It's important to note that a bailiff cannot force his way into your home except in certain circumstances (for more information about bailiffs and their right to enter your home please read the article Bailiffs - do they have the right to enter my home?).

Once a bailiff has gained legal entry to your home however, he or she has the right to return and can use force to gain entry on any subsequent visit. Hence the importance of refusing to allow a bailiff to enter your home on their first visit.

If a bailiff does gain legal entry to your home, he or she is entitled to seize your possessions and possessions that he or she can reasonably assume belong to you. And although a bailiff cannot force his way into your home except in very limited circumstances, he or she can force open cupboards or locked internal doors once inside.

If the bailiff attempts to seize an item in your home that does not belong to you, you will need to produce evidence - such as a receipt - to show that it belongs to someone else. Otherwise it will be taken and the rightful owner will then need to contact the bailiff for it to be returned.

If an item is jointly owned it can be seized and the proceeds of any sale would then be divided between the owners.

For most types of debt, bailiffs can’t take basic household items such as most of your furniture, clothing, bedding, fridges or cookers. But they can take non-essential items such as televisions and other electrical goods such as stereos, camcorders and so on. They can also take a washing machine for example.

They can also take possessions from outside your house or in unlocked sheds and garages, including gardening equipment and even your car.

Bailiffs cannot take items that you need for your work such as tools or goods. They would not be able to remove a computer if it was essential to your work and cannot take a vehicle if it is vital for your work either.

Bailiffs can also not remove anything from a home that clearly belongs to a child.

If removed from your home, your possessions will most likely be sold at auction for a fraction of what they cost you and probably for less than what they are worth today.

Bailiffs are aware of this would rather have the debt settled either in full or by instalment, but if there is no prospect of the debt being paid they will take enough of your possessions to satisfy the debt - and that is likely to mean goods worth far more than the outstanding debt because of the low prices fetched at auction.

Similarly, removing items from your home is not always the easiest of tasks and so a bailiff usually avoids doing so where possible.

Instead, if the bailiff thinks you will pay the debt, he or she will note the possessions that will be seized and will ask you to agree to and sign a "walking possessions" agreement.

A walking possession's order agreement means that the items that the bailiff has earmarked or "seized" now belong to him or her until the debt is paid, but that they will remain in your possession and can be used by you providing that you keep to the terms of the agreement - which will include how and when you are going to repay the debt.

In order for a walking possession order to be valid, a bailiff should have gained peaceful entry to the property and "seized" the goods. He or she does not have to physically seize items. The bailiff can take possession or "levy distress" as it is known simply by marking an item, pointing to it or informing you verbally.

The bailiff has to be in your home to seize items - it is not enough for a bailiff to list items that they have seen through a window and push a walking possession order through the letterbox for you to sign and return.

Walking possession will only be granted where the bailiff is satisfied that the agreement will be honoured and that distrained goods will not be altered, removed or otherwise disposed of.

A walking possession agreement gives you additional time to settle your debt, but you should also only sign such an agreement if you are going to make payments as agreed. There is a daily charge for a walking possession order that you must pay, on top of the original debt you owe and the bailiff's fees, if they are sold.

Remember, bailiffs must give notice of the first visit they intend to make. Should you have items in your home that you want to remove prior to their visit, you are legally entitled to do so. However, bailiffs are well aware that this can happen and are likely to return without notice if they believe you are hiding items from them.



common mis-spellings of bailiff: bailliff, bailif, baillif.