Debt! OT

[Tim Lamb]

Does it require a court order before bailiffs can attend on an unpaid invoice? If so does the debtor have an opportunity to explain the circumstances?

[T i m]

Just from what I have seen on TV, I believe so (but I'm not sure if it's only when they are about to seize valuables to reply the debt).

Again, from what I have seen on TV, I think they can either arrange some acceptable level of payment at that time and / or arrange some form of repayment plan but I think it would have gone past any discussion at that point, working on the pay now, discuss the details / later (I think they hold the payments for so many days or somesuch).

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Gaff]

I always thought that there has to be a judgement and a time to allow the debtor to comply before you can start getting bailiffs in. Brian

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes. Its a long and complicated process and used to, and probably still does, involve getting a HIGH court judgement. County court judgements do not have the legal teeth.

The debtor simply says 'sorry guv, I'll pay next month' and doesn't..

[Alan Dawes]

Check the governments advice :

and citizens advice:

See:

Alan

[Mark Allread]

Have a look at:

or for a shorter link:

I'm assuming you are not on the receiving end but this will help understand the process.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I think so, but you shouldn't take my word for it.

I believe you get a claim and response form from the court or from the creditor, which you have to fill in...

Details here:

Sounds like there isn't normally an actual court hearing - it's done via paperwork in the post.

I think I've also heard of cases where the debtor didn't even know about the court case having happened until bailiffs turned up. I was working for a large multi-national company once when bailiffs arrived to take away computer servers, and this all happened because a supplier used wrong address for serving notices on the company, but that didn't void the bailiff's right to grab the goods. They were good enough to wait in reception until someone from head office had rushed to the bank to get a bag of cash, and then come whizzing out to our office to pay them. We found it all very amusing at the time.

I suggest getting around to Citizens Advice ASAP (like instantly). There are more options for dealing with these things the earlier you start, and they are experts in it. Options narrow and costs increase as it starts going through the process, and if you get as far as having a county court judgememt against you, that's quite a future blot to cope with even after you have resolved issue.

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Is it an enquiry for "a friend" or one of simple curiosity?

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Andrew Gabriel escribió:

Apparently (IANAL) county court judgements, aka CCJs, give notice to the debtor, but if the debtee escalates the case to the high court, bailiffs can turn up without any notice at all.

To the OP: uk.legal.moderated will give you chapter and verse.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Do note that even if you win a CCJ, you have to pay for the bailiffs with no certainty of getting that back. Blood from a stone, etc. Unless things have changed.

[Andy Burns]

On the "Can't Pay? We'll Send the Boys Round" TV programmes, the costs seem to heap-up in realtime on the debtor, depending on the actions of the bailiffs ...

[tim...]

if it's a private company yes

Government departments/authorities can proceed to bailiffs without a court order in some circumstances

Of course, what would be the point of a court hearing otherwise?

tim

[Tim Lamb]

In message , tim... writes