Hello, I owe Scottish Power £1125.70 and have not been able to pay the bill. I didn't hear from them for a while and to be honest forgot all about the debt. I then received a letter saying they have a warrant of entry and are coming to fit a prepayment meter, whether I am home or not. I called the company and paid them £25.70 and said I would try to get some more money together to which I was told they wanted half the debt or they would still use their warrant. I live in a large apartment block and am not even sure where the meters are myself so I don't see them breaking down my door being much use as the meter is not even in there. I also rent and know that my landlord could kick us out if the locks are changed and the meter is installed. I called them today to pay them £200-£250 and advise that I could make another payment of around £300 on the 7th November. But basically they refused to stop the meter being fitted unless I pay £550 today or tomorrow which I do not have. Basically they have now advised me to be home on Thursday when they plan to visit, but won't give me a time. Both me and my fiance can't be present on the day they are coming as we are both in work, and all they can say to us is "it's in your best interests". Well obviously getting sacked from work for staying home to wait for them is hardly in my best interests is it. Just wondered if there is any help out there. As we have offered a payment shouldn't they accept it? Also as we live in a large block can they mess with the meters, we have 24 hour concierge and they would have to be let in by calling our apartment number. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello there,please can anyone help me with the following.... I have a debt that iv been ignoring now for a year....silly i know.... Iv had the court letters issud from Nottingham but didnt fill them in,then had the "Judgment For Claimant" letter from the court stating how much i owe and how much to pay each month.... I suppose iv been nieve thinking that there just fake court letters from Bryan Carter to frighten me.... I then got a letter this morning from Bryan Carter saying "WARRANTY OF EXECUTION"....there a warraant number after this.... This is when i googled for some explanation and came acrcos this site where iv read simmilar storys to mine....EG.the letter states YOUR ACCOUNT HAS NOW BEEN REFEERED FOR ISSUE OF A WARRANT OF EXECUTION....then it states the same warrant number at the top of the letter....and....THE BAILIF WILL NOW ATTEND AT YOUR PROPPERTY.... Reading some of the other posts it says that there cant be a warrant number as the account has been been refeered for one,and this is a trick to get you to call BRYAN CARTER which the replys say not to.... So upon reading some more replys,i called NORTHAMPTON County Court,i gave them the Claim No and they comfirmed the CCJ was issued against me and the dates/ammounts matched so the CCJ is legit.... I then told the clark about the letter from BRYAN CARTER and he said that there was no warrant issued.... At the bottom of the BRYAN CARTER letter it says that,If you are unable to pay in full then we may be able to aggree an instalment plan....then....You must contact us immediatly if you wish to avoid the Baliff calling at your house.... So my question is,even tho the CCJ is legit has BRYAN CARTER sent me this letter just to scare me into calling them to set up a payment plan in a similar way as in the past with other letters of a discount or setlment offer....? Ive read not to deal with BRYAN CARTER but only deal with the court but the court clark says there has been no warrant issued....So what next?.... Iv also read that if the warrant is issued by the court then i can susspend it for free as im on benefits?.... Id just like to be back at the stage where i have to subnit the court forms with my ins and out goings for the judge to decide how much i can afford.... Thankyou for taking the time to read my post....

