What happens if the bailiffs have been instructed?

Under Council Tax legislation, the bailiff collecting Council tax arrears must, by law, be a Certificated Bailiff if he levies on goods. This means that he if he gains entry into your home, and lists items on a Walking Possession Form, he must, by law, be Certificated. This would apply also where he listed a vehicle etc that was outside the house. However if you pay the bailiff the outstanding amount due, together with his fees, without a Walking Possession being signed he does not need to be certificated. In these circumstances, the bailiff can only charge a “fee for a visit where no levy takes place”.

It is important to be aware that there are certain procedures that the Certificated Bailiff must follow when he visits your home or business. They must have with them:

• Proof that the bailiff is a “Certificated Bailiff”. You must ask to see his Certificate, not his ID card!! (See: Facts about Bailiffs section)
• Written authorization from the Local Authority.
• A breakdown of the charges the bailiff is allowed to make for each visit.

If you are unable to pay, you may well be able to enter into acceptable payment arrangements with the bailiff, however, it is important to note that bailiffs do not have to accept any offer. This is because they are acting on an Order from the Court, and in this, their role is to seize goods under the order.

In our experience however, nearly always, the bailiff will only agree repayment proposals if he first can get you to sign a Walking Possession. You need to be very careful indeed about signing this and we would advise you to read our separate section entitled Walking Possession.

Please also note that from any sums paid to the bailiff, he can firstly deduct his fees before paying monies over to the local authority.

It is vitally important to ensure that you do not allow the bailiff if possible to gain entry into your property, as by doing so, the bailiff will then levy on your goods, and if a suitable payment plan cannot be agreed, the bailiff is legally allowed to remove those goods that he has levied upon immediately. The bailiff can only gain entry into your home by what is called “peaceful entry”, normally by being invited in.

Due to the many problems with Walking Possessions, we have dedicated an entire section to this which can be accessed from our front page.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:

When a Liability Order has been granted, you will not be sent a copy by theMagistrates Court. With both a summons and court costs having been applied, many people are unaware of the true amount on the Liability Order. Because of this confusion, we are finding many of the less reputable companies are applying extra charges to your account as soon as they have received the instruction from the council….and before any visits have ever been made. This is now very much “industry practice!!!

The extra charges vary between an “apparent” first visit of £24.50, two “apparent” visits of £42.50 through to “apparent” van fees up to £200. (Please note that “apparent” here means actually appearing at your premises, and that many bailiffs will take the intimdatory step of appearing on the first visit with the van to seize goods. This is not allowed under their code of conduct and taken very seriously.)

We therefore advise that you receive confirmation (not from the bailiff company, but from the council) of the actual amount of the Liability Order.