The Warrant looks fake
Bailiffs must show on demand evidence of the authority to enter premises. That authority is conferred in the warrant of control, but bailiff companies have a policy to show a fake warrant instead of the real one.
The real warrant always has the actual enforcement address, the fake warrant will have a modified address if the debtor is found living at a different one.
The real warrant always has the actual sum adjudged, the fake warrant will have a higher sum.
The offence should be reported to police.
You can ask HM Court Service for a certificated copy of the warrant.
Template email asking HM Court Service for a certified copy of the warrant
Take a screenshot of the sent email and text message to the bailiff recording the time they were sent, and if needed, exhibit them as evidence.The Law:
Paragraph 26 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 states:
(1)The enforcement agent must on request show the debtor and any person who appears to him to be in charge of the premises evidence of—
The Law:
Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 states:
(1)A person commits an offence if, with the object of coercing another person to pay money claimed from the other as a debt due under a contract, he—
(3)Subsection (1)(a) above does not apply to anything done by a person which is reasonable (and otherwise permissible in law) for the purpose—
(4)A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than £100, and on a second or subsequent conviction to a fine of not more than £400.
Money "due under a contract".
The contract in this case is the HM Court Service Enforcement Services Contract. A copy id available by making a Freedom of Information Request to the Ministry of JusticeThe Law:
Section 78 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 states:
(1)A warrant of distress issued for the purpose of levying a sum adjudged to be paid by the conviction or order of a magistrates’ court shall not, if it states that the sum has been so adjudged to be paid, be held void by reason of any defect in the warrant.
(2)A person acting under a warrant of distress shall not be deemed to be a trespasser from the beginning by reason only of any irregularity in the execution of the warrant.
(3)Nothing in this section shall prejudice the claim of any person for special damages in respect of any loss caused by a defect in the warrant or irregularity in its execution.
(4)If any person removes any goods marked in accordance with rules of court as articles impounded in the execution of a warrant of distress, or defaces or removes any such mark, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale.
(5)If any person charged with the execution of a warrant of distress wilfully retains from the proceeds of a sale of the goods on which distress is levied, or otherwise exacts, any greater costs and charges than those properly payable, or makes any improper charge, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale.
The Law:
Section 3 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 states:
It is an offence for a person to use an instrument which is, and which he knows or believes to be, false, with the intention of inducing somebody to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to his own or any other person’s prejudice.
The Law:
Section 7 of the Fraud Act 2006 states:
(1)A person is guilty of an offence if he makes, adapts, supplies or offers to supply any article—