The end of bailiffs
New laws mean mean big differences to the way 'enforcement agents' - the replacements for bailiffs - can collect debts.
Bailiffs have been around so long that even the oldest law in England, the 1267 Statute of Marlborough, concerns stopping them from taking too much property! Sadly, bailiff law is old and archaic with terms such as ‘warrant of execution’ still much in use today.
From 6th April in England and Wales the laws concerning bailiffs changes forever (though not in Scotland or Northern Ireland as thankfully their laws on bailiffs are nowhere near as convoluted). This means that bailiffs themselves won’t exist anymore. Instead they’ll become rather softer sounding ‘enforcement agents’.
Bailiffs get the boot
Other changes to the law and process surrounding ‘enforcement agents’ include the following:
- No more surprise visits. You’ll now get at least a week’s notice before the first visit from an enforcement agent
- When they do visit a property, they have to leave a letter explaining clearly what they’ve done
- They can still use force to enter when they’re collecting criminal fines or tax debts, but they’ll need to ask a judge for permission first
- If an enforcement agent has been into your house and made a list of goods, they can use force to enter again if you don’t pay them
- They won’t be allowed to climb in through your window to enter your property
- The law also stops them coming in if only children or vulnerable adults are in the house
They still can’t force their way into your house. It’s still illegal for them to break anything, put their foot in the door or push past you to get in.
What can they take?
Enforcement agents can take goods you own, and goods you jointly own with someone else. They must leave essential household items such as your fridge, phone and washing machine.
They have the power to take goods immediately but they’re unlikely to do this. Instead they’ll ask that you start making payments towards the debt.
Enforcement agents also have the new power to seize goods and lock them away in your own property – the most likely use of this law is to lock and secure vehicles in your own garage.
How much can they charge?
Fees are a big worry for anyone when enforcement agents call. Until now there were different fees for each type of debt, with many of these dependent on what an enforcement agent thought was ‘reasonable’.
The new fees are easier to understand. There’ll just be two lists of fees with the amounts fixed in law, so there’s no room for enforcement agents to overcharge. You can probably guess the bad news – in many cases the fees will be significantly higher.
New bailiff regulation
This new regulation has been sixteen years in the making. One thing that hasn’t changed is that if you get a visit or a letter from an enforcement agent you should seek free and impartial debt advice straight away. You can do this by contacting us our online using our confidential Debt Remedy tool.
More on debt:
Huge jump in number of people struggling to pay Council Tax
Why the payday loan industry needs cleaning up now
Six dangerous ways to borrow
Logbook loans: the loan that could cost you your car
Six signs you're caught in a debt spiral
What to do if your children are in debt
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Comments
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@ Jack0757 "did you know you cant build a church in a muslim country or hang a pig in a butcher in this country" I'm not sure of the relevance of this comment to the article but the bit about building churches in muslim countires is wrong and a quick google will confirm it for you. At the end of the day if people owe money (and this has happened by whatever means) they need to pay it back. Complaining about other people recieving handouts doesn't absolve them from their responsabilities.
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Well DaveK1020 my son has had first hand experience of bailiffs he is married with 3 kids, never had a day off work in his life but has always struggled on a low wage he has lived next door to people on the dole getting more in benefits than he was taking home for a full weeks work he got little or no help from the system and got into bother with council tax and was too proud to ask his family for help the bailiffs started the threats and it went to court and more was added to the debt and the bailiffs got snotty and would not be flexible in any way, they used bully tactics and threats i do agree some are not the most savoury of clients but to heap all in one pile is part of the problem with this country. if we looked after our own first the country would not be in the state it is in we send aid to most of the planet and then take them in and give them homes,dole money, health care, mobile phones and pander to them in every way we can and sod those who were born here did you know you cant build a church in a muslim country or hang a pig in a butcher in this country
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How sad, all this is doing is siding with the criminal and dishonest to ensure that they get away with everything. The talk is as if the bailiffs are the bad people but it is the person they are visiting that is the one in the wrong and for money it is due to the dishonest way they live. How ridiculous that they now have to give a weeks notice. If someone did that to me I would remove all the valuable property so that their visit was worthless. What is the next step, the police having to give advanced notice of their arrival so that they have a chance to move drugs, stolen property, evidence or whatever to another location? We are soft in this country and getting softer.
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04 April 2014