Bailiffs

UnderPressure

Hello

What an awful situation your mum finds herself in al because of her son's actions my word...................................

First thing first, as usual the stars of this forum have already been here and given you some great advice, as said your mum doed NOT have to let them in, in fact she does not even need to answer the door, I believe court bailiff's make 3 attempts then have to hand the matter back to the court. Try and encourage her not to worry too much about this it is solveable 1 way or another

Now the letter you have, is it from an actual company of bailiff's or from an actual court bailiff? If it is a court bailiff I have to say that most of the time they seem like quite sensible people, maybe if your mum was to ring the actual court and speak to the fines office and explain the situation that your brother has basically fleed the address and is no longer living there Im sure the fines office would be able to offer more advice and indeed even stop the bailiff action at your address.

If it is a private bailiff firm such as Marstons or Rossendales etc etc they can be a bit more tricky but again the same rules apply, the trick with this particular debt is to try and deal with it at the source of the debt ie the court, she will have reference numbers on the letter so please encourage her to phone the court and ask for advice, I am sure someone in the fines office will help out, after all their job is to collect fines not to make innocent peoples lifes a nightmare.

Either way this is a tricky situation for your brother, he needs to be found and he HAS to stand up and be counted, if this gets passed back to the court then there is a good chance that a warrant will be issued for his arrest and as has been said it could well end up in a prison sentence, he needs to be approaching the fines office and maybe even go and see them and simply explain he cannot afford to pay this fine all in 1 go, they are generally sympathetic and understanding people and he may have to go back to court to agree a monthly or weekly payment, some courts you can agree this directly with the fines office others he may need to go and see a magistrate all depends how far things have gone, if a warrant is issued for his arrest then he will be at the mercy of a maistrate................

Please find him and ecourage him to contact them and sort this out otherwise he is going to find himself in an awful lot of trouble.

So far as Provident, tell your mum to stop paying them, next time the collector comes to the dorry you try and be there they usually call at the same time each week and simply tell him your brother no linger lives there and not to call again, I would also follow this up with a letter to their head office telling them the same, as has been said your mum need not worry about bad credit on the address as it is down to an individual rather than an address.

This next bit sounds a bit harsh I know but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, at 25 he really should be standing on his own 2 feet this may well be an ideal oppurtunity for your mum to cut the apron strings and actually tell him to come and collect his stuff and not let him back, as said harsh but he has to find his own way at some stage and at 25 whilst obviously making a few mistakes it may well be an ideal time. Not an easy decision and your mum will have to be strong but he cannot be disturbing her life in this way, she is an ill woman at a later time in life that could well do without all of this.

I hope that helps somewhat, and I do hope you manage to sort this out for her, being in debt is a nightmare and when you have baliff's to deal with I can fully understand your brother doing a runner but it is not fair in anyway to leave you ill mother to deal with this on her own, it seems maybe there are a couple of harsh lessons he needs to learn..........

Best of luck, keep this thread updated

sleepystar1975

Thanks UnderPressure

I've always said Mum mollycoddles him too much, and it's going to be his undoing. She is not the fittest of old girls, and one day she won't be here to wipe his nose for him. She will always make excuses to cover for him, and I've told her she has to stop, and let him learn the hard way, as when she pops her clogs, he will not be able to cope.

I can't remember who the letter was from, I'm guessing it was from private company, as the letter heading was a bright read, with pictures, I would imagine court based letters would look more official with crowns and what-nots on them.
I have told her to lock her back gate (the usual access for us), and the turn the key on the front door, making sure we all use our keys to get in the house again.
I have passed on the messages from here that all her goods and belongings are perfectly safe, and nothing to do with his debt.

I'm going to call in our her on my way to do the school run in a bit, so will see if she's had any luck getting hold of him, I've rang all of his friends that I have contact numbers for, but know their are many more.

I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks everyone again, you are all diamonds

sleepystar1975

Well, I went to Mums this afternoon, and while I was there, I became aware of some noises upstairs.
I went up, to find my brother collecting his X-box and the other games console, and obviously trying to sneak back out of the house.
I asked him if he was aware of the grief he is putting Mam through, to which he shrugged and said "not my problem, if I ain't got it, they can't have it". Mum came upstairs at this point, and also challenged him about the letter. He argued with her over all the money troubles, and said no-one is getting a penny, as he hasn't got anything (like I said before, he found £250 to spend on fishing eq', plus money to be on the lash all last weekend) and then stormed out.

