Money Owed, Bailiff Has Been Lied To, Where Do I Go From Here ?

[CW1]

Hi,

I'm owed over £600 & have been thru' the whole process of trying to get it back to the point where a bailiff has visited the property. The woman there (his wife) says they've split up & he's moved out. Bailiff reports there are no saleable assets there (doubt they even went inside, stuff inside is probably either rented or he *did* buy it. Whatever happened to having to prove ownership as, I believe, HCEOs demand ?).

In January the debtor gave the court another address, for correspondence, & I made the bailiff aware of that (the court didn't). They say I have to issue another warrant, fair enough. But, I've since had a "note", pretty much on a scrap of paper, saying the original address is for correspondence, & the bailiff has no knowledge of his whereabouts, so that's the end of that.
The bailiff did speak to him on the phone when he said he's not worked since November when his vehicle failed the MOT. I know he IS working (he runs his own business), he's posting pics all over Facebook, & not in the area so he's obviously now got, at least use of, a vehicle. The bailiff told me if someone doesn't want to be found it can be difficult but "we won't give up". They have.

I need to get someone involved now who's not going to take whatever they're told at face value & just walk away (the bailiff's workload is shocking, the warrant office have told me the 2 months it's taken them to visit just once is "pretty good" !), someone who will follow up, but I don't know who. I'm even thinking about asking the police if they can get involved as what he's done is theft though as a civil matter I don't think they'll want to know.

Any suggestions ?

[barry1010]

If it is theft it is a criminal matter and you should report it to the police.

[CW1]

It's theft in as much as I paid money for materials & he actually used a fraction of it & won't give me the rest back even after taking into account his expenses, labour, etc :(

[barry1010]

Not theft in the criminal sense, then. You could ask the court to freeze his assets
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n349-application-for-third-party-debt-order

or apply for a charging order if he owns property
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n379-application-for-charging-order-on-land-cpr-part-73

[fiction-factory]

There comes appoint where you have to decide whether to write the money off. For £600 I suspect you are losing more sleep over this issue than your debtor is. He's possibly dodging repayment of debts to others too and is adept at obstructing the process and may indeed have insufficient assets. If it were £6000 I might pursue it , maybe as barry suggests, but for £600 you need to decide whether it's worth the hassle as it's going to be a real struggle

[CW1]

Thanks for the replies.

barry1010, those options have been suggested before but really they're a "hind unto nothing" as freezing assets would just prompt him into opening another bank account, & which property re the charging order ?! He's now given 2 so called "correspondence" addresses. It's [they're] probably rented anyway.

fiction-factory, I can not let it go. It may only be a few £100 but it's the impunity & bare faced lies I can't take. I don't care how long this goes on for, I am NOT letting it go. He's ultimately a thief & I can't just give up without trying EVERYTHING.

[david small]

CW1. The only one your hurting is you. You might at great emotional and financial cost to yourself chase this wretched individual from here to eternity. He will twist, lie, connive, and abscond do anything to worm out of doing the honourable thing.
Be the better man, write off this injustice to yourself. Life sometimes just isn't fair. Put this behind you as a lesson learnt.
I know you don't like the taste, I've tasted it. Life's too short.

[Peter Pedant]

// fiction-factory, I can not let it go. It may only be a few £100 but it's the impunity & bare faced lies I can't take. //

I agree with FF
let it go
it is obvious that running away is not the problem
but that he has no moolah

courts are about getting money not high falutin things like justie or retribution

[woofgang]

hiding to nothing :)

[CW1]

Well thanks for the encouragement guys :( Beginning to wonder if one of you is actually "him" (though you've all been too articulate to be fair).
I *have* found another avenue to explore, inexpensive & may well yield results. Time. Will. Tell.

[bednobs]

dont have him assassinated will you?

[Peter Pedant]

another way,,,,,

dont get too cute - I was accused of child molesting by a debtor who didnt want me to collect....this caused a lot of trouble