Instructing a bailiff to recover a debt

Key points:

• In order to use a bailiff to recover a debt, you first need to apply for a County Court Judgement (CCJ) from your County Court.
• There are two types of bailiffs available to you: the County Court’s bailiffs, or High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEO’s).
• The County Court’s bailiffs’ eviction costs are cheaper, but the process takes far longer due to the Court’s long waiting-list.

Choosing a bailiff

Once you have been to your local County Court and received a CCJ, you have two options: you can use the County Court’s bailiffs to recover the debt, or High Court Enforcement Officers.

The main difference between the two is that, whilst cheaper, the County Court’s bailiffs can take months before they even make the first visit to recover the debt due to the Court’s long waiting lists – especially if the debtor’s address is in the South. Our High Court Enforcement Officers on the other hand can make the first visit to recover debt in as little as 2-3 weeks.

Of course, the choice is yours, though we do strongly recommend you instruct a High Court Enforcement Officer if you are based in the South of England, or you have reason to believe your debtor will be uncooperative.

How to instruct HCEOs at Quality Bailiffs

The N293A form

If you wish to instruct a High Court Enforcement Officer to recover your debt, you first need permission to transfer your case up to the High Court. To do this, you or your solicitor will need to complete the N293A form.

Do not worry if you have trouble filling in the N293A form; as part of our service, our operations team can go over the form for you to make sure it is viable for Court, and they can even complete it on your behalf.

Obtaining the Writ of Control

Once the N293A form has been completed, our operations team will send it off to the Court. The Court will review your case and if successful, permission to transfer your case up to the High Court will be granted in the form of a Writ of Control. It is this Writ of Control which allows you to instruct High Court Enforcement Officers.

How long does the “transfer up” process take?

The “transfer up” process can take anywhere between 10 – 28 days: it depends entirely on how fast the Court grants the permission to transfer up.

Serving the Notice of Enforcement

As soon as we receive the Writ of Control, we will issue a Notice of Enforcement to your debtor within 1-2 days, giving them 10 clear days to pay the debt. If they do not pay by the time this expires, one of our Certificated Enforcement Agents will be instructed to make a visit to their address within 40 days in order to collect the money.

If necessary, our Enforcement Agents will make up to three visits to collect the money.

Have another question?

Have a question? Read our FAQs on instructing a bailiff to recover a debt here, or get in touch using the contact details below!