Received a visit from a bailiff last week over a case we were appealing,

the only reason we lost the case was down to a minor paperwork issue,

we have very good grounds for appeal.

However the court had not processed the appeal before the bailiff turned up at our business.

We lost a case involving a car, and to be honest now just want to move on, we are not worried about the appeal.

We have a few issues

the bailiff would not leave our premises without receiving cleared funds,

they accepted a debit card and we cleared the amount in full.

According to the court order we now own the vehicle again and wish to take possession.

However the claimant will not release the car or tell us its whereabouts until he has received the funds himself.

Apparently the bailiff will hold onto his money for 14 days.

we wish to collect the car on Wednesday this week.

We have complied with the court order and paid a bailiff that he has instructed, the vehicle should now be ours.

The vehicle is in the isle of Wight so there is sigificant cost involved in recovering to the mainland ( we are midlands based).

I have told him we are sending a recovery truck on wednesday to collect the vehicle , he is refusing to comply.

What are our rights? Can i instruct a bailiff to go and recover the car and pursue him for the costs.

I have told him we have no wish to take this any further we are busy, lets just put this behind us and move on.

Any thoughts/advice would be useful

many thanks

Is this issue addressed in the original judgment against you? Ie you pay the judgment and the car is returned. This would normally be the case but the HCEO will hold onto the funds for 7 days for you to appeal the decision.

You need to file a stay of execution I think it is and this involves a fee.

You do say you lost on a minor paperwork issue...

I wouldn't hold my breath you will win on appeal on this as an appeal is for NEW evidence not available at trial to be heard.

A little thing wont be considered as you need to do everything paperwork wise by the book. You have plenty of time to get this right.

You cant have two bites of the cherry

Looking forward if the claimant does not return the vehicle, and I cant see why they wouldn't as they won the court case, you would have to sue them, like they did you... And that takes time.

It may help if you give more details on the case and the grounds you think an appeal is going to work

Thanks for replying swiftly.

We are more than happy to drop the appeal, for swift return of the vehicle.

The court case was lost ( in our absense as we were never notified of the date.... even though we called to ask what is happenning...)

We have plenty of evidence but thats not our interest.

The case was lost and we had 14 days to appeal,

we had filed the appeal,

although ( due to workload) the paperwork hadnt been processed by the 15th day,

which was the day the bailiff turned up after being instructed to by the claimant,

we complied,

paid the money and the bailiff left happy they had cleared funds.

The costs involved in recovering the vehicle are around the £1000 mark,

I have someone that happens to be on the Island on Weds this week so will collect for significantly less.

My argument is that the court order states the vehicle is to be made available for collection upon payment of funds,

we have paid the funds yet he wont tell us the whereabouts of the vehicle until he receives payment from the bailiff,

the fact that he instructed them and as such has a contract with them is his issue not ours,

we have paid them and now wish our property to be returned.

The background to the story is

I sold my own car in a private sale,

that was issued with a personal receipt,

which stated private sale ,

sold as seen no warranty etc etc as per usual,

even the advert stated private sale of my own personal vehicle ( which it was),

he asked if could collect during daytime,

which I said fine but will have to be from work,

he was happy to do this,( my workshop runs race cars)

he then suffered a minor engine issue some 3 months later and wished to return the vehicle ( which was perfect when sold) I refused,

he then claimed it was a trade sale as he collected from a garage etc etc,

Well all I cn say is

You lost case as you were not notified of date. But called to ask what's happening?

Suggests you did know and had paperwork.

Paperwork not processed within 14 days...

Is that you or the courts?

I would suggest its your paperwork not filed in time and your workload, not the courts.

The trade\private sale thing...

The courts obviously had evidence or a preponderance of evidence suggesting it was trade not private.

Payments.... That's an interesting one..

I certainly wouldn't be returning the vehicle until I had the judgment funds....

Unless court ordered to hand it back upon the HCEO had the funds.upon your description it is not quite clear and Is left open to interpretation

BUT he has instructed a Bailiff to recover funds, we have complied and paid who we were asked to pay, we did ask if we could pay the claimant and this was refused

I will add that there is a certain stigma against car traders, some of this can be rightly so, however our place builds race cars and is not a `used car lot`

I agree with you.

The HCEO is holding funds for a period of time so you can go back to the courts and appeal.

So either appeal or wait until the Tim elapses and the claiment gets the judgment and the car is returned.

Point on trade/private.

The judge obviously saw a connection that made him/her think It was trade.

That is why you have a time limit that the HCEO holds the funds.... To let you appeal

No, the time the hceo holds the money is nothing to with appeals. Its purely to comply with the insolvency act by holding the money for 14 days as a statutory embargo. If the debtor was to go bankrupt within that period, the money would be paid to the OR.

Until that embargobis cleared, the judgement will not be classed as paid. You must wait for that 14 day period to end before the claimant will arrange for you to collect the car.

No, the time the hceo holds the money is nothing to with appeals. Its purely to comply with the insolvency act by holding the money for 14 days as a statutory embargo. If the debtor was to go bankrupt within that period, the money would be paid to the OR.

Until that embargobis cleared, the judgement will not be classed as paid. You must wait for that 14 day period to end before the claimant will arrange for you to collect the car.

You're absolutely right Grumpy.

The requirement for the HCEO to comply with the Insolvency Act is not something that is widely known.

BUT he has instructed a Bailiff to recover funds, we have complied and paid who we were asked to pay, we did ask if we could pay the claimant and this was refused

 

I will add that there is a certain stigma against car traders, some of this can be rightly so, however our place builds race cars and is not a `used car lot`

You are clearly a business that trades in the manufacture, design and or byikd , followed by sale of cars. Therefore you are a trader, not a personal seller.

You are clearly a business that trades in the manufacture, design and or byikd , followed by sale of cars. Therefore you are a trader, not a personal seller.

No we are not as it was my ow personal car that was sold and it was a personal transaction, this however is not the point of the post, Im not on here asking about appealing .

Im asking about our rights to collect our goods, a Court order has been made and we have complied with the order fully, he will not release the goods for another 14 days, I wish to collect straight away, we have paid so they are our goods.

You may well have paid the Enforcement Agent that has attended but until such time he pays over the funds to the person that instructed him then correctly in my view they can hold on to the goods until payment is made in full to him. In procedures involving High Court Enforcement Officers this is quite normal.

So if that were the case what would happen if the Bailiff went into administation and he didnt recieve his money.

Anyway after threatening to send a bailiff round to recover the goods in line with the court order he has agreed to release the vehicle.

Thanks for everyones help

The funds are ring fenced from insolvency. The money does not belong to the HCEO.

Yes, as sgtbush quite rightly says, we are mearly handling the cash for the claimant. Its not an asset of the bailiff company.

Also, I would expect your claimant to stall on returning the car as until he has his money, that is his security.

And you can't send bailiffs for the car until you have a court order.

I'm saying bailiffs but I mean EA's.