Baliffs right to force access

[rdutton13]

Hi,

i have a question regarding the baliffs right to enter.

 

I have a 23 year old wayward son,

who has accumilated £1400.00 of unpaid fines.

 

It would appear that he has given our home address as his home address.

 

He has never lived at this address, nor did he live at our last address.

 

we recieved letters from marstons to start with,

 

i replied, they replied and asked me to send them my council tax bill to prove he didnt live here.

 

i said NO, my council tax bill is none of your business.

 

A few weeks later a knock on the door,

2 guys from marstons turn up wanting to come in a see my son,

he doesnt live here i replied,

 

we need to come in and confirm that they said.

 

I replied FO and they did, never to be heard of again ( so far ) that was about 2 months ago.

 

i have now received paperwork from a company called Collectica,

telling me that they will be forcing entry to my property under the DVCV act.

 

Do they have the right to enter if the debtor does not live at the address and who's job is it to prove he doesnt live there.

[unclebulgaria67]

Hi,

i have a question regarding the baliffs right to enter. I have a 23 year old wayward son, who has accumilated £1400.00 of unpaid fines. It would appear that he has given our home address as his home address. He has never lived at this address, nor did he live at our last address. we recieved letters from marstons to start with, i replied, they replied and asked me to send them my council tax bill to prove he didnt live here. i said NO, my council tax bill is none of your business. A few weeks later a knock on the door, 2 guys from marstons turn up wanting to come in a see my son, he doesnt live here i replied, we need to come in and confirm that they said. I replied FO and they did, never to be heard of again ( so far ) that was about 2 months ago. i have now recieved paperwork from a company called Collectica, telling me that they will be forcing entry to my property under the DVCV act. Do they have the right to enter if the debtor does not live at the address and who's job is it to prove he doesnt live there.

 

Take the letter with any proof of who lives at your address down to your local magistrates court and ask to speak to someone responsible for bailiffs/collection of fines. They can then deal with it and call off the bailiffs.

 

The bailiffs are acting on behalf of the court, so you can deal directly with the court to resolve this.

[citizenB]

http://www.ico.org.uk/~/media/documents/decisionnotices/2009/FS_50159091.ashx

 

 

 

Apparently the powers of search and entry under the DVCV Act only apply to CEOs and AEAs where there is a warrant for arrest, detention or commitment in proceedings or in connection with any criminal offence. They cannot therefore be used to enforce civil debts.

HTH

[citizenB]

It would appear you had two threads on the go, so I have merged them

[ploddertom]

 

i replied, they replied and asked me to send them my council tax bill to prove he didnt live here. And how was that going to prove anything as it only has the liable persons name(s) on it & certainly would not list offspring.

 

 

They cannot therefore be used to enforce civil debts.

 

This is for unpaid Magistrate Court Fines

[tomtubby]

Citizen.

 

Thank you for posting the ICO Complaint. I forgot all about this...I had a copy a long time ago.

 

When Baroness Ashton introduced the change to section 4 of the DVCV Act 2004 there were so many complaints as this inclusion (Section 4A) had been introduced without anyone knowing and no complaints could be made at the time as the House of Commons was in Summer recess.

 

As you can see from the report, even with the ICO being involved, MOJ were allowed to keep much of the information requested redacted.

 

The ICO report is confusing as it states in paragraph 4 the following:

 

"The powers of search and entry under the DVCV Act are designed to make executing warrants of arrest, commitment, detention and distress more effective and to ensure that fines remain an effective sentence".

 

Paragraph 5 then states that the Powers of search and entry under the DVCV Act only apply to CEOa and AEAs where there is a warrant for arrest, detention or commitment in proceedings or in connection with any criminal offence.

 

Such powers of entry cannot of apply to civil debts.

 

What is confirmed is that forced entry is used very rarely.

[citizenB]

This is for unpaid Magistrate Court Fines

 

sorry, I missed that

[rdutton13]

sorry, but what is CEOa and AEAs???

[ploddertom]

CEO

Civilian Enforcement Officer - usually employed directly by the Court.

 

AEA

Authorised Enforcement Agent - usually a private Bailiff a la Marstons, Collectica (Phillips), Excel or Swift

[sgtbush]

http://www.ico.org.uk/~/media/documents/decisionnotices/2009/FS_50159091.ashx

 

 

 

Apparently the powers of search and entry under the DVCV Act only apply to CEOs and AEAs where there is a warrant for arrest, detention or commitment in proceedings or in connection with any criminal offence. They cannot therefore be used to enforce civil debts.

HTH

 

 

it is not a civil debt, its magistrates court fines

[sgtbush]

the best thing for you to do IS send a copy of the C/T bill in

just say that your son has never lived at this address and has no assets at this address

you have no contact with your son at all, you have dis-owned him or something like that.

 

the C/T bill will prove that you live their, as much as it can do as other people can live their and not be named on the bill, but then a report will be returned to the courts and the courts will do futher searches to where your son lives.

 

on the forced entry bit,

Can the bailiff force entry into my home?

If the bailiff is pursuing you for an unpaid fine of a criminal nature…then the answer unfortunately is... yes. However, this is more of a threat and during the past year it would appear that bailiffs forced entry into a property to enforce a Distress Warrant on less that 10 occasions.

The right for bailiffs acting on behalf of the Magistrates Court the power to “enter and search any premises” for the purpose of executing a Warrant of Distress was granted under Paragraph 3 of Schedule 4A of the Magistrates Courts Act 2004. This provision was also then inserted into the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.

The right to force entry however only applies to the collection of unpaid fines which are criminal matters

 

they are rarely used and the CEO would have to show resonable cause or suspicion that the debtor does live their.

sending the C/T bill in takes a lot of that reasonable cause away

 

hope you get it sorted

[citizenB]

it is not a civil debt, its magistrates court fines

 

Thank you yes, ploddertom advised earlier. I had indeed missed that fact and have apologised. !