How long does a County Court Judgment last?

How to enforce a county court judgment (CCJ)

This guide is for you if:

you have an unpaid county court judgment that you may need to enforce against the other person, company, or organisation,
your county court judgment was ordered in England and Wales, and
you are representing yourself without the help of a lawyer (you are a litigant in person).

This guide is also for people supporting litigants in person, for example Support Through Court volunteers, Citizens Advice volunteers, and advice workers, as well as relatives and friends.

This guide is not for you if a county court judgment has been made against you. If you owe money to someone else, you are known as the ‘debtor’. You can get free help to manage your debts by going to organisations like StepChange, National Debtline or Citizens Advice.

Legal Language

We try to explain any legal language as we go along, but there is also a What does it mean? section at the end.

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This is just one of our resources about sorting out a dispute and going to a civil court.

The rest of the series can be found on our Small claims and the civil court page.

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A county court judgment, or CCJ, is a court order made in your favour.

It means the other person, company or organisation involved in your court case needs to pay you money.

This could be to pay a debt or compensation or damages, depending on your case. This kind of order is also sometimes known as a ‘judgment debt’.

The other person, company or organisation will have been known as the ‘defendant’ in the case. However, now that the court has ordered that they owe you money, the law calls them the ‘debtor’.

You may see the word ‘creditor’ too in court documents. This means someone who is owed money. In this case, that is you.

After all the time and effort spent getting a court order made in your favour, you would be forgiven for thinking that was the end of it. Unfortunately, you may find that the person who owes you money does not pay you straight away, or in the timeframe required.

If this happens, the court will not automatically get involved. It is important to understand that the court will not:

check that the order has been complied with and you have been paid what you are due, or
take any steps to enforce the order, unless you ask it to.

You may have to consider taking fresh court action to try and make the other person pay. Lawyers call this ‘enforcement’.

You need to decide if it is worth your time and money taking further court action to try and get the money owed to you.

Previous Next Section 

Step 1 – can you enforce the order?

Timings

You can only apply to enforce your order if the debtor has not paid you in the timeframe set by the court. Usually, payment should be made within 14 days of the date of the order. So, usually you will need to wait 14 days before taking any decisions on enforcement proceedings.

If you have an order that was made some time ago, be aware that you will only have 6 years from the date the order was made in which to enforce it. After that, it will be too late and you will be unable to enforce the order.

Make sure the debtor knows about the order

If the debtor was not at the court hearing where the judge ordered them to pay you a sum of money, they may not know about the order.

Usually, according to the Civil Procedure Rules, the court will send the order to the debtor. This is called ‘service’, or ‘serving’ the order. However, if the debtor later says they never received the order, it will delay things. So, if you can, check with the debtor that they have received the order.

You could make sure that the debtor has received the order, by giving them a copy yourself, as long as it is safe or realistic for you to do so (even if the court has already done this). That way, you will have proof that the debtor has received it.)

Unless a specific rule, or the judge, says you have to serve the debtor in a particular way, you can make sure the debtor has the order via different methods:
•    You can send the order by post or email, if you are sure of the address.
•    You can leave it at the debtor’s address yourself, if this is safe.
•    You can hand it to the debtor directly.
Alternatively, if it isn’t safe to leave the order and you want to be completely sure the debtor does know about it, you can pay for a professional (known as a ‘process server’) to personally hand it to the debtor.

For more help on this, you can find the court rules about when an order is classed as properly served by the court at Civil Procedure Rules 6.21 and 6.26.

Potential problems

• If the debtor is insolvent

A person, company or organisation is ‘insolvent’ when they cannot pay their debts on the date they are meant to pay them.

If the debtor is about to become insolvent, or is insolvent, this could affect any claims you have against them.

The debtor may choose or be forced to go bankrupt. This is a legal process that can be used where the debtor cannot pay debts they owe. If the debtor goes through bankruptcy proceedings, someone called the ‘official receiver’ takes over any land, property, or money that the debtor has and deals with it according to strict insolvency laws. This means that other people or companies that the debtor owes money to will also have rights over any assets and the money the court says they owe you could be at the end of a long list.

We explain how to find out if the debtor is bankrupt in the section below called Search for the debtor’s financial information.

If your debtor is a company and was insured, you might be able to bring a claim against their insurer directly. However, this is a complex area and you should certainly get legal advice before starting this.

• If the debtor applies for a stay of execution or to set aside the order

The debtor could apply to the court after the judgment order is made for something called a ‘stay of execution’. This is an order that stops the judgment debt order from being enforced while the court is given new or more information.

This pause in the case can be temporary - while the debtor works out a detailed and realistic payment plan to pay you what you are owed. This might mean the court orders them to pay you the amount they owe in smaller instalments over a longer timeframe than you would like.

Alternatively, there are some situations where the debtor can ask the court to cancel or ‘set aside’ the order. For example, if the debtor didn’t know about the case and/or the process wasn’t followed correctly.

If the debtor applies for either a stay of execution or for the order to be set aside, there will be some delay. You may be asked to negotiate with the debtor about how they pay you, or attend another court hearing where a judge decides what should happen next. If the debtor’s application is unsuccessful, the court will tell you when you can start enforcement proceedings.

Debt Respite Scheme (also known as Breathing Space)

The Debt Respite Scheme (also known as Breathing Space) gives people with problem debt a short period of time in which creditors must stop collecting debts or pursuing enforcement proceedings. There are two types of breathing space:

Standard breathing space protects people who have problem debt from enforcement action for up to 60 days. So, if your debtor has this protection in place, this will delay your application to enforce the judgment debt by at least 60 days.
Mental health crisis breathing space protects someone who owes money and is also having mental health crisis treatment. It lasts as long as the mental health crisis treatment takes, plus 30 days. If this type of breathing space is in place for the person that owes you money, it is hard to predict when you will be allowed to start enforcement proceedings.

This scheme is managed by the Insolvency Service. They will tell you, by email or post, if the debtor in your case is protected under the scheme. During the time they are protected by the scheme, you must not contact the debtor about what they owe you or start enforcement proceedings. You can have contact with their debt adviser, if they have one.

You can read more about the Debt Respite Scheme in the Insolvency Service’s guidance for creditors. If your debtor is protected and you are considering what else you might do about your debt, it is important to first read the government guidance called Debt Respite (Breathing Space) Scheme - creditors’ responsibilities to the court first.

Step 2 – Should enforce your order?

If you can enforce the order, you now need to decide if it is worth your time, money, and effort to go back to court to enforce it. To help you to consider if it worth going ahead, you need to know whether or not the debtor actually has the money to pay you.

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Can pay, won’t pay?

If you are sure that the debtor has the money but is choosing not to pay, then you can skip this section and go to What are the different ways you can enforce your CCJ?

Check if the debtor can pay

If the debtor genuinely can’t pay, it is very likely that you are going to waste more time and money by trying to enforce your order. So, you need to find out if your debtor has money or other things of value (such as land, property, or investments – what lawyers call ‘assets’) and ideally, where those assets are.

If the debtor is a company, they may have insurance to cover their debts but you would only be paid if insurance company agreed it was a situation that their policy covered.

If you are not sure whether the debtor has the means to pay, work your way through this section.

Understand where the debtor’s assets are

For assets in England and Wales, you can bring enforcement proceedings through the court.

But if the debtor’s only money or assets are in Scotland or Northern Ireland it will be a more complicated process. And if their only money or assets are abroad, this will be very complicated, so you will need to think very carefully about whether it is worth starting proceedings against them.

For more information see Civil procedure rule - Part 74 - Enforcement of judgments in different jurisdictions.

Search for the debtor’s financial information

There are some searches you can do that may help you find out more about the debtor’s financial situation. Some searches are free, others are charged for.

You can:

Find out who owns a property and whether there are any debts secured on it by searching information from the Land Registry.
Check whether someone is bankrupt by searching the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Register.
Check if a person or company is insolvent (does not have enough money or assets to pay their debts) by checking the public notices in the London Gazette.
Ask for information about the registered keeper of a vehicle from DVLA.
Check if a vehicle is stolen, written off or on finance at HPI Check.
Check whether a business or an individual has been fined, or had other court orders made against them, at Trust Online.
Find information about a company and see if their accounts are up to date from Companies House.
Find information about a registered charity and their accounts from the Charity Commission.
Check the Attachment of Earnings Index to see if the debtor already has had this type of order made against them. You need to ask the court to do this – for more help see the section called How to enforce your order - attachment of earnings orders.
Carry out an internet search and check social media to find out useful information about the debtor. For example, lots of information can come up about a company in online reviews.

