Although it is not uncommon to discover that you have a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against you, having a CCJ can have a significant effect on your ability to: obtain a loan, obtain a mortgage, qualify for some professions and rent a property.
In addition, the party with the judgment in their favour could take steps to enforce the judgment against you.
Having a CCJ against you means that an individual or a company has commenced legal proceedings against you, and they were awarded judgment in the claim by the court. This can arise in several situations where:
- you were unaware of the proceedings or the hearing, or;
- you were aware of the proceedings but did not attend the hearing, or;
- you did not comply with relevant time limits in defending the claim.
To remove the judgment, an application must be made to the court for the judgment to be Set Aside. When deciding whether to set aside the judgment, the court will consider: whether there is a good reason why the hearing was not attended, or the time limit complied with; whether you have a real prospect of defending the claim and whether you have brought your application promptly.
Oakwood Solicitors regularly succeed in having judgments set aside on behalf of clients.
Once the judgment is set aside, it is important to remember that the claim will still continue. Setting aside a Judgment does not bring the original claim to an end. If you intend to oppose the claim, the court will expect you to file a Defence. [hyperlink to Defence and Counterclaim page]
If you accept that the claim against you is valid and agree to make payment to the claimant in accordance with the judgment, the CCJ will be listed as ‘satisfied’. However, the CCJ will continue to appear on your credit history for 6 years and, although satisfied, can continue to negatively affect your credit.
Frequently, we find that many CCJs relate to claims for debt recovery. We often act for clients who do not dispute the debt and therefore do not wish to defend the claim, but still wish for the judgment to be set aside. In such cases we are able to successfully negotiate a resolution with the claimant that meets these aims.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Contact our team today by the methods to the right of this page, or call us on 0113 200 9787 for further information.
