won judgement, can i move from county court to high court?

[lp197884]

Hi all,

I'm a self employed sole trader and have recently won a court order against a client who owed £495, with court costs added the total now stands at £530 (I did not claim interest in the original application).The person in question ignored all correspondence before and including the court letters themselves so I automatically won. The person owns quite a large hotel and a few other ventures locally and I have since learnt that he owes money to quite a lot of people both personally and business-wise. In the past he has avoided enforcement on the business debts buy dissolving the companies but my debt is to him personally.

My next option is to pass it on to the country court baliffs, however due to his way of avoiding such debts in the past on his businesses I am not sure if a county court baliff will have much success as he is likely to not let them anywhere near his house and do anything he can to avoid them? Would a high court balliff have a better chance of success?

Although the limit for an high court enforcement is £600 and the debt is currently £530, if I were to use a county court first the fee for that would be £70 and if that was unsuccessful then that would make the total outstanding to £600. Would I then be able to use that figure to apply for high court enforcement?

Also, although it is a personal debt and he may not let anyone in his house, would I be able to give the balliffs details of his hotel as that is where he spends a lot of the time and there is nothing to stop anyone walking in there to approach him?

Thanks!

[luxardo]

Once the debt is over 600 and you have a judgement stating this you can apply to high court.
If his businesses are limited companies though they are off limits. Enforcement agents can't seize the beds in his hotel for example if the hotel is a limited company. This is because he is the debtor not the company.
Does he not have a car on his drive or parked at one of his businesses ? If he has, simply instruct county court enforcement and they will clamp it and tow it away if he doesn't pay.

[lp197884]

Thanks Luxardo, the debt was against him personally as it was'nt a service for his business plus whenever he's had debts against his business before he's always avoided paying them by dissolving the company and then springing another up, a check on companies house shows he has several companies set up like this. He does have a car although I think he keeps it in a garage at his house and not sure where it's parked when he's at the hotel but I can probably find out details of it.

So regarding the £600, although the judgement stated for £530 do you think that once the costs of the county court enfrorement has been added which will then send it to £600, I would then be able to use that figure to qualify for high court enforcement?

[luxardo]

Find out where his car is parked and tip off the bailiffs when you apply for enforcement. If he leaves the garage door open they can still seize it. They can also seize it at his hotel as that would be classed as a place of work.
Yes, as soon as the total debt is 600 and it states that figure on the judgement (which it will once you go to enforcement) you can escalate to high court.
In fact now I think about it, once you add the high court fees (66 for high court fee plus 90 for the compliance stage) you are over 600 anyway so you MAY be able to apply now if the claim includes all these fees. I'm not 100% certain of this though as I've never done it.
High court agents don't have any more powers than CC bailiffs though. It's just that they only get paid their fees if they get the money so they are more determined than a guy who is on a salary.