I have been reading this forum for advice so think I know what to do but I have a few questions. Yesterday I received a 'Notice of Warrant of Control', from my local county court (Chester) asking for £536 or the bailiffs will call 4th Feb. It is for not paying a CCJ judgement from Restons (originally Next). I emailed them in May last year when they got the CCJ asking to pay £15 a month and asking for bank details, no reply and now this. I have other CCJs/debts so never chased up at the time, tbh head is a mess and I forgot. My questions; 1 - Is the debt now owed to bailiffs and not Restons, so I can't speak to them? or should I ring them and ask for a hold too? 2 - Is N245 the best option? 3 - Is the Notice or warrant of control the same as a notice of enforcement? Panicking over a visit, I have kids that I don't need to see baillifs.

Some months back I opened the door to the Tv Licensing people, and made agreement to pay licence in small amounts, Due to illness and having to move on to benefits I could not afford to keep making the payments. Today i received a warrant for arrest for non payment of the debt, I am really worried that I may be arrested, but all the same,at the back of my mind something tells me that the warrant is not what it seems to be, It is printed on card sealed on 3 edges. the front says its from HM courts and tribunals services,but the inside looks more like a tv licence warning, but says "Details can be circulated to police" amongst other things like don't delay contact us now. It has my name account number and contact details written in ink. I rang the number, while hiding my own, and asked who I was speaking too, at first all the man would say was his name, but after some persistence he said he was from the magistrates court. He did not seem genuine. So I'm not sure if it is a real warrant or not .How can I tell if it is genuine ?

Hi, I run a small retail operation, bricks and locks building..., I am disputing the bill Britisg Gas have sent me, they said it's a smart meter and up to date, it still doesn;t seem right.. One of the last letters have threatened with bailiff or coming in to change the meter, how heavy are they on this stuff? Need I worry till I can try sort it out with them? How long do they normally take to take action?

hello all, i have a valid gas safety certificate until November the 3rd 2018. my landlord(local council) uses a heating company for the gas safety check,... they are being very overzealous and have been calling to do an 'ANNUAL' gas safety inspection since the beginning of August...this seems very strange as its 3 months early and they know it expires in November.?? I have came home and received calling cards when I have been out and on one occasion a calling card was left when i was on holiday...as it was August. today i received a letter from the council saying they are taking me to court to apply for a 'warrant to authorise entry'? I would like to know if i can attend the court hearing (to show the certificate) and also can they do this with a valid gas safety certificate in force? thanks, Sonia.

Hi guys, looking for some advice with what to do, my husband has received a letter from the court it’s a warrant of control, giving 7 days for payment, it’s a ccj he didn’t know about as it went to old address, his fault for not giving new address, I was going to fill out the N245 form & send that but after he’s phoned them they said he needs to ring the solicitor to offer payment, it’s Restons, he’s told them I deal with things like this & given authorisation for me to deal on his behalf, he doesn’t understand or deal well with things like this, they told him he can’t stop the bailiffs until he’s made an offer of payment, I need to phone them but not sure what to do or say, do I tell them I’m sending a N245? Do I do this or just offer a monthly payment, can’t afford a lot the debt is £4500, is £50 a month to low, he’s already got another ccj he pays, another letter before claim plus other debts, not sure what to do Hope someone can help & thanks in advance for any replies

Hi, question - how long is a warrant of control issued for an unpaid council PCN valid for? I thought it was 12 months but the relevant bits of CPR 75.5 have been struck out (I can't post a link as I'm new, but if you google CPR 75 you'll find it) so I think the law might have changed. Any ideas?

Hi there Im new to this forum and need some advise please. Heres the story My friend has received a "Issue of warrant of control" letter a few days ago , hes confused as to why this is, we checked on his credit file and noticed a ccj that has been placed by Lowells, how surprising! its weird as some guy knocked asking for my friend a week ago he said he was from resolve call! not sure why as i said he isn't here s the guy just walked off. Not sure if he was connected to Lowells or the same debt. he has never received any court claim forms at all prior to this the debt is with littlewoods online catelogue. Please can you advise on what is his best action. Hes on a low wage only works part time hes worried now as we dont want bailiffs at the door , they would go straight for the car! Any help is much appreciated.

