HCEO threatening to remove goods that do not belong to debtor

[Gemini566]

Good afternoon,

A friend and neighbour told me last Monday [19.08.2019] evening that he was awoken by a Marston Enforcement Officer at 0815 that morning. He was too upset and intimidated throughout the day to even go to the local shop for milk - hence the reason he called on me in the evening.

Initially, I found it rather difficult to understand exactly what my friend was so upset about; however, after a cup of tea and some calming words from my wife and me, he became more coherent and I was able to figure out what was going on. I asked him to go home and bring the warrant to me along with documents that show he is the person registered at the address and not the person named on the warrant - it has taken him until this morning to fully comply with my request!!

The name on the warrant is that of a chap [call him X] my friend knew several years ago before he left the area. X had returned for a few days and my friend had allowed him to sleep on his settee [he has a one-bedroom flat he shares with his girlfriend]. X returned a week later, again for only a few days before leaving again. This behaviour became a habit until the beginning of July; though he was last seen a fortnight ago when he called on my friend long enough to collect a pair of trainers.

I believe the monies owed are in respect of a fine which X has not paid; moreover, X must have given his address as my friends flat even though he has never actually 'lived' there - a couple of nights a week on the sofa every once in a while does not = living there, I would opine.

What, if anything, can I do to help my friend? Also, can I complain about the aggressive and overbearing behaviour of the HCEO? Although the bully identified himself to my friend as a High Court Enforcement Officer, yet I only see on the warrant 'Enforcement Agent' - are they one and the same?
Warrant_redacted.jpg

My friend is a kind and gentle person who will do anything for those he considers to be his friends but he is also vulnerable; as a result of his good nature, he is now terrified and in genuine fear that the HCEO will return this coming Monday [26/08/2019] to remove goods from his home because, despite my friend's assurances that he is NOT the person named on the warrant, the HCEO gave him seven [7] days to pay the amount on the warrant. After that time, he, the HCEO would return with a van and removal men to take his furniture and so on to the value of the outstanding monies.

Thank you for any help or advice,

Gemini566

[Amethyst]

Tagging ploddertom for you as it's not really my area but couldn't just read and not reply - I believe your friend can do a statutory declaration to confirm his friend does not live there and has no belongings there - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/...nforcement.pdf Talking with Nat debt line might be an idea too.

Maybe also contact the court ( as it says hmcts ) that issued the fine to find out what it is - there must have been previous letters before getting to a stage that involves bailiffs - so where did they get sent? And how has it ended up at his door ? ... what is the fine for? .... etc. ( if he is scared to contact them, you can with him present so he can give permission to talk to you ...)
you could also contact Marston to tell them that this person does not live at the address ( and give them the right address if he knows it ) and explain the vulnerability and affect this is having on your friend.

[jaguarsuk]

Okay, so firstly the 'Enforcement Officer' is not a High Court Enforcement Officer or else he would have a Writ of Control not a Warrant. By virtue of the fact he has a Warrant means he is likely a self employed Bailiff acting for Marstons who are a debt collection company.

The problem with the self employed ones is that they are only paid on results, so they won't care if your friend is the debtor or not if they think they can get him to pay up. All they want is paying.

The first thing to state is that neither a High Court Enforcement Officer, Bailiff or Enforcement Officer can make forced entry without a Warrant of Entry, so you need to get your friend to show you the warrant. We need to check it is a warrant the gives him powers of entry because if it doesn't your friend can just ignore when he calls around again.

If your friend doesn't have a copy of the warrant he needs to ask this enforcement officer to post a copy through the door, if he refuses then your friend should phone the Police to report that someone posing as a bailiff is at his door and won't show hes got a warrant to be. If he states he's scared and the man is aggressive the police will come on blues and twos.

The second thing to note is that the threat to return and remove furniture is empty, unless your friend is a collector of antique furniture it would cost them more to remove the goods than their value at auction and therefore it's designed to scare your friend into paying up.

As Amethyst has suggested in the first instance contact Marstons and tell them to back off and you can make a complaint about the behaviour of this so called enforcement officer here: https://www.lgo.org.uk/make-a-compla...d-tax/bailiffs

[ploddertom]

As this on behalf of HMCTS then it seems as if this may be for an Unpaid Magistrates Fine, unfortunately the Warrant carries the Power for the Agent to force entry to the premises if he believes the Debtor is avoiding him. This can and does happen on quite a regular basis. The friend would appear to have given the address to the Court as otherwise maybe a short holiday at Her Majestys Pleasure may have been in order.

However the Agent may only remove those goods which belong to the Debtor, the problem here is that your goods could be at risk unless you can provide proof of ownership of them otherwise an Interpleader Claim may need to be issued.

If not already done the friend needs to contact the Court to try & sort this out ASAP but as it is Bank Holiday then this cannot now be done until Tuesday. As for making a complaint to the LGO this cannot be done at this stage until all avenues of complaint to HMCTS are exhausted. I suspect strongly the Agent has taken this stance to see if you will pay the monies owed for the friend - this does happen a lot particularly when families are involved. Please note you are under no compulsion to inform the Agent of the friends present address or whereabouts unless the Police are involved.

Most household goods are exempt from seizure these days so unlikely the threat of removal would be carried out as those items that could be seized would fetch so little at auction.

[Gemini566]

Thank you, Amethyst, Jaguarsuk and Ploddertom: your advice and signposting are greatly appreciated.

I have been to see my friend and told him I will be with him on Monday [as you say, a Bank Holiday, but one can never tell who will work and who will not] morning in case the fellow follows through with his threat to return; I doubt he will as my friend had allowed access to prove Mr X was not in the flat last Monday so the total lack of anything of real value, other than white goods and the TV, would have been obvious.

My friend seems calmer now, though I am still not looking forward to how he will be feeling on Monday.

Thank you.

Warmest regards,

Gemini566

[ploddertom]

One thing to bear in mind is that often Enforcement Agents never do as they say.

Rule No 1 - Bailiffs/Enforcement Agents Lie
Rule No 2 - See Rule No 1

If you have the name of the Agent then you can check to see if he suitably Certificated @ https://certificatedbailiffs.justice.gov.uk/