Recovery of unpaid rent after court order

[YellowYeti]

I got a court order under section 8 for repossession of my property and payment of £3100, with permission to apply for high court enforcement.

The tenant has since left the property, no forwarding address and no payment.

The tenant was renting furnished, has no car, so I don't think will have goods to cover anything like that amount - I'd be surprised if there were enough to cover bailiffs costs.

I've used one of the 'no find no fee' people to trace their new address, and wondering what my options now are.

The initial non-payment was because of a dispute, rather than no money, and I have the ex-tenants employers address ( a big supermarket chain ).

It would seem to me that going to the employer is the option most likely to be ultimately successful ( I know it may take some time to get the cash )

Are there any other options I should consider? would giving the whole thing to a debt-collector and letting them take the strain be a good idea? ( I want the cash back, but I have really had all the hassle I would ever want by this stage )

If I go for trying to get money from the employer do I need to raise this to the high court, or will the existing order be sufficient to do that? Is there a possibility that the request for an order to the employer be turned down?

Thanks for any help here.

[monkeysee]

Debt collectors are toothless if people know the rules, esp if the debtor doesn't have a car, bailiffs and HCEO's at least do have some legal powers, debt collectors are basically chancers.

You'd apply for an attachment of earnings with the county court, the high court is for if you want to use HCEO's - they are slightly more powerful than a county court bailiff, but still, if the tenant has no car and won't let them into his property then they can't really do anything.

Aside from attachment of earnings other options would be a third party debt order (you get the money straight from his bank if it's in his account) or a charging order if he owns a property, which doesn't sound likely.

See the sticky thread at the top of the forum about enforcement options, but I'd say your best option is Attachment of Earnings if you know his employer.

You can also apply for an Order to Obtain Information, whereby he has to go to court and answer questions under oath about his ways and means, they aren't particularly well regarded though, savvy debtors will just lie, the entire civil enforcement process is an absolute mess.

You could also threaten to make him bankrupt, that often incentivises people, but if he has nothing and doesn't really care all you will get for your trouble is a large court bill so actually doing it should be carefully considered.

[YellowYeti]

Thank you for this, I'm going through the attachment of earnings process - it seems to be the most likely to provide something back, and isn't too much (extra) to lose if it doesn't work.

I've added this to the sticky thread, but I will mention it here as well, I found a very useful leaflet EX323 ( google finds it fairly easily ), entitled 'How do I ask for an attachment of earnings order?', which details all the mundane things that aren't immediately obvious, like who to send the form to, when payments need to be made etc.