You Won and They Still Have Not Paid: How to Enforce a County Court Judgment

This surprises almost everyone. You go through the process, you win, the judge orders the defendant to pay — and then nothing happens. There is no court bailiff automatically dispatched, no collections department, no follow-up.

A judgment is a legally enforceable debt, but enforcing it is a separate step that you have to start, and pay for. The person who owes you is now called the judgment debtor.

You have six years to enforce a judgment without needing the court's permission. That sounds generous, but debtors move, change jobs, and dissipate assets, so acting promptly matters.

Before spending money on enforcement, send one short letter giving 14 days to pay and warning that you will enforce. Some people pay at this point, having assumed you would give up.

Choosing an enforcement method blind is how people waste fees. If you do not know the debtor's circumstances, the cheapest useful step is an Order to Obtain Information (form N316, fee £55).

The debtor is summoned to court and questioned under oath about their income, employer, bank accounts, property and other assets. You can attend and ask questions. Failure to attend can ultimately lead to arrest, so it also concentrates minds — some debtors settle rather than be questioned.

This does not recover a penny by itself. What it does is tell you which of the methods below is worth paying for.

Warrant of Control (bailiffs) — fee £83

County court enforcement agents visit the debtor and can seize goods to be sold at auction. Best where the debtor has valuable possessions or a business with stock or equipment. They cannot take essential household items or tools of the trade up to a statutory limit, and if the debtor is not at home or has nothing worth taking, you have spent the fee for nothing. For debts over £600 you can transfer to the High Court, where enforcement agents are often more effective but the fee structure differs.

Attachment of Earnings Order — fee £110

Deductions are taken from the debtor's wages by their employer and passed to the court. Best where the debtor is in stable employment and you know who they work for. It does not work for the self-employed or the unemployed, the court will protect a minimum level of income, and recovery can be slow — but it is steady and requires nothing further from you once running.

Third Party Debt Order — fee £110

Money is taken directly from the debtor's bank account, or from someone who owes the debtor money. The court first freezes the account with an interim order, then holds a hearing before releasing the funds. Best where you know where they bank and have reason to think there is money there. The risk is timing: if the account is empty or overdrawn on the day, you get nothing.

Charging Order — fee £110

Your judgment is secured against the debtor's property, so that when it is sold you are paid from the proceeds. Applied for in two stages (interim, then final). Best for larger debts where the debtor owns property and you can afford to wait. You may wait years, mortgages rank ahead of you, and for smaller debts the court may be reluctant. In some circumstances you can go further and apply for an order for sale.

Order to Obtain Information — fee £55

Covered above. Not a recovery method, but usually the right first step when you are working blind.

Match the method to the debtor:

• Employed, stable job → attachment of earnings
• Owns a home → charging order, if you can wait
• Has money in a known bank account → third party debt order
• Has goods, or runs a business with stock → warrant of control
• You have no idea → order to obtain information first

You can run more than one method at the same time, and you can try another if the first fails. Be careful not to recover more than you are owed — if one method succeeds, withdraw the others.

Enforcement fees can generally be added to the debt, so a successful enforcement recovers its own cost. An unsuccessful one does not, which is why the £55 information order so often pays for itself.

Honest advice: sometimes it is not. If the debtor has no job, no property, no goods and no bank balance, no enforcement method will conjure money that does not exist. Spending £110 to discover this makes a bad situation slightly worse.

Signs to weigh up before spending more:

• Existing county court judgments against them from other creditors
• Bankruptcy or an individual voluntary arrangement
• A dissolved company, where there may be nothing left to pursue
• No fixed address

A judgment lasts six years and can sometimes be extended, so if the debtor's circumstances may improve — a new job, an inheritance, a property sale — it can be rational to hold the judgment and enforce later. Registered judgments also affect the debtor's credit, which is itself a pressure to settle.

CourtPilot's enforcement tool asks what you know about the debtor and recommends which route fits, with the current fee for each.