Attachment of Earnings farce

The justice system has a lot to answer for. The system is supposed to provide justice for all parties, right? But in reality, it doesn't.

One of my tenants has had trouble keeping up with his rent due to what I later discovered was a gambling problem. He is in employment, so can afford to pay, but can't quite manage to do so as he said "money just seems to flow through his fingers". I issued him a S8 notice, and he eventually went to the Council who told him to contact Shelter. Shelter called me to discuss the case, they were trying to help him with his problem, and he'd asked if the rent and arrears could be taken off his wages directly. He had asked his employers to do this, but they claimed they couldn't do it without a court order. I agreed to go for an Attachment of Earnings so the employers could action it. First stage was to get a judgement for the money through moneyclaim online (MCOL), and eventually got the money order after several weeks. I then applied to have the case transferred to local court, after which I then applied for the Attachment of earnings. The tenant was most co-operative at every stage, stating clearly what he wanted to happen. The process took a while, but then the order finally came .. and I was gobsmacked to say the least.

The Judge made a "suspended attachment of earnings order", whereby, the tenant was to pay me direct, an amount of £25 every week. If the defendant didn't pay, then I was to come back to the court and apply for a variation of the order, and if I objected to the ruling, to write to court within 16 days of the order etc.etc.

To say I was livid was an understatement. The tenant had asked that £150 per week be deducted directly from his wages. But the Judge had completely ignored that, and decided in his wisdom to do something completely different. What planet was he on??

I immediately wrote in with my objection, and explained the tenants appalling payment history, an provided copies of statements, letters and discussion with Shelter etc.etc. I also got the tenant to write a letter of objection, and sat with him whilst he did it, and posted it myself!!

Well, thankfully, it seems the objection from both sides worked, and I've now received a notice with a revised order for the full attachment of earnings. What a palaver.

One wonders where the justice is in all of this.