Consider using an enquiry agent

Lawyers sometimes use enquiry agents to investigate whether it is worth starting legal proceedings against someone. Enquiry agents can provide a report about someone’s financial status. Typically, this will give information about:

whether they are a homeowner or a tenant,
whether they are bankrupt or have court orders against their name, and
their employment details.

You may want to consider using an enquiry agent yourself but check the cost first. Some enquiry agents offer this service at a fixed cost - others charge an hourly rate.

You can find an enquiry agent through the Association of British Investigators or the Institute of Professional Investigators.

Apply to the court for an order to obtain information

Another way to get information about the debtor’s financial situation is to apply to court for something called an ‘order to obtain information’. This is an order that tells the debtor to come to court and answer questions about their financial situation.

This isn’t a quick fix as the process takes time. But it could be very helpful in giving you a clearer picture of the debtor’s current financial situation, so you can decide what to do next.

There are some advantages and disadvantages to using this route to get more information.

Advantages	Disadvantages
You are likely to get useful information as the debtor must come to court to answer questions – if they know about the hearing and failed to attend, they can be sent to prison. This will usually help you decide whether to apply to enforce the order and also which method to use.	By applying, the debtor will know you are interested in their financial situation. When they find out about the application, they might rush to get rid of any assets that are easily sold or hidden. (Lawyers call this ‘dissipating assets’.) If you think there is a real risk of this happening, you need to get urgent legal advice about a freezing injunction.
	The process is quite complicated and slow, with several steps to go through.
A court officer will ask a comprehensive list of questions for you - you do not need to attend unless you want to.	You need to look at the list of documents and questions that the debtor will be asked to provide and answer and work out if you need to ask for other documents or ask other questions.
	There is a court fee to pay for the application and, if you need to arrange for a court bailiff to give the order to the debtor, you will have to pay for that too. If the debtor fails to attend and another order is made, that also has to be given to the debtor (with a further fee if you need to use the court bailiff). These fees can be added to the money the debtor owes you already. If you are on a low income, you may not have to pay all or any of the court fees.

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Not applying for the order to obtain information?
If you have decided not to apply for this order, you can skip this bit and go on to the short section called Work out your next steps.

The process of applying to the court for an ‘order to obtain information’

Step 1	Use the correct application form. If the debtor is an individual, you will need application form N316. If the debtor is a company, you will need the details of one of the officers of the company, such as a director. If you don’t have these, you need to search online at Companies House for their details. Then you need application form N316A.
Step 2	The notes that go with the form tell you what documents the debtor will be asked to provide. Read these notes and see if you want the court to ask the debtor to provide other documents. To see what questions the debtor has to answer look at the form the debtor has to fill in – EX140 (for individuals) or EX141 (for companies). Decide if you want to add any extra questions and what they are.
Step 3	Fill in the correct form (identified in step 1) and add in any questions or documents you want added to the standard ones. The court fee for this application is £67. You need to have this money to start your application. If you are on a low income, you may be able to help with fees. To start your application, you need to send it to the debtor’s nearest county court hearing centre. Find that on GOV.UK’s Find a court or tribunal tool.
Step 4	When the court has processed your application, it will make an order setting out when and where the questioning of the debtor will take place. The order will remind the debtor of the amount of money due to you and that they need to pay it to you directly (if they pay, they can avoid the questioning). If you receive the money you are owed before the date in the order, you must tell the court as soon as possible and they will cancel the hearing. The order will also tell the debtor that they can ask you for travel expenses for getting to the hearing. Be prepared to hear from the debtor about this. The court will tell you if you need to make sure the debtor has the order about the questioning or if the court will do that task. If you need to do it, go on to step 5. If the court says they will do it for you, go to step 6.
Step 5	If the court says you need to arrange this, you can do it yourself or pay for the court bailiff or an enforcement agent to do it. This must be done at least 14 days before the date of the hearing. Think about whether it is safe or realistic for you to personally give the order to the debtor. There is a fee of £135 to ask the court bailiff to serve the order. Remember that if you are on a low income you can ask for help with fees. Each county court has separate contact details for their bailiff team, so it is best to check directly what paperwork they need to do this for you. If you decide to personally serve the debtor, be sure to keep some copies of the order for later. If you don’t manage to serve the debtor you need to tell the court at least 7 days before the hearing date, which allows a new hearing date to be arranged and enables you to have more time to get the order to the debtor.
Step 6	The court needs to know certain things before the hearing: that the debtor has been served correctly, whether or not the debtor has asked you for travel expenses, and if the money owed to you, or some of it, still needs to be paid. You need to provide the court with a sworn statement, called an ‘affidavit’ about these things. If you served the debtor yourself with the order you need to tell the court how and when you did this. If you arranged for someone else to serve the debtor, they need to do an affidavit to say how and when they served them. Your affidavit also needs to tell the court if you have been asked for travel expenses. The debtor has 7 days to do this after the date they are served with the order. That means you need to wait at least 7 days after the service before you do your affidavit. Finally, your affidavit needs to state what, if anything, has happened with the money owed to you. There is a set form to use to do your affidavit - form EX550. Read it through carefully first and then fill it out. Do not sign it. If you served the debtor, you need to attach a copy of the order that you gave the debtor to the affidavit. Do not fill out part A if you arranged for an enforcement agent or court bailiff to serve the debtor for you. They will fill out their own one.
Step 7	When you have filled in your affidavit, you need to sign the affidavit and ‘swear’ that the contents are true in front of a court officer. Call in advance as you may need an appointment. This service is free. Or you can go to a solicitor’s office, but they will charge a small fee.
Step 8	Make sure your sworn affidavit reaches the court at least two days before the hearing date. You should: • Send it to the court that is dealing with the hearing. • Mark your letter or email with the date and time of the hearing. The hearing will take place on the date in the order. You do not need to attend unless you want to. The debtor will be questioned and then asked to sign a record of their answers. You will be sent a copy of the answers to the questions and the documents – this is known as the ‘Record of examination’. You will then have the information you need to make a more informed decision on how to enforce the order.

What happens if the debtor does not attend the hearing

If the debtor does not attend the hearing, or attends but refuses to answer some of the questions, there are further steps to go through.

The judge will look at what happened and decide if the debtor has failed to comply with the order.
If the judge decides that the debtor hasn’t complied, the judge will make a ‘suspended committal order’. This is an order that means if the debtor does not attend another hearing and do as they are ordered, they will be sent or ‘committed’ to prison.
Again, this order has to be personally served on the debtor and you will need to do another affidavit. If this happens, you need to go back to step 5 in the previous table.
If the debtor fails to attend again – on the new hearing date –the debtor will be arrested and taken to court. If at that point they engage with the court and answer the questions, it is unlikely they will be sent to prison.
If they still refuse to engage, an order called a ‘warrant of committal’ will normally be issued immediately. This means that the debtor will be taken to the prison for the time detailed in the suspended committed order.

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Court rules

If you want to read more about the court rules on applying for an order to obtain information you can go to Civil Procedure Rule 71 and
practice direction 71.

Work out your next steps

Move forward
If the debtor is insured or has enough assets to pay, you can go on to What are the different ways you can enforce your order? where we explain the different enforcement options and how you can enforce your order.
Do nothing
If you have considered your options carefully but it seems the debtor does not have enough assets to pay, you may decide your best course of action is to do nothing – at least for now. You have 6 years to enforce the order.

Previous Next Section 

If you are sure the debtor can pay but is refusing, there are different ways to enforce your order. The best option for you will depend on your and the debtor’s situation. You may well need legal advice to help you decide. Go to More help and advice.

In the following sections, we will go into more detail about how you apply for each option.

Warrant of control

What it is and when to use it	Pros	Cons
This allows court bailiffs or enforcement officers to take belongings that the debtor owns and sell them at auction. The money from the sale pays off the debt.	+ Relatively quick and easy. + Low upfront cost + The debtor does not need to be told in advance when you ask for a warrant. + Doesn’t require a hearing + Can be used if your debtor is an individual or a company. + Can sometimes use it alongside other enforcement methods. + Sometimes just the threat of this method can make the debtor pay what you are owed.	- Only useful if the debtor has enough belongings of value to pay off what you are owed. - You must give 7 days notice, so the debtor may hide or move assets. - Some belongings are protected – if they are linked to how the debtor makes a living. - Court bailiffs cannot take belongings that meet basic living needs, such as fridges, washing machines, and cookers.

What it is and when to use it

Pros

Cons

This allows court bailiffs or enforcement officers to take belongings that the debtor owns and sell them at auction. The money from the sale pays off the debt.