Sorry for the short notice and need for help, a family medical emergency kept me away from and I've arrived back to a letter from Worthing County Court. The court have issued a Notice of Issue of Warrant of Control over a debt with Creditor of Cabot Financial. After total panic I've done some searching through my papers and the following is as brief an account as I can give of what I think has happened. Several years ago we had financial troubles and got a credit card (Vanquis) which gradually crept up and up with them constantly increasing the credit limit. It ended up at about £3400. When our problems spiralled I buried my head in the sand and didn't pay. Move forward a few years, not over 6, I and others were being bullied by a boss. The stress of this caused me to become extremely ill with stress and depression. It was going through the Union and looked favourable that I would get helped but events illy my mental health was so bad I just quite the job and the union case just to put an end to it. During this time I am ashamed to admit I pretty much became a recluse and stopped functioning. I suspect at some point around then Vanquis sold the debt to Cabot, who got a CCJ. There is probably paperwork, I don't have any to hand and I didn't go to court. With sheer force of will, I somehow managed to get well again. It's been slow going but in March I was finally able to return to a job part time, money is tight but I'm gradually paying off any debts that happened. But now I am terrified that next week the court will send in bailiffs over this debt which the stigma and stress of, is surely going to send me back into oblivion. It says I can go for a N245 form? I want to do this but need help. I want time to pay back every penny, but it won't be masses of £ at once as I simply can't do it. What can I do?

I arrived home earlier this week to find a Marston agent sitting in his car across my gate. He had a warrant and was collecting £393 for an old speeding fine that I knew I had finished paying off, and told him so. Usual intimidation, he was only acting on the info he had. I should pay the fine now and then appeal it. He'd already filled out the form for the next stage which would mean another £600. He said he had a team "following him around" to seize goods, which they would do the same evening. So I coughed up the £393. Then I emailed the Court who had issued the fine and warrant. They replied today that it had been issued and enforced in error, and that Marston had been emailed and instructed to refund my money. Whilst I feel somewhat vindicated, is there anything I can do to complain and escalate this. Does it do any good? Will anyone compensate me, or even apologise? cheers

Hi, some weeks ago a letter from Eon reached my address addressed to a person who does not live there and liver lived there in the last 5 years, and wasn't the person who lived here before we moved in. Thank you for switching to EON, please send us your meter reading so we can complete the switch. Thinking nothing of it, I binned the letter. After that more letters from eon arrived, addressed to the occupier. Most I binned some I opened. They seemed very genuine, in the line of You won 1 million pounds please send us your personal details and some money so we can complete the transaction. More recently they were actual bills, reminding me to send my meter reading to my supplier which is not EON. It didn't work online. I tried it by phone and it didn't work. I called them on there service phone and the lady accepted my meter reading. A week later and I still didn't get a bill. Checked online and my meter reading wasn't there. Now I sent an e-mail to my supplier who confirmed that EON had falsely grabbed my account and switched it to them. (They still had all the data like meter point number and meter serial number because they were the supplier years ago before we switched to the new supplier). I checked the old bills, and the previous account number was different to the account number used for the new bills. I called EON and was put on hold most of the time for more than 10 minutes. Once I talked to someone, but I remember only because I didn't input the account number as asked. As soon as I gave him the account number I was put on hold. A mail from my current supplier confirmed they are working on the issue to solve it and it can take 6 months. Now letters from EON contain the bill for some time (£37), a threat of debt collectors, and threats of court orders, magistrates, warrants, etc. I'm afraid one morning a whole terror group of the police will smash in windows and doors, killing my orchid, only to have a look at my meter. When I checked the Internet, I found this practice of threatening The Occupier by utility companies is going on at least since 2004. Is there any party or MP or court or judge willing to put a stop to this fraudulent behaviour? Put the CEO and her whole board of directors into prison and throw away the key, something along this line. We had a similar issue with British Gas. After moving in to a new property, someone knocked, asked for the meter reading, and a week later I got a letter from British gas congratulating me to switch to them. Somehow I got the matter resolved in a very short time, probably involving trading standards, or calling BG and pulling the guy through the phone line. Can't remember. But this seems to me endemic considering all the links found here and other forums, and the Internet at large. Another question: If I go to court to stop the harassment by EON, how much would I need to pay to a lawyer?

