A DEBT Recovery and Enforcement Act has still not been implemented nine months after being given Royal Assent after hitting an ‘impasse’, the House of Keys heard.
Douglas North MHK John Houghton sought leave to introduce a second private members’ bill to address an issue that had arisen with an earlier bill he had championed.
The Debt Recovery and Enforcement Act, which was given Royal Assent in February, aims to permit licensed debt collectors to pursue debtors who have judgments and executions awarded against them in the courts.
When this act finally goes live, debt collectors will be permitted to pursue and recover warrants issued by the Treasury.
The act is reliant on the existing judgements register, to which licensed debt collectors and coroners must refer to obtain the necessary information about the ‘pecking order’ of creditors and whether certain debtor’s assets are subject to the Preferential Payments Act, Mr Houghton told the Keys.
But he added: ‘Unfortunately, it has since come to light that the current judgments register does not have the vires to contain the amalgamated information required and for public access, and to act as the appropriate tool to provide interested parties with the all-encompassing information required to effect the appropriate distribution of recovered debt.’
Mr Houghton said he was seeking leave to bring a new bill to ‘bridge this impasse’ by creating a register of civil judgments and executions which would include any other warrant issued by Treasury. This will be known as the Debtors’ Register.
He apologised to members who had been ‘eagerly awaiting’ the implementation of the act.
He said, if given the support of members, he hoped to introduce a bill in the Keys as soon as possible as the behind the scenes preparation was almost complete and due to its nature would not require to be consulted upon before its introduction.
Brenda Cannell (Douglas East) asked if the need to bridge the impasse was a consequence of the original bill being ‘short or lacking’ and this problem had been spotted by someone outside the Keys.
Mr Houghton replied that it had been envisaged that the Act would be ‘bolted on’ to the existing judgments register but it had come to light that there had been major problems. He said there needed to be a central register that could be accessed by everyone who needed to pursue debts.
He said a similar register operated in the UK.
The House of Keys unanimously voted to give Mr Houghton leave to introduce his new private member’s bill.