Cornwall High Court Recovery: Who They Really Are

Who are Cornwall High Court Recovery?

"Cornwall High Court Recovery" is a trading name used for enforcement work carried out from within Stephens Scown LLP, registered at Companies House under company number OC356696, incorporated on 23 July 2010, with its registered office at Curzon House, Southernhay West, Exeter, EX1 1RS. Stephens Scown is also authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 551582. No company called "Cornwall High Court Recovery Limited" or similar exists at Companies House; the name is not a separate legal entity.

The HCEOA member directory lists the business at Stephens Scown's Truro office, Osprey House, Malpas Road, Truro, TR1 1UT, with contact number 01872 265100, and names Philip Reed against it. Reed is a partner at Stephens Scown working in wealth protection and rural services, and separately holds the ceremonial office of Under Sheriff of Cornwall. That office once carried High Court writ enforcement duties directly, before the Courts Act 2003 transferred that function to certificated High Court Enforcement Officers, so the historic title and the modern enforcement business are related in name only, not in current legal function. The same Truro number is also given on the firm's own site for its debt recovery team, led by Toby Claridge, so this looks like one office handling both litigation and enforcement work rather than two.

A trading name, not a separate company

If a letter, a search result or a court list gives you a company number for "Cornwall High Court Recovery," it will be OC356696, because that number belongs to Stephens Scown LLP. Anyone dealing with this firm is dealing with a firm of solicitors carrying enforcement work as one strand of a wider legal practice, not a dedicated enforcement business with its own separate finances, board or complaints process. In practice, that usually still means the same statutory powers and fees apply as with any other authorised officer, unless the specific paperwork says otherwise.

Register status

Checked directly in August 2026, Stephens Scown LLP does not appear on the Enforcement Conduct Board's accredited firms register or on CIVEA's published member list. Neither absence affects the lawfulness of enforcement carried out under a High Court writ; it does change where a complaint about conduct, rather than about legal advice, should be directed, covered below.

Solicitors doing enforcement work, not ordinary bailiffs

An enforcement agent acting under a writ of control exercises the taking-control-of-goods powers set out in Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. That is a different footing from an ordinary debt collector, who has no right to enter a property or take goods without first suing and winning a judgment. Stephens Scown's own site also describes court claims, judgment enforcement and a lower-cost "DebtLink" recovery step starting from £100 plus VAT, so the same team may be involved well before enforcement is reached, not only once a writ exists.

What Cornwall High Court Recovery is instructed to collect

The "High Court" in the trading name points to money judgments transferred up for enforcement, typically County Court judgments of £600 or more under article 8 of the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991, executed under a writ of control. A commercial landlord instructing the same team for unpaid rent would instead fall under CRAR, the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery procedure created by section 74 of the 2007 Act, available only once at least seven days' rent is unpaid under section 77 and regulation 52 of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013.

What each stage costs

High Court enforcement fees are fixed by regulation, identical for every authorised officer regardless of firm:

These figures apply to instructions from 1 May 2026; an older writ may sit on the previous scale. Where several writs are held together, regulation 11 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 allows a separate £79 compliance charge for each but limits the enforcement and sale fees to one instance where the debts can reasonably be dealt with together.

Can they force entry?

Not into a home on a first visit under a writ of control. Entry has to be peaceable, through a door you choose to open or one already unlocked; there is no obligation to open it and no penalty for staying inside. Paragraph 18A of Schedule 12 allows reasonable force onto trade or business premises in narrow circumstances, and paragraph 19A allows forced re-entry once a signed controlled goods agreement has been broken. Neither provision reaches an ordinary front door on a first call.

Exempt goods, and whose property it is

Only goods belonging to the debtor named on the writ can be taken into control; something owned by a partner, flatmate or finance company is not available simply because it sits in the same building, though establishing that usually needs paperwork rather than a verbal claim. Regulation 4 of the 2013 Regulations exempts basic clothing and bedding, essential household equipment, medical and care items, pets and assistance dogs, and a vehicle displaying a valid disabled person's badge, whatever the debt. Tools of trade are protected only up to £1,350 in total.

Arranging payment, or disputing the balance

An instalment arrangement usually takes the form of a controlled goods agreement covering listed items; check every item is genuinely yours and correctly priced before signing, since breaking the agreement is what opens the paragraph 19A re-entry route. If the underlying judgment or its amount is disputed, that argument belongs with the original claimant and the court that gave judgment, not with the enforcement team; ask in writing for the writ reference, issuing court and a full fee breakdown, and say plainly that the sum is disputed.

Vulnerability, and where a complaint goes

Tell the team in writing as soon as circumstances make a visit or a fixed payment schedule difficult; illness, disability, bereavement and similar factors are all relevant and disclosure should change how the case is handled, not the underlying debt. Because this business sits inside a solicitors' firm rather than a standalone enforcement company, a conduct complaint has two possible routes rather than the single Enforcement Conduct Board stage other profiles on this site describe: the firm's own complaints procedure first, then, since Stephens Scown is SRA-regulated, the Legal Ombudsman for a complaint about the firm's professional conduct, alongside the certificating county court for a dispute over an individual agent's certificate.

What to check first

1. Note that any company number quoted will be OC356696, Stephens Scown LLP, not a separate "Cornwall High Court Recovery Ltd."
2. Identify whether the paperwork is a writ of control, a CRAR notice, or an earlier pre-enforcement letter such as DebtLink.
3. Check fees charged against the table above, applying regulation 11 if more than one writ is involved.
4. Send ownership or exemption evidence for any goods or vehicle before the next visit.
5. If you are vulnerable, say so in writing now; if the debt is disputed, raise it with the original claimant and court.