A Charging Order is an order made by the Court that "charges" land or securities (such as stocks and shares) with payment of the judgment debt.
The most common Charging Order is against land owned by the Debtor whether in his or her sole name or jointly with another person.
If you know that the Debtor owns land you can ask the Court to make a Charging Order against the Debtor's interest in that land by completing a written statement which contains:-
- the name and address of the Debtor;
- the name and address of the Judgment Creditor;
- the amount of the debt
- the address of the property to be "charged";
- the reasons why you believe the Debtor has an interest in the land.
This 'statement of truth' is sent to the Court together with the fee of £55. If the Judge is satisfied that the Debtor appears to own an interest in land he will make an Interim Charging Order against the Debtor and fix a hearing at which he will decide whether to make that Charging Order Final. He will only make the order Final if satisfied that the Debtor does have an interest in the land in question.
Once an Interim Charging Order has been made it should be registered either at the Land Charges Registry or the Land Registry depending upon whether title to the land is registered or not. You should seek legal advice about how to do this.
Once a Charging Order has been registered it can be enforced by a sale of the property in question but because of the expense of this it is more usually simply left as a secured debt which has to be paid as and when the property is sold.