I sent writ of FiFa to Sheriff's Office before 06/04/14, how will it be handled?

[panda8]

Hi there,

I am new to this forum, just came across it while trying to find an answer to my predicament, so thought it would be best to ask the question on here, in the hope that someone can help me asap.

A company I worked for last year owe me over£12k. I received my judgment mid March and when they hadn't paid by the deadline, I got a sealed writ of FiFa from my local High Court office. I sent this by special delivery to The Sheriff's Office on 31st March 2014, and they signed for delivery at around 10am on Tuesday 1st April. The reason I wanted to use this enforcement option was mainly down to the element of surprise it offers (and had been widely advertised on television on the BBC programme, The Sheriff's Are Coming!).

After chasing the 'processing stage' of my case with The Sheriff's Office every day last week, after they received my sealed writ, I was told that despite their website saying that they aim to/do action all live writs within 72 hours of receiving them (the main reason I chose them), it still hadn't been allocated to an Officer and would most likely take 7 days from their receipt for that to happen.

However, today I received an email from them informing me that a letter was in the process of being drafted to the defendant, which will now be sent and 10 days will be allowed before an Officer will visit/be allocated my case, due to new Ministry of Justice guidelines! My question is: Should I be bound by the new post 6th April 2014 rules, if my writ was issued on 31st March 2014 (my original claim submitted in October 2013 and judgment received mid March 2014)?? I have read a fact sheet from the Business Debt Line, which clearly states that Enforcement Agents/Organisations can not charge the post 6th April fees (to debtors) in cases that fall before that time, so surely that would apply to me, the Claimant/Creditor, who has been greatly wronged by the company that owe me so much money?

I do hope someone can help and look forward to your response :tinysmile_hmm_t2:

[ploddertom]

Re: I sent writ of FiFa to Sheriff's Office before 06/04/14, how will it be handled?

The simple answer is yes, the Sheriff's Office have advised you correctly as this will go under the Transitional Rules. Regardless of the dates on the Writ they have to abide by the calendar.

[panda8]

Re: I sent writ of FiFa to Sheriff's Office before 06/04/14, how will it be handled?

Hello,

Thank you very much for replying. Ok, so how come the guidelines say, that for debtors they can't be charged the new fees if the case was started before the rule change? It seems unfairly weighted in the debtors favour, as usual??

[ploddertom]

Re: I sent writ of FiFa to Sheriff's Office before 06/04/14, how will it be handled?

This will be dealt with under the Transitional Stage. The real downside with High Court work is that now they have to write to them rather than just turn up on spec.

[Sir Vere Brayne d'Emmidge]

Re: I sent writ of FiFa to Sheriff's Office before 06/04/14, how will it be handled?

Hello,

Thank you very much for replying. Ok, so how come the guidelines say, that for debtors they can't be charged the new fees if the case was started before the rule change? It seems unfairly weighted in the debtors favour, as usual??

Refreshing to see a post by a creditor complaining about bailiffs (sorry....Enforcement Agents) being slow.

Look at the bright side, it could well be that the debtor will cough up the money at letter stage to avoid a very expensive visit.

Historically over 50% of warrants were paid at letter stage if the defendant (now known as debtor) was at the warrant address and received the letter.

[panda8]

Re: I sent writ of FiFa to Sheriff's Office before 06/04/14, how will it be handled?

Thank you very much to everyone that took the time to rely. I really appreciate it. And yes, I did find it very hard to find of many people complaining my way around. Only usually debtors complaining about bailiff visits etc