Bristow & Sutor Bailiffs

antonic

I can hazard a guess as to where the amount of £274.00 has come from

£39.00 Balance (he claims outstanding) and

£235.00 for a Fee 2 Visit.

For the Fee 2 visit to be legal, first of all a Fee 1 letter (Notice of Enforcement) Letter incurring costs of £75 has first to have been issued AND then 7 days elapsed between the NoE Letter being issued and the second visit.

Has this happened ?

Read here for more info :The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013

le5589

thanks for your help fire wrym (Y) and antonic the agent turned up yesterday at my door and it was the first my partner knew of this £39.00 outstanding he then handed him the letter which was a letter of enforcement but he didn't say anything about it just that as he has had to come out it would cost an additional £235.00 this is the first my partner heard anything in 3 months from anyone from Bristow & Sutor

antonic

le5589 wrote: »

thanks for your help fire wrym (Y) and antonic the agent turned up yesterday at my door and it was the first my partner knew of this £39.00 outstanding he then handed him the letter which was a letter of enforcement but he didn't say anything about it just that as he has had to come out it would cost an additional £235.00 this is the first my partner heard anything in 3 months from anyone from Bristow & Sutor

Has your partner EVER received a letter from the Bailiff called a Notice of Enforcement ?

This is the letter that incurs a Ministry of Justice fee of £75 , and this fee is paid FIRST out of any payments that are made.

This letter is valid for 12 months, and if for any reason there is a default on the arrangement then the Bailiff can go straight to the Fee 2 stage, and charge £235.00.

I would suggest your partner checks to see how much he has paid to the debt PLUS the £75 Fee 1 Charge - if he is short by £39 that could be the answer.

Ask Bristol & Suter for a breakdown of payments & charges.

le5589

he recieved this letter yesterday when the bailiff arrived it was the first he had heard from anyone in 3 months . I will get him to try and contact Bristow & Sutor tomorrow hopefully he manages to get an answer this time

dancingfairy

I'd be tempted to check here: https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/enforcement-officers just in case the bailiff isn't registered. It might just provide some leverage.
df

ryantheking

Bristow Sutor is a member of CIVEA and as such are subject to their Code of Practice.


**Google CIVEA (Cant leave link as a forum newbie!!)


Have a read of CIVEA's complaints process and as a last resort try and resolve your problem that way.


Make sure you keep all correspondence and names and times of all contact with Bristow Sutor. Also make sure that they know you intend to lodge an official complaint with CIVEA and your local Authority..They don't like that


What you will notice with the Code of Practice is that if that phone number should be "local rate" which having an 0871 number, Bristows clearly hasn't!! Make sure you point this out when you contact them and highlight they are in contravention of the code!! (0871 numbers cost 7p minimum bt and 40p per minute on mobiles :mad: )


Also if you need to contact them by phone, use the following numbers! (courtesy of saynoto0870!!)


01527 504030
01527 504111
01527 504017


Hope the above helps!!

timbstoke

If it seems plausible that there is £39 outstanding, then I would get that paid first, so there's only the additional fees in dispute. At that point you can then, as others have said, verify that the enforcement officer is in fact a certificated bailiff - if his name is not listed in here - https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/courts/enforcement-officers/enforcement-officers.pdf - then you're in a strong position to say that the charge isn't valid. However I'm not an expert in this process so others may offer better advice.

antonic

You dont have to be a certificated bailiff to issue a notice of enforcement, anyone who has passed the appropriate training can issue the letter - Field Force agents who are HMRC employees can issue them.

timbstoke

antonic wrote: »

You dont have to be a certificated bailiff to issue a notice of enforcement, anyone who has passed the appropriate training can issue the letter - Field Force agents who are HMRC employees can issue them.

That would be where the wording of their charge breakdown comes in. Any mention of "Bailiff attendance" would see the fee being unenforceable if the person who visited was not a certificated bailiff IMHO.

antonic

timbstoke wrote: »

That would be where the wording of their charge breakdown comes in. Any mention of "Bailiff attendance" would see the fee being unenforceable if the person who visited was not a certificated bailiff IMHO.

Thats factually inaccurate.

The minimum fees charged are set by legislation : http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1894/contents/made

Note in the legislation nowhere does it state that it has to be done by a certificated bailiff merely the enforcement agent.

But the fees charged are the minimum that can be charged, the Bailiff Co can charge more if they want.

Provided the Notice Of Enforcement (NoE) has been issued correctly AND 7 days have elapsed between the NoE being issued and the call being made, then any fees charged are legal AND must be paid first before the debt itself is paid.