Commercial property: recovery of service charges

Recovery of fees with a CCJ

If you own or manage a commercial property, you can use CRAR to recover rent but what can you do when there are additional fees and charges that are also due?

Because CRAR can only be used to recover rent, if you have additional fees that are outstanding you will need to obtain a County Court Judgment (CCJ) for this amount.

Obtaining a CCJ

Before taking steps to obtain a CCJ it will be worth undertaking some simple checks including the following:

• Is the company still trading?
• Is the individual still trading?
• Do they have assets?

You can obtain a CCJ by completing the online form that can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim

The court fees for obtaining a CCJ are detailed below:

Once you have obtained a CCJ the debtor will have 14 days to respond by completing the paperwork provided by the court. County court judgments stay on record for 6 years unless the full amount plus costs is paid within one month of the court judgment being made, so hopefully this will expedite payment from the debtor.

Enforcement

If the debt remains unpaid, then the next step to recovering the money you are owed is enforcement.

Debt Under £600

For any debt under £600, you can instruct a County Court bailiff, this can be done by completing this form https://assets.publishing.serv... the fee for enforcing an award in the County Court is £44.

Debt over £600

If, after obtaining the CCJ and allowing the necessary time to pass you still haven’t been paid, you can transfer up the judgment to the High Court. Transferring up to the High Court is a simple process and one we can help with here at HCE Group, should you require the assistance. You’ll need to complete the Judgement Transfer-Up Instruction Form and return the same to us with the fee to transfer up of £71. The transfer up process is usually completed within 7 days and you can then instruct a High Court Enforcement Agent to recover the debt on your behalf. High Court Enforcement Agents can act swiftly and here at HCE Group we have 19 authorised High Court Enforcement Officers and over 200 employees working nation

To learn more about court fees and enforcement fees click here.