Help! There’s a Bailiff at my door!
A visit from a bailiff – to your business or home – can be a distressing experience, so it is useful to know the rights and powers that a bailiff has.
A bailiff is an authorised debt collector acting for a creditor. Anyone can be a bailiff provided they have legal authority from the creditor. Some bailiffs have certificates issued by the local county court and some work for private companies or HM Revenue & Customs.
The bailiff should have a ‘warrant’ to collect the debt that is owed. A bailiff should provide authorisation if you ask. Bailiffs should call at a ‘reasonable’ time which usually means between 8am and 8pm on a weekday.
Bailiffs do not have a right of entry into your home; that is, they cannot break in or force their way past you when you open the door (apart from some bailiffs acting for HM Revenue & Customs, but these are a rare event. If this happens, they will usually bring the police with them). However, a bailiff can use ‘peaceful entry’ – if they find a door or window open, or you let them in. Bailiffs may ask to use your phone, or ask whether you would like to discuss the debt inside. Don’t let a bailiff in to your house, no matter what the excuse they make.
You cannot go to prison for not paying most debts; but you could go to prison for non-payment of Council Tax, Maintenance or Fines. Remember that the bailiff’s fees and costs will be added to the money you owe.
If they get in, they have powers to seize any of your goods they can find inside the house. They have the power to break open doors or cupboards.
You will be charged with assault if you try and throw a bailiff out once they have gained ‘peaceful entry’.
The bailiff is unlikely to actually take your property, but they will make a list of all the items they have seen and ask you to sign a ‘walking possession’ order. This means the property now belongs to the bailiff, but they will leave it in your house. If you don’t settle the debts you owe, the bailiff can now come back at any time and collect the items – remember, they don’t belong to you any more, and you can’t prevent the bailiff from collecting them. They can and will break in to fetch the goods out of your house.
Some creditors will instruct representatives to attempt to negotiate a settlement with you on your doorstep – these are not bailiffs and have no rights of entry or seizure.
Generally, bailiffs cannot seize personal goods in a domestic property (clothes, bedding, furniture etc) bt can seize most assets at a business premises.
They cannot seize goods that so not belong to you – for example, goods on hire purchase or lease.
Mackenzie Goldberg Johnson are based in Scope House on Weston Road, Crewe. For more information, help and advice, contact Simon Atkins on 01270 212 700.