Advice on dealing with Bailiffs who have entered

MivoUK

Long story short I started a Nursing corse last year with Harriet Ellis. As I changed my mind on the course I withdrawn from it. A few months later they taken it to court and charged me for all the remaining fees.

It got passed to the bailiff agency DCBL. The front door was open and 2 bailiffs let themselves in my mothers house (I lodge with her). I had to give them £400 to get them out of the house and stop them tagging goods.

I made an agreement with them for £20 a week and made a total of 9 payments for that each week.

Then my circumstances changed...

As I was no longer able to keep the agreement up they sent me an intention to re enter the premises letter.

I gone to the citizens advice. He tried to negotiate a lower payment plan with them but the DCBL colleague just put the phone down on him.

Following his advice I completed and submitted a N244 application and handed it in to the court. My mother also gone to the court and completed a Statutory Declaration stating that ALL goods in the house belong to her. It’s got the court stamp and signature on.

I sent DCBL a copy of the Statutory Declaration... Got a response this morning saying the following.

“Out of good will I’m going to give you an extension until Monday the 10th, to clear all the current arreas. Failure to do so will result in us taking further action”

I feel like they couldn’t care less about the Statutory Declaration in place.

Can these guys actually come, force entry and seize goods from the house even with the Statutory Declaration in place? If they can not then what do they mean by further action?

When I handed in the N244 to the court the woman said that she will process this same day and that I have nothing to worry about because the bailiffs can not enter the house now. But the bailiffs are saying I must submit a copy of the court order showing a new hearing has been scheduled. But I haven’t received any confirmations?

General advice would be super helpful! :cool:

fatbelly

Herbie may well drop in on this one but my understanding is that they can only force entry to access goods that they have previously taken control of. It doesn't sound like they did that on their first visit. So your mum needs to keep the doors locked and if they turn up just put the stat dec against the window and walk away.

Bailiffs rarely remove goods or break in - it's all about verbal harassment.

I take it you are using the N244 to vary the original county court judgement to an instalment order.

However, this sounds like it has been escalated to the High Court and so you may need to apply for a stay of execution of the High Court writ. That is where it gets complicated.

Mivo - how much is the debt standing at (roughly) and how much are you proposing to pay?

Herbie21

MivoUK wrote: »

Long story short I started a Nursing corse last year with Harriet Ellis. As I changed my mind on the course I withdrawn from it. A few months later they taken it to court and charged me for all the remaining fees.

It got passed to the bailiff agency DCBL. The front door was open and 2 bailiffs let themselves in my mothers house (I lodge with her). I had to give them £400 to get them out of the house and stop them tagging goods.

I made an agreement with them for £20 a week and made a total of 9 payments for that each week.

Then my circumstances changed... :

Can you post back to let us know the following:

When was judgment entered against you?

How much was the judgment for?

What date did you receive the Notice of Enforcement from DCBL?

How much was the date on the Notice of Enforcement?

When the Enforcement Agent attended, how much did he request from you?

Were you given a breakdown of the fees charged?

You mention that the agent gained entry into your mother house. Were any goods listed on an Inventory?

MivoUK

fatbelly wrote: »

Herbie may well drop in on this one but my understanding is that they can only force entry to access goods that they have previously taken control of. It doesn't sound like they did that on their first visit. So your mum needs to keep the doors locked and if they turn up just put the stat dec against the window and walk away.

Bailiffs rarely remove goods or break in - it's all about verbal harassment.

I take it you are using the N244 to vary the original county court judgement to an instalment order.

However, this sounds like it has been escalated to the High Court and so you may need to apply for a stay of execution of the High Court writ. That is where it gets complicated.

Mivo - how much is the debt standing at (roughly) and how much are you proposing to pay?

Thanks for the reply. The good news is that this is mostly resolved. A lady called me from the court yesterday to update me that the Court order has been issued and a hearing date has been set! At least now they can not enter the house :beer:

My mother actually called DCBL the other day to ask why the agent was still threatening to enter her house and seize her goods despite them receiving the stat declaration that she produced. The colleague said she would escalate it to a manager and he would take a look at the case with the original agent. He never called back but conveniently the agent who was in charge of my case has gone on leave today...

The debt is standing at about £1500.

With my circumstances changing I'm now only earning £400 per month, £200 of it spent on travel fare to and from work. This should increase a little in the next few months though. I'm also paying off £3000 of motoring fines to the courts too so currently I can't afford to pay much.

fatbelly

I suspect this may be difficult to resolve as you are on such a low income. If you had more debt (magistrate court fines don't qualify) I'd be suggesting a DRO. But £1500 of debt is a bit low. See what the courts say.