Excel Civil Enforcement - TV Licence

pepperjack

Hi guys, hoping I can get some quick help with this!

Back in 2014 we had a house visit from a TV licence inspector. It turned out our direct debit had failed and we were a couple of months behind on the TV licence payment.

We've had to move house twice in the last couple of years and we were in the process of moving house for the first time when the inspector visited. At the new house we continued paying the TV licence as normal and heard nothing from the inspection, no letters, no calls, no emails.

We had to move house again 7 months ago, this time to my parents house, we now rent a couple of rooms from my folks and all the contents of the house belong to my parents except for our bed.

Fast forward to last Wednesday when my wife got a phone call on her mobile from Excel saying we owed them just under £700, half of which had to be paid immediately or they would send enforcement agents out. My wife was out and about at the time and asked for them to send us a letter or an email with the details.

Fast forward again to today. Nothing had yet arrived in the post but at around 5pm, two enforcement officers in clothing resembling policemen, complete with stab-vests and what the claimed were 'cameras' on lanyards around their necks knocked at the door, told us they had a warrant and a court order and demanded half the outstanding payment or they would enter the property and begin taking video of the contents of the house.

I told them we didn't have that kind of money spare to give them (true) and that I would not allow them into my parents house and that we had no belongings in the house anyway. They said that if I didn't pay right away or let them take videos of the contents they would get the police involved, get a locksmith and drill my parents locks and bill the cost of it to me. They wouldn't entertain any notions of setting up a payment plan either.

I asked them for a phone number of their office and made a phone call, I wanted to see if I could set up a payment plan. The woman at their office was unwilling to help over the phone and claimed they had definitely sent the letter to us (we never got it) and told me I had to deal with the enforcement officers directly.

I went out to the van to speak to them and offered them £100 today and I would try to organise the rest another time. They refused this and continued to demand the larger payment or they would have to call the police. Eventually I told them to go ahead and call the police and I would explain myself to them instead.

I went back in my parents house but didn't lock the door behind me. The next thing I know, both the enforcement officers have come into my house and are standing in my parents hallway. I stood my ground and told them not to go any further and they responded by saying "You can't push us out, that would be assault" and "So what are you going do? Take us both on?" even though I was being perfectly calm and reasonable throughout since my 8 year old daughter was around and so were my elderly parents.

After more talking they realised I was quite prepared to call the police myself and they told me I now have until Monday to pay, which I agreed to in order to get them away from my parents house.

So basically, we have no correspondence regarding this debt whatsoever, except for the phone number of the office and the enforcement agent and have until Monday to stump up half the outstanding payment, which is quite a blow for us financially, especially since we are trying to get our finances back on track and are paying off a number of creditors at the moment.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

pepperjack

Please, anyone! I have to find out what I can do before Monday.

Is there someone I can contact? How do I find out what this debt is about? Do I absolutely have to pay that much by Monday?

sourcrates

pepperjack wrote: »

Please, anyone! I have to find out what I can do before Monday.

Is there someone I can contact? How do I find out what this debt is about? Do I absolutely have to pay that much by Monday?

Hi,

Am no expert with this kind of debt, but some good advice here :

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Typesofdebt/TVlicencedebt.aspx

I would ring them for further advice on what to do next !!!

pepperjack

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,

Am no expert with this kind of debt, but some good advice here :

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Typesofdebt/TVlicencedebt.aspx

I would ring them for further advice on what to do next !!!

Thanks very much for this advice, I will call them tomorrow

National_Debtline

Hi Pepperjack

If this is related to an unpaid tv licence the enforcement officers are most likely enforcing a magistrates court fine. Technically they have the right to force entry into a property if they have reason to believe you may have possessions there, but this rarely happens in practice.

It’s unfortunate that the door was left open as that made it easy for them to enter but if they didn’t make a controlled goods agreement which would need to be signed by you they haven’t actually taken control of any goods yet. Taking videos of items in a property is pointless apart from adding to their intimidation routine. If they come back I suggest that you don’t let them in again unless they are actually outside with a locksmith.

I think you should contact your local magistrates court to confirm whether you have a fine. If so ask the fines officer to use discretion given the circumstances and deal with you directly rather than using enforcement officers. You should have received notice of the fine and also a notice of enforcement before things got to this stage but you didn’t receive either so haven’t had the opportunity to deal with the debt before things escalated.

If the court will not take the debt back the best you can do is keep showing willingness to pay by offering affordable instalments, and save them up if the enforcement officers will not take them.

There is a factsheet on magistrates court fines here which you might find useful:

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/magistratescourtfines/magistratescourtdebt.aspx

Hopefully you’ve been able to take some advice from Stepchange by now. You’re also welcome to call National Debtline for advice.

James
@natdebtline

pepperjack

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi Pepperjack

If this is related to an unpaid tv licence the enforcement officers are most likely enforcing a magistrates court fine. Technically they have the right to force entry into a property if they have reason to believe you may have possessions there, but this very rarely happens in practice.

