Stay of Execution: Pausing a Warrant or Writ (N244/N245)

It is what buys time for a set-aside application, a repayment offer, or a genuine crisis to pass without an enforcement agent arriving in the middle of it.

This page covers stays of enforcement against goods: a county court warrant of control or a High Court writ of control, the instruments behind most judgment-debt bailiff visits. It is written for the person the enforcement is aimed at, but the same applications exist for anyone else liable to execution.

What a stay is, and what it is not

A stay suspends enforcement. The judgment survives it, the debt survives it, and interest and existing fees do not vanish because of it. When the stay ends, or if its conditions are broken, enforcement can resume. If your case is that the judgment itself should never have been entered, the stronger application is to set aside the CCJ, and a stay is then what holds the bailiffs off while that application waits for a hearing. The two are often made together, on the same form.

The legal test the court applies

The power comes from rule 83.7 of the Civil Procedure Rules, which lets the debtor, or another party liable to execution of a writ of control or a warrant, apply for a stay. The court may grant one if satisfied either:

• that "there are special circumstances which render it inexpedient to enforce the judgment or order"; or
• that "the applicant is unable from any reason to pay the money".

If either is made out, the court "may by order stay the execution of the judgment or order, either absolutely or for such period and subject to such conditions as the court thinks fit". In practice a stay on inability to pay is usually granted on terms, typically instalments the court considers you can actually keep to.

The rule has teeth on evidence: where the application is made on the grounds of inability to pay, the supporting witness statement must disclose the debtor's means. An application that pleads hardship without showing income, outgoings and what is realistically left over invites refusal.

Which form: N245 or N244

Which application you make depends on which court's instrument is being enforced, and the two forms do different jobs.

A county court warrant of control is dealt with on form N245, which HM Courts and Tribunals Service describes as being used to *"ask the court to change the amount you must pay to a person or business you owe money to, or to suspend a warrant issued by a court."* One form asks for the warrant to be suspended and puts forward instalments, with a full statement of your finances built into it. The warrant of control guide walks through the N245 step by step, including what the court decides and what happens if the creditor objects.

A High Court writ of control, the instrument used by high court enforcement officers, is not covered by the N245. There the route is an application notice on form N244 asking for a stay under rule 83.7, supported by a witness statement and your evidence of means or of the special circumstances relied on. GOV.UK describes the N244 as the form used to ask a court to set aside or vary a judgment or suspend an enforcement process. Where to file can itself need care with a transferred-up judgment, so check with the court office, or take advice, before sending it.

What to put in front of the court

Whichever form carries it, the application is decided on what you can show, and three things do most of the work:

1. A full and honest means statement. Income from every source, essential outgoings, other debts, and what that leaves. Rule 83.7 requires it where inability to pay is the ground, and a court can tell a padded budget from a real one.
2. A realistic offer. A stay on inability to pay is rarely unconditional. Offer instalments you can sustain through a bad month, not the largest number you can imagine surviving, because a broken condition usually ends the stay.
3. The special circumstances, evidenced. A pending set-aside application, serious illness in the household, a sale or insurance payment about to complete, an error in the enforcement itself. Documents beat descriptions: exhibit the application, the letter, the completion date.

Fees, and help with them

Both applications carry a court fee, and the fee should never by itself stop you applying. The Help with Fees scheme can reduce a fee or remove it entirely depending on your benefits, income and savings; you apply online or on form EX160, ideally at the same time as the application itself, and the GOV.UK pages for the scheme set out the current thresholds. Someone who qualifies for a fee remission is often exactly the person whose means statement supports a stay, so the two tend to travel together.

If enforcement is already at the door

An application is not an order, and until a judge makes one the warrant or writ remains live. If agents are attending or a sale looks imminent:

• file the application urgently and ask the court about an urgent hearing or interim order, explaining what is about to happen
• tell the enforcement firm and the creditor, in writing, that the application has been issued, with the court's sealed copy attached, and ask them to hold action pending the hearing, which reputable firms will often do
• if goods have already been removed, say so in the application, because timing can be part of the special circumstances.

What happens at the door itself, and what agents can and cannot do there, is covered in bailiffs at your door.

Debts this page does not cover

Rule 83.7 belongs to judgment enforcement. Other debts pause through other doors, and asking the wrong court wastes days you may not have:

• magistrates' court fines have their own machinery, including applications to the fines court, covered in magistrates' court fines
• council tax enforcement rests on a liability order rather than a judgment, so the pressure points are with the council itself, covered in the liability order guide
• traffic penalties registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre are unpicked with witness statements and statutory declarations, covered in the TE9 guide
• a Breathing Space moratorium, arranged through a debt adviser, can pause enforcement across several debts at once, covered in the Breathing Space guide.

After the order

Read the order carefully. A stay granted on conditions lives or dies by them: pay the instalments on the dates set, and if your circumstances collapse again, apply to vary before you miss a payment rather than after. A creditor can apply to lift a stay whose conditions have been broken, and a second application from someone who did not keep to the first is a harder sell.

If you are unsure which application fits your case, or whether your means statement is strong enough, free debt advice is available from Citizens Advice, National Debtline and StepChange, or you can get help here; initial advice is free.