09. Dealing with bailiffs

With most debts, baliffs are only involved if you can't come to an arrangement to repay your creditors, and then only after your case has been to court.  But once baliffs are involved it can be difficult to stop them - although this doesn't apply to county court baliffs (County Court Baliffs' see below).

Baliffs usually work by threatening to take your possessions to persuade you to pay what you owe, or taking and selling things you own to repay your debt.

Although you may believe baliffs are allowed to force their way into your home, and some baliffs may give you this impression, this is generally not the case.  But this is only if they have not been inside your home for the same debt on an earlier occasion.

If you do let a bailiff into your home, they will usually take 'walking possession' of some of your belongings. This means that if you miss future payments on your debt, the bailiff is legally permitted to force entry into your home and take those items away. So if you never let the bailiff in your home, they will never be able to take 'walking possession' of your belongings inside it. But things not inside your house (a car, for example) can be taken.

For most types of debt, 'basic household items' can't be taken away by a bailiff. This includes a bed, for example, but not a television or many other items.

County court bailiffs
If you have a county court judgment (CCJ) and you don't make the payments, the creditor can ask the court to issue a 'warrant of execution'. This will involve county court bailiffs. But you can ask the court to stop them by filling in a special form at your local county court, with a statement about what you can afford to pay.

County court bailiffs also carry out evictions after possession proceedings (see 'Rent or mortgage payment problems'). This is the main situation in which you cannot physically stop baliffs from coming into your home, but again you can ask the court to do so.

Debt collectors
It's important to realise that debt collectors are not the same as baliffs.  Debt collectors cannot take any direct action against you, apart from asking you to pay.  If you believe a debt collector is falsely acting as a baliff, contact the trading standards department at your local council.  If you are bing physically threatened, contact the police.

Bailiffs and the Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act, which came into force in October 2000, may see bailiffs being used less frequently. Part of the Act protects your right to 'peaceful enjoyment of possessions and respect for your privacy, family life and home'.

In practice, this should mean that courts and public authorities use bailiffs more as a last resort, and should consider using less intrusive and distressing ways of getting you to pay what you owe. These include:

• benefit deductions;
• attachment of earnings; and
• voluntary payment arrangements.

There is a separate Community Legal Service leaflet in this series, 'The Human Rights Act', which explains how the Act works and what it might mean for you.