如果从无法预料的法院判决中保护您的信誉
您的信誉受到威胁吗？
可能在您不知情的情况下，您在英国的借贷信誉已受到损害。
自2020年英国政府封锁以来，多个个人和企业联系我们处理他们的案子，他们在完全不知情的情况下，法院对他们进行了判决登记，当他们被告知时已太晚，从而无法将他们从登记册中消除。由于疫情，有的企业放弃英国的业务或者因为疫情导致的双方之间的交流中断，一些企业没有直接收到付款要求或付款发票，但发现时已到了法院判决阶段。
问题是即使您还清了判决债务，也可能无法将其从信誉报告中删除。这将影响您将来在英国借贷和开展业务的能力。除非在收到判决后30天内全额付款，否则不良记录将在您的信用记录，命令和罚款记录中。该记录将保留六年，这可能严重影响您将来申请房屋按揭抵押，信用卡甚至银行帐户。
如何处理
在这种情况下，最好的解决方法是与对方谈判达成协议，并通过同意令将判决从您的记录中删除。 在我们的经验中，大多数债权人都同意这样做， 可能要向他们支付一些额外的费用，因为毕竟他们不希望实际影响您的信用评分。 那么同意书提交给法官批准后，在大多数情况下，法院也不愿意介入当事人双方的协议，因此法院通过同意令批准撤消判决。
但是在某些情况下，尤其是在判决债务价值很高的情况下，判决债务人最好通过汤姆林令（Tomlin Order）获得债权人的同意以撤销判决。 汤姆林令（Tomlin Order）以机密明细表保密和解细节，例如支付判决债务和额外的和解费。 虽然法官可能有权使用该明细表，但从技术上讲，法院在批准该命令的决定中不会考虑明细表的内容。 因此，法官不太可能质疑是否可以和为什么要将判决从登记册中删除。
下一步是应与主要的信贷机构联系，并在适当的情况下，按照信贷机构的规定程序申请从您的信贷报告中删除判断。
联系我们
我们已帮助我们客户与债权人谈判达成和解协议，以从法院登记簿中撤消判决，并迅速有效地清除不良的信用记录。 我们在撤销判决和同信用咨询机构交涉以恢复您的信誉有足够的经验和实践。
如果您有任何疑虑，请与我们的律师Michael Chan和Tara Radakrishnan联系。
Gazumping- What is that , is it legal and how to avoid it?
How to avoid being gazumped – an essential guide to the first time buyers
In simple terms, Gazumping is when a vendor has accepted an offer from a potential buyer but later sells to another buyer.
Although it may seem like a very ‘illegal’ thing to do, Gazumping is very much legal. The conveyancing process is a two stage legal process: exchange and completion and until contracts are exchanged, the transaction is not binding.
This means that either party can walk away from the transaction before contracts are exchanged with no legal implication.
Unfortunately, this also means that if you have been gazumped at a pre-exchange stage then you will be left to pay a legal bill for all pre-exchange work conducted by your solicitors.
There are many reasons that a vendor may sell his/her property to another party although your offer had been accepted, but we find the most common reasons to be:
1. The seller has accepted a higher offer for the property
2. The vendors solicitors are experiencing delays with your solicitors
3. You do not have your finances in hand
How to prevent being gazumped
In order to prevent being Gazumped, we suggest the following top tips to bear in mind:
1. Speak to the estate agent to get an idea of how popular the property is
If you have had viewed the property and are quite keen to purchase the property then estate agents will be able to advise you on how popular the property is and whether the buyer is likely to receive offers under or over the asking price. If the property is struggling on the market then there is a good chance that the vendor will accept an offer under the asking price and will be keen to sell this to you. If however, the property is gaining a lot of interest, then it is worth you making a competitive offer to ensure that you are not gazumped for a higher offer at a later stage.
2. Be transparent from the outset about your finances and timescales by which you intend to complete the purchase
We find that vendors become frustrated during the conveyancing process when prospective purchasers avoid confirming their finances from the outset i.e. cash purchase, mortgage or chain transaction. It is therefore very important that you let your solicitors know how you are funding the purchase from the outset so that all parties can aim for a realistic completion date.
If you are having trouble with finances for any reason, then it is best that you disclose this as soon as possible. In some cases, if the delay is only by a few weeks then the vendor may empathise and may be willing to extend the completion target date. If however, you do not disclose your financial hiccups and the vendor feels that you are time wasting, then it is very likely he will sell the property to another party.
