Brentford solicitors and mortgage advisors explain how a County County Judgement can impact your credit file for a mortgage and how to remove the CCJ
What you need to know if you have a CCJ and how our Brentford solicitors and mortgage brokers can help
A County Court Judgement (CCJ) will be terribly detrimental to your credit score and could stop you securing a mortgage in the future – no matter how your financial situation may have improved. However, there are things you can do to remove one so you can get another mortgage in the future.
At Starck Uberoi, we can help you understand what a County Court Judgement will mean for you, how to avoid one and what you can do if you get one. For our clients in Brentford, Isleworth, Chiswick, Kew, Richmond and Hounslow, we are pleased to announce that we have opened a new office on the Brentford high street just across from Brentford County Court, in the offices formerly owned by Anthony Holden Crofts & Co. We look forward to offering bespoke legal and mortgage advice to the local community.
Case Study – How Starck Uberoi have helped our clients get rid of a CCJ when re-financing a property
If a County Court Judgement is preventing you from applying for credit or a mortgage, our solicitors and mortgage advisors may be able to help. We will always be truthful with you about whether you could feasibly make a defence and can offer expert advice regarding your case.
In a recent case, a client instructed our solicitors and mortgage advisors to arrange a remortgage on a Buy to Let property she had inherited. The existing lender would not agree to transfer the mortgage into her name and threatened to repossess the property. This is because our client had a County Court Judgement registered against her.
Upon the rejection, Sam Thomas, senior mortgage advisor of Starck Uberoi Mortgages, worked with Starck Uberoi Solicitors to make a court application for a certificate of satisfaction/cancellation of judgement debt against the name of our client. The reason for the application was because our client had paid the debt to the successors of the creditor – when the creditor had been dissolved and the successor had taken over, the evidence of our client’s payment of the debt had not been linked to the debt she had owed to the original successor.
Our solicitors identified the link between the two companies and presented the evidence to the court. The court removed the judgement from our client’s credit file with the judgement having been fully satisfied. Sam was then able to resubmit the mortgage application and procure the mortgage offer for the client. Upon the receipt of the mortgage offer, the matter was then passed back to our solicitors, who were then instructed to assist our client with her conveyancing transaction until completion. This is an example of how our two services work through an integrated system to remove a County Court Judgement and hope you progress with your property conveyancing.
What is a County Court Judgement?
If a claim is issued against you in the County or high courts, you are under obligation to respond to the claim within the strict deadlines provided. Failure to respond with either an Acknowledgement of Service and/or a defence before the deadline will result in a CCJ (County Court Judgement) being issued against you and the claimant will be able to enter judgement in default.
Judgement in default means that the claimant can obtain payment from you because you failed to comply with court procedure, whether or not you had a valid defence. This could involve bailiffs being instructed to attend your property and seize goods equal to the value of the judgement. For this reason, if someone files a claim against you, it is essential you respond at least in some way – even if you think you will still lose the case. For more information, please read our other blog on mortgage repossession.
What can happen if I have a County Court Judgement?
If you obtain a County Court Judgement, it will affect your credit history and make obtaining credit incredibly difficult in the future. When applying for a loan, a mortgage or a credit card, your lender will be able to see if you have been subject to a County Court Judgement and will most likely reject your application and this may restrict you from obtaining a mortgage or loan across the board.
After receiving a County Court Judgement, you will have 30 days to pay off the debt owed in full or to make a defence. After which, if you have not managed to pay back the full debt owed, the County Court Judgement will remain on your credit file for six years. Therefore, it is vital you deal with the matter as soon as possible – call us today on 020 8840 6640 for more information or help removing your CCJ.
What can I do if a CCJ has been entered against me?
You can make an application to the court to set aside your CCJ if you have a valid defence – but you must act quickly. The court will take into account whether the applicant ‘acted with all reasonable celerity’ (Regency Rolls Limited and Anor v Carnall [2000] EWCA (Civ) 379). Any unexplained delays in action may see your application rejected so it is extremely important to appoint a solicitor and start the process to set aside your County Court J as quickly as possible.
The court will apply the test set out in part 13 of the civil procedure laws to see if you have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim.
Civil Procedure laws, part 13
Setting aside County Court Judgement is covered in CPR 13.2 and 13.3. To see part 13 of civil procedure laws in its entirety, please see the government website.
- CPR 13.2CPR 13.2 rules that the court must allow default judgement to be set aside if that judgement has been wrongly entered; for example, default judgement may be set aside if the claim was resolved between the claimant and defendant before judgement was issued.
- CPR 13.3CPR.13.3 also gives the court discretion to set aside default judgement if the defendant has – CPR13.3(1)(a): ‘A real prospect of defending the claim’ (this requires the defendant to obtain evidence to support their application) -CPR13.3(1)(b): ‘some other good reason’ why the defendant should have default judgement set aside or should be able to defend the claim.
Conveyancing Solicitors and Mortgage Advisers: our ‘One-Stop Shop’ for the removal of your CCJ
At Starck Uberoi, we decided to make the conveyancing process just that bit easier. Our clients requested integrated support, so we incorporated both legal and mortgage expertise under one roof with Starck Uberoi Mortgages as demonstrated in the case study above. This means our clients can enjoy support that goes above and beyond what other firms offer. We provide a ‘One-Stop Shop’ approach, which makes the conveyancing process as fast and smooth as possible, giving us the ability to communicate with your dedicated mortgage adviser seamlessly.
How our fast conveyancing solicitors can help you, whilst removing a CCJ, to complete quickly
Our in-house mortgage advisors can arrange your new mortgage quickly and promptly and our conveyancing solicitors work swiftly for a fast completion. It is important that you instruct fast conveyancing solicitors when you have upcoming deadlines, so you are not forced to pay any additional penalties. It is perhaps more important to find a fast conveyancer when you have a CCJ that needs removing as this can take some time. Read more about our fast conveyancing process in our recent blog.
How Starck Uberoi can help
For our clients facing judgement at Brentford county court, Starck Uberoi can assist you with making your defence so that you aren’t held back by poor credit. Our team of litigation solicitors have years of experience handling a variety of cases yet understand that no two cases are the same and will offer expert legal advice tailored to you. For further information, please see the litigation or mortgages page on our website.
For more information, please visit our mortgage or Conveyancing pages, or to book an appointment please call 020 8840 6640. Our offices are based in Brentford, Ealing, Chiswick, Canterbury and London Victoria. For an appointment at any of our offices, email us at solicitor@starckuberoi.co.uk or call 0208 840 6640.
Further Reading
- Creating Common Law in Costs Litigation
- A Case Study regarding a Service Charge Dispute
- Disputing a declaration of Trust
