HCEO Help Required

[helprequired]

Hi,

Please can you advise if this is correct.

I have recently obtained a stay of writ of FiFa for a Judgement I owed, I have now served this to the creditor and the acting HCEO, however I have received notification that the HCEO will still be collecting instalments on behalf of the creditor, which as you can imagine incurs interest for their charges on top!, please can you advise if this is normal practice? or is this something I can challenge?

Thanks in advance.

[ploddertom]

Re: HCEO Help Required

This is normal practice as all enforcement etc up until the time of the Stay is still valid. Did you also apply for a Variation Order?

[helprequired]

Re: HCEO Help Required

I did indeed, The judge approved the variation and also the Stay after our hearing however the creditor is still refusing to receive the payments directly, which is incurring further interest on every occasion I pay the HCEO, is there no route where I can force the creditor to accept payment directly? or can the HCEO still collect even though the Enforcement Officer has nothing to enforce?

Thanks

[ploddertom]

Re: HCEO Help Required

If the Judgment Creditor decides to deal with you direct they may become liable for the HCEO fees. Unless you can find some way of getting rid of the actual Judgment - Set Aside - then you are saddled with this. I assume so far it must be a debt that you agree you owed?

[seduraed]

Re: HCEO Help Required

Can you mitigate the expense by paying the hceo electronically so that no visits are required which would reduce your liability somewhat .

[helprequired]

Re: HCEO Help Required

Well there in lies the difficulty,

We received notification of Judgement in default back in April this year, prior to this we were communicating through a debt recovery agency with the creditor, disputing the costs ( the creditor is an old landlord ) as many of the items they are recouping the costs for were incorrect, proof was obtained and provided to the creditor that these items where in a sound condition on our vacating in the guise of inspection notes and also notes received from the acting managing agents, which was ignored and the creditor carried forward with the claim for judgement without further communication to me. Due to my error I miscalculted how long I had to respond to provide my defence and was 1 day late hence the judgement in default, we then tried to file an N244 to set the judgement aside one month later, which got returned as we couldnt afford the fee nor provide the required information on the EX160. I then regrettably suffered with 'head in the sand' syndrome and it esculted to the HCEO being appointed, we have just simply accepted the amount now due to the time that has lapsed from the entry of the judgement, I do fear that if I submit an N244 now it would get rejected due to the length of time that has passed.

[helprequired]

Re: HCEO Help Required

Can you mitigate the expense by paying the hceo electronically so that no visits are required which would reduce your liability somewhat .

This is the method we are currently using, paying via direct debit.

[pepsie]

Re: HCEO Help Required

I appreciate your concern to submitting an N244 this far down the line, as I see it, taking such action would possibly hinge on the wording of the orders to ccj itself, stay and variation order combined. It is always difficult to give advice from the partial information we get and this scenario is no exception, is the debt business related whereby interest is usually built into the original claim? quite often we see a ccj that make no mention of interest and unless the Court has actually awarded the claimant this it cannot be added later. You could possibly go with the set aside even at this stage but you will need to look closely at all the paperwork for 'wriggle' room.

I would be asking for a complete breakdown to any costs the HCEO are claiming, they can give you that 'wriggle. room if they cannot be justified and subsequently open the door for you to return the case to court.

[helprequired]

Re: HCEO Help Required

Thank you for you assistance, I do believe the order allocates an 8.00% interest on the sum awarded (unfortunately). I have spoken with the HCEO and I should be receiving the breakdown of their costs in the post this evening which I will be going through with a fine tooth comb!

Again thank you everyone