We act quickly to set aside CCJs, stop enforcement action, and restore your credit position. Our specialist solicitors handle urgent N244 applications across England & Wales.
Act quickly – delays can reduce your chances of successfully setting aside a CCJ
Discovering a County Court Judgment (CCJ) that you did not know about can have immediate consequences.
A judgment may affect your ability to obtain a mortgage or other finance, pass tenancy referencing, secure business credit or deal with an ongoing enforcement process.
However, a CCJ cannot simply be removed because it is inconvenient or damaging to your credit record.
The court must be satisfied that there is a proper legal basis for setting aside the judgment.
Applications to set aside default judgment are principally governed by CPR Part 13.
Depending on how the judgment was entered, the court may be required to set it aside under CPR 13.2, or it may have a discretion to set it aside under CPR 13.3.
Knights & Shah Solicitors advises individuals and businesses on:
CCJs entered without their knowledge;
claims sent to old or incorrect addresses;
N244 applications;
CPR 13.2 and CPR 13.3 applications;
disputed service of claim forms;
proposed defences to the underlying claim;
consent applications;
urgent stays of enforcement;
bailiff or High Court Enforcement Officer action; and
preparation for and representation at set aside hearings.
Our approach begins by examining how the judgment was obtained, rather than simply completing an N244 form.
We review the judgment, original claim, service history, address history, proposed defence and relevant evidence before advising on the appropriate legal route.
Potentially.
There are two principal routes for setting aside a default judgment.
Where a default judgment was wrongly entered in the circumstances specified by CPR 13.2, the court must set it aside.
In other cases, the court may set aside or vary a default judgment where the defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, or where there is some other good reason why the judgment should be set aside or the defendant should be permitted to defend.
Promptness is also expressly relevant.
The distinction between the two provisions is extremely important.
A strong application should identify the correct legal basis rather than simply state that the defendant did not know about the claim.
A default judgment is a judgment entered under CPR Part 12, usually because a defendant did not file an acknowledgment of service or defence within the relevant time.
A default judgment does not necessarily mean that a judge heard evidence at a trial and decided that the claimant was substantively correct.
In many cases, judgment is obtained because the defendant failed to respond procedurally to the claim.
CPR Part 13 provides the mechanism by which a Part 12 default judgment may, in appropriate circumstances, be set aside or varied.
CPR 13.2 deals with cases where the court must set aside a default judgment.
The rule applies where a judgment entered under Part 12 was wrongly entered because the relevant conditions under CPR 12.3 were not satisfied.
It also applies where the whole of the claim had already been satisfied before judgment was entered.
Examples may include circumstances where:
judgment was entered before the applicable response period expired;
an acknowledgment of service had already been filed in time;
a defence had already been filed in time;
the procedural requirements for default judgment had not been satisfied; or
defective service meant that the conditions required to enter default judgment were not met.
Where CPR 13.2 applies, the court does not merely have a discretion.
The rule provides that the judgment must be set aside.
However, it is important not to confuse non-receipt with invalid service.
A defendant saying, “I never saw the claim form,” does not automatically establish that the claim was improperly served.
The service rules must be examined carefully.
One of the most common enquiries we receive is from someone who discovers a CCJ after court papers were sent to a former address.
For further guidance, read our detailed guide on a CCJ sent to the wrong address, including the issues the court may consider when determining whether a default judgment should be set aside.
This can be highly relevant to a set aside application, but the legal position is more detailed than simply asking whether the defendant personally received the papers.
Under CPR 6.9, an individual may ordinarily be served at their usual or last-known residence where another address for service does not apply.
However, if the claimant has reason to believe that the defendant no longer resides at that address, the claimant must take reasonable steps to establish the defendant’s current address.
If the current address is found, the claim form must be served there.
If the claimant cannot establish it, CPR 6.9 requires consideration of whether there is an alternative place or method of service, including the procedure under CPR 6.15 where appropriate.
The relevant questions may therefore include:
What address did the claimant use?
Was it genuinely your last-known residence?
When did you move?
Did the claimant know, or have reason to believe, that you had moved?
Did the claimant hold another address for you?
What steps were taken to locate you?
Was service legally valid?
Were the conditions for default judgment satisfied?
The answers may determine whether the application falls under CPR 13.2, CPR 13.3 or potentially both in the alternative.
The evidential chronology can be crucial.
