Understanding Bailiffs
11th October 2019.
James Salmon, Operations Director.
What is a bailiff?
The proper name for bailiffs now is the official designation enforcement agents. However, most of us still refer to them as bailiffs.
A bailiff or enforcement agent has legal powers to collect a debt. Some bailiffs work on behalf of private companies, some are self-employed and some work for local authorities.
Bailiffs collect things such as County Court judgments (CCJs), council tax arrears, parking fines, and child maintenance arrears.
In most cases, a bailiff can only be sent to your property after court action – either via magistrates’ court, High Court or County Court, depending on the debt – has been taken. The exception is HM Revenue & Customs, who can use bailiffs without taking you to court first.
Even then, a bailiff only typically gets involved if you’ve ignored correspondence from the court or failed to set up a payment everyone can agree on.
Bailiffs have a legal right to visit your property, and to remove and sell your goods to pay off a debt. These powers mean that these kinds of debts are more of a priority to stay on top of than other debts.
Bailiffs can only visit you after they’ve sent you a letter to let you know they’ll be coming.
This letter is called a notice of enforcement and should be received seven clear days before the visit.
Allowing for weekends, this means you should have a minimum of 9-10 days to either pay the debt in full or come to an arrangement to repay the debt in instalments. If you don’t do this, the bailiff will visit.
See our previous post on Bailiffs
Bailiffs and Business Debts
In contract to personal debts or visits to home addresses, county court bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers can break into business premises.
If you or your business owes tax, a court order is not needed before a bailiff can visit to try and take control of goods.
If you have a business premises, bailiffs can call to try to take control of goods.
If your limited company owes money, the bailiff can take control of any goods or assets that belong to the limited company.
They are allowed to take control of goods that will raise enough money to cover the debt plus any interest that may have been added, as well as the bailiff’s fees. Your goods will usually be sold at auction.
The bailiff may not take your goods away on the first visit.
Their goal is to get you to pay your debt. It’s much easier for them if you simply pay the money, whether that be in full or in instalments, rather than them taking your goods and then having to sell them.
On a first visit, they will inspect your home or premises and draw up a list of assets that they believe at auction will cover the value of the debt.
Remember, they can also include items that are outside your home or premises that belong to you or the business, such as a car.
The items on this list will become controlled goods, meaning you can’t sell them, remove them or give them away.
Rather than taking the controlled goods away, the bailiff may secure them at your property or you may be able to carry on using them whilst you pay off the debt under a Controlled Goods Agreement. However, if you miss any payments, they will come back and take those goods away.
If the bailiff has been into your home or business premises, taken control of your goods properly and you have not kept to any agreement you made with them, they usually have the right to return and take your goods. There are goods that bailiffs should not take, such as essential household items or items that belong to someone else.
For sole traders, business debts are treated the same as personal debts. From your home, bailiffs can take any items that belong to you, any jointly-owned items, any cash, cheques, or other monetary items you may have such as bonds or pawn tickets.
They can’t take any items that are leased or on hire-purchase or any items that belong to somebody else or a child.
There are exemptions which include anything considered essential for basic domestic needs, such as a cooker, washing machine or furniture.
They can however take non-essential items such as a dishwasher or a games console. Items used personally for either work, study or education such as books, tools and computers are also exempt, but only up to a value of £1350.
For a limited company, a bailiff can only take items that belong to the company, and not goods that are leased or on hire-purchase.
As a limited company is a separate legal entity, a director won’t be pursued personally unless they have signed personal guarantees. Bailiffs can take money, stock, office equipment or machinery.
This can be extremely damaging for a company and could force them out of business, so if you receive notice from a bailiff, it is important to act quickly to either settle the debt or seek professional advice.
Keep calm and don’t be intimidated. Getting angry or fighting with a bailiff will make the situation worse.
What you can do when a bailiff visits
A bailiff (‘enforcement agent’) may visit your home if you do not pay your debts – such as Council Tax bills, parking fines, court fines and county court or family court judgments.
This will happen if you ignore letters saying that bailiffs will be used.
You might be arrested if you do not pay criminal debts, such as fines or penalty notices.
A bailiff may also visit your home for other reasons, for example to serve court documents or give notices and summons.
There are different kinds of bailiffs, known as:
- ‘certificated enforcement agents’
- ‘high court enforcement officers’
- ‘county court and family court bailiffs’
- ‘civilian enforcement officers’
Bailiffs must usually give you at least 7 days’ notice of their first visit.
Pay what you owe before a bailiff visits
If you think a bailiff might visit you to collect debts, you can stop this by paying the money you owe. Get advice about how to pay your debt from whoever you owe money to as soon as possible.
You’ll have to pay the person or business you owe the money to, or their solicitor. The name and address will be on the judgment form. Do not pay the court.