Hi. I set up a payment plan for a £300 council tax debt. Managed to pay the first instalment (£20), but due to lack of money missed the second payment. Just had a Schedule 12 Taking Control of Goods letter delivered. They also added £235 for the enforcement fee. Is it possible to contact the council again and renegotiate, and avoid dealing with the bailiff? I also have a motor vehicle outside (old car worth under £500) . I take it's a good idea to park it elsewhere? I'm keeping the doors/windows closed, and refuse to answer the door. But my main concern is that they'll force their way in. Will this happen? Thanks.

Hi, This is my first post here and need some advice please - Had a letter given to me by mum yesterday which I opened to see it was from marstons and a notice of enforcement for HMCTS for £8,900.00. I was given a £11,600 fine last year for a VAT debt from the magistrates ( was to do with no giving security at the time) which was a £500 fine and £11,100 compensation. I have been paying this fine and was being paid every month, I believe the last couple or maybe just 1 (need to check) haven't gone out for some reason. Obviously debt has already gone down by £1700.00 since June last year when imposed. The details on the notice of enforcement state " a warrant of control has been issued by her majesty's courts and tribunal serve, distress warrant and then a date of 17/05/2017. I have read somewhere about it can only be enforced within 180 days of the date? What does that mean? I don't have £8,900.00 to pay marstons and don't know what to do, I have read that they won't accept payment plan? I am already in an IVA as of Feb 2017 which I know this can't go in as is a court fine. Will the court if I call them cancel this down and go back to the original payment plan? Any help would be great. Thanks in advance. Adam

Hi i have arrears on my gas and electric and failed to maintain previous agreements with them due to health reasons . They said they have been to court and will be fitting prepayment meters even though this is not what i want said it's too late to agree anything now that they can't give me a date when they'll come it'll be when ever they can, they won't give me a day. they were rather rude on the phone.

This is yet another important decision from the Local Government Ombudsman and one that once again makes clear that if a debtor who is subject to bailiff enforcement considers that he may be 'vulnerable', he must be prepared to provide evidence and outline how his 'vulnerability' affects his ability to deal with the debt. In brief, Mr B's complaint was as follows: Mr B incurred 5 penalty charge notices. He believes that there is a law from the year 1600 that means that he can’t be fined and so can park anywhere. He and his wife both have Blue Badges and he considered that being granted a Blue Badge means that he has meet the criteria for ‘vulnerability’. Mr B told the Council he was a vulnerable person. However, he had not explained why he considers he is vulnerable. He was of the opinion that it is the Council’s job to prove he is not. Mr B complained a business centre issued the warrants rather than a court and so were invalid. Mr B complains that the bailiffs did not have the correct warrants. The Council has said the court sends the warrants electronically and so there are no paper copies. PS: A copy of the decision can be read in the following post.

Hi, My partner had two credit cards between 2001-2008 - both of which she defaulted on when her husband left - leaving her with two young kids. Unable to pay the mortgage she was forced to move into Council Accommodation. Today, She received a Notice of Issue of Warrant of Control. Creditor: Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd The letter states that if the debt (£857) is not paid by 2nd Feb 2018 then Bailiffs will be call to remove goods for sale at public auction. I work as a bar tender and my partner is disabled and on benefits. No attempt was made to contact my partner in the last 8 years regarding the debt (we still don't know which CC it applies to.) by mail or telephone. She is terrified that the bailiffs will turn up and start ransacking the house. Can anyone give me a clue as to where to begin fighting this?

