Bailiffs Allowed to Break into Homes

March 27, 2003
By Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor

Licensed enforcement agents will be authorised to break into people's homes and seize property from debtors under new Government plans announced yesterday. They will also be given powers of arrest.

A White Paper from the Lord Chancellor's Department proposes improved methods of recovering civil debts and stricter controls on enforcement agents.

Under a case decided 400 years ago, an Englishman's home is "his castle and fortress". Bailiffs have been unable to gain access to homes if the householder has refused to let them in, except in very limited circumstances.

But the White Paper says that "forcible entry in domestic premises will be permitted" with prior judicial authority.

"We seek to establish the principle that refusing to open a door or a gate will not stop legitimate enforcement action, nor should superior technology to protect the entrance to a property prevent enforcement from taking place.

"For example, currently there is little scope for entering private homes that are protected by video cameras and electronic gates."

Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, believes that "the seizure and sale of a debtor's goods to settle a judgment debt may always be necessary". But, he adds, this should be done in a reformed and regulated system.

Enforcement agents will have to be licensed and those who operate without a licence will face imprisonment. Licences will allow enforcement agents to "arrest an offender or a debtor under an order of the court and to take him or her into custody".

Agents will also be licensed to take possession of land and to apply for a partial "data disclosure order" to assist with enforcement.

They will not be allowed to seize the tools of a person's trade or the clothes and household goods necessary to satisfy his family's basic domestic needs.

Baroness Scotland, a minister at the Lord Chancellor's Department, said the Government's aim was a system that was firm but fair.

"Society wants those who owe money judgments to pay their dues but also wants to protect the vulnerable. So the system we propose will utilise the full weight of the law on those who won't pay while at the same time safeguarding vulnerable individuals who simply can't pay."

She made it clear that enforcement agents would seize property from debtors only as a last resort. Alternatives would include improved attachment of earnings orders and streamlined charging orders.

Although she could give no date for legislation, she hoped a Bill might be go through the Lords' fast-track procedure.

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