Debt Collection - Enforcement of Decrees

Scotland has its own legal system, quite separate from the rest of the UK. As such it is important that Scottish businesses and those outside Scotland but doing business within in are aware of this. We felt it might be beneficial to go over some of the area’s any business operating in Scotland might expect to encounter in relation to bad debt prevention and collection. 

Enforcement of Decrees
The responsibility for enforcing sheriff court decrees falls on sheriff officers.
The generic term for Scottish enforcement is known as ‘diligence’. Different measures are employed depending on whether the defender’s moveable property is situated either outwith or within a dwellinghouse. The effectiveness of diligence can best be described as a ‘filtering process’ with the slow payers settling earlier on in the enforcement regime.
Judgement enforcement in Scotland was radically reformed by the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland)Act 2002 and will be enhanced following implementation of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2007. The legislation deals more sympathetically with individual consumer debtors. Commercial debtors have less protection.

THE DEBT ARRANGEMENT SCHEME
A central feature of the 2002 Act is the Debt Arrangement Scheme available to individuals and sole traders, allowing them the opportunity of repaying their debts in a managed way over a given period of time without the threat of enforcement. Such individuals should have surplus income to repay their debt by instalments.
During the existence of a DAS judgement enforcement and applications for the debtor’s bankruptcy will be prohibited. Also, it will be incompetent to carry out judgement enforcement whilst an application is being considered.