bailifs calling today

RobertoMoir

mbga9pgf wrote: »

dont open the door. wave at them through the window. call police and tell them through the letter box you have called the armed police as you suspect them to be armed and that you are in fear of your life.

Watch the scumbags run!

Why would a real bailiff run from the police then? A bailiff has no reason to avoid the police, and would in fact be quite used to working with them.

sunbeam.ti

Hi,

Thanks to all for your replies. They have not called yet; we have again contacted the debt collecting agency who have indicated to us that debt collectors will be calling to our address. They will not confirm the date or actual time as we are not the named fraudster even though it is our address that they will call at.

It is our address that has been stolen (as far as we know so far) and all of the various people who are hassling us for these debts have all been informed that this is a fraud case and have been given the police numbers that we have been told to give to them. Yet they are still intent on sending debt collectors/bailifs to our door.

The police have been very supportive and we have been told not to let anyone in and to keep all doors and windows locked as these people can enter our house via any unlocked door or window. Once they are in we are stuffed even though these are not our debts. They can take anything they want(except our food, bedding and heating or any tool if any relating to work). It is up to us then to prove that these are our items (by proof of receipt it would seem) to try and get them back if they haven't already auctioned them off for peanuts. (On investigating, it seems on average they will take approx. £500 worth of stuff from a house for every £50 worth of debt owed) We are being told that once in, debt collectors and bailifs can mark anything they want to take and if it is too big to take at that time they can legally re-enter our house at any time without our permission even if we are not there. They are able to force entry to gain access and if we try to stop them or touch them we could be taken to court ourselves for assault. Basically, if they do initially get into our house the floodgates would appear to be opened for legal theft from our house to recover debts that have been logged to our address under someone else's name.

Even though we can prove that we are not the fraudster, because it is our address being used they are coming to our address. When they do, we are told we have to ring 999.

We are seeing a solicitor and an MP on Monday.
However, even if they can help us out of this immediate problem, we may well get more debts for this address and there could well be further debt still unknown logged to this address for which we will get further problems.
It may well come to us losing everything that we have worked hard for (even our house could be at risk) or us having to move to change address, all because some thieving people (I probably can't call them what I would really like to call them) have stolen our address.
This may well be the tip of a horendous iceberg.

Feel at a total loss of control of the situation. It is having a marked effect on the whole household. We always shred our details and try to be very careful with our personal data and we have never stolen from others.

rodent

Move out ?


The Rodent

RobertoMoir

sunbeam.ti wrote: »

Hi,
Thanks to all for your replies. They have not called yet; we have again contacted the debt collecting agency who have indicated to us that debt collectors will be calling to our address. They will not confirm the date or actual time as we are not the named fraudster even though it is our address that they will call at.

It is our address that has been stolen (as far as we know so far) and all of the various people who are hassling us for these debts have all been informed that this is a fraud case and have been given the police numbers that we have been told to give to them. Yet they are still intent on sending debt collectors/bailifs to our door.
[...snip...]
Feel at a total loss of control of the situation. It is having a marked effect on the whole household. We always shred our details and try to be very careful with our personal data and we have never stolen from others.

Are they sending Debt Collectors?
Or are they sending Bailiffs?

They are not the same thing, and the difference is important.

see this for some explanation.

Either way though, my information is out of date because I've been out of the Bailiffing work for a while but as I remember it: they can't break into your home and take stuff unless they are bailiffs and you've previously signed something called a 'walking possession'. Bailiffs can gain peaceful entry to your home to seize goods to discharge a debt owed by the person who owns those goods (which should mean they cannot take your stuff, as it isn't your debt).

sunbeam.ti

We have been told that for this particular debt, that it is a local debt collector on behalf of Mercers.
Does this help?
Many thanks.

According to investigating today, the walking possession is signed once they have gained access to our house by which time it is too late. Have also been advised that they can then take our stuff even though it is not our debt. We then have to prove that it is our stuff.

Antispam

I wouldn't open the door I would also record any conversation that is taken place especially with a video camera

sunbeam.ti

Hi again,
We are being told that these colllectors may come some time after the day you expect them to try and catch you out or during the night or early morning to gain access whilst your tired and your guard may be down. Has anyone heared of this?

RobertoMoir

If it's a debt collector, rather than a bailiff executing a court order, then they have the same power to enter your house and seize goods as your hairdresser does. Tell them to (your favourate rude word) off and ignore them. If they fail to leave then phone the police and report a disturbance and threatening behaviour outside your property.

If it's a bailiff, then don't let them in the house. A Bailiff does have the power to seize goods belonging to a debtor to clear their debt, so any seizure they did of your stuff would be in error.

When I was a bailiff we tried not to make too many of those, but there are a few unprofessional morons out there, so best not to present them with a chance to make a mistake if the people who turn up are bailiffs. Keep them outside, don't let them in at all, explain the situation to them and if they fail to go away then contact the police as per my suggestion for debt collectors.

RobertoMoir

sunbeam.ti wrote: »

Hi again,
We are being told that these colllectors may come some time after the day you expect them to try and catch you out or during the night or early morning to gain access whilst your tired and your guard may be down. Has anyone heared of this?

Yes. Usually in documents explaining how debt collectors end up getting prosecuted for trespass, assault or criminal damage.

I realise that the experience you're going through is horrid, and that this kind of thing is intimidating, but:

• You don't have to speak to anyone that turns up.
• You don't have to (in fact you definitely should not) let them in.
• Bailiffs might act unpleasant to you but are constrained by a large set of rules (including ones about making visits at unsociable hours).
• Debt Collectors can (and should imho) be told to sod off your property and then be totally ignored.

I really can't put it any clearer than that. I do understand how intimidating and frustrating the process is, but you can and should take control of what happens when people like this turn up to your house.

sunbeam.ti

Dear Robert, many thanks for your advice.It is most appreciated.Can you advise us as to what will happen once they have left over the long term. Will we see them again?