I would be grateful for any advice/help anyone could give on how to recover a debt owed of approx. £4000 by an individual to me.

I managed to get 2 separate charging orders on 2 properties owned by this person (1 being the marital home owned with his wife) and the other being in his sole name on a flat he rents out.

I received a letter from his solicitor in February of this year informing me that the debtor was selling his marital home and asked for details of the amount owed under the charging order along with the interest due which I duly provided.

I received a letter a week ago from the same solicitor informing me that the marital home has now been sold, that they are awaiting instruction from his client to discharging the charge I hold but regardless this will leave the new buyer free from the charging order (restriction) I had.

Unfortunately, the advice I was given at the time was not correct and a charging order on a property where there are 2 beneficiaries only becomes a restriction and the debtor solicitors is only obliged to inform of the sale and NOT pay the debt as has happened.

I would be grateful for any advice on how to enforce collection of this debt.

I have already tried HCEOs but they got no response and gave up,

I even had a solicitor send a letter threatening an order for sale on the rental property but again there was no response.

The debtor has the money from the sale of the marital home (they are getting divorced) but he always seems to be one step ahead of me and I doubt a third party order would even have any success.

What other options are there, would a debt collection agency do any better and how much would they charge?

DCA's are worthless. Thats why HCEO's exist. DCA's have no powers whatsoever.

There is an application you can make to court to require the debtor to attend court for questioning about repayment of the debt, where the Judge may order the debtor to pay up. Given that the debtor would have to disclose their current finances including the house sale proceeds, they may have no option but to pay you in full.

Is that an 'order for questioning'? I previously had him attend court for questioning about a year ago but it was in front of a clerk of the court and not a judge. Can I request that it be in front of a judge and what are the chances/likelihood he will order the debtor to pay up?

Speak to your local county court about this. I am no expert on this, but i thought you could pay a relevant fee for a hearing with a Judge, where the debtor is compelled to attend.

Or if you have already elevated to high court and the debtor has money, you speak to HCEO about what can now be done to obtain the money ASAP.