My friend started a business at the start of the year which I was helping him set up. He took out a 3 month license on an industrial unit which ended at the end of February and wasnt renewed as the business never really got off of the ground. I was acting as his advisor at the time due to having a bit of business knowledge and helped him through the process of finding a unit and also dealing with attaining the license for it. Fast forward to last week and I receive 2 Bailiff Removal / Magistrates Liability Order / Warrant Of Execution orders for Non Domestic Rates addressed to both myself and my friend T/A (his company name) totalling around £1700 and informing me that a bailiff had attended to remove goods from my property, the letters both referencing the local council authority which the unit was licensed. Being bemused but with an incling to it being something to do with the business I ring the council to ask what was going on and it turns out they had contacted the estate agent who was in charge of the license and had been (falsely) informed by them that myself and my friend had taken out a 6 month lease on the property dated from December 2011 to May 2012 and we were being chased for fees for this period. I quickly informed then that 1. It wasnt my company so why was my name even on the account in the first place? and 2. That the unit had only been taken for 3 months so why was the account being billed for 6 months? Being rather snotty she said that they'd been sending correspondance to the unit and other contact addresses and had no reply from us (obviously due to the unit having to be vacated) so proceeded with court action for the 2 outstanding bills but may be able to wipe them if we could provide them with a form which would entitle us to small business rate relief. She then emailed this through which I got my friend to fill out and took this to the council along with the license agreement which clearly states the agreement was with him and not me and only for a period of 3 months. The woman in the council office took all of this into the back office and then came back and said the original debt could be wiped but we would still have to pay around £120 in court fees and £283 to their bailiff. and that because they weren't informed in the first place that the business was my friend's and not mine also (this information they were falsely given by The Estate Agent) and that it had already been through court and that they wouldn't be able to take my name from the bill. I have 2 issues here: 1. That i've somenow become become liable for £400 for a business that wasn't mine due to the estate agent giving false information. 2. That both of these liablity orders were issued for periods the unit wasn't even occupied, one from the period 1 Dec 2011 - 1 Apr 2012 (the license was only up until the end of February) and another one from 1 - 14 Apr. Meaning the second one wasnt even valid in the first place but still has racked up fees of £60 court + half of the £283.50 for the baliff. I've spoken to my friend who's agreed to write a letter to the council and the baliff expressing that the business was his and not mine. Also stating that this been proven by them being provided a copy of the license agreement which was in his name and for them to stop contacting me and to take my name off of the bill. Will they accept this or ignore it and keep harassing me? From my estimations, the second bill was never valid in the first place and ontop of this, the bailiff has overcharged on everything so the charges should only be £50 tops for the baliff's lawful fees and £60 for the court fees for the first bill? Does anyone know how I should proceed from here?

Hi All, Very new to all of this but essentially me and my partner got together a year ago and it turns out she has some minor debt. A fine from the courts for a theft which ended up a £120 fine. Now, this was two years ago (When she was 18) and they have decided to catch up to her now about it. The initial amount owed was £120 and has risen to £420 she has had no previous contact with them except for the court date, she received no warrant (Until today), and no notice of the debt to be owed. The Warrant we received today was stated as a "Distress warrant" And was of the value of £205 in the balance to be paid, £120 original court fine and £85 letter charges. But £420 was handwritten underneath and apparently that is how much we owe. I did read something about bailiffs and 180 days from when the warrant was issued but only had a moment to glance at that. The case history is marked as follows: July 2012 : Start Note Offence - Theft from a shop Date of sentence: June 2010 (Which is the £120 fine issued by the court) July 2012: Hold Case - Specific Period Hold Until July 2012 July 2012 - Misc Note Batch List Printed July 2012: Letter Sent - First HMCTS - First Bilingual Printed (I am assuming this would be the £85 letter charges) August 2012 - Bailiff Assigned Bailiff XX Assigned to case August 2012 - Misc Note Assigned cases List Printed August 2012 - Misc Note Activity Report / HMCS - Distress Warrant Printed August 2012 - Bailiff Unassigned Bailiff XX Unassigned August 2012 - Bailiff Assigned Bailiff XX Assigned to case August 2012 - Misc Note Assigned Cases List Printed Now, I am unsure where the additional £215 charges have come from to total debt to £420 but i wanted to know if you had any advice? There is no court stamp on the warrant and the only people we have spoken to is people from the main company which is Excel Civil Enforcement i can't seem to be able to gain information as to which court the case was assigned to. If needs be i can and will upload the document we recieved from the bailiff and black out all of the personal information so you can have a look at it. But from what i have stated here, is there any reason i should be suspicious? Thank you to anyone and everyone who helps me and my partner has just had a child and we are in our first tenancy so we are all over the place anyway at the moment! EDIT: Sorry, i also forgot to mention that he seemed twitchy about me paying in instalments, he wants payments done within this month. He won't allow any other way.