Relevant documents may include evidence showing when you left the former address, where you were living when proceedings were issued, what address the claimant held for you, whether there had been correspondence at another address and when you first became aware of the judgment.
Useful evidence can include tenancy agreements, council tax records, utility bills, completion statements, bank or official correspondence, emails with the claimant, address records and documents showing when the CCJ was discovered.
The purpose is not simply to prove:
“I moved house.”
The evidence should help establish:
service → claimant knowledge → address history → discovery of judgment → action taken afterwards.
Non-receipt is important, but it is not the end of the analysis.
The first question is whether the claim form was legally served.
If service was invalid and default judgment was consequently wrongly entered, CPR 13.2 may apply.
If service was technically effective but the defendant genuinely remained unaware of the proceedings, those circumstances may instead form part of an application under CPR 13.3.
This distinction matters because it can affect the legal test, evidence required, relevance of promptness and the importance of the proposed defence.
A set aside application should therefore not be limited to:
“I never received the papers.”
The service history should be established properly.
Where CPR 13.2 does not apply, the court may still set aside or vary a default judgment under CPR 13.3.
The court may do so where:
“The defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim; !”
or
“There is some other good reason why the judgment should be set aside or varied, or why the defendant should be allowed to defend the claim.”
The court must also have regard to whether the application was made promptly.
In addition, CPR 13.4 expressly requires an application under CPR 13.3 to be supported by evidence.
A discretionary application should therefore deal properly with:
the reason for the default, the timing of the application, the merits of the defence and the wider circumstances.
The defence must have a realistic prospect of success rather than being merely fanciful.
The set aside hearing is not normally a full trial of the underlying dispute, but the court will ordinarily need sufficient material to understand whether there is a genuine defence that should be permitted to proceed.
Depending on the original claim, the proposed defence may concern issues such as contractual liability, payment, disputed sums, limitation, defective documentation, consumer law, parking charges, assignment of debt, identity, misrepresentation or another substantive defence.
A defendant should not simply state:
“I disagree with the debt.”
The legal and factual basis of the proposed defence should be identified clearly.
Promptness is expressly identified in CPR 13.3.
The rule does not prescribe a fixed number of days within which every application must be made.
However, delay can be highly significant.
A person who discovers a judgment should therefore record:
when the judgment was first discovered, what was done immediately afterwards and why any period of delay occurred.
The Court of Appeal confirmed in FXF v English Karate Federation Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 891 that the Denton principles apply when the court exercises its discretion under CPR 13.3.
Accordingly, after addressing the specific CPR 13.3 requirements, the court’s discretion may involve consideration of the seriousness and significance of the procedural default, why the default occurred and all the circumstances of the case.
Prompt action can therefore be very important.
Form N244 – Application Notice is the court form commonly used to ask the court to set aside or vary a judgment.
HMCTS’s current guidance expressly identifies N244 as a form that may be used to ask the court to set aside or vary a judgment or suspend an enforcement process.
However, the strength of an application does not come from completing the form alone.
The application should identify:
what order is sought, why the court has power to make it, what evidence supports the application and what should happen to the underlying claim if judgment is set aside.
Depending on the case, supporting documents may include a witness statement, draft order, draft defence and documentary exhibits.
A properly prepared application will usually involve more than the N244 form itself.
The court may need to see a coherent package comprising the application notice, witness evidence, the order sought and material showing the basis upon which the underlying claim is disputed.
The precise documents depend upon the particular case.
Knights & Shah Solicitors can assist with preparing:
Form N244 → witness statement → draft order → proposed defence → exhibits → hearing documents.
The objective is to ensure that the legal argument and evidence are consistent throughout the application.
The witness statement is often a central part of the application.
Depending on the legal basis relied upon, it may explain how the judgment came about, the defendant’s address history, what happened to the claim documents, when the CCJ was discovered, what was done after discovery and why the original claim is disputed.
It should be factual, chronological and supported by relevant documentary evidence wherever possible.
A poorly evidenced application can leave important questions unanswered.
A draft order tells the court exactly what the applicant is asking it to do.
Depending on the circumstances, the proposed order may deal with setting aside the judgment, filing a defence, costs, enforcement and further case-management directions.
The wording should reflect the relief actually sought.
Where the application relies upon CPR 13.3 and a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, the court will normally need to understand what that defence is.
