By Robert Jerome, head of debt recovery at Harding Evans Solicitors

1. What are these new rules?
The Civil Procedure Rules, which govern the work undertaken in the county court, are being amended with effect from 6 April 2006. This will have an impact on the information you need to provide either to the court if you issue claims yourself, or to your solicitor. Failure to provide the correct information may result in delays in issuing proceedings. When the claim relates to the collection of debts, this can have quite serious implications for you as a creditor as delays reduce the chances of a successful recovery.
 

A decade or so ago you could sue a defendant with very little information. But the courts are now demanding that more information is provided at the issue stage.

2. How will these rules affect me?
The courts now require you to provide the defendant’s full unabbreviated name, including title. In the case of an individual trading under another name then once again the full name must be provided as well as the trading name (e.g. Mr John Smith t/a J S Autos).

This information is required at the outset as the court believes this may improve your chances of recovering the debt due to you, as well as the defendant being correctly identified when the judgment is registered. However, the courts have indicated that they will still accept claims without their full unabbreviated name so long as you provide as much information as possible.


3. How strict will the courts be?
It remains to be seen how strict the courts are on the rules regarding unabbreviated names. For example, what if you have always dealt with the debtor using the name Sandy? Is that an abbreviated name? Would you have to sue the debtor as Alexander or Sandra? This seems a bit unclear – hopefully the court staff will use common sense.

In addition the courts now require a full postcode for the debtor. Postcodes can be obtained from the Royal Mail Address Management Guide, and various websites exist for obtaining postcodes. If you are unable to obtain a postcode, the claim will not be posted by the court unless the judge gives permission.

At the entry of judgment stage, the courts are now requesting the defendant’s date of birth. All very well if you know it, but quite difficult to find out later. It is unlikely that the debtor will provide this information on the mistaken idea that you were going to send them a birthday card! A defendant will have to provide their date of birth when responding to a claim, even if they are defending the claim.


4. What steps can I take now to help protect my business?
When opening credit accounts for customers, you should always obtain as much information as possible. Customers are more likely to provide useful information when looking to obtain credit. They are not as prepared to release information when they have run up a debt and you are pursuing them.

Always attempt to obtain information that will be useful in enforcing a judgment debt. Get the customer’s bank details (to assist in third party debt orders), proprietors or partners home addresses (for charging orders), backed up with a Land Registry search to confirm ownership of property. A search costs a modest £4.

In the case of dealings with new companies, consider obtaining personal guarantees from the directors, which will enable you to pursue the directors personally in the event of default or the liquidation of the company. A commercial solicitor will be able to prepare a suitably worded guarantee. And of course, in view of the changes, get the customers full name, date of birth and postcode.

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