Have you experience or a view on what action bailiffs should take?

barri_2

I.ve never been in debt myself, and I hate people who "buy" goods with no intention of ever paying. However I would not be in favour of this bill. An Englishman's (and Scosman, Welshman an Northern Irishman)'s home should still be his castle. Imagine an old woman orschoolchild home alone being burst in upon by burly men. Terrifying. And as one of the above said, criminals could easily pretend to be bailiffs. No, no. OAP

longjon_3

I think everyone rightly wants to be able to recover debts owed to them, but, are we all just as happy for bailiffs to do whatever they want to acheive that aim on our behalfs? What if they end up in a fight and beat two company staff to death while their boss is busy embezzling the funds you lost? Worth the £1000 you wanted back so much? No, thought not. And that is exactly what will happen if you give green card to companies who already employ thugs to use "measured force" - a psychopath's measures are somewhat different from those of the rest of us!

I can see from the above I'm not alone in being falsely accused of owing money by threatening bailiffs when in fact it's the previous tenants / fake address / mistaken identity. What happens when next time I can't stop them from entering my house and taking my possesions to pay for someone else's debt?

The fact is, someone who wants to deliberately avoid paying a debt will do anything they can to that end, whereas someone who just can't afford to pay will hide and tremble with fear. The latter need to engaged in a friendly but firm way to ensure payment on terms they manage, and the former are a matter for THE POLICE - that is their job: chasing criminals. It is not a matter for the bailiffs.

DO NOT BE FOOLED! This legislation has been thought up by ruthless businessmen who want to recover debt at any cost - not by nice, reasonable folk like you and I who only want fairness, and it is not legislation that is in our interest.

I also tried the link in the email to the form (http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/enforce_agt/questionnaire0207.doc) and got a Word doc with no indication of where it's supposed to go. Perhaps someone fancies setting up a petition on the PM's web site instead?

Editied to add:
Oh! I see someone already has, I shall cut'n'paste this in...

lady_fuschia

How quaint that our future P.M. has been described by an honest former Civil Servant, a Cabinet Secretary, as a control freak alike to Stalin.
Remember him?
Joe Stalin who mercilessly dealt with those that opposed his megalomaniac dream.

Please don't compare the Chancellor to Stalin. I'm not Gordon Brown's greatest fan, but as far as I'm aware he hasn't and is unlikely to brutally torture kill and oppress millions of his own people. To compare bad management with mass murder is incredibly disrespectful to those who suffered under Stalin's regime.

ANYWAY:
I share concerns expressed previously. I live in a rented flat where the previous tenant did a moonlight flit, and have had to deal with visits and letters from various companies she was in debt to. It's easy to imagine that the bailiffs looking for her might have turned up whilst I was in work and taken my belongings away, leaving me to return to an empty house.
It's an impossible rule to make workable.

OnlyNow

I think this legislation if passed in the form suggested would produce an absolute nightmarish situation.


I'm fully in support of the statement below made by........

David Harker, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice:

“Our evidence over many years shows that bailiffs have an appalling track record of abusing their existing powers against vulnerable people. They are often abusive and aggressive, and use threats of violence and prison to pressurise people into paying lump sums they cannot afford.

“Bailiff law is complex, confusing and long overdue for reform. This Bill should have been the perfect opportunity to modernise the law and end abuse once and for all. Instead it gives bailiffs greater powers without any proper regulation – a recipe for abuse on an unprecedented scale. It is a scandal and a disgrace that six years after the Government made a commitment to bring in independent regulation, the misery and abuse continues. It has to stop.

“We are urging MPs to make sure the Bill includes independent regulation to rein in the worst excesses of bailiff behaviour. It is vital that the Bill also provides strong safeguards to ensure that forcible entry is only used as an absolute last resort, and only after the vulnerability of the debtor and their ability to make repayments have been taken into account.”

More from the CAB website...

An analysis of 500 case reports from Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales since October 2006 found that:

* Almost two-thirds (64%) of bailiffs were guilty of harassment or intimidation
* 40% misrepresented their powers of entry.
* A quarter threatened debtors with imprisonment and
* 42% charged excessive fees.
In over half the cases, the debtor was vulnerable. In all these instances the bailiffs concerned were either breaking the law or in breach of their own industry code and nationally agreed standards of practice.

Nuf said eh?

Former_MSE_Wendy

Hi all

As there have been a few questions on what to do with your completed consultation forrm i just wanted to add that the fax number and email address are printed on the form, so it's really easy to send your form back.

Thanks, Wendy

Charis

clairus99 wrote: »

I have my thoughts about this and unless I misunderstand, one or two of the opinions hear are really, honestly very ignorant and stupid. The majority of people do not envisage getting into such hot water.

It is not the posters who are ignorant and stupid. From what you say, you obviously have no idea how easy it is to fall into debt and have bailiffs chasing you with a hugely inflated bill, nor have you rented a property where the bailiffs think you are the previous tenant and could just walk in and take your stuff by force if these changes are allowed.

Think twice before you back these proposed changes, if not for your own sake, then for the sake of folk less fortunate than yourself.

If the government really cared about the situation they would regulate the lending of money to people who can't afford to repay and they would help people who lose their jobs or their partners or their health and find themselves in a situation they could not have anticipated.

WorkingHard

I've signed the petiton, it's the only way to at least get them regulated. Lets hope they at least look at it fairly.

yogaboy

tripled wrote: »

If people keep to the payment schemes agreed then surely it's not a problem. I know someone who regularly goes drinking down the pub, buys DVD's, etc but doesn't pay any bills except his electric which is on a meter, he simply hides whenever the baliffs come around and there is nothing they can do about it. If they could come in and take stuff it might encourage him to start paying what he owes!

If you believe it's just people who don't pay, then check this out.

I was taken to court by the Inland Revenue for unpaid taxes. I didn't turn up and the bailiffs visited me and I had to pay £1300 on unpaid taxes that were originally £700, because of bailiff's charges and court fines.

The reason the taxes were unpaid was because the IR had paid the cheque in to the wrong account, so I'd payed but not been credited as having paid. They then sent letters chasing me TO THE WRONG ADDRESS. An address I'd left over 4 years ago. Why they used this, I don't know, as they'd been able to send letters to the right address previously, and at the other address I'd been at since!

Then, when I didn't reply they took me to court. Of course, I knew nothing about this so I didn't turn up as the court were obviously sending letters to that address too - a bunch of idiots, all of them.

Of course, the bailiffs managed to find the right address, which compounds the stupidity of both the court and the IR.

And I'm left with a huge bill and a couple of very rude bailiffs on my doorstep. If I ever have the good fortune to have a bailiff try and break into my property I'm going to use force to stop him and then say I thought it was a burgler. Muppets.

gertie

Well God help all the Broadband subscribers being chased for non existant debt

doorwoman

Hi,
I've just had a look on the Downing Street website and there is a petition on there to stop the bailiff's using force. You never know, if enough of us sign it maybe the law won't change! Go here http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Bailiff-Violence/

I think they don't need any more power than they already have. And say the person that has the debt doesn't live at the address anymore. I think anyone with debts has enough to worry about without the worry of someone breaking into their home demarding money!