I obtained a Payment Order in Nov 2019 against former tenants for £3765 for rent arrears and damage to property. The debt remains unpaid. I have recently instructed Sheriff Officers for the grant of a Charge for Payment at a cost of £103.24. They needed the Tribunal’s Payment Order. Does the Sheriff Officer’s Charge for Payment get registered with the major credit referencing agencies? When I sent Experian in Nottingham the Tribunal’s Payment Order they said they couldn’t register it, gave no reason. The debt currently isn’t registered anywhere for credit referencing, and prospective landlords/finance companies don’t have access to this debt. Anyone got helpful information on Payment Orders issued by the First-tier tribunal in Scotland?
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Decrees issued by the sheriff court are supplied by the court to the Registry Trust which in turn reports the decree to the credit reference agencies.
Presumably you can’t find anything for the tenant when you search the Registry Trust?
https://www.trustonline.org.uk/
However, your payment order was issued by the FTT and not a sheriff court so maybe you have to wait until the tenants fail to pay and then enforce the debt through the sheriff court instead. -
The FTT Payment Order isn’t recognised. The trust online.org.uk only holds records for “Scotland Ordinary Causes, Small Claims Summary Cause and Simple Procedure Decrees”
The FTT are the appointed body for dealing with all housing related issues in Scotland on behalf of the Sheriff Courts.. They don’t grant Sheriff Court Decrees (what are recognised). A landlord cannot enforce a FTT Payment Order through the Sheriff Court. From the little information I could find, using Sheriff Officers is the only option.
How does a prospective landlord find out there is an debt owed by the applicant tenant/s, or finance companies/banks when a loan/credit card etc is applied if the FTT Payment Order isn’t recognised?
Have been unable to find out also how long a FTT is valid for, Sheriff Clerks office said 5 years, a housing solicitor in Glasgow said 20 years. There is so little information, made lots of enquiries, nobody really knows.
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The outcome of FTT hearings is freely available online so landlord can search there during the referencing process.
20 years seems like a hell of a long time but then I’m not a solicitor. Debts in Scotland become statute barred after 5 years so I’d be inclined to agree with the sheriff’s clerk on that one.
You’re right about the payment order being enforced by sheriff officers. I thought you might have been able to take it to the sheriff court if the tenants missed payments but it doesn’t look like you can. The best you can hope for is the sheriff officers setting up an attachment of earnings to have the money owed deducted directly for the former tenant’s salary.Comment
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The joint tenant on the FTT Payment Order is now resident in England. Does anyone know how I can enforce payment in England using the FTT Order? England don’t have Sheriff Officers.Comment
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You can transfer debts from Scotland to England using Form 111.
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...s18-of-and-schComment
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