Enforcement proceedings and bailiffs

What is happening

The writ has been with the bailiff for six months. The proceedings appear on the Bailiff Service website, requests to banks have apparently gone out, but there are no results. The bailiff has changed twice, and the phone answer is that 'it is being dealt with'.

The debtor has moved its business to a new company, re-registered its vehicles and emptied its accounts. On paper there is nothing to recover from, and the proceedings are about to be closed with the writ returned.

Or the other way round: the company itself is the debtor. The bailiffs have frozen every account and paralysed payments, taken more than the judgment allows, or restrained assets that have nothing to do with the debt.

What the law says

• Compulsory enforcement is governed by Federal Law No. 229-FZ of 2 October 2007 "On Enforcement Proceedings" (the Enforcement Proceedings Law).
• As a general rule a writ of execution may be presented within three years of the judgment entering into force; for money judgments the creditor may send it directly to the debtor's bank, bypassing the bailiffs.
• Once proceedings are opened, the debtor is usually given 5 days to comply voluntarily; if it does not pay, an enforcement fee is charged and compulsory measures are applied.
• The creditor may inspect the enforcement file, make applications, including for specific assets to be seized and for a search for assets, and take part in enforcement actions.
• The bailiff's decisions, actions and inaction can be challenged before a senior official or in court; the time limit for going to court is short, usually ten days from when the creditor learned of the breach.
• Return of the writ does not deprive the creditor of the right to present it again: the period for presentation starts afresh, and the Enforcement Proceedings Law separately governs when it may be presented again.

What we do

• We check the writ and choose the route: the debtor's bank, the bailiffs, or one after the other.
• We prepare the application to open proceedings, with requests for specific measures: freezing accounts, enquiries to registries, a search for assets.
• We inspect the enforcement file and see what the bailiff has actually done, as opposed to what is merely recorded.
• We gather information on the debtor's assets, counterparties and receivables ourselves and pass it to the bailiff.
• We challenge inaction and unlawful decisions before senior officials and in court.
• Where your company is the debtor, we contest excessive deductions and the seizure of the wrong assets, and apply for deferral or instalments.
• When enforcement produces nothing, we assess the debtor's bankruptcy or the liability of those who control it.

What we will need from you

• The writ of execution or its details, and the judgment.
• The bailiff's decisions, if proceedings are already open, and correspondence with the bailiffs' office.
• Whatever you know about the debtor's assets, accounts, counterparties and sites.
• The company's bank details for receipt of recovered sums.
• A power of attorney expressly covering enforcement proceedings.