Issuing a Warrant - has anyone done it?

[Trenners]

Hi,

I have an ex-tenant with about £800 rent arrears.

When it became clear they were not going to pay - we started Court proceedings against them using Money Claims Onine (ie: Small Claims Court) and have now received a judgement in our favour.

I know the tenant is living at the address where the Court papers were served bu the tenant has simply ignored all of the Court papers and is not obeying the COurt judgement either.

So - for an extra £100 - we have the option of paying for a Warrant via Money Claims Online. I think this will instruct the Court Bailiff to go and cease goods or collect the outstanding monies.

Tenant is on the DSS (so she will have lots of goods but no money!!) - has anyone got any experience of this .... or am I throwing "good money after bad" ?

Thoughts

MArk

[SPEEDTWIN]

I did it once and didnt get any thing. If they have a car in their name i believe the bailif can take that but you have to tell him in advance.

The ccj lasts for 6 years so you could bide your time and hope they get a job so you could do a attachment of earnings in the future.

If you have their bank a/c details you can apply to the court for it to be emptied out (the person wont be pre-warned). That one can be quite satisfieing but the only problem is if there is no funds in it, it has cost you 40 quid approx to find out but i suppose there is a fairly good chance of getting your fee back, maybe.

There is another proceedure you can apply for which requires the person to attend court for questioning about their finaces and if they dont turn up they get arrested. NICE. I believe you can ask for them to bring in bank statements etc etc.

Or chase the guarantor if there is one and put a charge against their property which means they cant sell or re-mortgage it without settling the debt. Could take years but better than nothing.

Is there a joint tenant you can chase?

Past the debt on to 2 or 3 debt collection companies they probaly wont get anything either but it will put the pressure on.

[Melboy]

Well, Mark I think you could be throwing good money after bad but that is just my opinion but I also think that where you get really bad Tenants like this who think they can stuff the bat up a Landlords backside and think they get away from any responsibilities for their actions deserve to feel the full force of any LEGAL ways possible even it is just to show them you are on their case.

Mel.

[Mortitia]

Hi all,

I like Mark find it really difficult to decided whether to drop it or pursue debtors and with the courts not being my natural environment I am always struggling. With plenty of other things to do I keep putting it off and if a previous case is anything to go by I got awarded £15 a month on a £350 debt and after a year the money stopped and I could not be bothered to pursue it.

One of my ex tenants currently owes £3500 in unpaid rent but left the property in March 2008. It was news to me to find he had been on housing benefit for the last 6 months of the tenancy but had not paid it to me in the rent.

I went for the CCJ but found the court in a London borough very obstructive and I made a complaint against the judge we went before because he was drunk and very intimidating to me personally - big mistake as when it went back to court another judge had it 'set aside' until the ex tenant 'decides to reveal his new address' - of course he hasn't so I am stuck. This was exactly a year ago. I am fuming and can't complete my complaint to the judicial review people about the drunk judge until that case is settled. Clever swines aren't they?

I have let it sit all this time but managed to get expensive debt collector to trace ex-tenant to a council house 5 miles away! I would have loved to see his face when DC turned up. Ex tenant is now saying he is unemployed (taxi driver) but I suspect the Mrs is working if only cleaning. It is very hard in that part of London to be unemployed.

Now I'm thinking of having another go with a new online action and to include the Mrs this time - I didn't before because she had left the country - she is a foreign national (trip paid for by the housing benefit no doubt). To re-start the previous court action will be yet another £75 and no doubt the judges at that particular court will close ranks again so I might as well start all over again and online - anyone know if there can be any reason why not? This time if I get a judgement I will go for the 'attachment of earnings' if possible as like Speedtwin says the judgement last 6 years.

I know that others are pursuing these persons as mail with talk of bailiffs keeps turning up at the flat I rented to them even though they have been gone all this time and the mail is always returned to sender.

Any advice from anyone would be appreciated

Thanks for reading,

Mortitia