‪Hi Guys. ‬ I received a letter from county Court which say “notice of warrant of control”. Creditor : Lowell portfolio Ltd Re: Lowell financial limited To the debtor : “ You have not made payments under the judgement as you were ordered. The creditor has therefore asked for a warrant to be issued to the bailiff to seize your goods. Unless you pay the amount due in county Court by 24th November. Total to pay (including fees) on this warrant £ 170.25 Balance outstanding (after payment on this warrant) £ 572.57” The problem is I haven’t received any letters from court or Lowell. I have no idea what this debt was for? I am not always on this address as well. How can I stop this warrant,obtain further details about this debt and defend this claim ? Any advice will be welcomed. Thanks ����

Hello fellow CAGers, I'm trying to help my Uncle here. He received a notice to apply for a warrant with a £300 debt. However, he paid the debt in full 2 days before the hearing. EON went ahead with the hearing and got a warrant. Two days later they (or their agents) created huge panic with my Aunt and Nieces when they used a locksmith to break into the house to fit a prepayment meter. The meter is on the outside of the house and easily accessible so there was no reason to break in. (I understand they may want to inspect appliances). My question is what can be done? The warrant was obtained illegally/immorally and the representative must have confirmed to the bench that the debt was outstanding and cannot have exercised due diligence to confirm that the debt was outstanding or they lied. A complaint was made to Eon a few weeks ago and they have not responded despite saying they will reply within 5 working days. I'm thinking a lot of wrongs here. No debt, warrant obtained illegally/dishonestly/negligently, tort, alarm and trespass. Thoughts on next course of action?

I received a notice of issue of warrant of control letter on 21st July. I states that I have until 26th July to pay the amount on the letter or bailiffs will be coming to my house to seize and sell goods. Of course I am panicking about this as I don't want bailiffs coming to my home. I am currently on ESA benefits and cannot afford to pay what they are asking. And they have only given me 5 days to do so! I have been speaking with the creditor Lowell and I arranged to set up a monthly payment plan. However the amount they set was too high as like I said I am on benefits, so they asked me to fill out an expenditure form to show how much I could afford. I emailed this to them and heard nothing back. And forgot about it to be honest. The next thing is I receive this letter! Please help! Any advice is appreciated.

Hi It's been a long time since I was last in debt and had to deal with bailiffs' and debt collection companies so i'm not sure if things have changed so i'm looking for a bit of advice ? I Went home this lunchtime and a bailiff had left a letter threatening to get a locksmith to break into my house to remove goods with the police possibly present. ..in fact the letter was quite threatening I thought that this was illegal as the debt owed was a personal debt through a county court CCJ not a magistrates fine or debt to any other governmental department, what I need to know is are they allowed to do this. The debt collection company who pursuing this debt is lowells and they have bought a lot of my debts and are trying for CCJ's on all of them and is this how they operate now ? Thanks in advance for any replies

Dear all I would be very grateful for any help with my situation. I had a SPO following mortgage arrears (£3600) in 2008. Since then I have been making my contractual payments but had missed payments on three occasions from unexpected expenses resulting from direct debits being returned unpaid. I was in a particularly bad financial condition in the last 6 months following an elderly family member falling unwell while abroad. The mortgage arrears accrued to £3400 again and the mortgage company ( a subprime lender) has now applied to the court for a warrant for possession. I panicked and raised money from friends and family to clear off the arrears, but the lender is refusing to accept any payments and instead insists that I send them last three months of bank statements before they would decided whether to accept the payments or not. They insist that until I serve them the bank statements, they can't do anything about the eviction and says an eviction date will be issued in due course. They also made me complete an income and expenditure with them over the phone. I am very reluctant to send in bank statements, since with the financial difficulties over the last three months, I have resorted to payday loans (cleared) and I am very worried this will again jeopardize the situation. I am otherwise in a stable job and would be able to afford my contractual payments going forward. I have raised the money and want to clear the arrears but I am left in this dire situation. With family and young children, it looks as if my fate is sealed. May be someone else on this forum would have had a similar situation and I am sincerely hoping for some advice and help. Apologies for the long post.

