A final charging order does not sell your home. To force a sale, a creditor has to bring a second, separate court claim, and you have the right to respond to it.
This is general information about orders for sale in England and Wales. It is not personal financial advice or regulated debt advice.
Quick answer
An order for sale is a court order that a property be sold so that a debt secured by a charging order can be paid. It comes after a final charging order, and the court decides whether to make it. A creditor cannot get one for a Consumer Credit Act debt of less than £1,000, and cannot enforce the charge while you keep to the instalments of your county court judgment. If you receive a claim, you have 14 days to file an acknowledgment of service, or you may not be allowed to take part in the hearing. The court weighs who lives in the home, including children, and whether the debt can be paid another way. The free witness statement template is further down.
The road to an order for sale, and what you can do at each step
| Stage | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Charging order Interim, then final | Object within 28 days, offer payments, and ask for conditions such as no sale while you keep to the instalments. |
| Order for sale claim A separate claim under Part 8 | Read the creditor’s evidence and check the figures. |
| Acknowledgment of service 14 days after the claim is served | File it and send a copy to the creditor, saying you contest the claim. |
| Hearing | Give your witness statement and financial statement. Ask the court to refuse, postpone or suspend the sale. |
| If an order is made | Ask for conditions, and ask to suspend a warrant of possession on payment terms. |
Prefer to watch instead? This video covers the main points from this guide, including what an order for sale is, how it follows a charging order, what the court may consider, and what to check if papers arrive.
A sale is a separate claim, and the court decides
A charging order ties a debt to your property. It does not, by itself, sell anything. If the creditor wants a sale, it must start a new claim.
Civil Procedure Rules, rule 73.10C (verbatim)
“(1) … the court may, on a claim by a person who has obtained a charging order over an interest in property, order the sale of the property to enforce the charging order. … (4) The claimant must use the Part 8 procedure. (5) A copy of the charging order must be filed with the claim form.”
Source: justice.gov.uk, CPR Part 73
In plain English: the court “may” order a sale. It is a decision the judge makes on the evidence, not a formality, and you can take part.
Most orders for sale are brought by creditors with a charging order. They can also be asked for by a trustee in bankruptcy (see below), or by a co-owner who wants a jointly owned property sold.
When a creditor cannot force a sale
Two rules stop many claims before they start.
1. You are keeping to your CCJ instalments. Where the court ordered you to pay a judgment by instalments, the Charging Orders Act says:
Charging Orders Act 1979, section 3(4C) (verbatim)
“The charge may not be enforced unless there has been default in payment of an instalment under the instalments order.”
Source: legislation.gov.uk
In plain English: while you pay every instalment the court set, the creditor cannot use the charge to force a sale. If you are struggling to keep up, ask the court to lower the instalments on form N245 before you miss one, rather than after.
2. The debt is a Consumer Credit Act debt of less than £1,000. For judgments on regulated credit agreements (most credit cards, loans, catalogues and overdrafts), the charge “may not be enforced by way of order for sale to recover an amount which is less than £1,000” (Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2013, regulations 2 and 3). There is no such floor for other debts, so do not assume it applies to everything.
The 14-day step that keeps your voice in court
The claim pack includes an acknowledgment of service. This is where you tell the court you contest the claim.
Civil Procedure Rules, rules 8.3 and 8.4 (verbatim)
“The defendant must – (a) file an acknowledgment of service in the relevant practice form not more than 14 days after service of the claim form; and (b) serve the acknowledgment of service on the claimant and any other party.”
“The defendant may attend the hearing of the claim but may not take part in the hearing unless the court gives permission.”
Source: justice.gov.uk, CPR Part 8 (the second quote applies if you do not file an acknowledgment of service)
In plain English: file it within 14 days, send a copy to the creditor, and keep proof of both. Contesting the claim includes asking the court to postpone or suspend a sale, so file it even if you accept you owe the money.
The hearing is about whether the property should be sold, not about whether you owed the original debt. If the judgment itself was wrong, that is a separate application to set it aside, and it should be made promptly.
Check the creditor’s evidence
The creditor has to support the claim with written evidence. Under Practice Direction 73, paragraph 4.3, it must:
- identify the charging order and the property;
- state the amount the charge was for, and the amount due now;
- verify, so far as known, who owns the property;
- list any other creditors with an earlier charge, such as your mortgage lender, and how much each is owed;
- give an estimate of the price the property would sell for;
- give details of everyone it knows is living in the property;
- for a home, say whether a spouse’s or civil partner’s home rights are registered, and if so, serve them with the claim.
