Consent to Set Aside CCJ after Set Aside Hearing?

[prowess]

So this is a confusing one so bare with.

I received a CCJ for £454 from Utility Warehouse in December 2020. This was discovered when I checked my credit file prior to signing up to a new phone contract. It should be noted that I had moved out of the address in which the claims forms were served on the 1st July 2020. Upon discovery I immediately filed a set aside form on the basis that it was sent to the wrong address and for discretionary reasons (I am 23yrs old and just about to graduate and find my first job and flat. A CCJ is heavy handed against those applications). I had my hearing today and was denied on the basis that my chances of successfully defending the claim is not enough. My intention was to have this judgement set aside so I could pay the amount in full to stop this appearing on my record. I immediately called their solicitors (Who I just found out at this point, as they sent no letters during my stay at the previous address) and they agreed to not contest if I send another set aside request.

Which brings me to my points Can I make a subsequent set aside request and if so how? Should I pay them before obtaining this request? Do I need a consent order?? The way they phrased it, they weren't agreeing to draft a consent order but will not contest my request to the courts??? What else should I do?

I am in England

[Law Student 5]

Celestine ULA

Hi, so to begin with a CCJ can be removed form your file if it is paid fully within one month of the judgement, wait for the statutory limit of 6 years to be up which is when your CCJ will automatically be removed or apply for it to be set aside. An application for a set aside on the grounds that you have not received the court papers because they were sent to the wrong address is not satisfactory enough unfortunately for a judge to grant consent for a set aside applicant. The court is allowed to send papers to your last known address (even if you have moved), unless the creditor had reason to believe you have moved then they should take all reasonable steps to try and find your address.

A consent order must be issued in order for the judge to agree to your set aside application and all this must be is the formal agreement between you and the other party setting out the agreed terms on which the dispute is being settled on. You may draft a consent order with the help of a solicitor who can do it for you and then send it to them to sign. They presumably do not want to the pay the application fee which is £100 for a consent order, so you should offer to pay it. However, ultimately this is up to you to weigh up.

Now, to answer your question regarding should you pay before or not, you should not because a set aside application cannot be made if payment or even offer of payment has been made.

Once you have the singed consent order attach it to the N244 application which is the form you must fill out to apply for a set aside. In the section that asks you what you want from the court, you would probably need to say something along the lines of "An order that the judgement dated (date) be set aside. The parties have agreed terms of settlement in the form of a Consent Order that is attached to this application." So other than these steps there is nothing else you should do other than measure up whether it is likely to be successful if your defence is that you weren't delivered any papers because of the changed addresses. Your best bet could maybe be to have the CCJ marked as satisfied which is not better than being set aside but is still better than an outstanding judgment on your file. And after 6 years the CCJ will be removed anyway ( i should note that a satisfied CCJ is just that, "satisfied" it does not mean it is removed from your file it is simply marked as satisfied so it it known that you have paid).

i hope this helped you somewhat

[Celestine]

Good advice there from Law Student 5.
The tricky part of this situation is the filing of a second aside application (this time by consent with you paying the £100 fee). I'm pretty sure technically this is not allowed, BUT, frankly, if the other side agree, what have you got to lose aside from £100? The MCOL system is highly automated and it is unlikely (but not impossible) to be the same judge who considered the first application. However, if the system matches up the application numbers, you may well get rumbled.
Whatever you do, do NOT let on that you intend to pay the debt, that is probably what caused the failure of the set aside last time, as well as, presumably, no filing of a draft defence with the application?