a Company)
6. Attachment of Earnings Order (fee of £65.00)
County Court guidance leaflets on various aspects of enforcing a judgement can be downloaded at
H M Courts Service - Forms and Guidance 1. Order to Attend
This is not a method of enforcement. This is a means of finding out information about the debtor's circumstances, so that you can decide which is likely to be the most effective enforcement method to use.
This is an application for the debtor (or an officer of it, if the debtor is a Company) to attend a Court hearing to give a detailed statement of the debtor's income and assets.
It enables you to obtain:
• Bank and Building Society details that can be used to apply for a Third Party Debt Order;
• Vehicle details that can be used to apply for a Warrant of Execution;
• Employment details that can be used to apply for an Attachment of Earnings Order or for a Third Party Debt Order.
If the debtor fails to turn up at the hearing, an Order will be issued informing the debtor that he/she can be sent to prison for Contempt of Court, and setting a new date for the hearing.
The Court will normally serve that Order for you. But the Court bailiff isn't very efficient. If he fails to achieve service, you can ask the Court for the document to be returned to you for what is called "Personal Service". You can then serve the order yourself (hand it to the debtor), or employ a Process Server to so for you (which costs about £50).
Download link (to download this form, right-click on the link, and select "Save Target As..."): Form title "Application for order that debtor attend court for questioning" (County Court form number N316):
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/c.../n316_0302.pdf 2. Charging Order
If the debtor owns land or property (e.g. a house or flat), the court can give you a mortgage or charge on it, called a charging order, as security for the judgement debt.
The court can ultimately order the property to be sold in order to pay you the money owed to you. But any prior mortgages are paid first.
This is a particularly effective remedy where you are a former tenant, because you already have full details of the property you were renting, which is owned by the landlord, which you can apply for a charging order on.
The benefit of your have been a tenant at the property is that you don't have to go through the rigmarole of an "Order to Attend": you already know the address of at least one property that he owns!
The procedure to obtain the charging order is:
(a) Write to H M Land Registry, specifying the address of the property, to obtain a copy of the Title Register entries, which will show the name of the current owner and any mortgages. The cost is £3.
Alternatively, get it from H M Land Registry on-line here:
Land Register Online
(b) If the property is owned by the Debtor, file an Application for a Charging Order at the Court (the cost is £55). The Court will send you an Interim Charging Order, which you must file at H M Land Registry, against the property.
(c) The Court will hold a Hearing, to decide whether to make the Charging Order final. At the hearing you must produce the documents you obtained from H M Land Registry.
(d) If the Order is made final, you must register it against the property. Write to H M Land Registry, enclosing the Order.
Land Registry forms are available on-line:
Land Registry : Publications Area
If the property is solely owned by the debtor, a Charge will be registered. If it is jointly owned, and the judgement is not against both owners, a Restriction will be registered instead.
The registering of the final Order prevents the debtor getting any further loans on the property, or being able to sell it. This in itself may compel him to pay you, without your needing to apply for an order for the sale of the property.
More information about Charging Orders:
Charging orders in the County Court Download link (to download this form, right-click on the link, and select "Save Target As..."): Form title "Application for a charging order on land or property" (County Court form number N379):
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/c.../n379_0302.pdf 3. 3rd Party Debt Order
This is a Court order against a person or organisation that owes the debtor money, such as a Bank or Building Society, or (in the case of a self-employed debtor) a client.
The third party is ordered by the Court not to pay out any monies to the debtor, except where there are sufficient funds over the amount claimed. The effect is to freeze a Bank Account up to the amount of the judgement debt.
If the third party disputes the order, a Court hearing will be held. But this is rare: the third party normally has no interest in fighting the debtor's disputes for him.
If the third party does not dispute the Order, and does not inform you that there are insufficient funds to satisfy the Order, the Court will make a Final Order for the money to be paid to you by the third party.
Download link (to download this form, right-click on the link, and select "Save Target As..."): Form title "Application for third party debt order" (County Court form N349):
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/c.../n349_0302.pdf 4. Warrant of Execution or High Court Writ
The bailiff (either the County Court bailiff or a Sherriff's High Court Enforcement Officer) is issued with a warrant to seize goods belonging to the debtor, to sell them by auction in order to pay the debt.
It is only effective where the bailiff can obtain entry into the debtor's premises to seize goods. There is no legal right to break an entry into a domestic property (a dwelling) in order to seize goods, but there is a right to forceably enter
commercial premises.
