04 Nov

Enforcing County Court Judgments

So you’ve got a County Court Judgment against someone and they still do not pay, what should you do next? This blog looks at the various methods of enforcing County Court Judgments.

A County Court Judgment (or “CCJ”) is just a piece of paper saying that someone (or it could be a company) owes you money. This blog looks at the main methods of enforcement.

(1)          COUNTY COURT BAILIFFS

You could apply to the County Court for a Warrant of Execution. The Warrant of Execution gives the County Court bailiff authority to take goods from the debtor. The Court bailiff will try to either  collect the money you are owed or take goods to sell at auction.

Pro’s:                          The application is simple enough.

Con’s:                         Bailiffs cannot enter into a residential house unless invited to do so by the debtor. This is a serious limitation to their effectiveness against private individuals and also businesses working out of a private residential address.

Process:                     You apply to the County Court for a Writ of Execution on form N323.

Court fees:                 £100 to be paid when the application for a Warrant is made.

(2)          HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

If the debt is over £600 you could apply to have the debt transferred to the High Court for enforcement and then instruct High Court Enforcement Officers to collect the debt.

Pro’s:                          Most solicitors are of the opinion that High Court Enforcement Officers are more effective than County Court bailiffs at collecting debts.

Con’s:                         The application is slightly more complicated than instructing the County Court bailiff because the debt has to be transferred up to the High Court first.

High Court Enforcement Officers have the same problems when enforcing against private individuals as County Court bailiffs.

Process:                     You apply to the County Court for a combined certificate of judgment and to enforce the judgment by a Writ of Fi Fa on form N293a.

Court fees:                 £60 to transfer the debt up. Then there are the High Court Enforcement Officer’s fees on top. If the HCEO is unsuccessful in collecting the debt these will be limited to £60 plus VAT. If the HCEO is successful then they recover their fees from the debtor.

(3)          ATTACHMENT OF EARNINGS 

If the debtor is employed you can apply for an attachment against earnings. The Court will write to the debtor and ask them to provide details of their income and outgoings. The Court will then decide how much money should be deducted from their income each month. 

Pro’s:                          The application is simple enough.

Con’s:                         There are a number of limitations including (a) the amount which the debtor is ordered to pay can be pitifully low, (b) if the debtor moves jobs or stops paying further applications (and further court fees will be payable) and (c) it doesn’t work against self-employed people.

Process:                     You apply to the County Court for an attachment of earnings order on form N337.

Court fees:                 £100 to be paid when the application is made.

(4)       THIRD PARTY DEBT ORDER

If you know the debtor’s bank account details you can apply for a third party debt order whereby the bank or building society will be ordered to pay money to you.

Pro’s:                          The application is simple enough. 

Con’s:                         If there is nothing in the account when the application is made then the application will fail.

Process:                     You apply to the County Court for a third party debt order on form N349.

Court fees:                 £100 to be paid when the application is made.

(5)       A CHARGING ORDER OVER LAND

If the debtor owns land you can apply for a charging order over that land.

Pro’s:                          If the debtor owns land this is an excellent way to secure the debt. 

Con’s:                         The application is slightly complicated for novices and does require attendance at a court hearing. Further it only secures the debt and does not guarantee payment without further action being taken, usually an application for an order for sale of the property.

Process:                     You apply charge on form N379.

Court fees:                 £100 to be paid when the application is made.

(6)       ORDER TO OBTAIN INFORMATION

This is not a method of enforcement as such but is a way of finding out more information about the debtor and whether they will be able to pay.

Pro’s:                          It’s a starting point if you have limited information about the debtor and their assets and liabilities. 

Con’s:                         The application is slightly complicated for novices. Further, the order must be personally served on the debtor. If you are not willing to personally the order then you will need instruct a process server or the court bailiff can be instructed however a fee of £100 is payable.

Process:                     You apply for an order on form N316.

Court fees:                 £50 to be paid when the application is made. If you require the court bailiff to serve the order on the debtor there is a further fee of £100 payable.