A draft defence or sufficiently detailed evidence of the defence can therefore be extremely important.
It should deal with the original claim rather than merely the consequences of having a CCJ.
The purpose of the application is not simply:
“I want the CCJ removed.”
It is to explain why the judgment should not remain in place and, where relevant, why the defendant should now be permitted to defend the underlying claim.
No.
Filing an application to set aside a judgment does not itself mean that ongoing enforcement has automatically stopped.
Where enforcement is underway or imminent, it may be necessary to seek a stay of enforcement.
This can be particularly important where bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers are already involved, or where another form of enforcement has begun.
The court may need to be asked specifically to suspend enforcement pending determination of the set aside application.
Urgency should be explained and supported by evidence.
Our Judgment & Enforcement Solicitors can also advise where bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers are involved.
A judgment may already have progressed to enforcement before the defendant discovers it.
Depending upon the type of judgment and enforcement method, there may be a warrant or writ of control, High Court Enforcement Officer involvement, a charging order, attachment of earnings, third-party debt proceedings or another enforcement step.
The set aside and enforcement positions should therefore be considered together.
Knights & Shah Solicitors can review both the underlying judgment and the enforcement documents and advise whether urgent relief should be sought.
Sometimes the claimant agrees that the judgment should be set aside.
That can happen where the parties agree about the service position or otherwise reach a procedural agreement.
However, agreement between the parties does not itself remove the judgment.
The appropriate application or consent order must still be placed before the court, and the court retains responsibility for deciding whether to make the order sought.
A consent position can materially affect procedure, costs and the way the application is presented.
Many contested set aside applications are determined at a hearing.
Depending upon the application, the judge may consider the circumstances in which judgment was entered, service, CPR 13.2, CPR 13.3, promptness, the proposed defence, the evidence, any response from the claimant, the Denton principles, enforcement and costs.
The court may:
set aside the judgment, refuse the application, impose conditions or make further case-management directions.
If the judgment is set aside, the court may specify when a defence must be filed and how the underlying claim should proceed.
No.
This is an extremely important distinction.
Setting aside a default judgment generally removes the judgment and allows the underlying claim to be dealt with properly.
It does not automatically extinguish the alleged debt or determine the original dispute in the defendant’s favour.
The claimant may continue with the claim.
The defendant may then file a defence.
The proceedings may settle, be discontinued or ultimately proceed to trial.
The judgment and the underlying claim are different issues.
Where the underlying proceedings concern a disputed debt or money claim, our Money Claims & Debt Recovery Solicitors can advise on the substantive dispute and the next stage of the proceedings.
County Court Judgments are ordinarily recorded on the public Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines.
Registry Trust confirms that judgments ordinarily remain registered for six years unless they are cancelled, paid within the applicable one-month period or set aside by the court.
If the court sets aside the judgment, the court notifies Registry Trust so that the judgment can be removed from the public register.
Credit-reference agencies receive judgment information from Registry Trust, although third-party records may take some time to update following the court’s decision.
Payment and set aside are different legal issues.
If a judgment is paid in full within one month of the judgment date, it can generally be removed from the register through the cancellation process.
If payment is made after one month, the judgment will ordinarily remain on the register for six years but can be marked as satisfied.
Whether there is still a proper basis for a set aside application after payment is a separate question and depends upon the circumstances.
Paying the judgment does not itself set it aside.
Many people first discover a judgment when:
a mortgage application is declined, refinancing becomes difficult, finance is refused, tenancy referencing fails or a credit report reveals an unexpected CCJ.
Those circumstances can create genuine urgency.
However, the commercial consequences do not replace the legal test.
The court will still consider how judgment was entered, whether the claim was properly served, the applicable CPR provisions, the proposed defence where relevant and the speed with which the defendant acted.
Where there is a genuine mortgage, property or other financial deadline, evidence of that urgency may be relevant when asking the court to deal with the application promptly.
The court nevertheless controls its own timetable.
Court fees change and should always be checked immediately before an application is made.
As at September 2026, the general HMCTS civil application fee is:
£321 for an application on notice where no other fee is specified; and
£126 for an application by consent or without notice where no other fee is specified.
Different fees may apply to specific forms of application.
Some applicants may also qualify for Help with Fees, depending upon their circumstances.
The court fee is separate from Knights & Shah Solicitors’ professional fees.
If the application succeeds, the next stage depends upon the order made by the court.
