threatened with bailiffs!!!!

belleooo

Conor wrote:

If they have a warrant of distress, they can enter the property.

In our case they wouldn't get pass the large, mean and unsociable german shepherd dog we have on our premises.

calmgirl

Thanks so much everyone, i am going to contact them tomorrow and try to arrange another payment plan with them, hopefully that will delay things. we have worked out we can afford a bit extra each week and in future will always pay our council tax.!

davesgirl_2

calmgirl wrote:

Thanks so much everyone, i am going to contact them tomorrow and try to arrange another payment plan with them, hopefully that will delay things. we have worked out we can afford a bit extra each week and in future will always pay our council tax.!

hope you get it all sorted and can put it down as experience

BobProperty

I'm with File_Wizzard on this. If it was me I'd make sure they can't get in and negotiate with them through the letterbox. They have to be even more careful than they used to be due to the Human Rights laws. You have to make an arrangement and keep to it. I don't think they can do an attachement of earnings because of the Self-Employment and I don't think they can deduct the council tax off benefit unless it is your only income (I may be wrong on that). Equally they may be entitled take the action they have taken as the amounts are so large they arn't prepared to get it back at about £3-4 per week which is all they can take out of benenfit.

Belleooo - sounds great but not a good idea. Once the baliffs have accessed your premises they can come back and re-enter using force if necessary (as per Wizzards comments). Threatening them with the dog may mean they could well be back with the police and you are now arguing with the police and the bailiffs. The police will want to come in and dicuss it, and the baliff will stick his foot in the door and you lose.

davek1

heres my 2 penneth on this if it helps.

I speak here as an ex-police officer. the situation is that Bailliffs have no right of entry to your home unless they hold a warrent taht permits the use of force to gain entry. However if a window is open or a door is open they can enter.

If you admit them then they are likely to take what is called walk in posessesion that means they will list items they will remove if you dont pay up as agreed. you have to sign the list and agree that it is correct. You are not signing to say they can take them just that the list is an acurate list representing the items shown.

They will not come with the Police and even if they do the Police's role is to prevent a breach of the peace and nothing more. if the Police did wish to enter your home then tell them they can come in not the baillifs. the police are there to be fair and have no axe to grind. have to say in general bailliffs are not overly liked by the police.

If you were to use a dog to prevent access provided teh threat was proportianate and no injury occurred you would be ok, just dont go over the top!!!

whilst if i was in your position i would also remove certain high value items be aware that if it cam to light then you could be in trouble because you could be in contempt of court or worse . best answer is dont let them in at all. ask for a copy of the warrent to be posted throught the door and read it carefully. hopefully you wont need any of this advice after you have spokent ot hem. good luck

BobProperty

A quick reply - given davek1's relevant experience take note of it. The only thing I'd add is that if it ever gets this far, so long as you behave as suggested they aren't going to hang round waiting for a chance to get in, they have enough visits to do in a day and only get paid so much for them. Maybe someone knows how likely they are to come back and how quickly?

bank_of_slate

Can the baliffs just look through the window and catalogue what they see?
...Linda xx

davek1

no they cant just look through the window because they need to establish the goods belong to you and without asking they cant levy distress on goods that belong to someone else or are on hp. for the record they cant take normal day to day living items, so generally this means white goods, beds and bedding, clothing, tools of your trade items belonging to someone else and on hp ( although you could be asked to prove it) the loft is a fairly good bet as they don usually come armed with ladders and of course you wont have one for thir use. Dont forget items within the house also include outbuildings such as garages sheds etc.

severussnape

sorry to sound really thick but an open door does that mean physically open or just unlocked(as in a double glazed door)

davek1

no it means open as in ajar requiring no physical force to open it. However i can tell you from experience ( not mine i hasten to add) that simply being unlocked has been in the past sufficient for a bailliff to enter because it comes down to your word against theirs. try complaining about a baillifs conduct to see how far you get.

i didn't mean to hijack this thread but hopefully my bits and pieces are helpful.