It’s unfortunate that the door was left open as that made it easy for them to enter but if they didn’t make a controlled goods agreement which would need to be signed by you they haven’t actually taken control of any goods yet. Taking videos of items in a property is pointless apart from adding to their intimidation routine. If they come back I suggest that you don’t let them in again unless they are actually outside with a locksmith.

I think you should contact your local magistrates court to confirm whether you have a fine. If so ask the fines officer to use discretion given the circumstances and deal with you directly rather than using enforcement officers. You should have received notice of the fine and also a notice of enforcement before things got to this stage but you didn’t receive either so haven’t had the opportunity to deal with the debt at an earlier stage.

If the court will not take the debt back the best you can do is keep showing willingness to pay by offering affordable instalments, and save them up if the enforcement officers will not take them.

There is a factsheet on magistrates court fines here which you might find useful:

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/magistratescourtfines/magistratescourtdebt.aspx

Hopefully you’ve been able to take some advice from Stepchange by now. You’re also welcome to call National Debtline for advice.

James
@natdebtline

Hi James, thanks for your reply.

I did call the court, they were less than helpful. They would not deal with my case, despite knowing that I hadn't received any correspondence from them regarding this fine. They didn't have my current address (they do now though)

The court said my wife could go back to court and swear under oath that we had not received any correspondence about this fine but this would not stop the bailiffs from continuing to pursue us.

The court told us the fine was £200 with £120 costs and a £20 surcharge. The bailiffs have basically doubled this amount.

We can't really afford to stump up that kind of money all at once. I really want to set up an installment plan but neither the enforcement officers nor their office will discuss it with us, despite the unfairness of this situation.

I tried calling StepChange but they said they were unable to help and gave us the numbers for:

Advice Guide: 03444 111 444
Money Advice Service: 0300 500 5000

So I'll give them a try now.

pepperjack

OK, so I called the Advice Guide and they told me to either get my parents to call the bailiffs, which I refuse to do as my parents are elderly and the bailiff on the phone would just tie them up in knots or go to my local citizens advice bureau which I can't do today as my daughter gets out of school in a couple of hours.

So to sum up, we suddenly have a debt of nearly £700 we only found out about the other day, (and we cant afford to pay) bailiffs are already coming into my parents house with intention of taking property, the bailiffs refuse to allow us to pay in instalments, the court wouldn't help and no helpline can do anything of tangible help.

I absolutely despair. Even though this is a debt we only just realised we had, it's not like we're trying to avoid paying it, we just cant afford to pay so much in one go! And now they're threatening to take my elderly parents belongings if I dont pay and absolutely nobody can help.

We've been treated like criminals by these bailiffs and for what?

poppasmurf_bewdley

If the house belongs to your parents, together with all the contents of the house apart from your bed, then they cannot take any of the goods.

What you need to do is sort something out so that you can pay them the money. If you don't have something to sell, can you get a loan for the money?

Don't forget, at the end of the day, if you don't pay, it could go back to the court and the magistrates do have the power of imprisonment, although this is likely to be a last resort.

pepperjack

I want to pay this debt in instalments, I cannot afford to pay the lump sum the bailiffs are asking for but if I don't pay it, they will turn up on Monday and start taking my parents belongings.

I called the bailiffs office, they wouldn't help
I called Stepchange, they couldn't help and gave me other numbers to call
I called Advice Guide, they could offer no help, told me to go to the local CAB (which I cannot do today, I have to pick up my daughter)
I called Money Advice Service, they really couldn't help but gave me the number for my local CAB

So it's all been a big, unhelpful, stressful merry-go-round where a lot of companies now have my name, address, phone number and email for their marketing departments and I've wasted a day and god knows how much on the phone bill.

Basically we are screwed and nobody can help.

pepperjack

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

If the house belongs to your parents, together with all the contents of the house apart from your bed, then they cannot take any of the goods.

What you need to do is sort something out so that you can pay them the money. If you don't have something to sell, can you get a loan for the money?

Don't forget, at the end of the day, if you don't pay, it could go back to the court and the magistrates do have the power of imprisonment, although this is likely to be a last resort.

Oh believe me, I've talked to many advisers today, the bailiffs can take my parents stuff unless they can prove it doesn't belong to me. But who has receipts for all the things in their home?

And no, I can't get a loan or sell anything. I own a bed and this PC that I work from my parents home on.

You say "if you don't pay, it could go back to the court" I WANT to pay this, I just can't afford a lump payment! This is the most crazy part of it all, I am willing to pay for a debt I didn't even know I had but it has to be in instalments because I just dont have a large sum of money to give them!

poppasmurf_bewdley

I repeat, they cannot take your parents goods.

If they turn up and say they will, then you call the police. It's as simple as that.

As for your statement that you are screwed - well yes, it does sound like it. I don't know what other help you expect. Nobody on here is going to pay the debt for you. You need to get out and try and raise the money.

If the bailiffs can't collect or take goods on Monday, it will in all probability go back to the court, and you will be summoned to appear. You could then appeal for time to pay.