Payments Made To Bailiffs Are Going Missing

If the bailiff establishes a repayment arrangement for your debt and you consistently make those payments but later discover your money is not reaching the council, You can seek recourse if you can provide evidence that the bailiff has embezzled your money. This typically involves filing a complaint with the council.

If payments go missing, the bailiff could be misappropriating the money, possibly attributing it to an error.

Bailiffs often evade accusations of theft of money or property, as the police typically consider these issues to be a civil matter. This means that the police may not always intervene in cases of suspected misappropriation a bailiff, and you may need to seek legal advice or other forms of recourse.

Fees are collected only after you have settled the debt (the 'amount outstanding'). This amount is the total debt, including any interest or additional charges, that you owe to the council.

Bailiff companies assert that the fees are deducted from the debt and divided ("pro-rata") between the bailiff and the council. This is a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of Regulation 13 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014.

The regulation specifies that apportionment of their fees from the money taken applies exclusively to the proceeds from the sale of controlled goods when the money raised is insufficient to cover the outstanding amount.

If you suspect a bailiff has been misappropriating money:

Compare the council's records with those of the bailiff. If discrepancies or missing payments are identified, you have grounds to seek recourse from the council.

Ignore the bailiff's fees, as they are legally mandated: £75 for each liability order and a single £235 enforcement stage fee, irrespective of the number of concurrent liability orders.