+ Relatively quick and easy.
+ Low upfront cost
+ The debtor does not need to be told in advance when you ask for a warrant.
+ Doesn’t require a hearing
+ Can be used if your debtor is an individual or a company.
+ Can sometimes use it alongside other enforcement methods.
+ Sometimes just the threat of this method can make the debtor pay what you are owed.

- Only useful if the debtor has enough belongings of value to pay off what you are owed.
- You must give 7 days notice, so the debtor may hide or move assets.

- Some belongings are protected – if they are linked to how the debtor makes a living.

- Court bailiffs cannot take belongings that meet basic living needs, such as fridges, washing machines, and cookers.

Writ of control

What it is and when to use it	Pros	Cons
Similar to a warrant of control but you can only use this process in the High Court. It can be quicker to use the High Court. To apply in the High Court the amount of money you are owed must be at least £600. If the debt is £5000 or more, the case must be transferred to the High Court.	+ Costs usually added to the debt rather than paid by you.	The same cons as above but also: - Moving a debt to the High Court means paying an additional fee. - If the High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO) cannot recover the money, you must pay a fee for the failed attempt (typically £75 + VAT).

What it is and when to use it

Pros

Cons

Similar to a warrant of control but you can only use this process in the High Court. It can be quicker to use the High Court. To apply in the High Court the amount of money you are owed must be at least £600. If the debt is £5000 or more, the case must be transferred to the High Court.

+ Costs usually added to the debt rather than paid by you.

The same cons as above but also:

- Moving a debt to the High Court means paying an additional fee.

- If the High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO) cannot recover the money, you must pay a fee for the failed attempt (typically £75 + VAT).

Attachment of earnings order

What it is and when to use it	Pros	Cons
This is an order that directs the debtor’s employer to keep back some of their earnings so that they can be paid to you.	+ Process of applying is relatively cheap and easy. + Doesn’t require the debtor’s co-operation. + Court administration handles collecting the payments and transferring them to you.	- You can only do this if the debtor is employed. These orders cannot be made against unemployed or self-employed people, or companies. - The debtor is entitled to be paid enough to cover their monthly living expenses, so the monthly amount paid out to settle the debt could be very little. As a result, it could take a long time to get back the amount you are owed. - If they earn less each month than they need to spend on their living expenses the court will not be able to make an order that you receive any of their earnings.

What it is and when to use it

Pros

Cons

This is an order that directs the debtor’s employer to keep back some of their earnings so that they can be paid to you.

+ Process of applying is relatively cheap and easy.

+ Doesn’t require the debtor’s co-operation.

+ Court administration handles collecting the payments and transferring them to you.

- You can only do this if the debtor is employed. These orders cannot be made against unemployed or self-employed people, or companies.

- The debtor is entitled to be paid enough to cover their monthly living expenses, so the monthly amount paid out to settle the debt could be very little. As a result, it could take a long time to get back the amount you are owed.

- If they earn less each month than they need to spend on their living expenses the court will not be able to make an order that you receive any of their earnings.

Third party debt order

What it is and when to use it	Pros	Cons
This is an order that allows you to receive money that belongs to the debtor that is held by what lawyers call a ‘third party’. In this situation the third party is often (but not always) a bank or building society. First, you have to ask for an order to freeze an account and then, if the court agrees, a second order is made so that you receive money from the frozen account.	+ Freezes the account so that money cannot be moved out or hidden. + If there are sufficient funds in the account, you may receive a large amount or all of the debt in one go.	- This order is only useful if you know a lot about the debtor’s financial situation – such as their bank and whether they have money in their account. - You can potentially get this by applying for an order to obtain information (see Search for the debtor’s financial information in section 3 for a reminder). But there is then a risk that the debtor will move the money before you can apply for this order.

What it is and when to use it

Pros

Cons

This is an order that allows you to receive money that belongs to the debtor that is held by what lawyers call a ‘third party’. In this situation the third party is often (but not always) a bank or building society.

First, you have to ask for an order to freeze an account and then, if the court agrees, a second order is made so that you receive money from the frozen account.

+ Freezes the account so that money cannot be moved out or hidden.

+ If there are sufficient funds in the account, you may receive a large amount or all of the debt in one go.

- This order is only useful if you know a lot about the debtor’s financial situation – such as their bank and whether they have money in their account.

- You can potentially get this by applying for an order to obtain information (see Search for the debtor’s financial information in section 3 for a reminder). But there is then a risk that the debtor will move the money before you can apply for this order.

Charging order

What it is and when to use it	Pros	Cons
This type of order can be useful if you know the debtor has property, land, or investments, like stocks and shares, A charging order stops the debtor from selling assets, such as property or land they own, without paying you what they owe you when the sale goes through. A ‘charge’ is recorded against the asset so that it cannot be sold without you being paid. Sometimes you can ask the court to make an order for sale – so that the asset has to be sold in a certain timeframe, rather than whenever the debtor decides.	+ Provides surety that you will receive payment eventually. + Debtor is not told in advance so they cannot sell the asset to avoid paying you. + Interest at 8% is added until payment is made.	- You can only get your money when the debtor sells their asset. - If there are already other charges registered against the asset before yours, such as mortgages or other creditors who are owed money – the money they are owed will be paid first. So, there is no guarantee you will get all that is owed to you. - If the property is owned by the debtor with other people, then this will usually affect your rights to enforce the order and how much money you can get when the property is sold. - If the only option for a charging order is the debtor’s family home, things are more complicated. A sale will usually be delayed until any children reach 18 years.

What it is and when to use it

Pros

Cons

This type of order can be useful if you know the debtor has property, land, or investments, like stocks and shares,

A charging order stops the debtor from selling assets, such as property or land they own, without paying you what they owe you when the sale goes through.

A ‘charge’ is recorded against the asset so that it cannot be sold without you being paid.

Sometimes you can ask the court to make an order for sale – so that the asset has to be sold in a certain timeframe, rather than whenever the debtor decides.

+ Provides surety that you will receive payment eventually.

+ Debtor is not told in advance so they cannot sell the asset to avoid paying you.

+ Interest at 8% is added until payment is made.

- You can only get your money when the debtor sells their asset.

- If there are already other charges registered against the asset before yours, such as mortgages or other creditors who are owed money – the money they are owed will be paid first. So, there is no guarantee you will get all that is owed to you.

- If the property is owned by the debtor with other people, then this will usually affect your rights to enforce the order and how much money you can get when the property is sold.

- If the only option for a charging order is the debtor’s family home, things are more complicated. A sale will usually be delayed until any children reach 18 years.

Bankruptcy proceedings or winding up

What it is and when to use it	Pros	Cons
If they owe you £5,000 or more, you can apply to the court to make the debtor bankrupt. Or if the debtor is a company that owes you £750 or more, and you can prove they cannot pay you, you can apply to the court to ‘wind up’ the company. You need to show you have tried other ways to get the money you are owed, or you need to apply to the court for a ‘statutory demand’. This gives the debtor 21 days to pay you what they owe and prevent the process of bankruptcy from starting. If they don’t do this, you can then ask the court to make the debtor bankrupt or wind up the company. If the debtor is made bankrupt by the court, someone called the official receiver will be appointed to call in any assets the debtor has and then pay them out to all the different creditors, not just to you. If you decide on this option, you really should get legal advice before you start.	+ The threat of this is sometimes all that is needed to get the debtor to see you are serious and pay up – if they have the money to do so.	- There is a strict procedure to follow and, as the outcome is extreme for the debtor, the court will usually expect this approach to be a last resort. - Depending on how many other creditors there are, you may find you are at the bottom of the priority list when creditors are paid. - Depending on the debtor’s situation, you may not get all or even any of the money owed. - This process is expensive, complicated and time consuming and there is a risk that you will be in the same situation at the end as you were in the beginning.

What it is and when to use it

Pros

Cons

If they owe you £5,000 or more, you can apply to the court to make the debtor bankrupt. Or if the debtor is a company that owes you £750 or more, and you can prove they cannot pay you, you can apply to the court to ‘wind up’ the company.

You need to show you have tried other ways to get the money you are owed, or you need to apply to the court for a ‘statutory demand’. This gives the debtor 21 days to pay you what they owe and prevent the process of bankruptcy from starting.

If they don’t do this, you can then ask the court to make the debtor bankrupt or wind up the company.

If the debtor is made bankrupt by the court, someone called the official receiver will be appointed to call in any assets the debtor has and then pay them out to all the different creditors, not just to you.