(also posted in utilities forum...) Need advice urgently. I got a little behind with gas bill I am and always have been paying £70 a month by Standing Order. anyway, every time I try and set up a payment plan, always get through to an indian call center and all they want to do is take a payment and not listen. I do have a recorded telephone conversation telling them I had no objections at all in them fitting a prepayment meter. Despite this they got a warrant to change it on the 13th of this month. I never got a chance to tell my side at court (6th) also I never received human rights letter from rep, I sent him away and told him to post it. Didn't even get into a conversation with him. why should I pay for his visit. I don't want to pay the court costs and meter install charges when I already gave permission. Can I stop the warrant, have it put on hold until I at least get a chance to have my say in court? Time is tight ....how would I do this? thanks for reading series3

I received a notice of distress warrant off Phillips Baliffs yesterday the letter is dated 2nd of July and it says that I must pay £1200 in 48 hours which would have been the 4th of July. I do not have that type of money as I am unemployed and on JSA. The ammount of £1200 relates to 2 court fines 1 of which I was aware of. I have a lot of other debts, I recently settled a council tax debt with Bristow and Sutor by paying in installments so I am willing to pay what I can afford. I rang citizens advice as soon as I got the letter they have made a telephone appointment for me at 12pm Monday with a community legal representative but I am worried sick as the Baliffs may show up over the weekend. I am the Guardian to a 10 year old boy and he is having problems with his eye so I am taking him doctors now am worried they may show up when I am out. I have been worried sick looking on the internet for information. I can borrow £100 off a friend but thats all I can pay I don't know what to do I would appreciate any help.

hy i had a letter from philips for a distress warrant about one things happened few years ago. me and my friend stole make up in boots and the police gave us a fine. i paid the fine at the Court in highbury and islington after 2 months and the man at the Court said that after the payment everything was ok. but today i had this letter werethey ask me to pay £125 in 7 days, but i have already paid the fine few years ago. how can i do? i don't have a copy of the receipt but really i have paid already... can you give me some advice please? thanks jessica

Hi Out of the blue today, a bailiff from the council knocked on my door. He said he had a warrant for my arrest over non payment of council tax. i refused to let him in as I was on my way to work. Here's the story, He said I owed £4700, he wouldn't tell me when the debt was from, or for what years it covered. Said he didn't know, but he is going to return, arrest me and then bail me to appear in court. I admit a couple of years ago I got into trouble with the council tax, but in February 2011 I paid £3800. When i paid this I asked the council to confirm that my council tax was upto date, the woman on the phone said yes, but I never got anything in writing. Last year when my bill arrived, I contacted the council and informed them that my son is at university, but still living at home, I posted them a copy of the letter from the university. I never received an amended bill. Lax I know, but they didn't send me a bill so I didn't pay anything. My council tax is £1200 per year, with my 25% discount I work out that I owe them £800 for last year, and approx £270 for this year.(upto todays date) A couple of questions before he rings me tomorrow, 1 Can he arrest me? I thought only police could do that. 2 Is there a template I can fill in to get the council to break down the £4700 3 Do I have to answer the phone to him, or should I contact the council directly? The business card he left had the councils logo on it so it appears he works for the council, but he was holding a folder which had GDR debt recovery on it, which leads me to believe he might not be a council employee. I am prepared to pay last years council tax, and also get this years upto date, but I refuse to pay £4700. Thanks in advance

Need advice urgently. I got a little behind with gas bill I am and always have been paying £70 a month by Standing Order. anyway, every time I try and set up a payment plan, always get through to an indian call center and all they want to do is take a payment and not listen. I do have a recorded telephone conversation telling them I had no objections at all in them fitting a prepayment meter. Despite this they got a warrant to change it on the 13th of this month. I never got a chance to tell my side at court (6th) also I never received human rights letter from rep, I sent him away and told him to post it. Didn't even get into a conversation with him. why should I pay for his visit. I don't want to pay the court costs and meter install charges when I already gave permission. Can I stop the warrant, have it put on hold until I at least get a chance to have my say in court? Time is tight ....how would I do this? thanks for reading series3

Hopefully this will make sense! We got a penalty notice from Derbyshire, where we have never visited for a parking ticket. Been trying to fight this for nearly two years. The van was never registered at DVLA to us or to our address. The parking ticket was issued in a company name that does not exsist, although contains our surname. The registered keeper provided our address and the company name to the council involved. I don't seem to have got a warrant of execution notice from the courts. I have filed every form going with no joy......now I have a demand for £125 to be paid in 7 days from Marstons. Is there anything I can do? Any help or thoughts greatly appreciated.

