If you do not answer the door to the bailiff they will leave you a letter stating that they have called and why. They will ask you to contact them. The bailiff may also call again at a later time or another day or week. If this happens, do NOT answer the door and do NOT reply to the bailiff on the telephone number they have supplied on the letter.



Simply ignore it.

Under the present law and the powers that the bailiff has, you are safe in your own home if you do not answer the door and do NOT let the bailiff in.

After the bailiff has made their first visit, contact the council tax department of your local council. Speak with them and explain that the bailiff has just called at your home and state quite clearly that you will not deal with the bailiff regarding this matter under any circumstances.

Ask that the council to have the debt handed back to them so that you can then make an arrangement with them to pay the money that you owe.

Side Note: You will have to pay the money that you owe eventually.

Normally, the council will tell you that they are not able to able to deal with the case once it is in the hands of the bailiff. The council cannot ask the bailiff to hand the case back to them. It is the bailiff who will eventually hand the case back to the council.

The only way you can force the bailiff to do this is by NOT ANSWERING THE DOOR when they call. After a certain number of attempts, the bailiffs will hand the case back to the council certifying that they were unable to recover the amount outstanding.

It is at this point you can then negotiate with the council regarding how much you can afford to pay each month or week. When you speak to the council after the first bailiff visit, ask them to contact you as soon as the case is handed back to them from the bailiff. When they do contact you, ask to work with the council to work out an affordable repayment plan.

The council will most likely still take you to court for the debt but it will also be taken in to account that you have made an offer of payment.

Being taken to court is better than having a bailiff trying to gain entry to your home to remove all of your goods using 'threats', 'tricks', 'lies' and 'false claims'.

The above information is not widely known and as you can imagine, bailiffs would rather you not know about this either.

There is nothing worse than having to avoid answering your own front door for the fear of it being a bailiff. Obviously, the best thing would be to pay your debts in the first place before they get to this stage but life isn't always as easy as that is it.