If you decide on this option, you really should get legal advice before you start.

+ The threat of this is sometimes all that is needed to get the debtor to see you are serious and pay up – if they have the money to do so.

- There is a strict procedure to follow and, as the outcome is extreme for the debtor, the court will usually expect this approach to be a last resort.

- Depending on how many other creditors there are, you may find you are at the bottom of the priority list when creditors are paid.

- Depending on the debtor’s situation, you may not get all or even any of the money owed.

- This process is expensive, complicated and time consuming and there is a risk that you will be in the same situation at the end as you were in the beginning.

If more than one type of enforcement option might help you get all your money back, you can decide to use more than one.

Some can be used at the same time, or one after the other in a particular order. Where you can use more than one option at the same time, there can be tactical or practical reasons to use them in a certain order. Things can get complicated though, so if you think this might be a good way forward, get legal advice first.

What does enforcement cost?

Be aware that there are costs involved in all of these enforcement options, including court fees and any professional fees and expenses, such as court bailiffs or enforcement officers.

If you are successful in getting your money back from the debtor, these costs can be added on to the debt. But if you are not successful, you will have to pay the costs yourself. For court fees, if you are on a low income, you can ask for help with fees.

If you are successful in getting your money back, as well as claiming your costs, you may be able to claim interest from the debtor too. Interest can be added to a debt that is over £5,000. This type of interest is called ‘statutory interest’ and is currently charged at a rate of 8%.

The court can decide the date from when interest will run, but usually it will run from the date of the original order that states the debtor owes you money. It stops being charged when enforcement stops for a warrant or writ of control, attachment of earnings or when third party debt orders begin. Although if these options are not successful, it runs on as though you had never started enforcement. For charging orders, statutory interest continues to run even when you start the application.

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Court rules

If you want to read more about the court rules on enforcement methods, go to the Civil Procedure Rule 70 and Practice Direction 70A

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Remember that whatever method or methods you try, the court cannot guarantee you will get your money back.

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Top Tip – navigating your options
You might know which option you want or need to try first - if this is you, you can jump straight to the section that deals with that option.
If you are not sure, it is best to read through all the different options first, so you can make an informed decision about what to do next.

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Before you spend more time, money, and energy on trying to get your money, it is important to consider:

Do you know if the debtor has belongings or goods worth enough money to make it worth your while going through another procedure (and paying another court fee)?
Do you have the addresses and contact details for where the debtor’s belongings or goods are?

Do I use the County Court or the High Court?

Country Court	High Court
Warrant of control	Writ of Control
£ 0 - £5,000 (Or if the case is to do with an agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act there is no upper limit – these are to do with loan agreements and hire purchase).	Optional from £600 but you must use the High Court if the money owed is over £5,000.

Country Court

High Court

Warrant of control

Writ of Control

£ 0 - £5,000

(Or if the case is to do with an agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act there is no upper limit – these are to do with loan agreements and hire purchase).

Optional from £600 but you must use the High Court if the money owed is over £5,000.

If you have a choice, it can be quicker to apply to the High Court. However, be aware that it can be more expensive and complicated, so you may end up needing to pay for legal advice if you decide to go to the High Court.

How to ask for a warrant of control in the County Court

If you claimed online

If your claim number has the letters MC in it, you need to fill in form N323 to ask the court to issue a warrant of control. You then sign, print and send it to the court that made the judgment order with the court fee of £94. If you are on a low income, you can ask for help with fees.

You will need to provide the following details:

the claim number – this will be on the judgment order paperwork,
the debtor’s full name and address,
the amount of money owed to you in your judgment order,
other money spent because of the case, such as any court fees or fees for any legal advice you have had.

If the claim number does not have the letters MC in it, you need to apply online via the Money Claim Online (MCOL) website. You will need a credit or debit card to pay the court fee of £94 or you can ask for help with fees.

If you applied by paper

You need to fill in, print and sign the form N323 and post, or hand deliver it, to the court who made the judgment order. You can pay the court fee of £94 by cheque or postal order. If you are on a low income you can ask for help with fees.

What happens after you have sent your request to the court?

Issuing the warrant is a procedural step (no judge or hearing necessary). The warrant will be passed to the court bailiff or enforcement officer, to tell the debtor a warrant has been issued and give them 14 clear days to pay the money owed. (Note that this can be extended to 28 days if the debtor is working with a debt advice agency).

After this period, the bailiff or enforcement officer can:

Visit the debtor’s address and try to get payment. If no payment is made, the bailiff or enforcement agent may identify goods that can be taken into control and potentially sold, using "Controlled Goods Agreement".
If there is a subsequent unsuccessful attempt - or where contact is made but the debtor does not pay, or make arrangements to pay - the bailiff or enforcement officer can return to take the debtor’s belongings or goods to sell at auction. They can only take non-essential items.



Remember

A bailiff cannot take things that the debtor needs for basic living – fridges, washing machines, beds.
A bailiff cannot take things needed by the debtor for work, up to the limit of £1,350.
A bailiff cannot take things that don’t belong to the debtor – for example, things that belong to their partner or other household members, or items on credit, such as a car on hire purchase.

What the debtor can do

The threat of a bailiff removing and selling belongings or goods may be enough to make the debtor pay you what they owe, or offer a part payment, or longer payment plan.

The debtor could apply to court to have the warrant stopped – this is called an application to ‘suspend’ a warrant. The court will tell you if they have done this and send you the debtor's application and a form to fill in to give your views on the offer made by the debtor.

If you agree to the warrant being stopped, but you don’t agree with how much the debtor has offered to pay, a court officer will look at the case and decide how much the debtor can afford to pay. The court will make a new order setting out what the debtor must pay, and when.

You may not agree with the decision by the court officer. If so, you can write to the court to explain why you think the amount is wrong and they could pay more. You must do this within 16 days of date on the envelope the order came in. You will then get another letter to tell you to attend court before a district judge, who will hear from both you and the debtor and make an order about the debt.

If the debtor still does not pay you as ordered, you can apply to the court again to "reissue" the warrant. To do this, you need to fill in, print and sign form N445. There is no court fee for this form.

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Be aware

If at any time, the debtor pays you money during this process you need to tell the court immediately.

What happens if the bailiff does not manage to collect and sell belongings or goods?

If this happens, the court should tell you. But if you have not heard from the court after a month of asking for the warrant, contact the court.
If a warrant of control is not successful, it is usually because the debtor is no longer at the address you gave in your form, or the belongings or goods were not worth enough to pay off the debt.

If you are determined to keep going, you can use form N445 again – but only do so if you are sure the debtor is at that address, or if you have new information about other addresses. If you are sure the debtor does have things of value to sell, give details in the form.

You will have to pay another court fee of £37 if you want the bailiff to go to a new address.

Asking for a writ of control in the High Court

You need to do this if the money the debtor owes you is more than £5,000.

The procedure is more complicated than in the County Court.

County Court Bailiff vs High Court Enforcement Officer?

For enforcement in the High Court, there are High Court enforcement officers rather than court bailiffs. They are employed by private companies who have a licence to do this work at the High Court. Unlike County Court bailiffs, they will work outside office hours to locate the debtor and collect their belongings or goods. They also have extra powers to enter commercial buildings in certain situations.

They are only paid if they recover the belongings or goods of the debtor and get you your money. They will add their fees to the money already owed to you and claim them from the debtor. If they do not manage to get their fees covered by money from the debtor, they will charge you an administrative fee of £79 plus VAT at 20% (£94.80 in total).

Generally, a High Court enforcement officer does very similar things to the court bailiff. But you can also ask a High Court enforcement officer to do the work required to get a writ of control from the High Court first – so that you don’t have to.

The High Court Enforcement Officer Association provides a list of enforcement officers across England and Wales, where you can search by postcode. This is likely to be much easier than doing it yourself, especially as the fees for their work can be claimed from the debtor, if you are successful in getting your money back. If they are not successful, you will only have lost their initial fee of £79 plus VAT at 20% and the court fee.

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Things to consider – enforcing a judgement debt yourself

If you really cannot afford the enforcement officer’s fee, you can do this process yourself but it is not easy.

Only read the next bit if you are sure you want to ask the county court to transfer your judgment debt to the High Court for enforcement by yourself, rather than asking a High Court enforcement officer to do it for you.

Step 1 – obtaining a certificate of judgment

First, you need to ask the court that made the judgment order to give you a ‘certificate of judgment’ with the court’s seal (or stamp) on it. This is a court document that proves what is owed to you. The certificate is in form N293A.

