Families who are facing difficulty paying their debts back won’t have bailiffs knocking their doors because new rules have been made to halt the practice temporarily.
The government has made new legislation for England and Wales to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and it says that practicing social distancing would be “very difficult” for bailiffs while carrying on their job.
The new order has come after enforcement visits were restricted by the local authorities the last month. This is because the law does not regard debt collectors as key workers.
The government explained that this was a hard step to take and the rules were hard to enforce because some bailiffs were still taking goods from people’s homes even after the enforcement of the lockdown.
The restriction order applies to everything from unpaid court fines and penalty charge notices to non-domestic business rates and council tax.
Furthermore, if an enforcement notice is going to be time-barred in less than a month, it would be extended for the next 12 months automatically and the bailiffs won’t have to go to the court to get an extension.
Generally, bailiffs are given a time duration of 12 months to collect goods from the date of issue of the notice.
StepChange Debt Charity and Money Advice Trust have issued a warning stating this new rule might have a negative impact on vulnerable people during the ongoing disaster.
Charitable organizations are urging the government to provide debt relief, at least for three months, particularly in the payment of council tax to make things easy for those struggling financially through the lockdown.
Charities are also asking the government to suspend the current rules which make people liable for their full annual council tax charges if they miss a single payment.
Other demands of the charities are to start independent monitoring of the bailiff industry.
Research from Money Advice Trust has shown that as much as 2.6 million debts were referred to bailiffs by the local authorities of England and Wales and 1.4 million of them were council tax arrears.
Three-month debt relief period has already been approved for car finance agreements, mortgages, and loans due to the lockdown situation, but no relief has so far been offered for council tax payments.
Instead of that, families in England who are getting council tax support will get bills with a cut of $200 a year.
The CEO of Money advice Trust, Joanna Elson, said: “We are pleased that the government has now legislated to ensure that no more bailiff visits will take place for the immediate future.
“We now need to see further action for people who are struggling with council tax bills.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said on the subject: “Our priority is to save lives and protect the NHS which is why we are banning enforcement visits from bailiffs at residential premises and on highways for the duration of this pandemic.
“We are pleased that the majority of firms have already taken this important step to ensure the safety of their staff and the wider public.”
Northern Ireland and Scotland, however, have different rules for bailiffs and payment collection.
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