Bailiffs. Advice please

[JustAskingForAFriend]

Dp has had an old debt catch up with him from 10yrs ago in his young and silly days. Obviously he knew it would in time.
He's h a d a letter saying it's being transferred to debt collection agency.

We have nowt they could take in all honesty. However. He does have a self employed business with a lot of value of stuff.
This stuff is in a lock up.

We understand the bailiffs could go there. However. Could they enter if the lockup was put in my name.?
We can't afford to pay the debt at all not even 20 a month. That's just how it is.
The self employed stuff is for his business that he does at weekends and fully registered with hmrc.

Look up beat the balifs and banks on Facebook and I think there’s now a website.

But normally 10 year old debt would be status bared.

A debt collection company is not a bailiff and if he hasn't acknowledged the debt or paid any money towards it in the past 6 years it will be statute barred.

Debt companies like lowell will threaten court etc but if the debt is statute barred they can't take any legal action over it, so what they are doing is fishing which is illegal

But normally 10 year old debt would be status bared.

Only if there has been no acknowledgement in last 6 years.

Statute barred aka do one.

He thinks he last acknowledged it 4 yrs ago

If that's the case I would see which debt company they have sold it to. It will most likely be lowell. But at this stage there is no concern for bailiffs

If I s gone to Lowell - i.e. has been sold then he's in the clear as he has no contract with Lowell's. It's a bit of jiggery-pokery with letters but nothing is legally enforceable UNLESS Lowell's take him to court and he buries his head in the sand

If I s gone to Lowell - i.e. has been sold then he's in the clear as he has no contract with Lowell's

Rubbish. Assuming the debt has been sold, the original contract almost certainly included a clause allowing the lender to assign their rights to a third party. That is what they have done. He therefore owes the money to the debt collector. It is legally enforceable.

Thank you. So if legally enforcable. Can they go to the lock up if its in my name? As he can't afford to lose his business as that's what tides us over. Its not regular work as it's quite specific but it's maybe 1 or 2 jobs a month.

Whilst the debt is legally enforceable, they have no powers to seize goods unless they go to court. At this stage you don't need to worry about that. However, you need to stop burying your heads in the sand and saying you can't afford to pay the debt. At some point you will have to pay.

Ignore pp and as another pp said - check out beat the bailiffs and the banks.

No. They can't take your stuff. They will rely on intimidation but at this stage have NO legal recourse.

I did not say they can take their stuff. But the debt is legally enforceable through the courts.

However, you need to stop burying your heads in the sand and saying you can't afford to pay the debt. At some point you will have to pay

Spot on. My Stepdaughter tried to dodge her contract mobile phone debts by changing addresses. However, she has a distinctive family name as she is not originally from UK. Mobile provider found her on Facebook!

Yet again another thread filled with wrong advice. Why do people do it?

I heard once that on the Russian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire when the contestant asks the audience most of the audience give a deliberately wrong answer. Reminds me of this at times.

FTAOD, I'm not referring to prh47bridge in the above post.

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It is despairing some of the advice on these matters.

OP, it's in your partners best interests to call the DCA and set up an affordable repayment plan. It doesn't sound as if it has got to bailiff stage as of yet.