You need to fill in Parts 1 & 3 of form N293A, sign it and send it to the court that made the judgment order. There is a court fee of £80 to pay. Or you can ask for help with fees if you are on a low income.

It is very important to fill in the form fully – if you do not, the court will send it back. You must include:

The claim number
In Part 1:
- the date of the judgment order and the amount owed to you, including any further fees the court has allowed since,
- the total interest (if any) that has built up on the judgment debt and the daily rate (for help with this see the section called Working out the interest on a debt).
A request for a "Writ of Control", the date and your signature (in the box to the right of Part 1).
In Part 3:
- You will not know the High Court enforcement number , or the date of the certificate yet – you can add the date in when you get the form back from the county court.
- Add the address of the debtor. If you have decided on the High Court enforcement officer you’re using to deal with the task of getting your money for you, you can fill in their name in the section at the top of right-hand column. Don’t worry if you haven’t decided yet though – you can get one allocated to you later by Registry Trust Limited.

Send your completed form N293A with the court fee to the county court that made the original order – the one you are trying to enforce. The court will process your application and return the N293A form back with the court stamp on it. This is an important document in this process – make a copy of it.

Step 2 - filling in form no.53 – Writ of control

When you have this stamped form N293A, you can do the next form. This is called form no.53 – Writ of control.

Step 3 – sending your forms to the High Court

When you have filled in form no.53, you need to send it to the High Court (with your stamped form N293A ), together with a cheque or postal order for £80 (or if you are on a low income you can get help with court fees). The address is:

Royal Courts of Justice
Enforcement Section

Strand

London

WC2A 2LL

The High Court will process the paperwork and return the Writ of control form with the court seal on it. This is an important document. Make a copy of it.

Step 4 – sending the stamped Writ of control to the National Information Centre for Enforcement

You then need to send the original Writ of control form (the one stamped by the High Court) to:

National Information Centre for Enforcement

Registry Trust Ltd

3rd Floor

12 Carthusian Street

London

EC1M 6EB

Staff at the National Information Centre for Enforcement, run by Registry Trust Ltd, will allocate a High Court enforcement officer to your case and send you the details by post or email.

If the High Court email you the stamped Writ of control you can forward it by email to the National Information Centre for Enforcement - [email protected].

The High Court enforcement officer will then take very similar steps to the county court bailiff to try and get back your money for you. They will update you, but if you have any questions or concerns you can contact them via the details sent to you by the National Information Centre for Enforcement.

The High Court Enforcement Officers Association has more information about what enforcement officers do once they receive your Writ of control.

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Be aware

If at any time, the debtor pays you money during this process you need to tell the court immediately.

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You can only apply for an attachment of earnings order if the debtor is employed.



Be aware

It is a good idea to check the attachment of earnings index before you apply for an attachment of earnings order (see How to check the attachment of earnings index below). If the debtor has already had an attachment of earnings order made against them, you are less likely to get all your money paid this way. This is because there will be one or more other creditors already receiving some of the debtor’s earnings and the debtor must be left with enough to meet their basic living needs.

Also, bear in mind that if the debtor later becomes unemployed, the order will stop (‘lapse’).

The court can only make an attachment of earnings order if you can provide details of the debtor’s employer – their name or the company name, together with the address. You will also be asked to give details of where the debtor works and what they do. If you don’t have this information, you can pause here and try and find it. For help with this, go back to Step 2 in the section called Working out if you can and should enforce your order.

Next, we explain how to check if the debtor already has this kind of order in place against their pay, for money they owe to someone else.

How to check the Attachment of earnings index

There are two ways to ask the court to check the attachment of earnings index. You can either:

fill in part 1 of form N336 and send it to the court, or,
write to the court asking for the information. You must include the name and address of the defendant, your claim number, and the date of your judgment.

The court will either complete the rest of the form and send it back to you, or write to you to tell you the result of the search. There is no fee for this.

What to do next – should you apply for an attachment of earnings order?

When you get the reply from the court you need to look at it carefully and decide if it is worthwhile applying for an attachment of earnings order against the debtor.

If the reply from the court states ‘there are no subsisting entries’, it means there are no orders currently in force telling an employer to hold back money from the debtor’s pay each month to pay to another creditor.

If there are details about another judgment debt (with the amount that is being taken and how often), it means the debtor’s pay is already under pressure from another creditor’s order. A large amount suggests that their other debts are significant. A small amount could suggest that the debt is smaller, but also that they have a small amount of pay coming in each month and the court has decided they can only afford a small deduction.

You will have to decide, using the information in the reply from the court, what you want to do next. Read on about the next steps to see what is involved, to help you decide if it is worth it. If you can afford any legal advice at this point do try and get some – this will help you decide if it is worth going ahead with another application. Use the Law Society – find a solicitor service.

Applying for an attachment of earnings order

You start by filling in form N337. TThis is a short form where you need to give your details, and those of the debtor, together with all the information you have on their employer and work situation. You also need to state what money is owed to you. Then you need to print the form, sign it and send it to the court.

These applications go to a central place, rather than the actual court that made the judgment order in the first place. The address is:

Civil National Business Centre

St Katherine’s House

21-27 St Katherine’s St

Northampton

NN1 2LH

There is a court fee of £135 to pay. This fee is added to what the debtor owes you, but if you are not successful, then the court cannot refund you the fee. You can pay the fee by cheque or postal order or provide your telephone number and ask the court to call you to pay by credit or debit card over the phone. Make sure you include the claim number so the court can find your case on their system. If you are on a low income, you can ask for help with fees.

The court will get in touch with the debtor and tell them you have made this application and that they either need to:

pay all the money they owe you, or
give the court information about their employment and financial situation in a document called a ‘statement of means’.



Be aware

If you receive any payments from the debtor after you send in your application you must tell the court straight away!

The process

If the debtor pays you all the money owed then the process stops. Good news!

However, it is probably more likely that one of two things will happen:

either they will fail to send in their statement, or
they will send it and things can progress more quickly.

Choose the correct box in the following table for the situation you are in.

When the debtor fails to send in the statement of means	When the court has the statement of means
If the debtor does not reply to the court with the statement of means, the court can take several steps to make the debtor engage with the process. The court will contact the debtor again. If this doesn’t work the court can send an enforcement officer to give the order to the debtor personally so the court can be sure the debtor knows they need to fill in the statement of means. If the debtor still does not fill in the statement of means but the judge can see from the court records that the debtor is aware they should have done so, the debtor can be arrested and brought to court to fill in the statement. This process takes some time. If you have heard nothing from the court for 6-8 weeks, get in touch and ask for an update. Assuming that the court eventually gets the statement of means, you now need to read the information in the box on the right called ‘When the court has the statement of means’.	If the debtor fills in the statement of means and sends it to the court, a court officer looks at the details and works out what amount of money the debtor needs for their basic living costs. If there is any more money left over, the court will make an order that you be paid money from the debtor’s pay. (If you do not agree with the amount the debtor is ordered to pay, you can challenge this – we explain how lower down). This order gets sent to the employer. Payments then come to you from the employer via system called the ‘Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payment System’ (CAPS). Be aware that it is possible for the debtor to ask that their employer is not contacted. Instead, they have to pay the money in the order directly to you on a regular basis. This is called a ‘suspended order’. If you have problems with this, for example, if the debtor does not do this or pays some and then stops, you have to fill in form N446 to explain this issue to the court and ask the court to send the order to the employer. There is no fee for this. In this form, make sure you tick the box that says ‘attachment of earnings’ and then fill in the details about yourself, the debtor and the money that needs to be paid. In the box at the bottom, called ‘Reasons for requesting re-issue’, you just need to explain that the debtor has failed to pay the money owed to you or has only paid some of it. Print, sign and date the form and then send it to the court.

When the debtor fails to send in the statement of means

When the court has the statement of means

If the debtor does not reply to the court with the statement of means, the court can take several steps to make the debtor engage with the process.

The court will contact the debtor again. If this doesn’t work the court can send an enforcement officer to give the order to the debtor personally so the court can be sure the debtor knows they need to fill in the statement of means.
If the debtor still does not fill in the statement of means but the judge can see from the court records that the debtor is aware they should have done so, the debtor can be arrested and brought to court to fill in the statement.

This process takes some time. If you have heard nothing from the court for 6-8 weeks, get in touch and ask for an update.

Assuming that the court eventually gets the statement of means, you now need to read the information in the box on the right called ‘When the court has the statement of means’.

