The Bailiffs - What Are Her Rights ????

[Gizmonster]

So a friend of mine has got herself in a bit of a pickle.
A bill has gone unpaid and she's now had a letter of enforcement, informing her that a visit is imminent and they'll be removing items from her home, to the tune of approx £400.

If it makes any difference - she lives on her own and only works part time.

I know that there are certain items that the bailiffs can't take, but I'm wondering if she could sell any of her remaining goods to me??
I intend to leave the items there and I would rent them to her for a nominal amount, with a view to her buying back the goods in say 12 months time.
I would obviously provide a full written receipt, but I wonder how much notice the bailiffs would take of this and if indeed it was legal??

Any advice please??

[sherrardk]

Can she afford to pay anything back? If so, she could contact them and try and make some sort of arrangement. If the bailiffs do call the bill goes up.

[Prudie]

It would be easier if you or someone could lend her the £400 to send them on their way and she could repay it in bits.

[ummmm]

Anything they can take will probably be more or less worthless.

[bednobs]

if you buy her stuff off her, she coud just afford to pay the bill and avoid the bailiffs, thus avoiding the ignomy of having them come. Am i missing something?

[Baldric]

£400 is peanuts, just lend her the money and get it back as and when,
if she's a good friend she will pay you back.

[ummmm]

Obviously not peanuts to Giz's friend!

[Gizmonster]

The bill was initially approx £140 and she's had a letter of enforcement adding another £230 taking it to over £350 now :(

I know she could possibly contact them and make a payment plan, but I'm making plans for the worst case scenario - the bailiffs at the door. Does anyone now what are her rights regarding my plan to buy her goods off her??

£350 - £400 is a LOT of money to my friend by the way :(

[sherrardk]

Even if you buy her stuff it’s not going to solve the problem, the bailiffs are not just going to give up. She needs to sort it out with them. It’s not worth the stress trying to out wit them.

[Gizmonster]

//// if you buy her stuff off her, she coud just afford to pay the bill and avoid the bailiffs, thus avoiding the ignomy of having them come. Am i missing something? ////

Yep ....

When I say I'm buying the goods off her, I mean "I'm buying the goods off her" ..... if you catch my drift :P

[Old_Geezer]

Doubt it would solve the core problem though.
Can't family and friends have a whip-round to loan her the money ?

[Baldric]

I am not saying it's peanuts to her, but to anyone who has the where withall to lend it to her, it's not a lot to be fair.

[mallyh]

could she phone the people she is in debt to and ask them how much they will take to close the account ,I know someone who did that and they knocked quite a lot off .

[cassa333]

I thought was disposing of assets or something?

If you were to do that I would do it pretty quickly as the date it’s ‘sold’ could be problematic. With a backdated payment plan showing payments of £5 a week or something.

I’m not a legal eagle so I could be well off the mark.

[Bbc10inch]

This sounds an awful faff to a simple issue. Call the bailiffs yourself and pay them direct, then it is sorted, your friend can then relax.

Then your friend can make an arrangement with you to either give you her items and pay back against the capital you then own. You will need a signed paper agreement in place. Or else let her keeps the goods and pay you back in cash or other ways over a defined period of time. Again making sure you have a signed agreement of the loan and detailed due dates.

[Gizmonster]

Thanks for all the replies but it's sorted now, she's borrowed the money from a family member.

I'm still wondering about the legalities of my scenario though and would it be classed as something similar to "deprivation of assets"??

[Baldric]

How simple was that then?

[Gizmonster]

//// How simple was that then? ////

A helluva lot easier than trying to get an answer to my original question lol :P

[ummmm]

The bailiff would have smelt the bull straight away :-)

Have you not seen 'can't pay we'll take it away'?