No-one official has called at Mums yets, but she's ever so jumpy each time the door knocks or the phone rings.
I've told her that should anyone call, tell them the complete truth, don't try to blag to cover his back, as it could come back on her. Simply say that he has no assets at this address, and for the last "x" amount of nights, he has not been here, and she is to refuse anyone entry, no matter what they say. Thankfully I am only working 2 days next week, so I will try to spend what time I can at Mams.

Do Bailiffs just work office hours? Or do they do 7 days a week, and beyond 5 or 6pm?

sleepystar1975

..............and how soon after their 7-day deadline would they be likely to send people to the house?

scaredy_cat

i think i read somewhere that someone had put a notice in their window stating that 'x' person no longer lives there and any bailiffs will be refused entry. i don't know how legal doing that is, i'm sure somone will correct me if i'm wrong.

UnderPressure

scaredy_cat wrote: »

i think i read somewhere that someone had put a notice in their window stating that 'x' person no longer lives there and any bailiffs will be refused entry. i don't know how legal doing that is, i'm sure somone will correct me if i'm wrong.

Cant see a problem with that, as already said you are under NO legal obligation to even speak to these people let alone open the door so a little note in the windows cannot do any harm in getting the message across.

I cannot stress enough though that this will not go away and is going to cause your brother an absolute nightmare unless he faces up to it and deals with it, sure you can stop the action at your mums house but the court WILL issue a warrant for his arrest, fine debts are very different to other debts as in you CAN end up in prison if you do not comply...................

If your brother is silly enough to shrug this off then maybe it is a valuable leeson he needs to learn but please make sure he is aware what may happen.....................

UnderPressure

sleepystar1975 wrote: »

..............and how soon after their 7-day deadline would they be likely to send people to the house?

The best thing you can do is ring the fines office at the court first thing in the morning, dont wait until the bailiff arrives communicate with the fines office and they should be able to sort all of this out for you and stop any action at your mums address, make sure you tell them he is NO longer living there, if they think this is still his permanent address they will carry on trying to find him there wether that be a bailiff or a police office coming to arrest him........

Please please please ring the fines office at the court first thing in the morning tey are not there to make life difficult for innocent peopl and they WILL help you sort this matter out, it is them who is instructing the bailiff so they are the only people that can stop any further action, just explain it as you have on here and dont forget he no longer resides at this address!

Kepp us updated it will sort itself out I promise

RobertoMoir

scaredy_cat wrote: »

i think i read somewhere that someone had put a notice in their window stating that 'x' person no longer lives there and any bailiffs will be refused entry. i don't know how legal doing that is, i'm sure somone will correct me if i'm wrong.

It's perfectly legal to put a notice saying whatever you like in your own window as long as it isn't offensive.

Would a bailiff who had reason to believe someone lived at a certain address take notice of such a thing? No.

legendkiller2k8

Could i get some advice if possible please.
About 2 and a half years ago i stupidly let a bailiff into my home and signed a walking possesion. I made a agreement to make regular payments. However after a couple of months i lost my job and couldn't afford the payments. I tried to get another arrangement with no luck. So i contacted the council who happily agreed to take a couple of quid a week out of my JSA.
I've now moved to a new address i notified the old council of my new address and out of the blue i recieved a letter yesterday from the bailiffs telling me to pay £780 by 8th July otherwise they're coming to take my items. I tried talking to the bailiff company again with no luck as i'm currently on jobseekers allowance.
As i let the bailiffs into my old address can they now enter my new address without my permission and also would the walking possesion expire by now because of the length of time?
My high items of value aka the tv are on hire purchase and i had the ps3 free with my mobile am i correct as the mobile is under a contract this would also include the ps3 and therefore the bailiff wouldn't be allowed to take it? I know they can't take hire purchase items.

UnderPressure

Hello sorry I am not going to be of any help here I have no idea if the original WP would be valid now or not, you need to make a new thread then more people will see and you will get some advice, keep an eye on it it is Sunday so things may be a bit slower than normal