Bailiffs to face stronger regulation

New reforms, banning Bailiffs and Councils from ‘heavy-handed behaviour’ when collecting debts, will come into force next April.

The reforms will prevent bailiffs from entering people’s homes at night or when only children are present as well as how and when they can take property.

Last month national charity Citizens Advice accused some councils of allowing bailiffs to get away with aggressive and threatening behaviour when recovering council tax debt.

Commenting on the report, Steve Bariball, CEO of Exeter CAB said: “In Exeter, we are not seeing the same issues that are reported at a national level.”

“This is partly due to a range of joint working arrangements that we have with Exeter City Council, and other partner agencies, to try and stop such actions in the first place.”

“However, there is a wider problem in the City with bailiffs from Debt Collection Agencies.

“Sometimes they exaggerate the actual powers that they do have by wrongly claiming that they have the right to enter the home, call the Police to gain entry, take the householder to Court or even seize goods.

“Many clients tell us that they feel harassed and intimidated, and often the bailiffs fail to take into account the vulnerability of the client.”

Exeter CAB reported that some of their clients had reported  Bailiffs making threats of arrest or jail time despite this being beyond the powers Bailiffs have.

 Speaking to an audience of more than 300 representatives of local authorities and bailiffs companies, Justice Minister Lord Faulks addressed the Civil Enforcement Association conference in London earlier  today.

Speaking after the conference, Lord Faulks said: “There are some very good, reputable bailiffs around, but we know there is bad practice out there that needs to be dealt with.

“A small minority of bailiffs have been allowed to give the industry a bad name.

“These laws will help to clean up the industry and ensure bailiffs play by the rules. They will also make sure businesses and public bodies can collect their debts fairly.”