(7)       BANKRUPTCY OR WINDING UP PETITION

In the case of a private individual you could apply to make that person bankrupt, or in the case of a company you could apply to wind the company up. Ironically, this method is more likely to succeed in making a recovery from a solvent person / company than an insolvent one. Solvent people/companies will often try and raise the money to prevent the bankruptcy / winding up going through. 

Pro’s:                          It’s a starting point if you have limited information about the debtor and their assets and liabilities. 

Con’s:                         The application is complicated for novices. Further, it is quite expensive compared to the other methods of enforcement.

Process:                     The application is complicated and beyond the scope of this blog.

Court fees:                 There are various fees payable including a deposit payable to the official receiver, court fees, process server’s fees for serving documents on the debtor. These fees only will exceed £1,000.

Hastings & Co Solicitors are solicitors based in Chelmsford, Essex specialising in litigation and experienced in all methods of enforcing County Court Judgments. Telephone 01245 835 305 for advice.

Disclaimers:

(i)            Court fees correct at time of publishing. The Court publishes up to date information about fees on form EX050.

(ii)          This advice sheet is only intended to give a brief overview of the different methods of enforcement and is not a substitute for legal advice.

16 Aug

Businesses that sell to consumers need to BEWARE of the Cancellation of Contracts Made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work Etc Regulations 2008

A swift moveThe regulations apply to businesses that enter into contracts with consumers in their home or place of work. They apply even if the customer invited the business to come round.

The regulations require businesses to give the consumer a notice, in a prescribed form, informing the consumer that they have a right to cancel the contract within 7 days.

I suspect that the regulations were aimed at businesses which use aggressive sales tactics. Perhaps in the past some window companies or timeshare companies were guilty of this. However, the regulations affect all businesses including many reputable businesses. Builders and tradesmen are particularly vulnerable because they will almost certainly visit the customer at their home in order to quote. However, other businesses are potentially affected including solicitors.

The case of Robertson –v- Swift earlier this year went up to the Court of Appeal. In that case, Mr Swift was a removal man and Dr Robertson invited him round to his house to give a quote for his services. Mr Swift quoted £7,600 which Dr Robertson duly accepted and he paid a deposit of £1,000.

Dr Robertson found someone else cheaper and wanted out of the contract. Mr Swift wanted to exercise a cancellation clause which entitled him to be paid 50% of the quoted fee. Dr Robertson wanted his deposit back. They ended up in the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal was sympathetic to Mr Swift who was a reputable businessman. However, the Court of Appeal held that as Mr Swift had not complied with the regulations the contract was not enforceable and Mr Swift was not entitled to his cancellation fee. They did allow Mr Swift to keep the deposit.

I’ve been personally involved in two disputes concerning these regulations. The first one involved a tradesman who had carried out a substantial amount of work at a residential property and the customer was refusing to pay. I acted for the tradesman. The second one concerned a dispute between a builder and his customer who was refusing to pay for building works. This time I acted for the customer.

In both cases, there was a dispute about whether the regulations applied the issue being whether the contract was concluded in the customer’s home or not. In both cases, the builder/tradesman was owed several thousand pounds. However, by not complying with the regulations the builder/tradesman  gave the customer a massive stick to beat them with.

The moral of the story is that businesses which go out to customers at their home or place of work must comply with the regulations by giving the customer the relevant cooling off notice.

Hastings & Co are based in Chelmsford, Essex and specialise in litigation and advise builders, tradesmen and consumers in connection with building disputes. For advice or assistance contact Liam  Hastings on 01245 835 305.

Useful links:

The regulations can be found here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1816/contents/made

How to prepare a notice:

Schedule 4 of the regulations lets you know what information must be in the cooling off notice: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1816/schedule/4/made

Disclaimer: this is only intended as a brief overview of the law and not intended as a substitute for proper legal advice.

Here’s a template notice that you could attach to your quote/contract. The trader needs to insert the correct information in the square boxes.

