Dealing with the bailiffs - An Underdog's Guide

Dealing with bailiffs - either for an eviction or when they are trying to collect debts - can be stressful, but it is vital to understand the limits of their powers. Knowing what to do when the fuckers come sniffing round - your home, your social centre, your temporary creative space - can make a big difference to the outcome of the encounter.

While stamping repeatedly on their faces is a satisfying way to spend the afternoon, it unfortunately remains against the law. So here are some tips from Walthamstow Anarchist Group on how to handle them.

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repost from ainfos: 29.03.2007

Jacobs Bailiffs: Taking the biscuit

Jacobs Bailiffs, based in the Wirral, are one of two Bailiffs firms currently used by Waltham Forest Council to collect the Council tax on their behalf. Bailiffs firms have always been well known for their thuggish and intimidating behaviour, stick- ing the boot into the weakest and poorest sections of society. But Jacobs standhead and shoulders above anything we've previously come across.

Council Tax

Many of this company's targets are people whose Council Tax benefit has not come through, often because its been messed up by the Council. So a lot of the time people are being pursued and threatened because the Council have cocked up in the first place. And the cost added on for recovery to the alleged debtor is likely to be far higher than the original amount people owed. Our caring Council boast about pursuing non payers of Coun- cil tax and evicting those who don't pay their rent.

But again, rent payment arrears are often the fault of the Council, whose Housing Benefit system is in a complete mess. The effects of the Council's action is brutal and punishing against the very poor and desperate, who bullied, threatened and thrown into desperation by eviction or imprisonment.

Complaints

These are just some of the complaints The Underdog has recently heard about Jacobs :

* Threatening to break into houses to remove goods,
* Threatening to take away essential items such as fridges or beds when they are only allowed to take away "nonessential" items.
* Adding hundreds of pounds in costs on to people's fines.
* Implying in writing that they have the powers to put people
in prison "for up to 90 days"

Resistance

What can you do if you're faced with bailiffs? Finding out your rights and sticking up for yourself is vital (see "The Underdog Survival Guide" ). Exposing and hassling councillors with reports of how their council is sanctioning the use of these thugs, doesn't do any harm also.

But the only way we are ultimately going to defend ourselves is by getting together with our friends and neighbours and making sure bailiffs don't set foot in our neighbourhoods because they know people will come out and oppose them.

Direct Action

This type of grassroots direct action happened during the campaign against the hated Poll Tax in 1990-1991. As millions refused to pay, local councils tried intimidation - and the widespread threat of bailiffs But there was a network of community based anti-poll tax groups up and down the country who organised so that people could stick up for each other. Crowds turned up outside the houses of those facing threats and often turned the bailiffs away. Bailiffs' offices or own homes were visited and occupied, to give them a bit of their own medicine. These actions made it almost impossible for many bailiffs firms to do their dirty work and many went bust.

Can't Pay Won't Pay

This could happen again. The Council Tax that replaced the Poll Tax is now widely recognised as being unfair. The recent hike in bills has led to pledges by some not to pay. This raises the possibility of a mass non-payment campaign similar to the one that stopped the Poll Tax from getting underway.

THE UNDERDOG'S Survival Guide

We continue our regular column on surviving the worst effects of capitalism.

Beating the Bailiffs

Firstly, get advice from one of Waltham Forest's Citizen's Advice Bureaus at 167 Hoe Street or 547-551 Leytonstone High Road. They are busy, but very helpful. Bailiffs firms and the police break thelaw if they think that they can get away with it. Knowing your rights, and making sure that the Council and Bailiffs have followed legal procedures, should buy you some more time.

* Your possessions can't be seized unless you've been sent a written notice by the Authority at least 14 days before any visit. This must have details of any fees they have added on.

* The police have no power to force entry on behalf of the bailiffs or local authority, unless there is a breach of the peace.

* Lock all windows and doors. Bailiffs have no powers to force entry by breaking open an outer door, which is locked or bolted.

* If the bailiffs do get in, offer what you can afford to pay, not what they want you to pay. Ask them to drop the costs they have added.

* Bailiffs can only take things that belong to you the debtor. If you have a receipt proving that an item belongs to someone else, they cannot take it.

* Bailiffs cannot have you put in prison. If they never get in and you do not pay they will return your case to the court. The magistrate will then look at what you can afford to pay.

Walthamstow Anarchist Group
PO Box 35832
London E11 3WT
Tel: 07810 288 889
www.walthamstowanarchy.org.uk
info@walthamstowanarchy.org.uk