411.A charging order is a means of securing payment of a sum of money ordered to be paid under a judgment or order of the High Court or a county court by placing a charge onto the debtor’s property (usually a house or land or securities such as shares). A charging order can be made absolute or subject to conditions. Once an order is in place, a creditor can subsequently apply to court seeking an order for sale of the charged property.
412.At present, the court cannot make a charging order when payments due under an instalment order made to secure that same sum are not in arrears. In certain instances this can prejudice the creditor, allowing for example a debtor with large judgment debts, who is meeting his regular instalments, to benefit from the sale of a property without paying off the debt.
413.The Act removes this restriction and enables access to charging orders in circumstances where a debtor is not yet in arrears with an instalment order. As a safeguard, the Act allows the Lord Chancellor to set financial thresholds beneath which a court cannot make a charging order or order for sale, in order to ensure that charging orders are not used to secure payment of disproportionately small judgment debts.
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