Applying for a Charging Order on Property

If someone owes you money and a court has already ordered them to pay, a charging order is one of the stronger tools for recovering the debt. It does not put cash in your hand straight away, but it ties the debt to a property the debtor owns, so that when the property is eventually sold, you should be paid out of the proceeds.

Charging orders are governed by the Charging Orders Act 1979, with the procedure set out in Part 73 of the Civil Procedure Rules. The process runs in two stages: an interim charging order first, then a final charging order after a hearing.

Before you apply

You need a judgment or order from a court that the debtor has failed to pay. Usually this is a County Court judgment (CCJ), but it can be any money judgment or order. There is no minimum waiting period after judgment, though in practice most creditors apply once it is clear the debtor will not pay voluntarily, or once instalments have fallen into arrears.

Where the debtor is paying by instalments under the judgment and has not fallen behind, an application is still possible, but the court will take the payment record into account and may decline to make the order final.

Under the Charging Orders Act 1979 (as amended), there are restrictions where the judgment debt arises from an agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the debtor is paying by instalments. The detailed thresholds have changed over time, so check the current position on GOV.UK or take advice before applying in a regulated consumer credit case.

Because the procedure involves strict deadlines and judicial discretion, it is worth taking advice from a solicitor or a legal adviser at Citizens Advice before committing time and money to an application.

The interim charging order

The application is made on form N379 (for a charging order on land), filed at the County Court Money Claims Centre or at the court that made the judgment. If the judgment has been transferred to a hearing centre for enforcement, the application is made there instead. The form asks for details of the judgment, the amount still owed, and the property you want the order to attach to. A court fee is payable. Fees change from time to time, so check the current level on GOV.UK before filing.

It helps to send office copy entries from HM Land Registry with the application, showing the debtor's ownership and any existing charges on the title. These can be downloaded from the Land Registry website for a small fee. The court also expects evidence of the debt and of what remains unpaid, which usually means a short witness statement exhibiting the judgment and a running total of payments received.

A district judge considers the application on paper, without a hearing. If the paperwork is in order, the court makes an interim charging order. This is a temporary order that attaches to the property straight away and prevents the debtor selling or remortgaging without addressing the debt first. The court also fixes a date for a final hearing, usually a couple of months away.

Serving the order

Once the interim order is made, it must be served. The rules require service on:

• the debtor
• any co-owner of the property
• any other creditor the court directs, which in practice usually means others with charges registered against the property

Service has to happen within a set period before the final hearing, stated in the order itself. Missing the deadlines can cause the application to fail at the final stage, so diarise them carefully.

At the same time, register the interim order at the Land Registry. For a property the debtor owns as sole registered proprietor, this means registering a notice against the title. For jointly owned property, the order attaches to the debtor's beneficial interest rather than the legal title, and a Form K restriction is registered using form RX1.

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The final hearing

At the hearing, the court decides whether to make the order final. Anyone served with the interim order can attend and object. Common objections include that the debtor is paying by instalments and keeping up with them, that making the order final would be unfair to other creditors, or that a co-owner would be prejudiced. Judges have a wide discretion, and local court practice can vary, so outcomes are not always predictable even on similar facts.

If the court is satisfied, it makes a final charging order. The final order is then registered with the Land Registry in the same way as the interim order, which secures your position permanently against the property.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

What a charging order actually does

This is the part that surprises some people. A charging order secures the debt. It does not force the debtor to sell the property or pay you now. If the debtor stays put and never sells, you may be waiting a long time.

What the order does do is:

• put you in the queue to be paid when the property is sold or remortgaged
• stop the debtor dealing with the property without addressing the debt
• allow interest to continue accruing on the judgment debt where the statutory rules permit: statutory interest at 8% applies to High Court judgments and, under the County Courts (Interest on Judgment Debts) Order 1991, to County Court judgments of £5,000 or more. Judgments below £5,000 generally do not carry statutory interest unless the debt arises from a qualifying agreement

Your place in the queue matters. Earlier charges, including any mortgage, are paid out first, and only what is left goes towards your debt. In many cases the debtor eventually refinances or sells and the debt is paid off then, sometimes years later. Whether the order turns into actual money also depends on property values and the state of the housing market at the point of sale.

Applying for an order for sale

If waiting is not realistic, a creditor with a final charging order can apply for an order for sale under CPR 73.10C. This is a separate claim, usually started in the County Court, asking the court to order the property to be sold so the debt can be paid from the proceeds.

These applications are not common, and courts do not grant them lightly. The judge weighs proportionality: the amount owed against the seriousness of forcing someone out of their home. Where the debt is small compared to the value of the property, or where children live there, orders for sale are often refused or postponed. The costs of the application are also significant, and a creditor who loses may end up worse off.

For many creditors, the charging order by itself is enough. It sits on the title, interest builds up, and sooner or later the debtor has to deal with it.

Practical points

Check the Land Registry title before spending money on the application. If the property is already heavily mortgaged or has earlier charges against it, a charging order might be worth little in practice. If the debtor does not own property at all, this route is not open to you, and other enforcement methods such as an attachment of earnings order or a warrant of control will need to be considered.

Court forms, fee levels and the detail of the procedure change from time to time. Before filing anything, check the current position on GOV.UK or take advice from a solicitor or a legal adviser at Citizens Advice.

The Next Step

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