charging order?

[markhogarth]

Apologies in advance if they gets long winded.
To attempt to cut a very long story short my husband has been taken to court after he refused to finish an extension for a client as there were illegal activities at the property. Unfortunately as we could not afford legal representation, the client wond and we have been ordered to pay 14k to him. I have applied to pay the debt by instalments and filled out the income/expenditure form but have just received a letter stating that there will be a hearing in March to hear this application and that of a 'charging order'. I have googled what that means and am obviously distraught. I have not received any correspondence from the court regarding a charging order previously either. I have also, today had a letter from the land registry stating that there has been an application to enter a restriction on the register for our property. How can they do that when the hearing has not even been done yet? It says I must reply by 12 th Feb. Please help.

[Openlaw15]

Re: charging order?

Apologies in advance if they gets long winded.
To attempt to cut a very long story short my husband has been taken to court after he refused to finish an extension for a client as there were illegal activities at the property. Unfortunately as we could not afford legal representation, the client wond and we have been ordered to pay 14k to him. I have applied to pay the debt by instalments and filled out the income/expenditure form but have just received a letter stating that there will be a hearing in March to hear this application and that of a 'charging order'. I have googled what that means and am obviously distraught. I have not received any correspondence from the court regarding a charging order previously either. I have also, today had a letter from the land registry stating that there has been an application to enter a restriction on the register for our property. How can they do that when the hearing has not even been done yet? It says I must reply by 12 th Feb. Please help.

Hello Markhogarth

A charging order is just the creditor's security against your property for the debt owed. A restriction is entered on the land property register in favour of the creditor/ chargee so that the property is not sold, and is quite normal which merely protects their interest. The effect of a charging order means before you sell your property you must pay your debt first, hence the restriction. It does not however mean that you will lose your home. Although in theory the chargee can ask the court for an order of sale the chances of this happening are extremely rare. Do you have a joint tenancy by any chance as you say we so am assuming it's a co-ownership. If so, look at your property register under proprietor section, it should say 'absolute ownership' and if the words 'restriction via 'corporation are there it means you have joint tenancy.

[Amethyst]

Re: charging order?

If you have made an offer to pay by installments which are low ( in comparison to the debt) the claimant may have applied to the court for a charging order to secure the payments while installments are made. You can of course defend against that application and you should write a witness statement detailing your reasons for not believing a charging order is necessary to get to the court at least 7 days before the hearing .

Is your husband a sole trader ?

When you say you lost in court - did you go through the defence process and attend a hearing?

[Openlaw15]

Re: charging order?

Amended: Missed out 'not'

I meant if the restriction mentioned 'trust... corporation' is not there, you will have a joint tenancy. The trust corporation means it's another form of ownership of at least two of more persons, which is not as secure.

[Openlaw15]

Re: charging order?

Apologies in advance if they gets long winded.
To attempt to cut a very long story short my husband has been taken to court after he refused to finish an extension for a client as there were illegal activities at the property. Unfortunately as we could not afford legal representation, the client wond and we have been ordered to pay 14k to him. I have applied to pay the debt by instalments and filled out the income/expenditure form but have just received a letter stating that there will be a hearing in March to hear this application and that of a 'charging order'. I have googled what that means and am obviously distraught. I have not received any correspondence from the court regarding a charging order previously either. I have also, today had a letter from the land registry stating that there has been an application to enter a restriction on the register for our property. How can they do that when the hearing has not even been done yet? It says I must reply by 12 th Feb. Please help.

What did the illegal activities have to do with continuing the work? Was the 14k just for damages for not completing the work? Your husband could have been ordered to continue the works by a court order for specific performance? Alternatively, was the property or the work being done to it the proceeds from crime etc hence 'illegal activity?

[markhogarth]

Re: charging order?

Hi, thanks so much for the replies. Towards the end of the contract the client stated that he had run out of money ( the budget had gone over due to foundation issues right at the beginning) . He pretended to have been burgled and my husband refused to complete a fake estimate for work for the client to claim for damage to the property. At this point he said that he would not be able to pay any further monies until the claim money came through. My husband told him he wanted no part of it and reported the situation to the insurance fraud investigation board.
This was 2 weeks before Xmas 2015 and we were left with no money.
It is a very long story. We did not receive the correct document which should have allowed us to state we were not admitting to the claim. We just received the judgement. We sent a set aside request and my husband went to court to defend himself. The judge said that the judgement would stand and he just had to decide on the amount we had to pay and that he would schedule a date for that decision. Stupidly in hindsight I sent a massive wad of info to the judge but we did not attend the hearing in person. So he was awarded the 9500 he claimed for completion of the work, 3,000 solicitors fees and the rest for his mortgage utilities etc.
we have offered £20 a month. This is all we can afford as I work part time and my husband is now cards in and on a much lower wage.our house is our only asset, it has approx 100k equity but we have mortgage arrears, a large hmrc debt and a payment plan with a debt agency.
thanks in advance

[markhogarth]

Re: charging order?

The name on the form for the correspondence is my husbands name but then ' trading as' and his company name in brackets. Does that make any difference?
i have had to change my daughters school because of this mans intimidation as his children are at the same school as mine, or where she was. He rubs his hands together and laughs when he sees me, it's horrible

[Debt Camel]

Re: charging order?

it has approx 100k equity but we have mortgage arrears, a large hmrc debt and a payment plan with a debt agency

Do you have a time to pay arrangement with HMRC? If not, what are you proposing to do about the tax debt?

How large are the mortgage arrears? Have you discussed your options with your lender?

The payment plan - how large are the debts in it and who is it with? How much are you paying each month?

Sorry, I know this isn't what you came here to ask about, but the mortgage arrears and tax debt are huge problems.

[markhogarth]

Re: charging order?

he has a payment arrangement with HMRC which is £250 PER month, he owes approx. £6500. The payment plan with the debt management agency is £65 per month and the debt amounts to around £34000 for a range of visas, catalogue and loan debts. Mortgage arrears are around £1100 ( just over a months payment) We are paying back an extra £50 per month.

[markhogarth]

Re: charging order?

Any further advice would be great fully recieved, thanks

[Openlaw15]

Re: charging order?

Any further advice would be great fully recieved, thanks

The mortgage and tax situation are not the problem then.

"I have also, today had a letter from the land registry stating that there has been an application to enter a restriction on the register for our property. How can they do that when the hearing has not even been done yet? It says I must reply by 12 th Feb. Please help."

Can you show us the letter from land registry? Reply to whom, the person wanting the charge order or the land registry?

[markhogarth]

Re: charging order?

I will try to scan it. It has asked us to state in writing why we do not agree to the restriction and sent it to the land registry in Fylde. Which I have now done.

[Openlaw15]

Re: charging order?

I will try to scan it. It has asked us to state in writing why we do not agree to the restriction and sent it to the land registry in Fylde. Which I have now done.

Cool, keep us updated