“REMOVAL NOTICE” LETTER FROM BAILIFF COPMPANY.

To ensure that payment is made for arrears of your Council Tax, many bailiff companies will be writing to you with a variety of different letters, and many times these are delivered personally. These can vary from company to company and can be very frightening indeed. Some may say that they will be attending “with a locksmith”, to “break into your home” and to “remove your property” and others go so far as to say  that if you do not allow them entry into your home, that they can “recommended committal proceedings”.

It is important to realise that when collecting Council Tax, bailiff companies cannot charge a letter fee and can charge only £24.50 for a first visit to levy and just £18.00 for a second visit. In order for the bailiff himself to earn more money, he must look at additional ways of charging more fees to you. Mainly this will be for charging an“Attending to Revove Fee”.

These letters are sent for a variety of different reasons and these are listed below:

FIRST TIME CONTACT WITH THE BAILIFF COMPANY.

If this is the first contact that you have ever had with the Bailiff Company, then try not to worry. As a bailiff collecting Council Tax is unable by law, to charge a letter fee, most will arrange for a “bailiff” to hand deliver these letters. Almost all of these letters will instruct you to contact the bailiff on a mobile telephone number. If you call the bailiff, he will nearly always tell you that you must pay the entire amount due immediately, failing which, he will agree a payment arrangement but that he needs to visit you first in order to sign “some papers”. In other words, he wants to come into your home and persuade you to sign a Walking Possession.   

The bailiff has no right to come into your home and can only do so by “peaceful means” and you have every right to refuse. There is plenty more information on Walking Possessions on the main part of our site.

If you do contact the bailiff, and a payment arrangement is agreed with him without him coming into your home be very careful and ensure the following:

Only agree to repay at an amount that you know that you can afford. The bailiff will try to insist that you pay at a far higher figure to ensure that the debt is settled quickly. Be firm, and do not fall for this. It is vitally important that you tell the bailiff that you will pay at the end of each month and that you are writing a letter to his office to confirm this agreement.

In the Letters section of our Downloads area you will find a template letter for this purpose.

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT WITH THE BAILIFF COMPANY.

Many agreements made with bailiffs are for an amount that is simply unaffordable and naturally will ensure that you fall into arrears. This has happened to thousands of people. Crucially, if you make an agreement over the phone with a bailiff on for instance, the 12th of the month, his office will expect all of the following payments to clear into their account on the 12th of each month!! Almost all bailiff companies computer systems will send a “Removal Notice” if you are just one day late, many times stating that you have “broken” your arrangement and the entire amount in now due. Crucially, the bailiff  will then try to charge you an illegal  “removal fee” and many unscrupulous bailiffs  will even try to charge you  a “broken arrangement” fee as well. This is also illegal.

In the Letters section of our Downloads area you will find a template letter for this purpose.

IF YOU HAVE ALLOWED A BAILIFF INTO YOUR HOME AND SIGNED A WALKING POSSESSION.

In this case, this can be serious. However, it is important to remember that removal of your goods is very rare indeed. It is the threat of removal that the bailiff relies upon to get you to pay. If you have signed a Walking Possession and have fallen into arrears, the bailiff can return and legally charge an “attending to remove” fee.

However, he can only ever charge two “attending to remove” fees and for the second charge he must actually “remove your goods”.

Even though there may be a Walking Possession in place, there are many things that you need to check first to establish whether the bailiff can legally remove your goods.

As this situation could be serious, we have provided under the  Letters section of our Downloads area  a template letter that can be sent to the bailiff company together with and a lot more information on the charges that can be made to you and what more you should be aware of in order to avoid removal of your goods.