3. Secure a mortgage offer in principal
If you are keen on purchasing a new property then it is worth contacting a mortgage lender to provide you with a mortgage offer in principle before property hunting, to ensure that you can book a survey in as soon as your offer to purchase has been accepted. This will show the vendor that you are serious about the purchase and it will make a good impression.
4. Ask for the property to be taken off the market
You could ask the vendor to take the property off the market as part of acceptance of your offer.
5. Ask your solicitors to draft a lock-in-agreement / exclusivity agreement
If the property you have viewed is one that you cannot bear to lose then you could ask your solicitors to draft an agreement to prevent the vendor from entertaining other offers for a fixed period of time i.e. 4 weeks. Of course, you would incur additional legal fees as this is not a standard conveyancing document, but at least this would provide you with peace of mind to have a survey booked or to secure your finances without the threat of being gazumped.
6. Obtain insurance
Some specialist insurance providers will offer insurance to cover legal, survey and mortgage lending costs should a purchase fall through. It will not prevent you from being gazumped, but it will at least help you to minimise your losses in the event unfortunate event that you are.
If you would like to instruct our conveyancing team for a residential or commercial sale/purchase, please do not hesitate to call our offices or email us at conveyancing@cnsolicitors.com.
New Account Freezing Order legislation: Private Foreign Currency Exchange Service and its legal impl
你的银行账户被冻结了吗？你有收到冻结帐户的出庭通知书吗？你想知道发生什么事情和其潜在的法律后果吗？
On 28th February 2019, The UK’s National Crime Agency froze 95 Barclays’ bank accounts, mainly held by Chinese students studying in the United Kingdom. These accounts contain an estimate of £3.6 million that is suspected to be from proceeds of crime or intended to be used for criminal purposes. Accounts will be frozen for 9 months for the purpose of subsequent money laundering investigations conducted by the National Economic Crime Centre’s officer.
于2019年2月28日，英国国家打击犯罪调查局(NCA)冻结了95个Barclays银行账户，这些账户大多数都是由英国留学生持有，被冻结的资金总额高达360万英镑。因为调查局有理由怀疑这些留学生的银行账户的资金是用作洗黑钱，所以账户都会被法庭下令冻结9个月，以便国家经济犯罪调查中心(NECC)人员进行调查。
Why did the authorities freeze my account?
为什么我的帐户被冻结？
A lot of Chinese student received letters from enforcement authorities, such as the City of London Police and the HM Revenue & Customs, confirming there was an Account Freezing Order (AFO) application against their bank accounts and a hearing was scheduled. Subsequently, these bank accounts would be frozen for nine months. These bank account users have one similarity: they frequently used Private Foreign Currency Exchange Service to exchange for pounds.
很多中国留学生都收到地方当局(比如伦敦警察局和英国税务局)的来信，说要冻结他们的帐户9个月，还要出庭。这些中国留学生都有一个共同点，就是他们都有使用私人换汇换英镑的习惯。
As the People’s Republic of China’s authorities implement regulations to limit the exchange of foreign currency from Renminbi, Chinese students are tempted to use Private Foreign Currency Exchange Service to exchange pounds. Chinese students perceive these private currency exchange service more convenient to use and it offers a slightly better exchange rate as incentives than banks’ service. Why not?
由于中国实行外汇管制措施，每年每人只能以人民币兑换一定限额的英镑。所以留学生都会觉得，比起银行换汇，私人换汇更方便快捷，还有稍微的汇率优势，那何乐而不为呢？
Private Currency Exchange Service is well-known and frequently used by the Chinese communities in the UK. These currency exchange service companies operate by sourcing Chinese customers on communications platforms such as Wechat and Alipay. The currency exchange service providers register an account on such communication platform and appear as a Universities’ alumni or some status that sounds credible in the group chat to attract Chinese customers. Chinese customers who want to use the private exchange service will simply have to contact the person they ‘met’ on the communication platform and agree with their exchange rate, the transaction can subsequently be performed. The entire private currency exchange process will take less than one day to complete while traditional currency exchange through banks may take up to 5 working days.
私人换汇已很广泛地被留学生使用。私人换汇的供应商会在社交平台上开设账户，然后自称是校友或以其他身份出现在群组内，以吸引中国留学生使用他们的换汇服务。需要使用换汇服务的顾客只需要跟供应商联系和确认当天的英镑汇率，经双方同意后，交易便可以在一天内完成。比在银行换汇所需的五个工作天更方便快捷。
However, Chinese students may not know that in the United Kingdom, strict anti-money laundering regulations are enforced on banks and institutions that perform banking activities. Any large transactions and money transfers will be subject to tracing and declaration of those source of funds.
