Recovering money owed

[Fred12_3187]

I did some work for a local surveyor who has not paid me the full amount he owes. I took him to court and won - the court said he had to pay me by 1 Feb 2011 but as yet he still not has paid a penny. I have already paid £130 to take this to court and he owes £530 including court fees. To have the order enforced it will cost me a further £100 for the bailiff although if I would get it back together with interest from February. I am just concerned that I will be paying out the extra money and not getting anything back. He is saying he is broke but he has a number of properties as well as his business. Is there anyway of guaranteeing to get the money back? Also someone suggested parking a van outside his house with Bailiff on the side - would this be legal?

[FindLaw_Miriam]

Hi Fred12_3187,

Thanks for your post. If you don't want to go down the bailiff route, you could perhaps petition for the surveyor's bankruptcy. These articles contain information that might be useful to you: Debt collection, Solicitor's help collecting debt .

As for the bailiff van idea, while enterprising, we would not recommend doing this as it could be interpreted as fraud, intimidation or harassment.

Best of luck,
-FindLaw Moderation Team