Ghostly bailiffs
Unwanted knocks on the door at strange hours, tramping feet around one’s home and a sinister voice demanding entry.
What sounds like the start of a ghost or horror story is unfortunately a scenario soon to be acted out many times every day across the country in the flesh, with bailiffs and Sheriff’s Officers from the High Court (now both styled as ‘enforcement agents’ in legislation since 2007) resuming visits after various suspensions and moratoria.
Having worked myself as a lawyer acting on behalf of debtors in enforcement cases from the beginning of the 1990s, I grasped this parallel between bailiffs and malevolent supernatural entities early on, immediately finding an analogy between the rights of entry for bailiffs and the powers of entities in the (rather synthetic) lore of vampirology for gaining access to your home. Traditionally, to enter a property, vampires must either be invited in, or find an already open door, window, crack or crevice.
To enter a property, vampires must be invited in, or find an open door or window
And with a few exceptions, it is much the same with bailiffs in England and Wales for the past 400 years. Ever since in 1603, the origin of the maxim “An Englishman’s home is his castle”, the outer door of the home of the debtor is protected and cannot be broken down. [1603] 77 Eng. Rep. 194 remains good law in the 21 century, the only exceptions being debts claimed by the Inland Revenue and unpaid criminal fines since 2004. Even then, forced entry