然而，你未必知道英国多年来对银行或其他从事金融行业的服务商的监管和法律管制都是非常严格的。任何大额交易或转款都需要资金来源的证明。
Private Foreign Currency Exchange is regulated in the United Kingdom. By violating regulations through using these Private Foreign Currency Exchange service, you might have to bear the legal consequences, often not known to you at the outset.
换汇在英国也是受法律管制的。即使在你不知情的情况下使用了这些私人换汇，你也有可能需要为此负上法律责任。
The New Legislation 新法条 - Criminal Finance Act 2017
Since 31 January 2018, new enforcement power was introduced into the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by Criminal Finance Act 2017, it allows authorities to apply to Magistrates’ Court to freeze the monies in “suspicious” bank accounts or building societies account until the source of the funds can be established. Funds were either alleged to be derived from, or intended for use in, unlawful activities.
自2018年1月31日起，英国立法(Criminal Finance Act 2017)授权地方当局在合理的怀疑下向裁判法院申请冻结 “有可疑的”银行账户，直至账户持有人清楚解释资金的来源合法，账户才会被解封。相反，如果账户持有人未能解释资金的来源，则存在洗黑钱的风险。
The frequent use of Private Foreign Currency Exchange services is considered one of the activities that will make Chinese Students’ bank account looks suspicious.
私人换汇是其中一个会让留学生的银行帐户变得“有可疑”的项目。
This is because in each transaction, the currency exchange service provider will separate the total amount of pounds into several tranches before sending. The service provider will deposit each tranche of the transaction by cash into the customer’s bank account from different bank branches all over the United Kingdom. By sending in tranches and in different branches, the service provider can avoid being suspicious when paying large amount of cash into a single account in a single branch.
因为私人换汇服务商会把每一次交易的金额拆分，然后再把金额以现金方式在英国不同地区的银行分行直接存入客户的账户。服务商这样做，是为了避免一次性存入大量现金时被该银行怀疑。
When the NECC notice that there are no links between the location where cash are deposited and where the bank account holder is based, they classify this as a money laundering technique called ‘smurfing’. This constitutes a reasonable ground to suspect the source of those funds are illegitimate. Therefore, the NECC officer will subsequently apply to the Magistrates’ Court to freeze the bank account of these Chinese students for further investigations.
当国家经济犯罪调查中心发现某些账户有大量现金从英国不同地区存入，而这些地区与账户持有人的所在地有出入，调查人员将有足够理由向裁判法院申请冻结相关账户，以便他们进行洗钱调查。
What are the legal consequences?
潜在的法律后果
While the NECC is conducting the money laundering investigations, the account holder must cooperate with the authorities and give evidence with explanations. If the account holder fails to give evidence, the account holder may have to bear the legal consequence and sentence for money laundering. Not only the frozen funds will be forfeited, the criminal record may also affect any current and subsequent student visas in the UK.
在国家经济犯罪调查中心进行调查时，账户持有人必需配合他们就资金来源提交证据并作出解释。如果账户持有人未能提出任何证据让地方当局释疑，除了被冻结的账户资金被没收外，账户持有人也有机会因 “洗黑钱”而负上法律责任。留下的犯罪记录也会影响你现有和未来的签证，也影响你的一生。
What should I do next?
你应该怎么做？
When you receive the notice of AFO applications sent by the authorities, we recommend that you seek legal advice at your earliest opportunity.
如果你收到银行账户被冻结的通知，我们建议你尽早寻求律师的帮助。
Chan Neill solicitors is a leading Law Firm in the City of London and we have mandarin and Cantonese speaking lawyers and legal advisors who may be able to guide you through this difficult period. Given the increase in the number of similar cases we have been dealing with recently, our Senior Partner Mr Michael Chan whom has 25 years of experience in commercial litigations, has taken a keen interest in leading the team in dealing with AFO matters and hope to ensure we can resolve the problem for the Chinese students here in the U.K. . If you have any queries of the AFO, please do not hesitate to contact: chinadesk@cnsolicitors.com.
陈刘律师事务所是伦敦有名的律所。我们有能操流利国语和广东话的律师为你提供有关冻结账户的专业法律意见。鉴于我们现时处理账户冻结的案件数量增加，我们的高级合伙人Michael Chan(在商业诉讼方面已有25年的经验)将带领我们的律师团队为你处理有关冻结账户的事宜并全力为中国留学生辩护。如果你有银行账户冻结方面的疑问，欢迎大家咨询：chinadesk@cnsolicitors.com