The judge may direct the defendant to file a defence within a specified period and may make further directions for the continuation of the underlying claim.
The case may then proceed in the normal way unless it is settled, discontinued or otherwise determined.
A successful set aside is therefore often the beginning of the defence of the original proceedings, rather than the end of the dispute.
For an initial assessment, it is helpful to provide as much of the following material as you have:
the judgment or credit-report entry;
the claim number;
the claim form and particulars of claim, if available;
letters or emails from the court;
enforcement correspondence;
correspondence from the claimant or its solicitors;
evidence of your address history where service is disputed;
evidence supporting the proposed defence;
evidence showing when you first discovered the judgment; and
a short chronology explaining what happened afterwards.
If you do not yet have all of the court documents, please send what you do have.
We can advise what further material may need to be obtained.
Knights & Shah Solicitors provides solicitor-led advice and representation on CCJ and default judgment set aside applications.
We can assist with reviewing the judgment and underlying claim, analysing service under CPR Part 6, advising on CPR 13.2 and CPR 13.3, assessing promptness and the Denton principles, considering the proposed defence, preparing the N244 application, drafting supporting evidence, preparing the draft order, seeking a stay of enforcement where appropriate and preparing for the set aside hearing.
Where the judgment is set aside, we can also advise on the next stage of the underlying proceedings.
We do not treat these applications as a simple credit-repair exercise.
For advice on the wider dispute or court proceedings, you can also speak to our Civil Litigation Solicitors
Our advice is based upon:
the Civil Procedure Rules → the evidence → the service history → the underlying claim → the proposed defence → the procedural strategy.
Potentially. The court will consider how the proceedings were served, why you did not know about them, when you discovered the judgment and which legal route applies.
Potentially. The relevant issue is not simply that you moved. The court may need to consider CPR 6.9, what address the claimant used, what the claimant knew and what reasonable steps were taken.
No. Non-receipt does not automatically establish invalid service. The service rules and circumstances must be examined.
CPR 13.2 requires the court to set aside a Part 12 default judgment where it was wrongly entered in the circumstances specified by the rule.
CPR 13.3 gives the court discretion to set aside or vary default judgment where there is a real prospect of successfully defending the claim or some other good reason.
Promptness is expressly relevant under CPR 13.3. There is no universal number of days, but unexplained delay can materially weaken an application.
Yes. CPR 13.4 expressly provides that an application under CPR 13.3 must be supported by evidence.
Where CPR 13.3 is relied upon because there is a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, the court will need sufficient material to understand the proposed defence.
Form N244 is the application notice commonly used for a set aside application.
Not automatically. A stay of enforcement may also need to be sought.
Yes. A claimant may agree to the judgment being set aside, but the court must still make the relevant order.
Many contested applications require a hearing. The court determines how the application will be dealt with.
There is no reliable nationwide fixed timescale. Timing varies according to the court, urgency, whether the application is contested and whether a hearing is required.
No. It generally removes the judgment and allows the underlying claim to proceed and be defended.
If the judgment is set aside, the court notifies Registry Trust so that the judgment can be removed from the public register. Credit-reference data should then update accordingly.
The court has discretion in relation to costs. Whether the claimant should pay the application fee or other costs depends upon the circumstances and the orders made.
Potentially, but delay may be particularly significant, especially under CPR 13.3. Older applications require careful analysis.
If you have discovered a County Court Judgment that you did not know about, court papers were sent to an old or incorrect address, you are facing enforcement action or you believe a default judgment may have been entered incorrectly, contact Knights & Shah Solicitors for an initial assessment.
We can review:
the judgment → original claim → service history → address history → proposed defence → promptness → enforcement position → appropriate application.
We can then advise whether there may be grounds to make an application under CPR 13.2, CPR 13.3 or both, together with any application for a stay of enforcement where appropriate.
Early advice can be particularly important where a judgment has only recently been discovered or enforcement is underway.
Knights & Shah Solicitors advises clients across England and Wales, and most initial consultations can be dealt with remotely.
Contact our Civil Litigation team today to discuss your CCJ set aside application and the next steps.
Visit
Top UK Solicitors in Housing Law & Civil Litigation - Defending Your Rights Effectively
Qualified Attorneys Dedicated to Your Rights – Expert Legal Support You Can Trust
Proven Success in Defending Your Rights and Achieving Justice
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