6.30 am - knock at door. Look through window. Evident bailiff. 6.35am - once he was off my front garden went out and spoke to him. Seeking my ex partner from August 2016. 6.45am - provided driving licence from inside house, my car was clamped. 6.50am - my car was now clamped for a fine that had nothing to do with me and not my name on the court warrant. 6.55am - I remained calm and was told on presenting my identification to take my ugly mug back inside 8.30 - phoned authority who's parking services team advised me no discussion until full payment is made I said I am not xxx xxx their response..... your card number is 9.00 - phoned courts to file a complaint advised speak to authority. 9.10-11.30am spoke to Andrew James who refused to speak to me as I was not named on the warrant yet they had my car clamped. Spoke to authority who failed to take action swiftly. 12.30 N16a injunction application filed at court and served on authority and Andrew James 1.10pm the clamp was being removed followed by a grovelling telephone call from the parking services director in the authority. Advice needed for next steps for this unlawful action and claiming lost working hours and damages for public embarrassment

Hello everyone at the CAG forum, this is my first post here. I'm hoping to get some advice with Marston / Collectica after a bailiff visit today. I wasn't home but they left a hand delivered Final Notice. Let me give some more information; I have a Further Steps Notice from London Collection and Compliance Centre dated 18th November, amount owed £580. I did not open and read this letter until yesterday. Around two weeks ago I received a Notice of Enforcement Distress Warrant from Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service, it stated the debt was £580 but now £660. I did open and read this letter, I thought it was due to a recent CCJ from an unsecured Vanquis debt from over 3 years ago. Based on this thought, I believed this was just a normal scare tactic letter taken to the next level (bearing in mind at this point in time I had not opened or read the Further Steps Notice letter) with the belief that this was from an unsecured debt I also believed that if anything they would just send a standard bailiff to which I could just politely refuse to open to door and ask to leave, having no vehicle or property outside that they could take. The due date of this Distress warrant was 16/02/2017, 14 days after the issue date. Today (well yesterday now) 17th Feb, I arrived home to find the bailiff Final Notice letter, with an added fee of £235. At this point I decided to reread the last letter I received, the Distress Warrant. This is where I started to worry and have doubts that this was actually the debt from Vanquis. I had a look around and found some unopened letters, one of them was the Further Steps Notice. Upon reading this I soon realized it was unlikely that this was the Vanquis debt. Reading about deductions from my salary (I work myself so don't think they could apply this?), but more worrying 'issuing a warrant for your arrest' surely Vanquis can't get a warrant for my arrest issued due to unpaid debt with them? This must have come from the Magistrate's court? I got thinking, last year (I'm not sure exactly when, but now I'm guessing around April or just after) I received a council tax letter out of the blue saying I owed £200 or £300 for unpaid council tax. I live at my Mums house, and for over 15 years the council tax has be debited from her bank every month. I mentioned to her that I received a council tax bill in my name and she said it has always been in her name there must be a mistake, she said she will talk to them about it. She has always paid the council tax and never missed a payment, it comes out of her account automatically. We both thought it was strange a letter arrived in my name, she was adamant it should still be in her name and they must have sent it in error. Unfortunately she forgot to call them to speak about it, I think due to the fact she was sure it was just an error and still in her name, also a very close family member became very ill and sadly passed away late last year. I also forgot about it and did not remind her at anytime about it. Since receiving that letter I have never received another letter from the council or anyone regarding any council tax bills/debts. After all this thinking I call her and ask if she ever spoke to the council about the letter in my name and she doesn't remember it, and ys its in her name always has been. I ask if she can check her bank statements to make sure because I can't figure out what this debt is for, it can only possibly be due to this. She calls me back and is unhappy, the council stopped taking payments from her around April last year. Now I am pretty sure this must be due to unpaid council tax, even though I haven't received any other letters, I know that unpaid council tax can go through the Magistrate's court and a warrant for arrest issued if it came to it, also that these bailiffs could actually enter my home. After doing some research online I have read of people receiving the same letters but due to DVLA fines where someone has used their name and DOB. Now I am not sure if it is council tax or something worse? In the morning I plan to call bailiff on the mobile phone number he left on the Final Notice and ask him who the debt is from and hopefully find out if it is due to council tax or something else. Also no one will be home now until Tuesday or Wednesday and I will let the bailiff know this and that as soon I get back we can sort the issue out. Does he have to tell me who the debt is from, and is there anyway he can come back and enter the house whilst no one is home? Obviously we are going to call the council first thing Monday to sort out the council tax problem, we have no problem paying the back taxes that we owe, and have only realized tonight that they stopped taking payment last year. If this is due to council tax, is there anyway we could contest the added fines/payments? Neither of us received any other letters regarding council tax since the one last year in my name, no other arrears or court letters until the Further Steps Notice. If it turns out it is due to DVLA or something else what would be my next steps? I have not received any parking tickets or traffic offences other than a parking ticket on 10th October from Civil Enforcement LTD which I contested and they sent me a Confirmation of Cancellation letter confirming it had been cancelled. If its council tax there is no issue paying, I can afford to pay it but I would rather not pay the excess as I did not receive any other letters about it. In this case should I try to contest first then pay the council or courts directly, or pay the bailiff inc the excess and try to contest after? I am now worried the bailiff will not tell me who the creditor is but just try to get me to pay, then I will have to wait until Monday to contact the council or courts to find out. Thanks for reading and any advice anyone can give.