Well this is news to me,but according to the Marstons bailiff who I spoke to following being called by a relative after they turned up to execute a MCW it is too late to even challenge. On informing them that I did know about the rules given that I was a site team member of the CAG,the Marstons bailiff went on to say that this site is full of bad advice and wrong advice. I had to think as to whether I had told him CAG or else something which sounds like CAG that I had not yet seen. Here I am taking about a warrant that was passed following a fines order for no TV licence. The person concerned was in hospital for a lenthly period at the time of both the Mags hearing,and the demand to pay the fine. My understanding is that the costs/fine was around 120 quid. Marstons paid a visit when there was no one at home. After being asked to help out,Marstons was advised via their website (screenshot is available) that the person is on ESA benefits does not seek to evade paying the fine but that they should suspend action as notice was being made to the Court seeking time to pay. Yesterday Marstons turned up in a van with 2 bailiffs and a bill in excess of £500 quid. If you are reading Marstons,you have not heard the last of this. The 9 days you have given to pay your charges-will certainly be put to good use.

Please can anyone give us advice... Back in 2009 we were in arrears with rooftop mortages and it went to court - we were give a suspended possession order and had to pay back £100 on top of our monthly payment which we kept up with well at first but did struggle to pay on occassions, called rooftop explained and was told it was fine each time. A couple of weeks ago rooftop sent us a letter saying we were £700 pound odd behind with this order so we requested statements to check the amount was correct, we did and it was - called and said we couldn't pay it all at once and also that this month we would be late paying our monthly payment but paid the £240 we could pay then. They told us this was fine and that they would not take our home over a small amount like that. Today we got letters saying that as the order from 2009 has not been adhered to they are putting in at court for a warrant for possession of land and that we will be notifed in due course of the eviction date. We have been staying with family a couple of days and have just arrived home to find the letters hence why I am on here so late Please can anyone advise if this can be stopped and what we need to do, I can't lose our home, im so stressed and upset and don't know what to do Been looking on the interenet and am getting so confused Thanks so much

Does anyone know the legalities of who is authorized to serve a warrant? I have a warrant issued from Northampton for a PCN from Bromley Council who have employed JBW Group to collect but then used a independent bailiff. This chap is on the Bailiff register in Leeds and not with JBW but his own company. Is the council allowed to use this independent Bailiff since he is not employed directly by them?

I'm in shock. I've got 4 letters from the Sheriff Officers today for council tax dating back years ago, saying that warrants have been granted against me and a former partner (letters addressed to both of us, we split 6 years ago) in the sheriff court. They are all for one address. For three of the years claimed we were not even living there, plus the council tax was included in what we paid our landlord (as far as I am aware - I wasn't party to the tenancy agreement) - we NEVER got a council tax bill the entire time we lived there an never since for that property. They have got hold of my current address so clearly know where I live yet have never chased me for this or sent a letter telling me they were taking it to court - if they had I would have fought it! It's thousands and I have to pay it in 7 days apparently! What the hell can I do about this? I am beyond fuming!

Hi, I'm not sure what to do, a warrant was issued on 4th october 2011 for a pcn, and this was revoked by the traffic enforcement centre (TEC) (court) on 20th november 2011 when i filed an out of time witness statement. I received a letter from the bailiff on saturday 2nd june 2012, and a visit from them this morning. I had appealed to the council but not had a response, and have heard from the TEC that they have not reissued a warrant and that hounslow council is basically acting on the old revoked warrant issued on 4th october 2011. surely this is unlawful? illegal? have tried contacting the council but they only accept written communication- email/letter, no visits in person or phonecalls, and i'm worried the bailiff will come again and add more fees. does anyone know what to do in this instance? thanks

Hi all PLEASE could you give me a bit of help? I have had a Notice of Issue of Warrant of Execution, however it has been sent and addressed to the wrong flat. It has my name but is is addressed to Flat 2, I live in Flat 1. My friend who lives in flat 2 gave it me as it had my name on it. The question I am asking is it valid as it has the wrong address on, or can I just send it back saying "NOT AT THIS ADDRESS"? Thanks for any help,,

