only recieved enforcement visit warning on the same day they wrote up our controlled goods form

Bristow & Sutor knocked on my door today on the the 21-11-2018 at 14-15 (24 hour clock) and gave us our Enforcement Visit Warning. they also wrote up all our electronics and goods on the goods taken into control form wihtout even a few minutes notice being given to their visit. i feel totally walked all over and the warning letter demands that we give them a ring immediatly before 21:00 TONIGHT. (yes the tonight was all in capital letters) please could anyone give me an idea of where i stand legally on this matter as it is not anywhere near a 7 day notice of the visit and have charged me a £235 enforcement fee too. Thankyou for your time in reading this and please let me know if there is anymore information that you require for this case and stay humble my forum friends. :beer:

Comments

  • MrsOli
    MrsOli Posts: 13 Forumite
    Have you had warning letters about the debts owed before? (Not from B&S, but from the creditors of the bill they are coming after you for?) If so, how many did you receive? Did you acknowledge receipt?
  • Only to confirm housing benefit changes but B&S are meant to give us the Enforcement visit warning letter a week in advanced so we can have the chance to iether pay it dispute it or go to citizens advice? They gave us the warning letter wrote down our goods and charged us £235 plus £75 in the very same visit so we had zero chance to get any advice and thankyou for the reply. We both know that you should never mess with council tax so if we knew we would of paid the outstanding sum as we got the letter as sleeping on it makes it worse. :cry:
  • I don't see how it can be a visit warning if they just come and start doing their job immediatly after giving me the warning letter i see it a bit like warning someone you are going to take them outside for a game of fisty cuffs and just throwing that person outside punching them right there are then as they ask you what? So they don't have a chance to walk out on their own accord and sort it themselves. :mad: sorry for the slightly off topic rant i just feel tottally walked all over like a rug.
  • tacpot12
    tacpot12 Posts: 9,194 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Have a look at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/bailiffs/how-bailiffs-should-treat-you/complaining-about-bailiffs/

    You can and should complain to the creditor about their bailiff's actions in not giving proper notice, and charging you an Enforcement fee before you have received the Notice of Enforcement from them. If you are certain that they didn't send you an Notice of Enforcement letter prior to their visit, they are not allowed to charge you for their enforcement visit (the £235). Send a copy of your complaint letter to bailiffs when you send the original to the creditor.

    You have let them into your home which means they can return and force entry next time (using reasonable force, i.e. use a locksmith to destroy your locks). However, they should only charge you £235 for their next visit as the first visit wasn't properly notified.

    If you have any factors listed in this link:
    https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/bailiffs/stopping-bailiffs/dealing-with-a-letter-saying-bailiffs-will-visit/

    mention in your letter of complaint that you are vulnerable due to the specific reasons that apply to you and ask for more time to deal with notice of enforcement. You need to act promptly, both in sending the letter of complaint and in deciding what to so about the debt.
    The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 22 November 2018 at 5:17PM
    How was the 7 day warning letter sent - was it hand delivered or was it posted ? If it was posted what is the date on the letter (and what is on the postmark) ?


    The other arguments regarding enforcement aren't particularly relevant until this date is established.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • tacpot12 wrote: »
    Have a look at (Link removed as i am a new user)

    You can and should complain to the creditor about their bailiff's actions in not giving proper notice, and charging you an Enforcement fee before you have received the Notice of Enforcement from them. If you are certain that they didn't send you an Notice of Enforcement letter prior to their visit, they are not allowed to charge you for their enforcement visit (the £235). Send a copy of your complaint letter to bailiffs when you send the original to the creditor.

    You have let them into your home which means they can return and force entry next time (using reasonable force, i.e. use a locksmith to destroy your locks). However, they should only charge you £235 for their next visit as the first visit wasn't properly notified.

    If you have any factors listed in this link:
    (Link removed as i am a new user)

    mention in your letter of complaint that you are vulnerable due to the specific reasons that apply to you and ask for more time to deal with notice of enforcement. You need to act promptly, both in sending the letter of complaint and in deciding what to so about the debt.

    i used resolver to send them an email but he problem is they walked all over me and my friend and they setup payment plan on the same day and are now expecting the first payment this Friday of £50 odd and then it will go up to £125 on the next payment. i have severe adult ADHD and very slight undiognosed autism (came as a free present with my adhd) and my flat mate has deppression asperges ADHD and anxiety which the enforcers fully know about this. my friend was so scared that he offered to start paying half of his entire income because he thought we would lose all of our belongings and also thought that i would be leaving our friendship and moving out and i have to admit that i have been going through some serious mental gymnastics which caused me to only get less than 2 hours sleep from researching all these problems they have left us behind. I no longer want the £235 written off i want the whole debt written off due to their severe negligence and stress caused. we are thinking about taking them to court for damaging our mental well being and putting items on the list that should never have gone on it like all of our seats and sofa's and even our microwave. this has effected me so bad that i had very very dark permanent thoughts going through my head (you already know what kind i am sure) thanks for the really nice and awesome reply and i feel slightly better today knowing where i stand and i i believe correctly this is why they should give us a 7 day notice so we know where we stand?

    Stay humble my friends. :A :money:
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    It is very unlikely the notice that was handed to you is the only one. The enforcement agents are very unlikely to put themselves in a position like that knowing it is against legislation not to have sent the 7 day notice. The 7 day notice is very rarely hand-delivered, the majority of times it is posted out which I asked about a letter being posted.

    Speak with the enforcement agent's office and they should be able to say exactly when it was sent. I suspect the notice handed to you was a notice stating they were attending to collect goods.
    i believe correctly this is why they should give us a 7 day notice so we know where we stand?
    It is meant as a warning to pay within 7 days or they'll be visiting, nothing else.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • This is the first tike they have ever visited us or gave us a visit warning the letter sais that am enforcement agent has again attended our premises when this is 100% the first time they have come as i wpuld remember if they sent a letter just a week ago and i know i am not the only one they have done this to it would appewr as though B&S have been known to use bad underhand tactics to bully people check out rhe thread at the bottom just add the last bit of the link to the end of the moneysavingexpert web address as i can't post full links. We keep all important letter's in a purple binder and have double checked through and we have no 7 day warning at all and we have been keeping important letters from the council since we have moved in to our new flat and we don't even have a council tax demand letter in there iether so we was both out of the loop on our own problems so this has come put of nowhere for us and we both 100% know how bad council tax evasion is the only letters we have is about our council tax support. If we did recieve any letter from them we both would of been tereified of the pottential consequences and would not mess around with any payments.

    showthread.php?t=4992701
  • They demanded us to sort it out in just a few hours of their apparent revisit B&S have once demanded one person to gather their debt in just 20 minutes on the spot during a visit so it seems they are about as flexible as a sheet of glass. They also demanded one person to pay an extortionate ammount that they could not afford only to bully them to pay even more.
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