Will not name the company (for now) it's the procedure I am trying to understand. No outstanding amount on account (may be a variation on the amount used due to estimated readings but it wouldn't be a lot but essentially all bills have been paid, nothing was outstanding until now. Utility company write stating that they need to check the meter for safety reasons and quote 'Must Inspect' G4S are those wanting to read the meter, however some years before a member of g4s threatened the householder at the time that if they didn't let them in they'd get a warrant and break in....this from a meter reader and before any ''must inspect' notices had been issued, meter reader dispensed, complaint made with the householder stating any further visits for meter read would need to be anyone other than G4S... Fast Forward a couple of years to end of 2016, Must Inspect letters sent, but these were from G4S and were ignored (see above) Utility company write stating they must be contacted within 7 days to make an appt to check the meter or action will be taken, they were contacted about 14 days later and put on notice that both the utility company and the service distribution company had been in the property just 2 months earlier due to a power outage and where the meter had been checked/ main fuse taken out, tested, put back in, sealed and the road dug up for a week (generators etc) both the distribution company and the utility company had been in and checked the meter safety etc.... At around the same time a letter from G4S arrives stating the householder needs to get in touch as they needed to visually check the meter, the utility company were called again (not G4S) and the same conversation again (paragraph above) and they said not to worry, they'd get it dropped etc. Fast forward to this year, utility company process a bill, usual bill, standing charge and usage..10 days later the householder goes to pay the bill, but when going to notices a further charge of in excess of £50 ....there is nothing on the bill or the account to show as to why the additional price so a call was placed to the Utility company and where they stated 'oh, thats for the warrant application fee' Discussion ensues, they stated they could see contact had been made (as per their and G4's requests) but that the meter still needed to be checked???? The time difference between the letter requesting contact to the time the warrant application fee was applied to the account was 75 days ... G4S requested to remove the application, they state it can only come from the utility company and that as they had heard nothing the warrant application was still to go ahead. Utility company contacted again, complaint raised to a different department and where they appeared to be less than helpful, householder felt somewhat threatened/intimidated (they're registered disabled both physically and mental health) utility company are aware of the status re disabled (householder is registered for priority assistance should there be a outage) They refused to remove the fee, said it still applied, they could see that contact had been made when requested but that G4S needed to check the meter, they acknowledged that the property had been visited by them and the distribution company but still the meter needed to be checked as they'd tried for some time now (yes but it had been checked) Utility company seemed altogether oblivious to any of the points raised re: 1:/Why the fee had been added when no notification as to a court date for the application had been made and that had not the householder queried the additional fee on their newest bill they would have been oblivious to the date at court to see a warrant (only 3 weeks from the time of the fee being added (so not long to go now for the householder) 2:/ Why the utility company acknowledged that when requested they be contacted that they were contacted which in essence nullifies their 'if you dont contact us we'll do......) and where situation explained and they appeared to have accepted it that they then reverse that acceptance. 3:/ Why the extra fee levied does not correspond to their online 'charges' for the same 'application' 4:/ Why they or agents acting on their behalf (G4S) took (a) 75 days to apply the fee and presumably make an application to the court and why they did not inform the householder when the court date was or indeed what court it was to be at? 5:/ Why when they can see both themselves and the distribution company have been in the property and at the meter (checked/resaled/) previous to their warrant threats that this appears not to register with them --- The final contact from the elongated and somewhat intimidating/threatening Utility company wasa followed up by an email to the householder stating 'thanks but we're not withdrawing the warrant and that g4s would still need to attend. ... Further to that, there are a couple of other points to ponder and as yet the householder has not put this to the utility company and any advice confirmation (if applicable) be given. 1:/ G4S as a meter reading company no longer exist, they were sold with the sale complete in January 17, so any court application and when G4S were called a few days ago and where they answered the call as G4S and spoke regarding a reference number on their letter from last year? would need to be from the American company that purchased G4S? 2:/ The legal requirement to inspect a meter was repealed in 2016, becoming defunct from April 1st 2016 , yet 9 months later the Utility company in their letters stated they are 'required by law to check 'your' meter every two years and where you are required to allow them access. I have read the repeal on Ofgem's site, it's quite clear. (they also state somewhere that any utility company using the 2year argument post April 2016 would be pursued Calls to the Utility Company were recorded and they were informed as much, I've listened to some of them, they're dreadful listening and I as an individual could clearly hear the distress in the householders voice and also detect the undeniable intimidatory tone from the Utility company employees The Householder going to court would be detrimental to their health, physically difficult, mentally pretty much impossible but court they will go, better to be avoided but when the above is the situation any homeonwer/tenant would want to protect their home from what is pretty much unlawful entry. Deb Any thoughts ? views? re the Must Inspect repeal?

