Enforcing a court order - self repping

Hi - I know this has been answered previously but can someone advise on how to enforce a court order. Final order at end of Jan states FMH home to be sold ''forthwith'' and its still not on the market. He is living there - has gone through the charade of saying he will buy me out but due to being unable to agree on buy out price this has fallen through. When he said he could raise the funds to buy me out, I assumed, rather naively ?? it was the at the value we agreed in the final hearing. His mortgage valuation has come in a £15,000 lower so he is insisting that I take a lower share. So house is now going on the market, but it is painful with him cancelling appointments, not agreeing marketing price etc. Having spent over £20k on sols any further action needs to be self repping. Can I apply to the court to get the order enforced and add some time restrictions. Should I be applying for an occupation order as even if we find a buyer he will find every excuse not to accept offer. Also if it is going to be a while before i receive my settlement, can I apply for SM - nominal SM is included in the order and huge disparity at the moment between incomes and outgoings. My rent £1000 per month, and his mortgage £100 per month and he is the higher earner.

Any advice would be very much appreciated, as I really need to draw a line under the solicitors fees. I couldn''t have come this far without them, but every penny I have now needs to be saved for property for me and the children.

I can see him dragging his heels every step of the way, so I need to get another court date in place to ''encourage'' him to get on with it !

Such a shame as i really believed that the future was looking good - I was beginning to think (hope) that it was nearly over. The last couple of weeks have been brilliant, kids seem more settled and happy (probably cos mum lot less stressed ) and now he does this to us.

Hope someone can advise.

Many thanks,

You can apply to the Court for Directions as to implementation. You will need a letter from the agent listing the missed/ cancelled appointments and any other practical obstacles he has thrown up. This will need to be attached to your statement in support. You can ask him to be ordered to do specific things like give the agent a key. Ultimately you could ask for an order that he vacate the house for you to take over conduct of the sale.

Thanks for your reply - very helpful as Wiki always is !

I have rung the court and they said I could apply for Directions at the county or the magistrates court or maybe in the first instance write to the District Judge for advice - do you agree with this. I am planning to just list events since the hearing, ie. xx date applicant books estate agent, xx date Respondant cancels it, xx date respondent agrees to buy out my interest of FMH, xx date Respondent confirms his mortgage approved but wants to agree a purchase price (which was previously agreed at FH by both applicant and respondent) list goes on really. I am planning to attach emails to confirm all of the facts.

Does this sound like a plan ???

Many thanks,

When you say his mortgage valuation is £15,000 less than expected from house sale do you mean the Surveyor for the Mortgage Company has valued the house at £15.000 less or that the Mortgage Company is only willing to give a Mortgage which is £15,000 less than he expected because of his income etc?
If the Suveyor''s valuation is less it is probably in your interest to accept less because the asking price may be down valued who ever buys it.If your husband buys you out you will save Estate Agents fees etc.
If the reason is because he can''t raise the extra £15.000 it is because he can''t afford it rather than the house isn''t worth it and that obviously is completely different to the above reason.

If the order is a county Court one, add I''m sure it must be, you need to apply to it and not the magistrates. A district judge cannot give advice as that would be to assist one party and not be impartial. A chronology is almost always very helpful, just the way you propose. You will need to set out what you want the Court to order him to do which he isn''t doing right now.

Hi there

He says

The survey of XXX has now been completed and my mortgage has been approved.

The survey has confirmed a valuation of £300,000 .....

I believe the next step to enable us to proceed would be to agree this as the sale price ??

He had already confirmed 4 weeks ago that he was able to raise the funds to buy me out (which had to be at the final hearing figure) He has not indicated whether the mortgage company are offering less due to valuation.

The suggested marketing figure from the Estate Agents is £325,000. The judge specified a figure I was to get from the sale based on 315,000 and worked out a percentage accordingly. If the value is changed now, I take a huge hit which will stop me from buying the property I have an offer on and will soon lose if he continues to play games.

The order was made by the Deputy District Judge - does that make any difference ? Still write to the County Court and address to the District Judge ??

I am hoping they will look sympathically as the order states house must be sold forthwith, and a month later it is still not on the market.