Check every figure. A wrong balance, a missing occupant, or a mortgage that would leave little or nothing for the creditor after a sale are all points to raise in your witness statement.
Follow the money: who gains from a sale
The creditor must list your mortgage and any other earlier charges, and how much is owed on them (paragraph 4.3(4)). A sale only helps a charging creditor if there is equity left after those are cleared, and the costs of the claim are added to what you owe.
In plain English: a forced sale can cost you your home to repay an unsecured debt that is often much smaller than the property’s value, and the costs of getting there come out of your share. That is why the court looks at whether the debt can be paid another way, and why a realistic payment offer matters so much.
Free template
Witness statement opposing or postponing an order for sale
Copied. Or skip the posting and the follow-ups: hand it all over to us.
Use this as the basis of your witness statement. Fill in the court, claim number and parties exactly as they appear on the claim form, replace everything in brackets, and attach your financial statement. File it at the court and send a copy to the creditor. Prefer to print it? Download the PDF.
In the County Court at [court name]
Claim number: [claim number]
[Creditor’s name], Claimant
[Your name], Defendant
Witness statement of [your full name]
I, [your full name], of [your address], am the Defendant. I make this statement in response to the claim for an order for sale of [the property address].
1. Who lives in the property. I live here with [the names and ages of everyone else here, including children and anyone with a health condition or disability].
2. The property and the debt. The charging order is for £[amount]. The property is worth about £[value], and £[amount] is owed on the mortgage to [lender]. [If the creditor’s figures are wrong, say which and why.]
3. Why a sale would be disproportionate. [The effect of a sale on where your family would live, schools, care, health and work, compared with the size of the debt.]
4. Joint ownership. [If the property is jointly owned: who owns it, why it was bought and what it is used for, and the welfare of any children who live there. Delete this paragraph if it does not apply.]
5. My payment proposal. I attach a financial statement. I can pay £[amount] a month towards the debt, starting on [date]. [I have kept to the instalments ordered on [date].]
6. What I ask the court to do. I ask the court to dismiss the claim. If the court is minded to make an order, I ask that it be postponed until [date or event], or suspended for as long as I pay £[amount] a month.
Statement of truth
I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.
Signed: [signature] Date: [date]
Or hand it all over
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Only include facts you know to be true. The statement of truth wording comes from Practice Direction 22, paragraph 2.2.
Joint owners and children: what the court must consider
Where a property is jointly owned, a creditor (or a co-owner) applies to the court under section 14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. The court then has to look at specific factors:
Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, section 15(1) (verbatim)
“The matters to which the court is to have regard in determining an application for an order under section 14 include— (a) the intentions of the person or persons (if any) who created the trust, (b) the purposes for which the property subject to the trust is held, (c) the welfare of any minor who occupies or might reasonably be expected to occupy any land subject to the trust as his home, and (d) the interests of any secured creditor of any beneficiary.”
Source: legislation.gov.uk
In plain English: why the home was bought, what it is used for, and the welfare of any children living there all count. None of these is a guaranteed bar to a sale, but each should be set out with evidence, not mentioned in passing. Every joint owner should respond to the claim and, if there is a hearing, attend.
If you are bankrupt: a different test
If the person asking for a sale is a trustee in bankruptcy, the Insolvency Act applies instead.
Insolvency Act 1986, section 335A(2) and (3) (verbatim)
“the court shall make such order as it thinks just and reasonable having regard to— (a) the interests of the bankrupt’s creditors; (b) where the application is made in respect of land which includes a dwelling house which is or has been the home of the bankrupt or the bankrupt’s spouse or civil partner or former spouse or former civil partner— (i) the conduct of the spouse, civil partner, former spouse or former civil partner, so far as contributing to the bankruptcy, (ii) the needs and financial resources of the spouse, civil partner, former spouse or former civil partner, and (iii) the needs of any children; and (c) all the circumstances of the case other than the needs of the bankrupt.”
“Where such an application is made after the end of the period of one year beginning with the first vesting … of the bankrupt’s estate in a trustee, the court shall assume, unless the circumstances of the case are exceptional, that the interests of the bankrupt’s creditors outweigh all other considerations.”
Source: legislation.gov.uk
In plain English: in the first year, the court balances everyone’s interests. After a year, the starting point is that the creditors come first, unless the situation is exceptional.
