bailiff harrassment and threatening behaviour

[jellytot777]

i have decided to start a new thread as i posted under another thread and was advised to start a new one.

basically my partner has a quite substantial debt of council tax which is about 1'700. we have had a few visits from rossendales and have paid the bailiff £600 last year and then they refused anything other than payment in full. they have been adding costs of £60+ per visit. as of december we decided to pay the council direct and then sent a letter complaning that they had broken many rules set out in the OFT 664 and asked for a repayment plan. we sent the first payment with the letter. they cashed the cheque but never responded. we paid another cheque in february.

my probkem is an incident that occurred on the 27/02/08.

i was at home with my 2 yr old when there was a knock on the door. i thought i was a parcel i was waiting for and went to answer it. before i got there the door opened and and man stepped int my hallway. i asked him to leave and he said no. i quickly flashed an ID badge and by now was standing in my front room doorway. my 2 yr old saw the opened child gate and went upstairs into the bathroom and she closed the door. i started to panic as there is bleach and razors in there. the bailiff said i could go sort my daughter out but didnt move out of the doorway. i screamed at him to leave and all he did was start writing down my goods. i tried calling my partner but to no avail. my daughter was screaming upstairs by now and still the bailiff did not move. i said i would call the police and he basically said that they couldnt do nothing as i had let him in which i DID NOT and that it was my word against his. i rang a friend to come over as i basically felt like a prisoner and feared for my child. as soon i phoned my friend and said that they were on their way round he handed me a paper and said it was a distress warrant( doesnt look official) and left. as he left he said he would be back tomorrow to remove all my goods even though he wrote 5 on the WPO which i havent signed. he also said that as i had previously let a bailiff in then he had every right to be in my house. i have never let any bailiff in my house and can only assume that the list that this bailiff had made was made by looking through my window. i am that scared that as soon as my partner went to work today i grabbed my daughter and went to my sisters for the day. too scared to be in house by myself now.

what would my next step be legally. i want to make a formal complaint but dont know who to. didnt go to police as its his word against mine.

if anyone has advice it would gratefully be received.

sorry about long post.

[tomtubby]

I did call you yesterday and left a message You can call me this morning.

[Screw The Bailiff]

The bailiff can lawfully walk inside your property provided he didnt push you aside or apply force to a door or window. But, hallway? is this the hallway to your actual dwelling? or the hallway of a communal area of a block of flats? pls clarify.

The bailiff at this point can now charge you a walking possessions fee because he has come inside your home and into contact with your goods. He's not interested in taking them, he just wrote them down while standing inside so he can now legitimately charge a walking possession fee. He doesn't need a signature.

The law: Regulation 45(2) Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 says a prescribed maximum for a walking possession fee is £10+VAT, if he has charged you more then you can make a complaint (checklist) & put him in front of the judge to explain why he overcharged you - plus - defrauding someone in this way is a criminal offence.

Go to a police station and report that you have been defrauded by a bailiff under Section 2(1)(b)(i) and Section 4(1)(c)(i) of the Fraud Act 2006. Take evidence including the bailiff’s receipt, printout of the relevant fee schedule and the law. If the police fob you off with the - it’s a civil matter – excuse or say insufficient evidence or it doesn’t fit the criteria to be considered for criminal prosecution, then get the name of the officer and file a complaint of misfeasance with the IPCC.

I appreciate this wont be easy, if you can muscle the means, then pay the council off in cash and get a receipt, go to their office with your account number and do this asap and preferably take a witness, if the council is uncooperative then file a complaint of misfeasance with the LGO.

If you know the name of the bailiff then check his credentials, if you find an irregularity then report back here and we'll advise with further options.

[jellytot777]

it is our house hallway which is literally 5ft by 3ft so as he opened the door i was literally pushed behind it. i did try to push it forward but he was too strong for me.

although i would rather he never came in my concern and problem is that he had no regard for the safety of my daughter and stood in the only doorway that allowed me access to her for 20mins. i actually felt like a prisoner in my front room. the bill isn't even mine it is my partners. i have repeatedly asked them to call after 4pm or before 9am as my partner is not in yet they only ever seem to turn up between 12 and 3pm.

another point is that a few items that he wrote down aren't ours as our house is rented and came part furnished.

[Screw The Bailiff]

Originally Posted by jellytot777

it is our house hallway which is literally 5ft by 3ft so as he opened the door i was literally pushed behind it. i did try to push it forward but he was too strong for me.

Thats good enough for a Form 4 complaint. The bailiff cannot use force of any sort against you to enter a property let alone force the door pusing you aside.

Originally Posted by jellytot777

another point is that a few items that he wrote down aren't ours as our house is rented and came part furnished.

The bailiff has levied incorrectly by siezing goods that do not belong to the debtor. Add that to the Form 4.

Ask the bailiff to refund the Walking possession fee with this letter before sending Form 4 to the court.

If you really need to get him off your back, you could just screw the bailiff by paying him with a credit card and sort it out later.

[tomtubby]

If you have a serious complaint about a bailiff you are entitled to file a Form 4 complaint about the bailiff to the County Court that certificated him.

I have provided further details of this process in the sticky section.

Many Judges are taking these cases very seriously indeed.........just today a bailiff from Drakes Group had his Bailiff's Certificate taken away from him.....

[nedjma]

Hello,

I am new here and I am struggling to figure out how to use this site and how to start new threads. If the staff who work on here could please link my posts into one thread as I am in deseperate need of help and advice. I have tried to figure out how to do this but I cannot find out how to do this. I am new and confused and I need help putting a stop to Rossendales thugs.

Regards

[Fair-Parking]

Jellytot777. Go to Devon & Cornwall police web site which advises on how the police should act when a bailiff enters unlawfully as this one did. Then report this to the police. They will have to investigate. If the bailiff states to them that you 'inivited him in' then you will know that he is a liar as well as a thug. More importantly, he will realise that you know. He won't be so keen to come back with the knowledge that the police are already suspicious of him and that you are more world wise. Do remember that he is only a private citizen with no right of entry into your hose.

For more information see our posting (5) on Rossendales thread