Removing CCJ due to non-service of court papers

This is a common and often very frustrating situation. The short answer is yes, it is possible to have a County Court Judgment removed or set aside if you were never served with the claim form, but the route depends on the specific circumstances.

Legal position:

A CCJ can only be properly entered against you if the court is satisfied that the claim form was served on you in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR Part 6). If you genuinely never received the court papers, for example because they were sent to an old address, the wrong address, or simply never arrived, then you may have grounds to apply to have the judgment set aside.

The key provision is CPR 13.2, which provides that the court must set aside a default judgment if it was entered wrongly, for instance because the claim was not properly served. This is a mandatory ground and the court has no discretion to refuse if service was defective.

There is also CPR 13.3, which gives the court a discretion to set aside a default judgment even where service was technically valid, provided you can show that you have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, or there is some other good reason why the judgment should be set aside. Under this discretionary ground, the court will also consider whether you acted promptly once you became aware of the judgment.

Practical steps:

1. Obtain the court file. You can request details of the judgment from the court that issued it. The CCJ will appear on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, and the entry will tell you which court dealt with it and the claim number. You can search the register at Trust Online for a small fee.

2. Check the address used for service. Find out what address the claim form was sent to. If it was not your correct address at the relevant time, this is strong evidence of defective service.

3. Gather supporting evidence. This might include proof of your actual address at the time, such as utility bills, tenancy agreements, council tax records, or electoral roll entries. If you lived somewhere else entirely, this is very helpful.

4. Apply to set aside the judgment. You do this by filing an application notice (Form N244) at the court that entered the judgment. You will need to pay a court fee, currently around 275 pounds, though fee remission may be available if you are on a low income or receiving certain benefits. Your application should be supported by a witness statement explaining that you did not receive the claim form, setting out the evidence, and (if relevant under CPR 13.3) why you have a defence to the underlying claim.

5. Attend the hearing. The court will usually list a short hearing. If you can demonstrate defective service, the judge should set the judgment aside under CPR 13.2 without needing to consider the merits of the underlying claim.

6. Update your credit file. Once the judgment is set aside, you should obtain a copy of the court order and send it to the credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) along with a request to remove the CCJ entry. The Registry Trust, which maintains the register, should also be notified by the court, but it is worth following up yourself.

Important points to be aware of:

If the judgment is set aside, the underlying claim does not simply disappear. The case is effectively reopened and you will need to file a defence within a time limit set by the court. If you have a good defence to the original debt or claim, this is your opportunity to raise it. If the debt is valid, you may want to negotiate settlement terms before or after the set aside, as a settled claim without a judgment is far less damaging to your credit record.

If the CCJ has already been satisfied (paid in full) and marked as such within one calendar month of the date of judgment, it would have been removed from the register automatically. If it has been more than six years since the judgment was entered, it will have dropped off the register in any event, though setting it aside may still be relevant in some circumstances.

Time is important. While there is no strict limitation period for applications under CPR 13.2 where service was defective, the court will take into account any delay in making the application once you became aware of the judgment. You should act as soon as reasonably possible after discovering the CCJ.

If you want, I can walk you through the content of the witness statement or the N244 application in more detail?