Case Study - How Enforcement Agents Deal With Vulnerable Debtors

When dealing with vulnerable debtors, it is important to consider that Enforcement Agents are advised to avoid all action under Section 71 of the National Standards for Taking Control of Goods 2014. This does not mean that our Enforcement Agents cannot recover the money owed, but rather they may recover it at a later date.

This brings us to a recent case where we were instructed by a newlywed couple to recover ￡2,000 worth of debt from a florist.

This instruction came after the defendant had failed to deliver the claimant’s flowers to their wedding venue, leaving the couple without flowers for their wedding day. When phone calls were left unanswered and emails of complaint were left without a response, the claimants felt they were left without a choice but to take legal action and take the case to their local county court.

For the claimants, it was less about the money and more about the principal. They obtained a County Court Judgment which ordered the defendant to pay the initial ￡1,000, plus ￡1,000 interest for emotional distress caused. Within just a few weeks of instruction, Quality Bailiffs has a Writ of Control against the defendant, and a notice of enforcement was hand-delivered to the defendant’s business address.

This enforcement notice gave the defendant ten clear days to pay the debt, however, she failed to pay within this time period and our Enforcement Agent, Rhys, was instructed to visit the address just ten days later.

When the Enforcement Agent made his visit to the address, the defendant was cooperative and was clearly upset, however, something didn’t seem to feel quite right to Rhys. The defendant seemed distracted and, while it’s common for defendants to be upset or even angry at the appearance of a bailiff at their place of work, this seemed different to Rhys, like the defendant was genuinely remorseful.

Rhys decided to ask if the defendant was okay as she seemed so obviously distressed.

The defendant broke down, which is when the situation became a lot clearer to Rhys. She started to open up to him about her current struggles with mental health brought about by the death of her infant child just a few months earlier.

Immediately concerned, Rhys decided to withhold all enforcement action. This allowed the defendant more time to pay the debt and directed her to all the relevant debt and mental health charities. Rhys left the property and notified the claimants of his decision to delay enforcement.

The claimants were fully understanding of his decision to delay the enforcement, agreeing that it was the right thing to do.

Quality Bailiffs received a payment in full from the defendant just two weeks later, including the cost for our fees.?

Contact us:

If you need to instruct a bailiff to recover your debt, or if you have any other questions about any of our services, you can either visit our website?here?or:

Telephone: 0208 106 5397

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