Reclaiming Money From Bailiffs With Chargeback

A chargeback is a reversal of a transaction on your account. If a bailiff misleads you into making a payment you do not legally owe or breaches enforcement provisions, you have the right to request a chargeback from your bank to reclaim the money.

Importantly, a chargeback does not reinstate enforcement power. The operation of Paragraph 6(3) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts, and Enforcement Act 2007 extinguishes the enforcement power under a Warrant or Writ of Control once the bailiff takes the payment.

Before disputing the transaction via your banking app, you must report the incident to the police online and obtain a crime or incident reference number. Even if the police classify the matter as civil, this reference number is essential for initiating the chargeback.

If your chargeback is successful, the bailiff company incurs an administration fee between £10 and £80 under their Merchant Service Agreement, and the bank will return the money to your account.

When the bailiff has paid the debt to the council or creditor before you request the chargeback and you successfully contest the original debt, you will receive refunds from both your bank and the authority or creditor that issued the Warrant or Writ of Control.

If you delay your chargeback application until after the bailiff company has paid the creditor, the bailiff company will be responsible for the debt when the bank reverses the transaction.

If the bailiff has taken money to settle someone else's debt and your bank does not refund you, you may make a third-party claim under Paragraph 60 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts, and Enforcement Act 2007 and Civil Procedure Rule 85.4, citing the judgment in Alenezy v Shergroup Ltd [2022] EWHC 777 (QB).

Following this High Court decision in 2022, the court determined that taking an electronic money transfer constitutes "taking control of goods". Thus, if the cardholder is not the debtor, they must file a third-party claim for the money.

Do bear in mind the Alenezy judgment is incongruous with Paragraph 13(1) of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 which prescribes the methods bailiffs must take for taking control of goods.