legal charges on debtor properties

[enigmainks]

have a problem with a rogue property developer who broke his written contract and ran off with my money.
I took the matter to court and a charge was placed on the traders house.
I have just received a letter from the bank who have now repossessed his home and putting it to sale. My immediate thought is that there will now be nothing left from the sale proceeds to pay me back when the bank is done.
An horrendous story l know, however the trader does have 4 other properties that l could slap a charge on to secure the sizeable debt - my question:-
Can l go to the courts office and put several interim charging orders on his houses with only one hearing to finalise them, or is it a case of one hearing, one order?
I ask as l'm worried about spiralling costs of multiple hearings, this trader has already used all my savings enforcing the judgement unyet he is trading still without a care in the world, it seems nobody can help me.

[tonywiltshire]

You say this person is still trading, what is his status, Sole Trader, Partnership or Limited liability company? If a Sole Trader they will be liable for their business debts, Partnerships are usually jointly and severally liable for their non-tax partnership debts, with Limited Companies the Directors are not responsible for their business debts unless they act as guarantor or have acted fraudulently and have continued to trade while the company was insolvent. As you know the action available to you is dependant upon the status, charging orders may not be the best course of action have you taken professional advice?

[enigmainks]

hi there,

the debtor owes the money as a personal loan,( he does run a limited company partnership with his brother, though l am told everything to do with the limited company is ring fenced out of harms way).
As security for the loan to the debtor put a house into the loan contract, but omitted to say that the house was an asset of the limited company! Can l claim it, l'm told l can't,( and the bugger is currently living there due to the loss of his home!!!).
Nevertheless, the charge that was on his home seems worthless now it is repossessed awaiting sale.
So other than slapping charges on his houses what could be a better solution?
I note that 3 of his 7 properties have been discretely sold off this year - l can see him selling or loosing the rest before too much longer...and there goes all my money, the crook wins out.
Please advise, thankyou.

[tonywiltshire]

Frustrating is probably to soft a word to use over your predicament. You need to consider a limited liability company as a separate legal entity to any individual and you are unable to pursue a company for a debt owed to you by an individual, who may be a director of that company, or vice versa. If you can show there has been fraudulent activity or trading whilst insolvent report this to the Insolvency Service.

If, as seems probable, it is a personal debt with the property put up as security and this was handled by a professional you may have a claim for negligence if it were not noted that the person receiving the funds was not the beneficial owner of the security.
For an individual you may have the option of a Statutory Demand and Bankruptcy and for a company statutory Demand and Winding up petition (order).
You need professional guidance from a specialist who may well save you money.

[enigmainks]

hi there,
thanks for the pointers here. Actually had a trading standards enforcement officr on the phone this morning - he was immediately thinking down the same line of tact talking negligence and moreover fraud/deception. Will be interviewed by him next week but l think charging orders may be the way forward at present,(at least we can secure the debt against what property we know he still owns).