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some years ago i decided to buy a house in France from an English man. After we agreed a price he sent me the keys and told me to treat the house as though it were already mine. I made several improvements and a week before the final signing he pulled out of the sale. I took him to court in France and 3 years ago I won the case. Since then I have received none of the money awarded. On the first anniversary of the verdict I asked my barrister why I had not been paid and he wrote several letters and sent me a bill for 300 euros. Is there anything I can do to get this matter settled.
Optional Information: Province/Country relating to question : Brittany,France Already Tried: I employed a solicitor in UK who has English and French law degrees, he put me in touch with a French barrister.
Hi,
You can have the judgment that you obtained in France transfered to the English courts for enforcement and indeed vice versa. i am not familiar with the application that you would need to be made in France but i can advise that you will require a copy of the judgment and a notarized english translation.
Once the judgment is transferred you can then seek to enforce it as if it were an english judgment, the most appropriate action would depend on what you know of the debtors financial circumstances eg does he own a property in england, in which case the judgment can be registered against his interest in it by way of a charging order. You could engage the services of high court enforcement officers (not bailiffs) to seek recovery of the debt and their own costs or even ultimately petition for is bankruptcy, which h=if he wished to avoid this would mean that he would have to settle the debt assuming that he had the means to do and had not been made bankrupt after you had obtained the order in France.
I hope this is of help and if so weld ask that click accept. If you have any questions I will try to answer these. thank you
Thank you for your reply. Do you have any idea of the costs of this action as I am now a pensioner with limited funds?
Unfortunately I do not have any idea as to the costs that you might incur in France but if the process were the other way around ie England to France I would estimate fees of around £500.
Once the judgment has been transferred than likely costs for registering the judgment as a charge against the debtors property are likely to be in the region of £300 plus application fee of £75. If you were to seek to engage High Court Enforcement officers they would charge you £50 transfer fee and most charge a flat fee of £70.50 if their attempts to execute the Writ are not successful.
I would recommend that you shop around on the fees or better still speak to a High Court Enforcement Officer, details can be found on the Internet.
Once again I hope this is of help and if so would ask that you click accept. Many thanks.
Experience: LL.B (Hons.); Post Grad Diploma in Legal Practice; Admitted 1997;PQE 13 years