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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Sale of goods - Effects of contract - Transfer of title

155: Effect of writs of execution

You could also call this:

“How the court can take someone's belongings to pay their debt”

When someone owes money and doesn’t pay, the court can issue a special document called a writ of execution. This document allows the sheriff to take the person’s belongings to pay the debt. The writ starts working as soon as the sheriff gets it.

The sheriff has to write down exactly when they received the writ. They need to write the hour, day, month, and year on the back of the document. They don’t charge any money for doing this.

Sometimes, people buy things from the person who owes money. If they buy these things honestly and pay a fair price, they can usually keep them. But if they knew about the writ when they bought the items, they might have to give them back.

In this law, the word “sheriff” doesn’t just mean the actual sheriff. It can also mean any other person whose job it is to carry out the writ of execution.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844357.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Banking and loans Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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154: Buyer in possession after sale, or

"When you buy something and sell it again before paying fully"

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156: Duties of seller and buyer, or

"Seller and buyer must follow through on their agreement"

Part 3 Sale of goods
Effects of contract: Transfer of title

155Effect of writs of execution

  1. A writ of execution against goods binds the property in the goods of the execution debtor from the time when the writ is delivered to the sheriff to be executed.

  2. To record the time when a writ of execution is delivered, the sheriff must, without fee, on receiving the writ, endorse on the back of the writ the hour, day, month, and year when he or she received it.

  3. However, no writ of execution prejudices the title to goods acquired by a person in good faith and for valuable consideration, unless, when the person acquired the person’s title, the person had notice that the writ (or any other writ under which the goods of the execution debtor might be seized or attached) had been delivered to, and remained unexecuted in the hands of, the sheriff.

  4. In this section, sheriff includes any officer charged with the enforcement of a writ of execution.

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