UK Landlord Forum / Life

County court has awarded a judgement in my favour to have my deposit returned - former landlord has ignored this. A bailiff was sent to the property and left a letter, which has since been ignored. I am quite convinced that the landlord is self-employed; therefore i am not able to apply for an Attachment of earnings order.

I'm not sure if this is correct, but i think my options are:
a) apply for an Order to Obtain information - difficulty with this is that i can't guarantee the landlord will receive the document in person summoning him to the court to provide evidence and information of his financial situation
b) third Party payment order - i know he will have money in his account to pay my deposit and i have his Account Number and Sort Code details. Any further information on this would be helpful as i am cautious of paying even more money for a route that may not be viable.

All help would be greatly appreciated!
thanks,
Lucy

Fill in form N379 and obtain a charging order over the property.  Then tell him you will force him to sell the property and recover his debt to you (together with all your costs) unless he pays you in full.  If he ignores that too, go ahead and really force him to sell it, using form N1.

Hi, thanks for the advice. I'm assuming that would be a lengthy process? He has ignored all 'threats' previously as I believe he doesn't think I'll continue taking this any further. Am I correct in thinking N1 is the standard form for disputes? I've already gone through small claims using Money claims service online.

Thanks again!

I'm afraid that all the ways to recover money from a self-employed person are slow.  It sounds like this character is the kind of person you do occasionally meet in this game, and you may well find that his business actually belongs to his wife's cousin's mother-in-law's dog or something.  If he owns property then the charging order is always the way to go.  Yes, form N1 is the standard claim form:- after you've obtained the charging order, you use form N1 to bring him back to Court.  During those proceedings you explain that he hasn't approached you with any proposals to repay his debt and the bailiff has failed.  Ask the Court to order that the property is sold.  I should think that as soon as he figures out that this is really going to happen, you'll get an offer to settle.

hi - thanks for the response.
Just to make sure i'm clear: it is possible for me to order that his property can be sold?

for what reasons do you advocate going down this route as opposed to a third party debt order?

Thanks in advance!

Only the Court can order that the property would be sold. You have to ask the Court to make that order.

With a charging order, you're securing the debt against a thing you can prove he owns.  You don't have the same confidence with a TPDO.