Notice of the right to cancel

[insert the name of your business including trading name if any] hereby gives you notice that you have a right to cancel the contract if you wish and that this right can be excercised by delivering, or sending (including by electronic email) a cancellation notice to the person mentioned in the next paragraph at any time within the period of 7 days starting with the day of receipt of a notice in writing of the right to cancel the contract.

The cancellation notice should be sent to [insert name of person] at [insert address] or by electronic email to [insert email address].

This notice concerns the following contract: [insert your reference number, code or other details to enable the consumer to identify the correct contract or offer]

The notice of cancellation is deemed to be served as soon as it is posted or sent to us or in the case of an electronic communication on the day it is sent to us.

You may use the following cancellation form if you wish:

Cancellation Notice

If you wish to cancel the contract you MUST DO SO IN WRITING and deliver personally or send (which may be by electronic mail) this to the person named below. You may use this form if you want to but you do not have to.

Complete, detach and return this form ONLY IF YOU WISH TO CANCEL THE CONTRACT.

To: [trader to insert name and address of person to whom notice may be given]

I/We (delete as appropriate) hereby give notice that I/We (delete as appropriate) wish to cancel my/our (delete as appropriate) contract [trader to insert reference number code or other details to enable the contract or offer to be identified. He may also insert the name and address of the consumer.]

Signed……………………………………………

Name and address

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

Date………………………………………………

06 Aug

Warning about the danger of using private investigators to follow sick employees

West Yorkshire Fire Service got into bother recently after they hired a private investigator to follow a sick employee. They ended up paying the employee £11,000 compensation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-23588092

Hastings & Co Solicitors are based in Chelmsford, Essex and specialise in all aspects of employment law. Please contact Liam Hastings on 01245 835 305 for further advice or assistance.

30 Jul

Changes to Employment Law on 29 July 2013

Employment Law Update

Liam Hastings of Hastings & Co Solicitors based in Chelmsford, Essex looks at recent changes to employment law.

A number of changes came into force yesterday including:-

1.    Fees are being introduced in the Employment Tribunal

Employees wishing to start claims in the Employment Tribunal must now pay fees. The fees are paid in two stages. The first fee is paid when the claim is issued and the second fee is paid shortly prior to the claim being heard.

There are two sets of fees. For basic claims eg unpaid wages the initial fee will be £160 and the hearing fee will be £230. For more complicated claims eg unfair dismissal claims the initial fee will be £250 with a £950 hearing fee.

In some instances Employers will be ordered to pay fees also, for example if making a counterclaim or on appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

The Tribunal will have discretion to order the losing party to reimburse the winning party of the fees paid.

Employees on low incomes will be able to apply for a fee remission. Nonetheless, employee groups are worried that this will deter employees from bringing genuine claims.

This is probably good news for employers as less claims will be made.

2.    New unfair dismissal compensatory award

The unfair dismissal compensatory award limit will become the lower of the statutory cap (currently £74,200) or one year’s pay. The new cap will apply where the effective date of termination is after 29 July 2013.

3.    Compromise agreements to be renamed settlement agreements

“Compromise agreements” will now be called “settlement agreements”. However, they will operate in the same way as before.

4.   New employment tribunal rules of procedure

The new rules of procedure will replace the old rules and simplify the procedures.

5.   Pre-termination settlement discussions

Most offers made or discussions held with employees with a view to terminating their contract of employment will be inadmissible in any  subsequent unfair dismissal proceedings. So, for example, an employer will be able to make an offer to terminate an employee’s employment without fear of the employee referring to the offer in subsequent unfair dismissal proceedings. However, employers need to be careful as there are certain exceptions and the offers/discussions will not apply to other types of claims for example discrimination claims.

Hastings & Co Solicitors specialises in employment law. Contract Liam Hastings on 01245 835 305 for further advice or assistance.

Disclaimer: this is a very brief overview of the changes introduced yesterday and not intended as a substitute for legal advice.