Frequently Asked Questions

By issuing a section 21 a landlord can automatically gain right of possession without having to give any grounds for eviction, meaning there does not have to be a breach of the tenancy agreement.

After 6 years the CCJ will be removed from your credit file even if it’s not yet been fully satisfied.

Once 6 years have passed, your debt may be declared statute barred. This means the debt will still exist however, a CCJ cannot be issued and no Court action can be taken on the debt.

So long as the CCJ is paid in full within one month of receiving it, you can apply to have the CCJ removed from the public registered and your credit file. Once the court have received your evidence of the CCJ being paid within the month they will make the Registry Trust aware so they are able to remove the judgement from the public register.

You would receive a formal written notice or letter regarding the debt. You could contact the creditor to confirm that they have instructed the service of a 3rd party to recover the debt on their behalf.

Debt collection agency’s charge a fee that is a percentage of the debt itself, usually between 10 and 50 percent. The collections agency earn a piece of that percentage when they secure a settlement.

A forfeiture of lease means a commercial lease can be terminated and the property revert to the freeholder. This could arise if the leaseholder breaches the terms of the lease, such as rent arrears.

CRAR (commercial rean arrears recovery) is a Bailiff service offered for commercial landlords. In order to instruct a Bailiff to complete a CRAR you must have commercial lease and your lease holder must be 21 consecutive days late for their rent. The Bailiff can only collect rent arrears under the CRAR service.

A county court judgment (CCJ) negatively affects your credit for up to six years. That includes loans, credit cards, mortages, tenancy agreements and even mobile phone contracts.

Under the Limitation Act 1980 a creditor has six years to chase most unsecured unpaid debts. This ‘limitation period’ starts from the time of your last payment or acknowledgement of the debt, not the total length of time you’ve been making payments.

They cannot use force to gain entry into a property on their first visit – they can only use “peaceable means”.

No, a Bailiff or a High Court Enforcement officer is not permitted to attend your residentail property without a CCJ.

Bailiffs are permitted to attend between the hours of 7am and 8pm.

Enforcement options include:

•Should the defendant have assets or goods which make up the value of the debt, you might instruct a Bailiff or High Court Enforcement Officer to collect the money you are owed or seize goods to the value of the debt to sell at auction.

•If the defendant has money in a bank or building society account, you might use a Third Party Debt Order. The bank (or building society) is ordered to put the amount of your claim aside.This method also works if you know that the defendant is owed money by someone else. You can ask the court to order that person or company to pay the money direct to you, as opposed to paying the defendant.

•If the defendant is in full time employment you may apply for an Attachment of Earnings Order. Whereas the defendant’s employer is ordered to deduct a regular amount from the defendant’s earnings and pay it to you to satisfy your judgment.

•Should the Defendant have property of shares you may want to apply for a Charging Order. This means that your judgment will be secured against an asset and prevents the defendant from selling the charged assets without paying you.

A legal representative is not normally required for a disputed claim in the ‘small claims’ track. However, if your debt is substantial you may want to get some legal advice before attending court.

The short answer is no, however below are some detials of what debt recovery looks like for different entities;

•Individuals and smaller businesses are more likely to suffer cash flow difficulties; therefore, repayment options may be a better debt recovery solution.

•Sole traders are personally liable for their debts, so may be worth pursuing if the individual has personal assets even if the business is in a weak position.

•Larger organisations respond to debt recovery on a more professional level. The key here is to act fast ensuring some form of credit control is actioned if invoicing is late. The good news is the company is responsible for the debt and is in their best interest to get the debt paid before court action is taken.

It will be helpful if there is clear evidence to show you made the customer aware of your terms and conditions. You may have a written and signed contract or have other documentary evidence – for example, an invoice.
Keeping copies of any correspondence you send while chasing the debt or attempting to negotiate payment of your debt will also be helpful.
Without evidence it may be possible to proceeded in a way which suggests that there is an agreement, for example, from the correspondence you send and receive whilst pursuing the debt.

You may have a contract that specifies how interest will be charged on overdue payments. Should you not have a contract, commercial debts are covered by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Where there are no written terms of credit, this allows interest to be charged at a set rate which is the Bank of England base rate plus 8%.

There is no point in demanding immediate payment in full if the customer does not have the means to pay. Negotiating part payment and rescheduling the debt – confirmed in writing – can help towards recovering the debt.

Yes, by taking a diplomatic approach, by discussing the situation and trying to resolve any problems. Explain what steps you intend to take to recover the debt, should you not be able to come to an agreement.

Yes, however you want to be sure that you have a reasonable chance of recovering the debt, and that it will justify the effort of pursuing it.
You may want to write off small debts, just keep in mind whether this would create an example which encourages other small debtors not to pay.

We find that many debtors will pay up within 7 days of receiving just one letter from us. However unfortunately this is not the case for all debts. We have an average recovery rate of 6 weeks.

The short answer is no. Debt collectors cannot contact you at inconvenient times or places. They can only contact you between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., unless you have previously agreed to it.