Enforcing payment from debtor

[KeyboardMash]

In a nutshell: ripped off by twat roofer, finally won my small claims case, now have a court judgement ordering him to pay. He won't - he disengaged from the whole process long ago and is trying to ignore it. What are my options when the 14 day deadline passes? I've briefly Googled, but wondering if anyone has any advice. He isn't employed, so I can't attach wages. Crucially, he's moved on from the last address I had - I may have his new one, but I'm not sure about it. So don't think I can get bailiffs sent round. I have his bank details (there's an option about freezing bank accounts but I'm not sure what details I'd need) and he's selling all sorts (cars and stuff) on Facebook Marketplace - so going after assets might be an option, but it all seems a bit tenuous and lacking detail. Does anyone know how realistic/practical the different options are from here?

If it's an unsecured debt there's little you can do. You could send the bailiffs round however if he's unemployed he'll have little income coming in, they normally try to do a controlled goods agreement first of all so be prepared to get small bits of money rather than a lump sum unless they actually take the goods. He also doesn't have to let the bailiffs in, and all debt advisers will advise him not to do so. Therefore unless there are assets outside to be taken into the bailiffs control that may not work and may end up costing you more.

Attachment of earnings orders won't work if he has no income. Again normally these are applied and he will have a 'protected earnings' threshold which means the money will be received but in small amounts.

Alternatively if he chooses to get advise he might be advised to offer say £1, £5 a month and as long as he can prove that's all he can afford the courts will agree to it.

Good luck getting your money, however unless the person is a high earlier then it can be tricky. The threat of bailiffs can sometimes work but if he genuinely doesn't have the money then there's not much you can do without it costing you more in the long run.

Thank you. I'm getting to the point where I'm not sure it's worth pursuing but I feel like he's been banking on me just running out of steam till he gets away with it. He's selling £4k worth of cars on Facebook, so there must be some income/assets/cashflow somewhere. I just don't know the best way of going about it...

Third party debt order against his bank account.

That's what I was thinking Lineofconception. It seems the most likely bet. Have you ever done it?

Different jurisdiction so laws will vary, but in a similar situation, my parents settled for small monthly payments. It was the only realistic chance of him paying the judgment. I think they agreed on a 10 year schedule (in this case the damages exceeded their original payment and he simply didn’t have the liquid funds)

www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part72

Check the cpr and PDs.

You can use CPR 71 to summon the judgment debtor to court to be examined over his income etc. Very useful.

my parents settled for small monthly payments the thing is, he won't stick to it. I'm in touch with someone else in the same position as me with this guy - they agreed a payment schedule, he made one payment, then disappeared.

You can use CPR 71 to summon the judgment debtor to court to be examined over his income etc He's ignored small claims hearings - I think he'd ignore this too. He's just ignoring the whole thing, so I think my best bet is an option that effectively bypasses him and just takes the money from his bank account. I'm just not sure if that's how it actually works!