Changes in Bailiffs Rules! Why Are Bailiffs Even Allowed Under Human Rights Laws?
Stressed Over Money
Bailiffs are to be banned from entering property by windows and skylights under government proposals to clean up the industry to be announced today.
Richard Ford | Home Correspondent Mark Atherton
Last updated February 17 2012 2:03PM
Ministers are also to ban them from using force against a person to retrieve debts and allow them to seize goods only between 6am and 9pm. They will also be banned from clamping vehicles on public highways in circumstances where the motorist would face parking fines. A consultation paper will outline a package of measures, including mandatory training for bailiffs, who would be registered to operate by the courts. The paper includes measures to increase the protection of children and the vulnerable but it stops short of proposing an independent regulator to police the industry. The plans follow years of criticism that the public has little protection against aggressive and violent bailiffs.
Jonathan Djanogly, the Justice Minister, said: “Too many people have experienced intrusive, expensive and stressful bailiff action and more often than not the public do not hold bailiffs in high regard, despite the fact most bailiffs carry out their work professionally.”
He added: “We want to restore balance to the system, improve clarity for debtors and creditors, strengthen protection for vulnerable people and ensure that individuals, business and government are able to collect the debts they are owed — but in a way that is fair and regulated by law.” The current system of certifying bailiffs is also to be reformed and replaced with a new process under which bailiffs will be required to obtain a certificate from a county court judge. A county court judge will have the power to suspend or cancel a bailiff’s certificate. Campaigners for change said that the proposals did not go far enough, however, adding that without independent regulation problems would remain. Peter Tutton, a social policy officer with Citizens Advice, said that the package was simply “tweaking” at the industry’s problem. “The fundamental question about how to control the practices of bailiffs and bailiffs companies is not being adequately addressed,” he said. “It needs some kind of independent regulation.” Ron Clark, of Fair Parking, which fights to recover vehicles wrongly seized by bailiffs, also criticised the proposals. “The idea of adding private clampers to the list of self-regulators simply lowers expectations even further,” he said. “I can’t think there would be a single person in this country that would put any trust in a self-regulatory body that included clampers.” A streamlined fees structure is also proposed to prevent bailiffs repeatedly adding charges that disproportionately escalate the original debt