If the debtor fills in the statement of means and sends it to the court, a court officer looks at the details and works out what amount of money the debtor needs for their basic living costs. If there is any more money left over, the court will make an order that you be paid money from the debtor’s pay. (If you do not agree with the amount the debtor is ordered to pay, you can challenge this – we explain how lower down).
This order gets sent to the employer. Payments then come to you from the employer via system called the ‘Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payment System’ (CAPS).

Be aware that it is possible for the debtor to ask that their employer is not contacted. Instead, they have to pay the money in the order directly to you on a regular basis. This is called a ‘suspended order’.

If you have problems with this, for example, if the debtor does not do this or pays some and then stops, you have to fill in form N446 to explain this issue to the court and ask the court to send the order to the employer. There is no fee for this.

In this form, make sure you tick the box that says ‘attachment of earnings’ and then fill in the details about yourself, the debtor and the money that needs to be paid. In the box at the bottom, called ‘Reasons for requesting re-issue’, you just need to explain that the debtor has failed to pay the money owed to you or has only paid some of it.

Print, sign and date the form and then send it to the court.

What to do if you do not agree with the amount the debtor has been ordered to pay

A court officer works out how much the debtor can pay from the money they receive from their employer. If you do not agree with the amount they have been ordered to pay, you can ask a judge to look at the case. You do need to give reasons as to why you think the debtor can pay more than the amount the court officer has calculated.

To do this, you need to fill in form N244. This is a longer form and you may need help filling it in – see the section called More help and advice. Either way, be sure to read the guidance leaflet available on the same website page as the form.

For section 3, where it asks for the order you are seeking, you can state you want the order telling the debtor how much to pay to be ‘reconsidered’.

Then in section 10 you need to explain why. For example, if you have some extra information or evidence that suggests the debtor does have more money than they have stated, you should add it here.



This form has a statement of truth at the end – read this carefully. If you sign it and are later found not to have told the truth to the best of your knowledge and belief, you can be found guilty of ‘contempt of court’. This is punishable by a fine, unpaid work and even prison time.

You must ask for a judge to look at the court officer’s decision within 16 days of date on the stamp on the envelope from the court that had the attachment of earnings order in it.

The court will let you know the date of the hearing. You need to attend the hearing, unless the court tells you not to. If you don’t go to the hearing, the judge may make an order without you being there.

What happens after the attachment of earnings order is made

The Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payment System is in charge of making sure the employer pays them the money in the order and then they pay it to you. This is done weekly or monthly – depending on how the debtor is paid.

What to do if there are problems with payments

If there is an issue with payments from the employer, the Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payment System staff will get in touch with them to find out why. Often the problem is caused by the debtor having left or changed jobs, or not being paid enough for the money to be taken out.

If the employer does not reply to the Centralised Attachment of Earnings Payment System, then staff there can ask for the court to look at the case again and make an order for payment against the employer. If this happens, you will be told by post.

If you find out any details about a new employer, you can ask the court to send the order to the new employer. To do this you need to use form N446. You need to ask the court to ‘re-issue’ the enforcement order to a new employer. There is no fee for this.



Court rules

If you want to read more about the court rules on applying for an attachment of earnings order, you can go to Civil Procedure Rule Part 89

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This is an order that allows you to receive money belonging to the debtor that is held by another person, company, or organisation (referred to as a ‘third party’). The third party is often (but not always) a bank or building society.



Top Tip – Knowing the debtor’s financial situation

This order is only a useful method if you know quite a lot about the debtor’s financial situation – such as their bank or building society and that they have money in their account.

Ideally, you also need to know when the debtor is likely to have money in their account, which may be very difficult. The reason it would be helpful to know this is because the account is frozen on the date the third party gets the court order. Any money that comes in after is not frozen. If the account is empty on the date of the order, it will be a waste of your time and money.

It is important to know whether the bank or building society account is in the sole name of the debtor. If the account is a joint account, you cannot get a third party debt order (unless all the account holders owe you money).

If you think this order will help you enforce your judgment order, read on to understand the process you need to follow.

How to apply for a third party debt order

. First, you need to fill in form N349
To fill in the form you need to add in your details and those of the debtor. You need to add in the details of the judgment order you are trying to enforce and how much money is owed to you. This form calls the debtor the ‘defendant’ in some places and the judgment debtor in others. Likewise, for you, in some places the form calls you the ‘claimant’ and judgment creditor in others.
In section 3, you need to add in details about the debtor’s bank or building society – the more details you can give the better.
In section 4, you need to fill in details about anyone else who has a claim to the money in the account – you may not know or there may not be anyone else with a claim.
In section 5, you need to explain how you know or why you believe the things you have stated about the debtor’s account.
You only need to fill in section 6 if you have applied for other third-party orders. If you have, add them here.

Statement of truth
This form has a statement of truth attached – read this carefully. If you sign it and are later found not to have told the truth to the best of your knowledge and belief, you can be found guilty of ‘contempt of court’. This is punishable by a fine, unpaid work and even prison time.

Next steps

You need to send your completed form to the court nearest to where the debtor’s home address is. You can search for the correct court using the debtor’s postcode.

There is a court fee of £135 to pay. Remember that you can add this fee to the money the debtor owes you but if you are not successful the court cannot pay back this fee. If you are on a low income, you can ask the court for help with fees.

To pay the fee you can either send a cheque or postal order with the application or, if you prefer, you can give the court your telephone number and ask them to call you to take payment over the phone, using a credit or debit card.

A judge will look at your application and decide whether to make an order telling the third party to freeze the account of the debtor. This is a temporary order – ‘interim’ third party debt order.

As long as the judge decides that you have provided sufficient information to warrant the making of a temporary order, it will be made and sent to both the third party and you by first class post. Then the court waits 7 days before telling the debtor. This is so the third party has time to freeze the account before the debtor knows about the order. Because the debtor does not know about it, this is only a temporary order. They have to have the chance to go to court and be heard by the judge before a final order is made.



Be aware

If the debtor pays you some or all of the money you are owed after you have sent your form to the court you need to tell the court straightaway.

Steps the third party has to take

The third party must take certain steps within 7 days of receiving the interim order. They have to search their system and provide all account details for the debtor and tell you and the court if any accounts in the debtor’s name are in credit. This means if they have money in them that the debtor could spend.

The third party also has to tell you and the court if there is enough money to pay all the money that is owed to you. If there isn’t, they have to tell you the amount of money actually in the account on the date they received the interim order.

Before the hearing

The court will set a date for a hearing and let you know where you need to go. You need to attend the hearing - if you do not, the court can make orders without you there.

It is possible for either the debtor or the third party to object to the making of a final third-party debt order. They must send written objections to you and the court at least 3 days before the hearing.

In this time, before the hearing, the debtor can ask the court to make another temporary order to allow some money to be paid out from the frozen account to help the debtor (and any family) manage financially until the final order is made. This is called a ‘hardship payment order’. The judge will only make this order if the debtor can prove, with financial documents, that they (and any family members) cannot afford their everyday living expenses because the account has been frozen. It is up to the judge to decide when and how you are told about this type of order.

The hearing

The judge will look at the application you made at the start of the process and any evidence from the third party, the debtor, or you.

If there is enough money in the frozen account to pay all the money you are owed, the third party will arrange this. If there is not enough money but there is some, the costs of this process will be paid first and only some of the original debt and costs will be paid. The court will make a final order that will set out how much you are to be paid and when.



Court rules

If you want to read more about the court rules on applying for a third party debt order, you can go to Civil Procedure Rule Part 72 and practice direction 72.

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A charging order means a ‘charge’ is registered against the asset (often a house or land), so that it cannot be sold without you being paid. Lawyers call this a ‘secured debt’. This charge is for the amount of money you are owed.

This method is only useful if you know the debtor has property, land, or investments like stocks and shares. If you know that the debtor does not have any of these assets, there is no point in applying for this kind of order.



Be aware

If the debtor only has one property that you could apply to have a charge registered against, this could be their family home. If the debtor owns the property with someone else, their rights have to be taken into account by the court too. This may also mean you will receive less when it is sold than what you are actually owed.



Things to consider

A charging order does not mean the debtor has to sell their property or asset and pay you straight away – it just means that you get paid from the sale money when it is eventually sold in the future.

Also, if there are already other charges registered against the asset before yours – such as mortgages or other creditors who are owed money – these charges will be paid out first. So, there is no guarantee you will get all that is owed to you from what is left.

It is also important to think about how much the property or land is worth – after any mortgages and other charges secured on it are paid off. It might actually be worth less when sold than what you are actually owed.

You may not be able to find this information out without doing a different application first – see Applying to the court for more information from the debtor.

