Old County Court charge

[NannaOfTwo]

I was granted a charge, under £5,000, against a property in the late 90s. The owner has sat on this debt ever since and as it is not building interest the amount is in essence becoming less over time. Is there anything I can do to reclaim the amount owed to me?

[echat11]

des8 / MIKE770 Can you please take a look.

[islandgirl]

Do you know the debtor's circumstances now? Is he/she working? Do they have the means to pay something do you think?

[des8]

Do you have an interim or final charging order?

Is the property owned solely by the debtor, or jointly with another?

Are there children or vulnerable adults in the property?

[MIKE770]

reference Des above a answer would help understand actual picture!

[NannaOfTwo]

Apologies, I'm not tech savvy, so my son is writing this for me when he comes to see me.

Since we posted this question I have found out that he died a couple of weeks ago. I have a charge against his house (listed as a 'caution' by the land registry), which was jointly owned by the man I took to court and his wife. In 2010 I was advised by my solicitor that he had learned in passing that the man had tried to give his share of the house to his wife and remortgage it, but for whatever reason this did not happen.

As far as I'm aware, his widow is retired and their children, if they had any, are all grown.

I have no intention of trying to force her to sell her house when her husband has just died, but at the same time I have had to wait over 20 years and there doesn't seem to be any incentive for the debt to be paid. I feel that I should have been advised at the time to ensure that the claim was over £5,000 so that interest would apply and they would have a reason to pay it back.

I have just looked back through the paperwork I have kept and I don't seem to have a copy of the actual court decision but I do have a letter from my solicitor advising that the judge had ruled in my favour to the amount of just over £4,000 plus my fees (well over £2,000). He never paid a penny and the charge was put on his property.

[islandgirl]

I got a charge on someone's house a few years ago and quite simply got fed up of waiting whilst they carried on as normal! So I contacted High Court debt collectors and got it sent up to the High Court. Once that was done the debt collectors began to call. He did not have much but the threat of his car being removed led to a £100 payment every month (better than nothing) which went on for a few years. Then out of the blue his son contacted me and wanted the charge removed and paid the debt in full.

[NannaOfTwo]

Could I ask how much that cost? Also, given the judgement stated that he was responsible for our costs would you think we could claim high court fees?

obviously, we would not be chasing this at the moment and we would attempt to contact her to avoid further action first, but if it comes to it....

Thanks for your advice

[islandgirl]

At the time is was £60. If you contact one of the high court enforcement companies they will advise you

[NannaOfTwo]

Thank you again, very helpful