I have been in dispute with Eon for some time now regarding my bills. My emails fall on deaf ears as Eon have responded stating that they will no longer discuss my dispute. As this thread depicts on many occasions, the inevitable Warrant of Entry was applied for by Eon in Portsmouth Court. I am from Derby. Now, as a Justice of the Peace, I am sure you are aware of the Magistrate Court Act 1980 (and in turn the Civil Procedure Rules 1998/9). These are legislation set in place guaranteeing the rights of citizens in regards to court processes. One major flaw in the letters all these bloggers receive is that these invites to courts are NOT actually from the court themselves, but from the Utility Companies. The Magistrates Courts Act is clear on the fact that only a Court can summon a person to a hearing, not a company and therefore the utility company's letters are NOT summons'. Therefore, without the court actually summoning you to court personally, there can be NO court hearing?! When I had the 'Human Rights Letter,' a term of which I had never seen written in law before, I immediately wrote to the said court to ask if they had my name down for a hearing on that date at that time. The response I had was negative. Hence, there never was any official hearing. Now in order for any warrant to be issued, the more recent (1980) Magistrates Courts Act, (which therefore has precedence over the outdated Right of Entry act (1954), is clear that there has had to have been a hearing, to which the court has an obligation set in law to invite you to in order to give you the opportunity to defend yourself (i.e have a fair trial, a cornerstone of British law first mentioned in the Magna Carter!). Therefore, if the court itself hasn't actually summoned you to court for a hearing then there is no official hearing. Secondly, even if there was a hearing, the court is obliged to inform the defendant (us) that the claimant/creditor (Utility company) has been successful in their claim. All correspondence from the Utility companies are not official court documentation and thus are fraudulent when impersonating the courts. When a warrant is issued the courts, again, have to notify you of the warrant, and this could only ever be issued following a court appearance at a hearing which we potentially were unsuccessful at. I have never been invited, by a court, to any such hearing and thus any warrant of entry made against me by a court is in dereliction of duty, i.e. the court / judge has not followed the correct, legal court process in which it is legal to issue such warrants. Furthermore, if we leave the Magistrates act aside and concentrate on the Rights of Entry act, in combination with the Electricity act 1989, 'if there is ever any genuine dispute between the consumer and the utility company, a warrant of entry CANNOT be issued. I wrote to the court regardless of their lack of protocol stating clearly that a warrant cant be issued for my property as there is an ongoing genuine dispute. At the supposed hearing that Eon (not the court) invited me to, the judge has an obligation, by law, to scrutinise and consider all evidence set before them in order to be completely clear that there decision on issuing any judgement (or in this case, warrant)(Magistrates act again). In these 'rubber stamping' situations it is almost guaranteed that the judge seeing the applications can never be beyond any doubt that they have considered all aspects of the case in order to issue their verdict. Especially when the courts haven't even summoned the defendant to the supposed hearing to put over their case. In short, all Warrants issued under this old Right of Entry Act are issued illegally, as the Magistrates Courts Act, which protects us to a more fair trial, takes precedence over the 1954 act and has been disregarded. Now I conducted all correct enquiries to the courts to make certain that there was no hearing, and they agreed there was no hearing. Yet still Eon turned up one day and broke in claiming they had a warrant of entry?!?!?! I threw them out and now face conviction through two counts of battery that the Eon staff alleged I inflicted upon them. I was defending my home from the elitist Big Six companies, by following the letter of the law, and still face conviction. These warrants are all illegal and it is about time these courts/judges are convicted themselves of fraudulent activity and of dereliction of duty, as well as the perjury crimes of the utility companies by providing misleading information to the magistrates.

