Enforcing a CCJ

[NamechangeyMcNamechanger]

Please could anyone give me some advice on enforcing a CCJ?

Long story short, we won a CCJ against a garage that damaged our car. We did it through Moneyclaimonline and the garage never responded, so I applied for the judgement three weeks ago and it went through a couple of days later. We’ve still heard nothing from the garage.

I’ve been trying to find out what to do next, but I’m really confused. I’m reading that the next step is to get bailiffs involved. I thought that would be quite straightforward – it’s a garage that mostly does tyre replacements, so the place is full of stock they could presumably seize – but I’m also reading that the county court bailiffs have no real powers so I should go to the high court. What I’m really worried about is spending more money trying to enforce the judgement if, for some reason, it might never get paid. I don’t want to throw good money after bad. (FWIW, we’re on a low income, and getting the judgement enforced would be the difference between us having a holiday this summer and not – I’m not doing this as a matter of principle!)

Please could anyone advise me what to do next? Also, should I be taking the next step immediately, or waiting a while longer to see if they pay up? (My guess is that they won’t.) Thanks so much.

The next step is to go back to court to get the judgement enforced. You can go to the High Court if the debt is more than £600 but you may need legal advice if you want to go down that route. However, it is not true that County Court bailiffs have no real powers. They can, for example, break into business property and take goods to settle the debt. If I were you I would apply to the County Court for enforcement.

We recently had to enforce a CCJ again a (small, privately owned) car dealership for selling us a dodgy car - the bailiffs were successful and it wasn’t that long after that we received our money. The money you pay for enforcing it gets added to their bill as well so you’re reimbursed. I would imagine that it would be pretty easy enforcing it as, as you said, they have plenty of stock.

It actually doesn't cost very much to get it transferred to the High Court. As long as it's over £5500 I think? Anyway ours was and it's being enforced and we're finally getting it a year later.

You can transfer to the High Court if the debt is over £600 and it will automatically go to the High Court if the debt is over £5,000. However, the OP may need legal advice if they go to the High Court. Since County Court bailiffs have all the powers needed, I would stick with the County Court.

I think the process at moneyclaims online is that you then pay an additional enforcement fee and click to have it enforced (and fill out any details useful to the bailiff - address where assets are. type of assets etc)

Thanks so much for the replies. (Sorry not to acknowledge them sooner. Puking kids all weekend = no mumsnetting!) I guess we'll give the bailiffs a go then!