CCJ's - are they a waste of time?

[shuttleworth96]

I got a County Court Judgement against a former landlord and then a Warrant of Execution for the bailiff's to visit his property and recover our deposit - with no success. I applied to find out if this guy had any other CCj's against him and discovered he has 8 in total and none of them have been repaid!

Am I wasting my time and money in continuing to try and recover our money?

It seems so unfair that these people carry on getting away with it.

[MrShed]

In my opinion, the CCJ system is horrendously poor. But away from that...have you considered other methods of enforcement?

[shuttleworth96]

Thanks for your reply. We are thinking that we may take out a Statutory Demand against him and pay for a private Process Server to serve the papers on him. They have a higher success rate than the Court Bailiffs apparently. I need to find out if he is a bankrupt or not and am not too sure how to do this.Are we just throwing good money after bad? Any ideas?

[MrShed]

Hmmm that is overcomplicating it. I think you will struggle doing this way.

 

There are FOUR methods of enforcement available for a CCJ:

 

- Warrant of Execution. Sends baliffs to the debtor's home to remove property. As you have already found, this method is useless, as the debtor simply does not open their door, and the baliffs cannot force entry.

 

- Garnishee order. Instructs a debtor's bank to deduct the amount owed from the debtor's bank account. This will fail if there are insufficient funds.

 

- Attachment of Earnings. Instructs a debtor's employer to make deductions from his salary/wage to repay the judgement. This does NOT follow from job to job - you would have to reapply should he move job.

 

- Charging order. Place a charge on any property the debtor owes, preventing him from selling the property prior to the debt being repaid.

 

IMO, AoEs are the best method of enforcement, provided obviously the debtor has a job. Garnishees also work well - this would depend on you knowing that the tenant is not totally skint. Obviously, charging orders are pretty much useless in a landlord/tenant situation. And Warrants as you have found are pretty much useless in any situation!!

 

Hope this helps.

[shuttleworth96]

The problem we have is that his house is in his wife's name, as is his business.

He is self-employed and the business and business bank account is also only in her name. He probably has no form of finance etc. in his sole name so he knows he cannot be touched.

 

Any idea how I can find out if he is bankrupt or not?

[sequenci]

The problem we have is that his house is in his wife's name, as is his business.

He is self-employed and the business and business bank account is also only in her name. He probably has no form of finance etc. in his sole name so he knows he cannot be touched.

 

Any idea how I can find out if he is bankrupt or not?

 

your wish is my command!

 

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