Hi all, Hoping someone could give me some advice. I'm with OVO Energy, have been since August 2016. My tariff was £45 a month dual fuel, 2 bed semi detached house. I live with 1 other person. I cancelled my direct debit in October and made a manual payment. I couldn't set my direct debit back up on the website so I left it and made a couple of small payments here and there, intending to set it back up again. I had two statements from them, one in Nov for £32.24 and one in Dec for £31.43. A man came to read the meters a week or so ago. On my online account it says that I gave them a reading on the 9th Jan and then they estimated a reading on the 14th?? It also says that my gas usage is up over 2000% (how??). I got home yesterday to a threatening letter threatening a warrant of entry and saying I owe them £296.25!!! I rang them this morning and they told me that they didn't use the meter reading that was taken on the 9th Jan because it was 'too different', and made me read the meters over the phone, which I did. She put me on hold and came back saying that I owe over £400! Apparently they have emailed and written to me, which they have, but the last two statements were for the reasonable amounts above, no requests to contact them - this is totally out of the blue and I'm pretty sure they have just pulled that figure out of thin air. How should I handle this? They've also told me that they have to take half of the amount at once before setting up a payment plan (seems to be a standard tactic they use). I'm pretty clued up with debt collectors and their ways and I'm not threatened by their letter - however I want to keep this from escalating as I don't want another default. I'd like to stop them in their tracks if poss. Thanks in advance!