Call for private bailiffs in Lincolnshire to be kept in check

“Police Pick which laws must be obeyed

Sunday Telegraph

http://tinyurl.com/c9tjaf9”

“Something wrong with link. Try this:

http://tinyurl.com/cycpp6p”

“EAST Lindsey Citizens Advice Bureau manager said:

"We want to see a licence introduced for bailiff firms so if they're found to be acting outside of the law then their licence is revoked.


http://tinyurl.com/bcooh5a

Both councils and customers are being stitched up by bailiffs


IN A recent ITV exposé on bailiffs, it revealed that there was no mention of current legislation.

Laws governing bailiffs are in place, but are never implemented.

******dale's chairman stated in the show: "There are only currently guidelines for bailiffs to operate within and while we have been calling for regulation and legislation for some years, we need action now."

You would hope the head of a firm that enforces collection of council tax debt for around 150 local authorities would know there are, in fact, regulations and legislation in place to protect the public from bailiff malpractice.

The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations, which are relied upon by councils for instructing bailiffs, has regulations that govern how bailiffs should operate.

The Rent Rules 1988 contains similar legislation and provides a means of redress to submit a complaint to the county court, which issued the bailiff's certificate.

Sections 2 to 4 of the Fraud Act 2006 provides more than adequate legislation needed to protect the public from any malpractice with bailiffs.

Similarly, the Data Protection Act 1998 is in place to protect the public against breaches of confidentiality.

So, the problem is not so much a lack of regulations and legislation, rather the authorities would prefer to turn a blind eye and pretend it doesn't exist. An enforcement firm will inevitably attract the more enthusiastic applicant when payment is proportionate to the number of contacts made with their "customers", as *********** refer to them.

It can therefore be expected that bailiffs will want to exceed targets by visiting, or at least on paper, the highest number of "customers" in the shortest possible time to maximise their fees.

Offering bailiffs incentives for unlimited earnings is clearly a means of exploiting greed.

They are, of course, playing the system and the rhyming up of fees, to the bailiff firm, has more importance than securing debt owed to councils.

Local authorities must have cottoned on to this and I wonder if they are impressed that not only are "customers" getting stitched up by these private enforcement firms, but also councils themselves.”

“I'm interested to see how East Lindsey District Council are going to deal with this series of questions submitted under the Freedom of Information Act.

http://tinyurl.com/ae49coz”

“Form 4 example:

http://tinyurl.com/bu3ahos)-Determination”

“CAB manager said:

"We want to see a licence introduced for bailiff firms so if they're found to be acting outside of the law then their licence is revoked.

These bailiffs should be certificated.

The respective county court issuing these can be contacted by way of a complaint (Form 4) which theoretically means their certificate can be revoked.

The reality is, the odds of a presiding judge determining such an outcome are stacked heavily against the complainant. The point being, the law does in fact presently allow such an avenue for this to happen, the problem is there is corruption in the procedure.”

“Whatever you do, do not let them into your home, even if they ask for the toilet or a drink of water. Tell them politely to go away and to write to you, then take the communication to a CAB or similar and get advice.”

“If a Policemen steps out of line there is an independant complaints process that deals with any complaints. The Private Army of Bailiffs have no such controls and this requires immediate attention. We have a legal system in this country and bullying does not form part of it!”

“Private bailiffs are nothing but 'legal' bullies sent out to intimidate people into coughing up money that they usually don't have and should be banned altogether.Its like legalised extortion.”