Make sure you can prove you’ve paid. Send a cheque or postal order by post, or make a bank transfer. Do not send cash through the post.
Keep a record of your payments and make sure you pay in time.
Pay in installments
If you’re paying in installments, ask the person or business you owe the money to about the best way to pay.
You may want to set up a standing order to pay the money directly from your bank account.
If you’re late with your payments, you could be taken back to court and you may have to pay extra costs.
How to negotiate settlement
You may be able to stop the bailiff from visiting, by filling in the N245 application form.
Say on the form how you’ll repay the money – for example weekly or monthly payments.
If your offer is accepted, the warrant will be stopped as long as you keep up with the payments.
If you have other judgments or debts
If you have another judgment against you, you can arrange to pay all your debts to the court in a single weekly or monthly payment.
This will stop people taking action against you to get their money – for example by sending bailiffs to your home.
You can only do this if your total debts are under £5,000.
Dealing with bailiffs
You usually do not have to open your door to a bailiff or let them in.
Bailiffs cannot enter your home:
- by force, for example by pushing past you
- if only children under 16 or vulnerable people (with disabilities, for example) are present
- between 9pm and 6am
- through anything except the door
Bailiffs are allowed to force their way into your home to collect unpaid criminal fines, Income Tax or Stamp Duty, but only as a last resort.
If you do not let a bailiff in or agree to pay them:
- they could take things from outside your home, for example your car
- you could end up owing even more money
If you do let a bailiff in but do not pay them they may take some of your belongings. They could sell the items to pay debts and cover their fees.
Check the bailiff’s identity
Before you let a bailiff in to take your things or pay them, ask to see:
- proof of their identity, such as a badge, ID card or enforcement agent certificate
- which company they’re from
- a telephone contact number
- a detailed breakdown of the amount owed
You can ask for proof of a bailiff’s identity and authorisation even if they’ve visited before – for example, ask them to put it through the letterbox or show it at the window.
All bailiffs must have a certificate unless they’re exempt or they’re with someone who does have a certificate.
Anyone who claims to be a bailiff and isn’t one is committing fraud.
To check a bailiff’s identity, find out what kind of bailiff they are from their proof of identity and then:
Paying a bailiff
You can pay the bailiff on the doorstep – you do not have to let them into your home.
Make sure you get a receipt to prove you’ve paid.
If you cannot pay all the money right away, speak to the bailiff about how you could pay the money back.
Offer to pay what you can afford in weekly or monthly payments.
The bailiff does not have to accept your offer.
What bailiffs can and cannot take
If you let a bailiff into your home, they may take some of your belongings to sell.
Bailiffs can take luxury items, for example a TV or games console.
They cannot take:
- things you need, such as your clothes, cooker or fridge
- work tools and equipment which together are worth less than £1,350
- someone else’s belongings, such as your partner’s computer
You’ll have to prove that someone else’s goods do not belong to you.
What bailiffs can charge
Bailiffs will add a fee to the debt for the work they do.
How much you will be charged depends on the situation. Citizens Advice has information on bailiff’s fees.
Some bailiffs (such as high court enforcement officers) will be VAT registered add VAT to their fees.
Can the police help bailiffs?
The police can only help a bailiff do their job in very limited circumstances.
This is allowed if:
- The bailiff is enforcing a High Court writ of control
- The bailiff has applied to the court for a warrant to force entry and the court has agreed that the police can help with this
The police can’t help the bailiff in any other circumstances.
The police may attend with a bailiff to make sure there’s no disturbance. They have to remain impartial and they can’t help the bailiff.
Once a bailiff has made a list of your goods and taken them into control you can also be arrested if you hide, remove or deliberately damage any of these goods.
If you act in a threatening or aggressive manner you could be arrested. The bailiff could also be arrested if they act like this. You can also be arrested if you ‘obstruct’ a bailiff, for example by physically stopping them from removing goods.
You can’t be arrested for refusing entry to a bailiff if they’ve not already been in and made a list of goods.
Can I be contacted by bailiffs when I’m on an IVA?
If you receive any threatening debt enforcement action, such as from bailiffs or about a County Court judgment (CCJ), you should contact us or your IVA supervisor as soon as possible. Find out moreabout being contacted by creditors on an IVA.
Is it like on TV?
TV shows about bailiffs often focus on business debts or repossessions of homes or vehicles. This is because they have a legal right to break into property in these cases. For most types of debt, they don’t have a right to break in.
The reality is that bailiffs spend a lot of their time knocking on doors and making payment arrangements. This doesn’t make very interesting TV. Viewers are more likely to be interested in emotional or confrontational situations, even though these are not as common in reality.
Of course dealing with bailiffs will never be a pleasant experience, but the situations depicted in TV soaps and documentaries often make it look a lot worse.
Help or advice
You can get free help or advice on dealing with bailiffs from:
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