Applying for a charging order

There are two separate forms that you may need to use when applying:
• For property or land
If you are applying for a charging order against a property or land, you need to fill in form N379.
• For stocks or shares
If you are applying for a charging order against stocks, or shares, or money held by the court that the debtor owns, you need a different form – form N380.

Both these forms need information about you, the creditor, the debtor and the money owed.



Completing a statement of truth

Both forms have a statement of truth at the end – read this carefully. It is important to understand that when you sign this you tell the truth. If you are found not to have told the truth to the best of your knowledge and belief, you can be found guilty of something called ‘contempt of court’. This is punishable by a fine, unpaid work and even prison time.

How to get a copy of the land register if you are applying for a charge against property or land

If you want to apply for an order for a charge against the debtor’s property or land you need to add in key information about it and provide a copy of the land register for that land or property.

To do this you have to apply to the Land Registry and fill in form OC1.

Read the form carefully and fill it in as fully as possible (you may not have much or any information for section 2).
The fee is £7 (for an electronic copy), or £11 (for a postal copy) – add this to section 4.
Make sure you put your name and address in section 5. In section 7, you need to put ‘1’ in the first box so you get an official copy of the of the register for the address you have given in section 3.
Print the form and then sign it and send it to the address below with a cheque or postal order for the fee.

HM Land Registry Citizen Centre
PO Box 74
Gloucester
GL14 9BB

When you get the official copy of the Register from the Land Registry, you can add it to your application and send it to the court.

These applications go to a central place rather than the actual court that made the judgment order in the first place. The address is:

Civil National Business Centre

St Katherine’s House

21-27 St Katherine’s St

Northampton

NN1 2LH

There is a court fee of £135 to pay. This fee is added to what the debtor owes you but if you are not successful, then the court cannot refund you the fee. You can pay the fee by cheque or postal order or provide your telephone number and ask the court to call you to pay by credit or debit card over the phone. Make sure you include the claim number so the court can find your case on their system.

If you are on a low income, you can ask for help with fees.

Next steps after you have sent your application to the court

A court officer will look at the case and decide whether a charge should be registered against the debtor’s property or land. This order is made without the debtor knowing, which means there needs to be another hearing to let the debtor put their case to the judge.

At this stage, because the debtor is unaware of your application, the court will only make a temporary order (an 'interim' charging order). This order will be sent to you and the debtor by post.

You need to register the interim charging order with the Land Registry when you receive it from the court. This is not straightforward as the form you need to use varies depending on the particular circumstances around who owns the property or land and how they own it.

You can either apply to register a ‘notice’ if there is just one owner, or a ‘restriction’ if there are two or more owners.
•    For a notice, you need form UN1.
•    For a restriction, you usually need a Form K restriction, but not always.
•    For a Form K restriction, you need to fill in RX1.
The fee depends on how much the charge is for and how you apply.

The Land Registry rules are very technical and complicated and they will reject your application to register the charge if you use the wrong form or miss bits out.At this point, you really should get help from a solicitor who specialises in property law to do this task for you, so that you know it has been done correctly and promptly.

If you really can’t afford this, try getting free help from the organisations described in More help and advice.

What happens next in the process depends on where the interim charging order was made – either at the Civil National Business Centre or a county court.

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Remember – if the debtor pays you some or all of the money you are owed after you have sent your form to the court, you need to tell the court straightaway.

The process for a final charging order

The interim charging order will say where it was made – either at the Civil National Business Centre or at a county court. Read the following section about what happens next, choosing the correct column for you.

Interim charging orders made in the Civil National Business Centre	Interim charging orders made in the county court
When the debtor receives the interim order, they can ask for a district judge to re-consider it. They must do this within 14 days of receiving the interim order. The judge will do this in their office – without a hearing. If the debtor wants to object to the making of a final charging order, they need to do this within 28 days of receiving the order. If the court does not hear from the debtor about the interim charging order the court will go ahead and make a final charging order. The first date the court can do this is 49 days after the date of the interim charging order. The debtor will receive the final charging order in the post. If a legal adviser, rather than a judge, made the final order, the debtor can ask for a district judge to reconsider the final order. They have to give reasons as to why they want the order to be reconsidered.	The debtor can object to the making of a final charging order. They need to do this in writing within 7 days of the hearing. The debtor needs to set out reasons why they object and send them to the court and you. At the hearing the judge will consider your position and the debtor’s. The judge may make a final decision, or ask you or the debtor to get more evidence and come back at a later date. If you are successful (the judge agrees with you and makes a final charging order) you can get the fee for the application paid by the debtor. If you are unsuccessful, the court can order you to pay the debtor’s costs of objecting to the order.

Interim charging orders made in the Civil National Business Centre

Interim charging orders made in the county court

When the debtor receives the interim order, they can ask for a district judge to re-consider it. They must do this within 14 days of receiving the interim order. The judge will do this in their office – without a hearing.

If the debtor wants to object to the making of a final charging order, they need to do this within 28 days of receiving the order.

If the court does not hear from the debtor about the interim charging order the court will go ahead and make a final charging order. The first date the court can do this is 49 days after the date of the interim charging order.

The debtor will receive the final charging order in the post. If a legal adviser, rather than a judge, made the final order, the debtor can ask for a district judge to reconsider the final order. They have to give reasons as to why they want the order to be reconsidered.

The debtor can object to the making of a final charging order. They need to do this in writing within 7 days of the hearing. The debtor needs to set out reasons why they object and send them to the court and you.

At the hearing the judge will consider your position and the debtor’s. The judge may make a final decision, or ask you or the debtor to get more evidence and come back at a later date.

If you are successful (the judge agrees with you and makes a final charging order) you can get the fee for the application paid by the debtor.

If you are unsuccessful, the court can order you to pay the debtor’s costs of objecting to the order.

After a final order is made

As the creditor, you need to update the Land Registry about any changes with the charge against the property or land of the debtor.

If a final charging order is made, you need to send it to the Land Registry as soon as possible, in the same way as you sent the interim charging order. Again, a property law solicitor can do this and will make sure that it is done properly. This is money well spent after all the effort of getting this far to enforce the original debt.

If the court does not make a final charging order

If the court does not make a final charging order, they will explain this and you will need to update the Land Registry so they can remove the interim order from the Register. The procedure for doing this depends on whether the interim charging order was protected by a notice by a restriction on the Register. Again, this is complicated and ideally you need a solicitor to advise you on this and which form to use.

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Court rules

If you want to read more about the court rules on applying for a charging order, you can go to Civil Procedure Rule Part 73 and practice direction 73.

Order for sale

You can apply for an order from the court that tells the debtor the property or land has to be sold within a certain time, rather than waiting until the debtor gets round to selling. This is a fresh application and can only be made where you have already got a final charging order against the property.

The outcome of an order for sale for the debtor (and potentially family members) is severe – if it is their only home. The court will need to balance up your rights to have your debt paid with the rights and needs of those living in the property, especially if any children or vulnerable or older adults live there. If the property is owned by the debtor with someone else, this is likely to affect how willing the court will be to make an order for sale.

If there is very little by way of value in the property (once mortgages and any other debts secured against it have been paid), it will not be worth your time and money to apply for this order. It may be better to wait, for example, for the value to go up or for the debtor to pay off some debts.

You may find that just the threat of an application for an order for sale makes the debtor offer to pay the debt in higher amounts, or more frequently.
There are a lot of factors to consider before deciding whether to ask the court for an order for sale. It would be a good idea to get legal advice on the particular situation you and the debtor are in, before you start.

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Technically, as a creditor you could apply to the court to make the debtor bankrupt. This is expensive, time consuming and complicated. In addition to these issues, it also does not always mean you will get what you are owed. Making someone bankrupt is a drastic step and you should definitely get legal advice on whether it is a good idea, and how to do it, if you decide you really should.

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Statutory interest of 8% will run on a judgment debt worth more than £5,000 from the date set by the court, until you apply to enforce the order (unless you are applying for a charging order).

Example

John is owed £7,680. The court ordered statutory interest to run from the date of the judgment order. This order was made on 29th February 2024. John needs to work out the amount of interest for the form N293A, that he fills in on 15th September 2024.

First you need to work out the yearly interest - what 8% of £7680 is. The sum for this is:

£7680 x 0.08 = £614.40

Then to work out the daily interest, you need to do:

£614.40 ÷ 365 = 1.7 (£1.68 per day)

Then you need to work out how many full days the interest has been running for. In this example, that is from 1st March to 15th September – that is 199 days.
So, the sum is:

199 x £1.68 = £334.32

So, the interest to pay so far is £334.32 and the daily rate is £1.68.

