Son's debt - bailiffs due to visit my house

Jennyanydots_2

My son is 21 and has received a letter from court saying that bailiffs are coming to seize goods as he failed to pay one installment of an insurance premium of £140, (with costs this is now about £300) on a car which was repossessed last December. He has other more serious debts i.e bank loan and car finance and those companies are not sending in the bailiffs just yet!

He has written to all his creditors explaining that he is unemployed and does not possess anything of value and that as soon as he gets a job he will make arrangements to pay off what he owes.

I am the home owner and he has nothing of any value apart from an old computer which was given to him and a clapped out car which is currently off the road.

Can the bailiffs take goods that belong to my other son, my daughter or from me. I don't have receipts for everything in the house so it would be difficult to prove what items belong to which person.

Any advice would be appreciated



thanks

Jennyanydots

CLAPTON

firstly are you sure its a bailiff rather than a debt collector.

if its a bailiff your son would have received a court summons and then got a CCJ before the enforcement order.

so look carefully at the paperwork.

if it is a real bailiff then they can only take your son's possessions and not anyone elses.
however, bailiffs have no right to enter the house unless they can walk in ...so make sure the whole family knows not to let them in, under any circumstances at all. They can walk in through unlocked doors or windows. Once allowed in they have a right to enter again.

if they are actually debt collectors then they have absolutely no powers at all. just tell them to go away.

david_hellier

I agree with Clapton. If your son receives a Summons to go to court, then get him to go, especially if he's unemployed. If he explains his circumstances to the judge, he will avoid baliffs.

Sloppy_Saver

CLAPTON wrote:

however, bailiffs have no right to enter the house unless they can walk in ...so make sure the whole family knows not to let them in, under any circumstances at all. They can walk in through unlocked doors or windows. Once allowed in they have a right to enter again.

These guys sound like vampires - "They cannot cross your threshold unless invited by the host"

Thinking about it, they are blood-sucking monsters...

(joking aside, great post - I didn't know any of this)

Jennyanydots_2

Thanks for the information, the paperwork confirms that he had a court summons but he didn't tell anyone about it so I didn't have the opportunity to encourage him to attend court. So the bailiffs are genuinely what they say they are.

hopefully he will now face up to his other debts and start dealing with these too - and I have shown him this site so he knows he isn't on his own with this and can get lots of information and advice.

However it would be a good idea for finance companies not to lend such huge amounts of money to youngsters to fund their dream cars when they have only been employed for a couple of months and typically then are 'let go' as no longer needed in the job.

Tootsie_Roll

Jennyanydots wrote:

However it would be a good idea for finance companies not to lend such huge amounts of money to youngsters to fund their dream cars when they have only been employed for a couple of months and typically then are 'let go' as no longer needed in the job.

We see this sort of post on here regularly - 'it's the bank's fault for lending him the money'. It would set a better example for your son's future if you stopped blaming others and put a rocket up his backside to ensure he doesn't fall into the same trap again.

doom

Quick question about the bailiff's -
When any bailiff arrives at their 'victims' house, what is to stop that person saying, 'that belongs to someone else'. What do the bailiffs do then??

Jennyanydots_2

I am not blaming anybody, its my son's fault entirely and now he is paying the price for it but it was made very easy for him to borrow lots of money.

A couple of CCJ's on his record will certainly ensure it won't happen again!

misspoppy

Can't you call the courts or company that have said they are coming and make arrangements to pay them? This is why they've written to you they don't want to march in and take stuff.

Jennyanydots_2

Letters have now been written to creditors explaining that my son is unemployed and does not have any income and that as soon as he finds a job he will then arrange payments but I doubt it will stop them going to court, I imagine creditors receive similar letters every day.


My son stupidly ignored the first court summons which is why bailiffs are now involved
A letter has been sent to the bailiffs but as yet no response so they could still turn up.

My original concern was about how to ensure the bailiffs do not take possessions that belong to other people in the house as it is quite difficult to prove what items belong to which person

I am trying to help him sort out this mess and at the same time he is learning a hard lesson .

CLAPTON

the main thing is not to let the bailiffs in at all.

in any event its completely 'normal' for the vast majority of possessions in a house to be owned by the property owners i.e. yourself and OH and only a few things to be owned by the offspring... does he in fact have anything of value?

If he contacts his other creditors it is fairly likely that they wont actually take him to court...it costs them money and if he is unemployed they wont make anything out of him... the important thing is to keep them informed of his situation, promise to start making payments as soon as he gets a new job and ask them if they would freeze interest and charges for six months while he gets that job.