Recovering deposit, judgment in our favour, bailiff unsuccessful - what next?

[sad-but-true]

We received a county court judgement in our favour back in Feb 2012, and got a warrant of execution in March. Since then the bailiff has been unable to get anything from our landlord.

 

In fact, the bailiff claimed that our landlord was no longer at his residence, we visited a week later and found him still living there.

 

our landlord never attended a hearing and still thinks he is in the right. We think that if he actually turns up in court, he will realise what the law is and pay up. We even got as far as giving him the forms to appeal the decision, he filled them out along with a cheque, but we had incorrect info and told him it was £75 fee, so it got rejected because it's actually £80.

 

Now according to my housemate, the warrant is no longer valid. Apparently the bailiff cancelled it because our landlord was appealing, but then the cheque was for the wrong amount.

 

So we either want to (a) get him to appeal so we can see him in court (b) find another avenue for recovering the money.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for achieving either of these?

 

For (b), we think he might be self employed, but we are applying for an attachment of earnings order search, to see if anyone else has applied for this (he has had other debts in the past).

 

We also have his bank account details still, and I think we can apply to recover money from the bank. Does anyone know how this works? Does he get any notice before hand? Is it a one time only thing (i.e. if there isn't enough money in the account, is that it?)

[BankFodder]

Why don't you start off by putting a charge on his property. You have a judgment - so it should be straightforward - although I don't know the nuts and bolts of it.

I think that this is where I would start - assuming, of course, that he is the owner of the property. It could well be that it is in someone else's name.

 

Is he still your landlord? Are you still paying him rent?

 

He may have a bank account but of course there is nothing to stop him getting another one elsewhere.

How much is the judgment for?

[sad-but-true]

He owns the property we rented but doesn't live there, he rents a separate flat a few miles away. We left the property in 2011.

 

The judgment is for ~£900. He's lazy and unreliable, but I don't think he's very shrewd. I'm hoping he's still using the same bank account to collect rent from his tenants.

 

We've put too much money into this now (for the judgment and subsequent warrant), so we are only going for one final course of action. So we need to make it count.

[BazzaS]

He owns the property we rented but doesn't live there, he rents a separate flat a few miles away. We left the property in 2011.

 

The judgment is for ~£900. He's lazy and unreliable, but I don't think he's very shrewd. I'm hoping he's still using the same bank account to collect rent from his tenants.

 

We've put too much money into this now (for the judgment and subsequent warrant), so we are only going for one final course of action. So we need to make it count.

 

Did you use the county court bailiff or escalate it to a HCEO (an option for a £900 judgement).

 

I've previously seen on CAG comments that the HCEO's are more likely to collect than a county court bailiff as the former works on a fee basis, while the latter is salaried?.

[BankFodder]

Get a charge on the property before you do anything else. That way, your position is secure.

 

Secondly, if you decide to get the High Court enforcement to do it, be careful. If they fail then they may turn to you for their very expensive costs. Talk to them on the phone - but record the call.

I had to instruct them on the phone once and they assured me that there was no fee payable by me if they failed. I recorded the call.

They did fail and later on denied the conversation. I sent them a copy of the sound file and never heard from them again.

 

Get the charge - then maybe consider bankruptcy. Once you have the charge, you have him where you want him.