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Does a CCJ expire?

A County Court Judgment (CCJ) only gives you 6 years from the date the order was made in which to enforce it. After that 6 year period, it will be too late and you will be unable to enforce the court order.

Can I enforce a CCJ if the debtor lives abroad?

If the debtor lives abroad, and their only money or assets are also abroad, then it may become complicated for you to recover the money you are owed. You will need to think very carefully about whether it is worth starting proceedings against the debtor and will likely need some legal advice.

How do I find out if and where the person who owes me money works?

If you are not sure whether or where the debtor is employed, you have three options:.
•    Go to the court and ask for the debtor to be questioned through an ‘order to obtain information’. For this you will have to pay a fee.
•    Ask the nearest court to the debtor to search the attachment of earnings index (no fee).
•    Ask an enquiry agent . There is also a charge for this.
See step 2 in Working out if you can and should enforce the order for more details about these three options.

What if the debtor has no money or assets?

If you have made all the available searches (see Search for the debtor’s financial information in Working out if you can and should enforce the order of this guide) and discovered that the debtor has no money or property or assets, you may not be able to go any further. There is no point spending further money if you know you can’t recover what you are owed.

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Assets

Money and savings and other valuable items which can be used to pay debts, for example, a house, flat, jewellery or car.

Affidavit

A sworn statement describing what happened in the case, which is given to the court.

Attachment of earnings order

This is an order telling an employer to take pay from the debtor so it can be passed on to the creditor.

Bankruptcy

This is a legal process which ends someone’s liability for debts after a certain period of time, usually a year.

Bringing a claim

Starting a court process to bring a legal claim, also called taking someone to court or issuing proceedings.

Charging order

A charging order stops the debtor from selling assets, such as property or land they own, without paying you what they owe you when the sale goes through. A ‘charge’ is recorded against the asset so that it cannot be sold without you being paid. County Court Judgment (CCJ) – this is the name given to final court orders made in the county court ordering one person (or organisation or company) to pay money to another.

Court bailiff

This is a member of court staff who is authorised to enforce court orders. Most commonly, they are allowed to go to the debtor’s home or business and take belongings or goods to sell at auction.

Creditor

Someone who is owed money. If you are owed money under a court order and you are not paid within the correct time you can apply to enforce the order. You are then called the creditor or sometimes the ‘judgment creditor’.

Debtor

A person who owes money to someone else.

Defendant

The person or organisation the case is brought against. If you enforce an order made against the defendant, the defendant is then often called the ‘debtor’ or sometimes the ‘judgment debtor’.

Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space)

this is a government scheme that gives people with problem debt a short period of breathing space from contact and applications from creditors while they look at their finances and get advice.

Enforcement proceedings

Legal proceedings to try to force someone to obey a court order, for example to pay you or return something belonging to you.

Enquiry agent

A person or business who can be hired to find someone or to find things out about someone, for example, if they have assets.

High Court enforcement officer

Staff of private companies who are authorised to enforce High Court orders and take belongings or goods from a debtor’s home or business.

Insolvent

When a person or company cannot pay its debts.

Judgment

The court’s decision.

Judgment debt

The amount of money the court has ordered one person must pay another person (or organisation or company).

Legal proceedings

Taking someone to court. This can also be known as taking legal action, going to court, or litigation.

Litigant in person

A person bringing or defending a claim without a solicitor or barrister.

Order to obtain information

An order telling the debtor to come to court and give details about their financial situation.

Stay of execution

An order that stops the judgment debt order from being enforced while the court is given new or more information.

Suspended committal order

An order that means if the debtor does not attend another hearing and do as they are ordered, they will be sent or ‘committed’ to prison.

Third party debt order

An order that allows you to receive money that belongs to the debtor that is held by another person, company, or organisation. Lawyers call the other person, company, or organisation a ‘third party’.

Warrant of control

A county court document that allows court bailiffs or enforcement officers to take belongings that the debtor owns and sell them at auction. The money from the sale pays off the debt.

Writ of control

A writ of control is similar to a warrant of control but you can only use this process in the High Court. It can be quicker to use the High Court. To apply in the High Court the amount of money you are owed must be at least £600. If the debt is £5,000 or more the case must be transferred to the High Court.

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To find a solicitor go to the Law Society find a solicitor page and use your postcode to find a firm near you. Be aware, that there is no legal aid available for this kind of case. The options below explain where you might be able to get free legal advice.

The Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau can provide free ongoing legal advice if you are involved in a civil case in the County Court, High Court, or Court of Appeal across England and Wales. They can also provide help if you have permission to appeal to the High Court.

To apply for an advice appointment, download the civil assessment form from their civil legal advice page, complete it, and email to [email protected]. They will assess your advice needs and either send you a link to book an appointment or give you details of who else may be able to help you.

Law Centres offer free face-to-face legal advice to local residents, and some run a telephone advice line. Find out if there is a law centre near you.

LawWorks supports a network of over 200 free legal advice clinics that provide initial advice to individuals on various areas of law. Use their search to see if there is a clinic near you offering advice on the area of law you need help with by phone, email, digitally or in person. In order to use the time efficiently, please see What to bring to your appointment at a LawWorks clinic (PDF).

Citizens Advice can offer practical advice on lots of issues. Their contact us allows you to search for your local Citizens Advice service, and provides details about their national helpline, their online advice service and other services. Be aware that the national helpline is not free. Calls are charged at the same rate as calls to landlines.

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Disclaimer

The information in this guide applies to England and Wales only. The law may be different if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The law is complicated. We have simplified things in this guide. Please don’t rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources we have suggested.

The cases we refer to are not always real but show a typical situation. We have included them to help you think about how to deal with your own situation.

Acknowledgments

This guide was produced by Advicenow. We would like to thank everyone who provided feedback on the guide and especially Kiara McClelland, Ayomikun Salami, Libertad Seoane, Lucy Matthews, and editorial teams at Thomson Reuters.

This guide was updated thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justice via the Online Support and Advice Grant.

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Our free Mandatory Reconsideration tools help thousands of people challenge unfair benefit decisions.

How to enforce a county court judgment (CCJ)

Key points

Is this guide for you?

Please help us

This is just one of our resources about sorting out a dispute and going to a civil court.

County court judgments – the basics

Working out if you can and should enforce your order

Step 1 – can you enforce the order?

Timings

Make sure the debtor knows about the order

Potential problems

• If the debtor is insolvent

• If the debtor applies for a stay of execution or to set aside the order

Debt Respite Scheme (also known as Breathing Space)

Step 2 – Should enforce your order?

Check if the debtor can pay

Understand where the debtor’s assets are

Search for the debtor’s financial information

Consider using an enquiry agent

Apply to the court for an order to obtain information

The process of applying to the court for an ‘order to obtain information’

What happens if the debtor does not attend the hearing

Work out your next steps

What are the different ways you can enforce your CCJ?

Warrant of control

Writ of control

Attachment of earnings order

Third party debt order

Charging order

Bankruptcy proceedings or winding up

What does enforcement cost?

How to enforce your order – the basics

How to enforce your order - Warrants and Writs of control

Do I use the County Court or the High Court?

How to ask for a warrant of control in the County Court

If you claimed online

If you applied by paper

What happens after you have sent your request to the court?

Remember

What the debtor can do

Be aware

What happens if the bailiff does not manage to collect and sell belongings or goods?

Asking for a writ of control in the High Court

County Court Bailiff vs High Court Enforcement Officer?

Things to consider – enforcing a judgement debt yourself

Step 1 – obtaining a certificate of judgment

Step 2 - filling in form no.53 – Writ of control

Step 3 – sending your forms to the High Court

Step 4 – sending the stamped Writ of control to the National Information Centre for Enforcement

Be aware

How to enforce your order - Attachment of earnings orders

Be aware

How to check the Attachment of earnings index

What to do next – should you apply for an attachment of earnings order?

Applying for an attachment of earnings order

Be aware

The process

What to do if you do not agree with the amount the debtor has been ordered to pay

What happens after the attachment of earnings order is made

What to do if there are problems with payments

How to enforce your order - Third party debt orders

Top Tip – Knowing the debtor’s financial situation

How to apply for a third party debt order

Next steps

Be aware

Steps the third party has to take

Before the hearing

The hearing

How to enforce your order - Charging orders

Be aware

Things to consider

Applying for a charging order

Completing a statement of truth

How to get a copy of the land register if you are applying for a charge against property or land

Next steps after you have sent your application to the court

The process for a final charging order

After a final order is made

If the court does not make a final charging order

Order for sale