Two more rules apply. If the trustee does not deal with the home within three years of the bankruptcy, it normally returns to you (section 283A). The court must also refuse a trustee’s application where your interest in the home is worth less than a minimum value set in regulations (section 313A). Bankruptcy has serious consequences for your home: read Can I keep my home in bankruptcy? before considering it.
Before it gets this far
The best protection against an order for sale is usually built earlier.
- Ask for conditions on the charging order. A charging order “may be made either absolutely or subject to conditions … as to the time when the charge is to become enforceable” (Charging Orders Act 1979, section 3(1)). For example, that it cannot be enforced while you keep to agreed payments.
- Ask to vary or discharge the charging order. The court “may at any time” discharge or vary it on your application (section 3(5)), for example once the debt is paid or your circumstances change. Use form N244.
- Keep to your instalments, and ask to lower them on form N245 before you fall behind.
- Hold firms to the FCA rules. A lender or debt collector covered by the FCA must not apply for an order for sale “without first having fully explored any more proportionate options” (CONC 7.3.14R). If a firm threatens a sale to pressure you into paying more than you can afford, keep the letter: it may be the basis of a complaint.
Our article on charging orders covers the earlier stage, including a free objection template.
If an order for sale is made
An order is not the same as losing your home that week. The court can attach conditions, including postponing the sale until a future date or suspending the order on terms, such as regular payments. If a date for possession passes and the creditor applies for a warrant of possession, you can apply on form N244 to suspend the warrant, with a witness statement and your payment proposal.
If you are in debt
A charging order and an order for sale are enforcement steps for a debt you can often deal with in affordable instalments. The court looks at what you can realistically pay and whether the debt can be cleared another way. So the most useful thing you can do is get your budget right, protect your priority bills (rent or mortgage, council tax, energy), and offer what is genuinely left. The free Budget Planner gives you the financial statement the court asks for.
Order for sale papers?
Talk through your next step in 10 minutes
A private 10-minute call with The Real Debt Guy to look at where you are in the process and what to do before the deadline. Prefer to start on your own? The free Budget Planner gives you the figures the court asks for.
Book a Clarity CallYour checklist
- Find the date the claim was served, and count 14 days.
- File the acknowledgment of service and send a copy to the creditor, saying you contest the claim.
- Read the creditor’s evidence: the balance, your mortgage, the estimated price, and who lives there.
- Check the two protections: have you kept to your CCJ instalments, and is the debt a Consumer Credit Act debt under £1,000?
- Do your budget with the free Budget Planner, and attach the financial statement.
- Write your witness statement using the template: who lives there, why a sale would be disproportionate, and your payment proposal.
- If the property is jointly owned, make sure every owner responds and attends.
- Ask the court to dismiss the claim, or to postpone or suspend any sale on terms.
- Keep copies of everything you file and send, with proof of service.
FAQs
Does a charging order mean I have to sell my home?
No. A charging order secures the debt against your property. To force a sale, the creditor has to bring a separate claim for an order for sale, and the court decides whether to make one.
Can they force a sale if I am paying my instalments?
Not while you keep to them. Where the court ordered you to pay the judgment by instalments, the charge may not be enforced unless you miss an instalment (Charging Orders Act 1979, section 3(4C)).
How much do I have to owe before a creditor can force a sale?
For a Consumer Credit Act debt, at least £1,000. There is no minimum for other debts.
What is the deadline once I receive the claim?
File an acknowledgment of service no more than 14 days after the claim is served, and send a copy to the creditor. If you do not, you may attend the hearing but cannot take part without the court’s permission.
Will the court decide whether I owe the money?
No. The hearing is about whether the property should be sold. To challenge the original judgment, you would apply separately to set it aside.
Does having children stop a sale?
Not by itself. For jointly owned homes the court must have regard to the welfare of any child who lives there, and in bankruptcy cases to the needs of any children. Set it out with evidence.
Can I ask the court to delay the sale?
Yes. You can ask the court to postpone the sale until a future date, or to suspend it on terms such as regular payments.
Can a charging order be removed?
You can ask the court to vary or discharge it at any time, for example once the debt is paid (Charging Orders Act 1979, section 3(5)), using form N244.
What if a trustee in bankruptcy is asking for the sale?
A different test applies. In the first year, the court balances everyone’s interests. After a year, it assumes the creditors’ interests come first unless the circumstances are exceptional (Insolvency Act 1986, section 335A).
