Take Tradesman To Court, He Doesn't Pay, What Would Be My Options ?

[CW1]

Hi,

Will be filing a money claim online in the next few days, for around £500 + interest. Have sent all the letters I need to, the 30 days after the Letter Before Action will be up over the weekend.

I don't expect for one moment he'd pay so would go to court, but from what I can see a bailiff could only be sent if the amount was over £600. Or would a court (& maybe bailiff ?) fee(s) take it over ? Being less than that at the moment, looks like my options to try recover the money would be limited, eg. attachment of earnings (he's self employed), charging order (not practical & house may be rented).

Does anyone have experience of this ?

[Buenchico]

See here (if you've not already done so):
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

In particular, note the bit about freezing assets or money in an account.

Also note that the reference to a minimum of £600 on that page only refers to the lower limit for getting High Court bailiffs involved. You can still use county court bailiffs for lesser amounts.

[Peter Pedant]

according to this: you send in the court bailiffs
https://www.qualitybailiffs.co.uk/news/industry/using-bailiff.html

I have sent in the bailiffs once - usually if they dont pay it is because they dont have the moolah

a CCJ is much troublesome than a bailiff and will wreck his business model. - so dont bother

and before you say - but he called my wife a stupid old bat and he caused many MANY sleepless nights

you are many weeks away from bailiffs - he wont answer the LBA, and not defend the action, THEN he can submit a late defence, and it will be accepted ( in the interests of justice etc) and THEN a court date will be set.

that takes us up to March 2020 - repost then

[CW1]

Thanks Buenchico, tho' that link says it needs to be over £600 to apply to a county court too. And even if I could do that, bailiffs giving 7 days notice just gives the "defendant" 7 days to move anything of value surely ? Tho' if all these fees were taken into account (eg. asking the court to collect payment), it would probably bump it over £600 … but not initially *sigh*

Freezing assets or money … same thing seems to apply in that I'd have to apply after he refused to pay & would have time to transfer money or anything else.

It all seems crazy to me, he's basically stolen this money & I can't help feeling he's going to get away with it :(

[CW1]

Thanks Peter. I think … :/

I knew it'd be months before anything significant is likely to happen. You're right, he hasn't replied to any of the 3 letters I've sent, but don't see how he has any defence so maybe a smidgeon quicker than your timeline ;)

[Buenchico]

Like quite a few Gov.uk pages, that link is badly worded.

What it says is this: "You can apply to either a county court or the High Court if you’re owed between £600 and £5,000".

The way it should be worded is this:
"You can apply to a county court, or to the High Court if you’re owed over £600, for the collection of debts up to £5,000. For debts over £5,000 only the High Court can enforce judgment through the use of bailiffs"

This link goes to the site of a commercial company (which I'm most definitely not advising you to get involved with) but it confirms what I've written:
https://thesheriffsoffice.com/articles/high_court_enforcement_officer_or_county_court_bailiff

Government departments and agencies (such as the Department for Work and Pensions, the Passport Agency, DVLA, HM Courts and Tribunals ,etc) all used to have their own websites but then some bright spark decided to bring them all together under the 'Gov.uk' banner. Rather than just copying and pasting all of the old content, it was decided to re-write everything in the cause of 'simplification'. Those re-writes appear to have been carried out by people outside the relevant departments, who've no knowledge of the work of those departments. As a consequence, the Gov.uk website is now full of inaccurate and/or contradictory statements. It should only ever be used with extreme caution!

[Gromit]

Unfortunately you are probably throwing good money after bad. You will be incurring more time and money and still not get paid.

[CW1]

Ahh, that gives me greater hope Buenchico, & reinforces what it says on Peter's link, so thanks for finding that.

I can't just give up Gromit, I feel he's laughing at me, especially when his last comment to me (after he was the 1st to mention legal action) when I said I'd have to take this rout,e was - "good luck" :( And I'm still left with a load of useless materials I've paid for, that'd be a nightmare (& costly) to get rid of myself. No, even if I don't see my money, least he'll have a CCJ hanging over him which'll - hopefully - cause him problems.