For debts of more than £600 the High Court Enforcement Officer is a far better option, as he will charge a commission to the debtor. He MUST be used if the debt is more than £5,000.
The Court fee you pay is:
• Debt under £125 - fee is £35
• Debt over £125 - fee is £55
• Debt over £600 - Issue a "Writ of Fi Fa" through the Sheriff's Lodgement Centre
If you receive a negative final return from the County Court bailiff, don't be too disheartened. This doesn't necessarily mean the debtor is not at the address, it might only mean that the bailiff hasn't been able to contact the debtor or seize any goods.
Note: A rough rule of thumb is that a County Court bailiff will rarely be able to recover a debt exceeding £600. The most he can do is seize moveable goods, then auction them second hand. That will rarely meet a debt exceeding £600, as most second hand goods fetch next-to-nothing at auction. The only exception is if he can seize and sell a vehicle.
The County Court bailiff will ONLY seize goods at all if he assesses their auction value at the
full amount of the warrant. So there may be goods on-site, but unless the bailiff estimates those goods as having a second hand value sufficient to pay the warrant in full, he will seize nothing at all.
Download link (to download this form, right-click on the link, and select "Save Target As..."): Form title "Request for warrant of execution" (County Court form number N323):
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/c.../n323_0499.pdf 5. Statutory Demand
This method of enforcement can be used if the judgement debt is over £750, and is not payable by instalments.
This is not a Court document, but one anyone can issue. If you have a Judgement it is a perfectly legitimate method of enforcement, and can be very effective.
It is a precursor to Bankruptcy in the case of an Individual, or to a Winding-Up Order in the case of a Limited Company or a Limited Partnership.
Statutory Demand in Bankruptcy:
You might not want to actually declare the debtor bankrupt, and it is not compulsory to do so; but the prospect of it can certainly have a dramatic effect on a debtor.
The Statutory Demand is addressed to an individual. It gives him/her 21 days to pay the debt or apply to the Court to have the Statutory Demand set aside (valid grounds are needed in order to do this).
If neither occurs, you can have the debtor declared bankrupt by applying to a bankruptcy county court.
The Statutory Demand has to be served on the debtor. It is best to hire a Process Server (i.e. a private detective) to do so, as he will serve it personally (he literally hands it to the debtor), and he will also complete and swear an Affidavit of Service, which you will need if you apply to the bankruptcy county court.
It is recommended that you engage a Solicitor to do all this, as it is complex and expensive.
You are ultimately relying on the debtor being solvent, because if he is not, you - a mere unsecured creditor - will be bottom of the list to get paid on a bankruptcy: after the Taxman, the VATman, the employees, and the secured creditors.
Statutory Demand served on a Company:
A Limited Company (or Limited Partnership) has 18 days to reply to this type of Statutory Demand, and it cannot apply to have the Demand set aside. You can apply for it to be Wound Up once 21 days have passed from the service of the Statutory Demand.
It is best for the Statutory Demand to be served on the debtor personally, and it is best to use a Process Server to do that. The Statutory Demand can be served at the debtor's Registered Office, or at any business premises it normally uses. The Registered Office is always safest, and again an Affidavit of Service to prove this service will be provided to you by the Process Server.
In every case, you should check with Companies House to see whether the debtor has any Notices filed against it, indicating that it is already in the process of being Wound Up, before proceeding.
It is recommended that you engage a Solicitor to do all this, as it is complex and expensive.
6. Attachment of Earnings Order
This is a Court order against the debtor's employer, ordering the employer to pay part of the debtor's wages to you each month.
You cannot, of course, apply this method to a Self Employed person.
This is probably the least effective method of enforcement, because when you apply to the Court it will send the debtor a form with an option for making voluntary payments, before making an order against the employer.
You have the right to object to any such offer, but it is unlikely that the Court will uphold your objections.
Most voluntary offers start out okay, but then the debtor "forgets" to pay. You then have to go back to the Court and ask for an Order to be made against the employer, and if the debtor has left the employment in the meantime you are back to square one (applying for an Order to Attend to find out where the debtor is working).
Download link (to download this form, right-click on the link, and select "Save Target As..."): Form title "Request for attachment of earnings order" (County Court form N337):
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/c.../n337_0499.pdf Note
This page is not the be-all and end-all of Enforcement Procedures, but it will give you some idea of the methods that are available. It is here for reference, as a general guide only.
Advice & opinions on this forum are offered informally, without any assumption of liability. Use your own judgment. Seek advice of a qualified and insured professional if you have any doubts.
Got A Judgment? How To Get Paid 
