Bailiff failed, what to do now?

[jackbromley]

I dont know if this is the right forum to write this, my problem was with a hosting company who is also a broadband company Pipex.

I own a limited company. I supply some services online. After getting just a bit bigger, I decided to move to a better hosting service with more features. That was the time when I moved to Pipex. Everything started smoothly until they had problems on a weekly maintainance. I'd a downtime of 7 days staight, I lost around £2k and lost 50% of my faithful customers. I basically started from zero after this downtime.

After talking with their nonexistant customer services, had no luck with any compensation and I made a claim from MCOL which is passed to judgement and I applied for a execution of warrant at the beginning of June. In mid-Jun, I've got this "The Bailiff has been unable to recover the amount shown on the warrant. You are unable to take any further action online on this warrant." in MCOL so I called the local county court, they said that they would retry an attempt. I have been trying to get to the bailiff manager of the court without success for the last 2 weeks.

Although I read all the guides here including 'How to get paid when you have a judgement', I am not very knowledgable on law and I dont know what to do to enforce my judgement.

I'd appreciate your thoughts and glad to find this site.

[buzby]

Well, you've actually done everything you could. You are attempting to enforce judgement on their Registered Office? This may be simply a nameplate in a solicitor's office and they have no assets there. You'll need to investigate the address you are sending the bailiffs to, and modify it accordingly.

[jackbromley]

I've checked it. It's not their registered office, it's actually their offices but maybe their accounts department is not there.

What I cannot understand is when bailiffs can force entry to individuals residences, how cant they get it from a multi billionaire Pipex who ignores court letters?

Can I seek a better option than using CC bailiffs, like maybe using a private bailiff? I dont have any idea how that works. What can I do?

[buzby]

The location of the accounts department is immaterial - however if the action was not served correctly on their Registered Office originally, they could easily get the action rescinded.

Certainly instructing your own bailiff may achieve a quicker response, but you'd have to pay once again for enforcement.

As to forcing entry - actually no, they cannot in the first instance., If the doors are locked and no access obtainable, they cannot (initially) force an entry for a civil debt.

[bed32]

The "nuclear" approach is to seek a winding-up order against the company - that will certainly get their attention very quickly but it is certainly not an approach to be undertaken without professional legal advice (i.e. someone you can sue if it all goes pearshaped) as it can get expensive if you are not careful.

You could consider issuing a "Statutory Demand" (the first stage towards winding up a company) - that ought to generate a response

[jackbromley]

I've got hold of the Bailiff at last and he said he went to their offices and as you said nobody were there it was a registered office and he said there is no furniture or anything to sell. He said he will pay them another visit and if nothing happens, he will return the case.

I am confused and dont know what to do. Statutory demand is an interesting idea but my knowledge on law is very limited. What would you do in such a case? Thanks for your help.

[buzby]

I'd urge caution doing a Statutory Demand as a precursor to Winding Up, it needs to be in excess of £750 (probably not a problem in your case) however all the money you've already spend will have been wasted. You've said it wasn't their Registered Office, then said it was - it can only be one. Are you sure you sent the court papers to the current RO? If so (and they don't trade from there) find out where they have assets and send the Bailiff there - he needs to be able to access goods owned by the comp[any to arrange the sale.

[bed32]

A company like that should have easily locatable assets whereever they locate their servers - can't you send the Bailiff there?

As far as Statutory demands are concerned, there is some info on The Insolvency Service Website but that is a route to be followed with some caution as it can cost money. I didn't think that just sending the Statutory Demand meant that you end up writing off costs, but certainly actually petitioning for winding up must be done with proper legal advice as that can get VERY expensive if you get it wrong

[jackbromley]

I can find their actual offices but the bailiff will not go there as it'll be out of his region

So what will happen after the return? Shall I find their office and contact the regional county court for them to enforce judgement. I am lost and still cannot understand how Pipex can ignore court decisions.

[buzby]

Your court bailiff may be out of his area, but your court order is valid anywhere in E&W, so instructing a Bailiff closer to the company's trading address won't be a problem, although their standard fee will have to be paid.

Again, you've still not said where you served the notice - their lack of response could mean they are still (officially, at least) unaware of the action. This could result in a request to overturn the matter to be reheard and possibly defended.