Is there anything I can do? Won small claims court - defendant refuses to pay up.

[SussexBeagle]

Hiya,


I’m based in England.

I won a default judgement via MCOL. The defendant, my former landlord, has said they will simply ignore the judgement and won’t pay. They are retired and own their home which is worth around £2 million. They have plenty of money so they don’t care about having a CCJ on their record for accessing credit etc.

They said the bailiffs have no power to enter their home so I’ll just be wasting my money if I got a warrant. They owe me £800 which is a lot for me but they’ve said I won’t be getting a penny from them.

Do I have any options here?

Thank you!

[JK2054]

As a lot of people said here take it to the high court and send in HCEO

[islandgirl]

I would escalate to the high court - easy process which only used to cost about £70. I did that and also (by doing it myself) got a charging order on the house of my debtor. He had little to give but I got a monthly payment of £100 out of him and then the full debt was paid off when he wanted to sell his house.

[atticus]

Look at the links in the gov.uk page!

[wales01man]

If you instruct high court bailiffs the could seize vehicles belonging to the debtor get some advice on this action

[SussexBeagle]

Thank you for the reply Atticus. Is that something I can do via MCOL? I only have the option to apply for a warrant to get the bailiffs involved. The defendant has said she won’t let them in her home so I would be wasting my money. Would a third party debt order be quicker? Thank you again!

[atticus]

Charging order on the property? Especially if your judgement debtor is the sole owner.

Here is the gov.uk page on methods of enforcing judgements: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-...rce-a-judgment