Sheriff officers - urgent advice required, please help

lolly1969

On Friday, we received a calling up notice via recorded delivery, one for myself, one for my partner and one addressed to the current occupants. This was to inform us that our mortgage arrears are now entering the legal stage, and may result in repossession of our property.

I contacted the company dealing with the debt and opened up a dialogue with them. They stated that the mortgage company were still eager to arrange a repayment term for the arrears, rather than repossess the house, and a call back was arranged for this coming Wednesday to go through income and expenditure details. I was informed that a sheriff officer would also be visiting the property to deliver a copy of the calling up notice, but was told that if no one was home, they would simply post the copy through the door. I was satisfied with this outcome, and began making preparations for the upcoming telephone call on Wednesday.

As a bit of background, the arrears have resulted from illness on both mine and my partners part. My partner suffered a severe spinal injury in 2017 which left him paralysed from the waist down and rehab is still ongoing. This resulted in him being off work for a long period of time during which I was his main carer and unable to work full time, although he has now returned to work on lighter duties. His mental health has suffered greatly, he attempted suicide once before and has threatened to do it again on several occasions. He is in no position to deal with any financial matters, he cannot cope even discussing them with me and will certainly not engage with third parties. This has left everything up to me. To make matters worse, I was diagnosed with cancer in July this year, had an operation in August and am currently in the middle of radiotherapy and chemo treatment. I am therefore off work, and as a bank nurse, I do not get paid whilst I am off sick.

Today, I returned home from my radiotherapy to a letter with no envelope, which had been pushed through my door, asking for me to contact the sheriff officers. I found this strange as i thought they would just put the papers through my front door, as was stated by the debt agency dealing with the case. I therefore contacted the sheriff officers and confirmed that we both live at the address, to which i was informed that they would re-attend the property later in the week and deliver the paperwork via my letter box if they did not receive a response.

Later this afternoon, I was looking at my full appointment schedule for the week and decided to call the sheriff officers to ask if they could confirm exactly when they would be attending the property. They said that they would attend every other day, but stated that both myself and my partner needed to be present, as we were both required to sign for our own paperwork individually. This was not what I expected them to say, as this had not been mentioned by anyone previously.

I immediately contacted the debt agency to clarify matters, and they too had never heard of this being the case before. Normal practice as far as they are concerned is for the paperwork to be posted through the letterbox, if it has been confirmed that both parties reside at the address. I again explained to them my partners mental health concerns and previous suicide attempt, and that he will not engage with anyone, let alone sign for the paperwork. They tried to contact the sheriff officers to clarify why this was the case, but they could not get through.

This has left me worried sick, as i don't want them forcing themselves on my partner and sending him off the rails. He really isn't in the right place mentally. I also do not need the added stress and anxiety this is causing me.

Can anyone clarify if this is normal practice from the sheriff officers? and suggest what I can do going forward. There is zero chance of them liaising with my partner and I am worried that this will affect negotiations for a resolution.

Would the sheriff officers liaise with me directly if I had a letter from my partners dr confirming his issues?

I'm worried sick.

davidmcn

If they've already successfully delivered the calling-up notice by recorded delivery, I don't see any need for the Sheriff Officers to serve it at all, never mind hand it over to you/your partner personally.

lolly1969

davidmcn - that's what i thought. We've received the paperwork and began a dialogue. I feel the sheriff officers insisting that they speak to us both individually is overkill and harassment, given that they have been made aware of our health issues. The calling up notice does not give them any powers to do anything whilst at the property and they are not a citation to attend court, so I don't see why they are taking this course of action.

diggingdude

lolly1969 wrote: »

davidmcn - that's what i thought. We've received the paperwork and began a dialogue. I feel the sheriff officers insisting that they speak to us both individually is overkill and harassment, given that they have been made aware of our health issues. The calling up notice does not give them any powers to do anything whilst at the property and they are not a citation to attend court, so I don't see why they are taking this course of action.

to charge extra fees perhaps? i would request their complaints procedures