Hi everyone, Looking for a bit of help with our current dealings with Philips Bailiffs. My partner had a fine for use of TV set without a license and we had difficulties paying this fine. It has since been passed to Philips Bailiffs who are now dealing with the matter. We received a letter from them dated 28th March headed "NOTICE OF DISTRESS WARRANT". At this time the outstanding amount was £195. We immediately made an offer of repayment to them @ £10 per week. The first payment was due on 17/4/2012 but we failed to make this as we only realised after making the plan that they would charge us an extra £3 each time we made a payment by debit card. As we failed to make the payment, they sent another letter out... This time it was delivered in person and the total amount was now upto £410. Instead, we got back in touch with them and offered them £80 every 4 weeks, which we wouldn't mind paying the extra £3 each time. They declined this offer and said the minimum they could accept, according to their client West Mercia Courts, was £29pw/£58fortnightly/£127pm. They sent another bailiff out last week to hand deliver another letter (Balance still at £410), saying: REMOVAL NOTICE With this on the bottom: Please Note: We may re-attend your premises with a locksmith to remove any seized goods (as in accordance with the law), even in your absence. Now we have been doing a bit of reading up and have come across this site: dealingwithbailiffs[dot]co[dot]uk On that site it states this: Bailiffs send demands in the post adding hundreds of pounds in fees before making a visit – the defendant has no legal obligation to pay them. Section 76 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980. Bailiffs cannot lawfully interfere with the locks of your property, or threaten to have a locksmith do so, or take any goods in your absence:Khazanchi & Another v Faircharm Investments Ltd & Others [1998] EWCA Civ 471 What we would like to know is: 1) If we were to make payment for the original outstanding fine amount, could the bailiff fees be waivered/ignored? 2) If there was no-one at the property, or if my partner wasn't here, are they still able to gain entry to the property with a locksmith? Upto now there has been no proof of this warrant, only what they have said in the letters (Which looks to be a template). We have just put an offer in to make payments of: 1x £100, 2X £127 and a final £56 = £410. We have dealt with them by email over the last couple of weeks and they way they are coming across, regardless of the amount we pay, if we don't agree to their payment plans then they will continue with the recovery process. (Even if we paid £400 of the £410 oweing!) Could anyone give us any advice? Thank you in advance!

The local council were informed that we were moving out of the property and a forwarding address was given. We moved out on the 9/4/12. On the 10/5/12 I contacted the council because I had not received a bill for the final payment. They said they were dealing with it and have our forwarding address. I have just received a council tax statement from Aberdeen City Council and I am annoyed to say the least. They have asked us to pay £65 which is the right amount, but they have also added 198.48 as a statutory penalty because of late payment. The problem with this is that we have never received a letter from the council telling us how much we owe them from the last address. All we have had is the letter with the statutory penalty. I know councils are all powerful when it comes to getting the money you supposedly owe them, but it is their incompetence that’s has caused this. What can I do?

First time poster so please be gentle! I've received a warrant of execution from the bailiffs for a debt I have no knowledge of. It's been sent to an address I've never lived at but is in my name-it's only by chance that I've received it. It appears a claim has gone through the county court without my knowledge, instigated by a chap I've had dealings with in the past. This chap harassed me by phone because I wouldn't evict one of my tenants quickly enough for him (he wanted to speed up an eviction making it illegal) and I refused. He threatened to visit me and have it out, even though I informed him I was 9 months pregnant. In the end, I had to call the police to warn him off. It seems he's got the address of the lady I used to do the eviction paperwork for me and made a claim against me for goodness knows what. By default he seems to have won. How on earth do I get this reversed? I've got until Monday when the baliffs act to repossess goods (albeit from an address I've never lived at). I've downloaded an N244 form and applied for the paperwork associated with this claim to be sent to me but any idea what to say on the form? I definitely don't want this guy getting my actual address-he's a lunatic, even the lady at the courts service when reading the paperwork commented that this sounded a bizarre claim. Any kindly folk with experience of filling in an N244 form that could advise? Thanks very much in advance.

Hey guys, I've been a reader for a while taking in the advice on your forums - it's proved invaluable so far, many thanks to all and keep up the good work However, I'm truly stumped and was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to shed some light on the following.... I've just checked my MCOL site today I noticed that under my claim history it states that a final return for your warrant against Person X has been received on 01/11/10. This is after the warrant of execution was obtained on 13/07/10, following the defendant's refusal to respond to any court correspondence and subsequently entered judgement by default. The sum owed currently stands at 601 pounds. Firstly, I have no idea what 'a final return for your warrant was received on 01/11/10' means?? I've looked on hmcs and google, and cant see a thing about it?? Secondly, as the incident of pretty much fraud took place last november, is there any way i can speed things up at all? Thanks for any help you can provide. G