Bailiff Fees and How to Complain

Bailiffs, also called enforcement agents, can add their costs to the debt you owe, and those costs can be substantial. The important thing to know is that the fees are set: there are fixed amounts bailiffs cannot charge more than, and they can only be charged at certain stages of the collection process¹. If you think you have been charged too much, or that goods have been taken that should not have been, you can complain, first to the bailiff firm, then to the creditor behind the debt, and on to a governing body or the court¹.

The route matters because the money often comes back. Complaining in writing to your creditor, the person or organisation you owe the money to, is one way to ask them to get the bailiffs to cancel the fees or return your money². You can also complain directly to a bailiff if they are treating you unfairly or harassing you, and take it further if the response is not good enough³.

This page sets out what you can complain about, how council tax arrears feed the bailiff system, and where free help sits, including what National Debtline can and cannot do for you.

What you can complain about: bailiff fees and goods they should not take

Two things come up most often. The first is bailiff fees themselves, and the second is goods taken that the bailiff was not supposed to take⁸. Both are legitimate grounds for a complaint, and neither requires you to prove bad faith, only that the charge or the seizure was wrong.

On fees, the structure is fixed. Bailiffs must follow a three-stage process and charge a fixed fee at each stage, with an extra fee for debts over £1,900⁹. Beyond the stage fees, they may charge for disbursements: advertising the sale of your goods, selling your goods in an online auction, using a locksmith, safe storage of goods, and court fees⁹. These are real costs, but they are not open-ended, and a bailiff cannot invent a charge that does not fall into one of the permitted categories.

There is also a hard limit on when fees can be charged at all. You cannot be charged fees if you prove the debt is not yours, or if the bailiffs cannot collect the debt². That second point covers cases where the bailiff has nothing to take or the debt has already been dealt with.

If you are unhappy about how a bailiff has behaved, National Debtline publishes a free sample letter for complaining to a bailiff company about their actions¹⁰, and a separate letter for complaining that a bailiff has overcharged you¹¹. Both are written for England and Wales¹¹.

Council tax arrears and the rise in bailiff use

Council tax is where most people meet bailiffs. The council can use bailiffs to take your belongings, which will be sold to cover your debt, and the cost of using bailiffs is added to what you owe¹². The official position is the same: the bailiffs' costs can be added to the total amount you owe the council¹³.

There is a gate that must be passed first. Councils can only use bailiffs to collect business rates or council tax arrears after they have got a liability order against you⁴. A liability order is a court order, and it comes after the council has taken other steps. If bailiffs turn up without one, that is a point to raise.

The scale of this has grown. Council tax arrears in Great Britain increased by 79% over the last five years¹⁴. In Scotland, the route is different: you can ask a sheriff officer to make a payment agreement with you¹⁵, and there is separate help through the Scottish Welfare Fund for money problems¹⁶.

If you are behind on council tax, the practical options are to contact the council before enforcement starts, to ask about a payment arrangement, and to check whether you qualify for a reduction or a discount. Our page on council tax arrears sets out the steps, and priority and non-priority debts explains why council tax sits near the top of the list.

How National Debtline can help: phone, webchat and My Money Steps

National Debtline is a free, impartial debt advice service and has been giving free professional debt advice for over 30 years¹⁸. It is an independent registered charity, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and it says your details will never be shared⁵. It helps more than 100,000 people each year¹⁹.

There are three ways in. You can call by phone, chat online, or use My Money Steps⁵. The phone line is 0808 808 4000, freephone⁶. Webchat lets you speak directly to an adviser online²⁰, and My Money Steps is available 24/7 if you would rather not talk to anyone²¹. If My Money Steps is not right for you, the phone and webchat routes remain open²².

The service covers debt solutions, dealing with bailiffs, creditors, credit score problems, court action and the cost of living²³. It also publishes free sample letters you can use to contact creditors and bailiffs in writing²⁴, which is often the most useful thing when a complaint needs to be on paper.

If you are asking about someone else, there is separate guidance for people worried about someone else's debt⁵. For a wider view of what free services exist and what happens when you contact one, see free debt advice.

Where National Debtline cannot help

It helps to know the edges of the service before you call, so you are not waiting for something it does not do.

National Debtline does not charge for advice, and it does not charge for helping set up a debt management plan. If you ask it to help you set up a DMP, it will not charge you for that help, and neither will the DMP provider it works with⁶. That is worth knowing because fee-charging DMP providers exist, and our comparison of free debt charities and fee-charging companies sets out the difference.

The service is advice, not representation in the sense of taking over your case. It does not become your agent with bailiffs or creditors. What it does is explain your options, help you work out what you can afford, and give you letters and tools to act yourself. If you want to know what a DMP involves before you call, our page on debt management plans covers how they work.

There is also a territorial limit on some of the material. National Debtline's bailiff complaint guidance covers England and Wales, and different advice is needed if you live in Scotland²⁷. Its overcharging complaint letter is relevant in England and Wales¹¹. For Scotland, separate guides cover court fines⁷ and the Scottish system generally, and our page on diligence in Scotland explains arrestment and sheriff officers.

Debt solutions if bailiffs are already involved

Once bailiffs are at the door, the question shifts from complaint to solution. The enforcement options a creditor can use after a county court judgment include bailiffs, also known as enforcement agents, taking control of goods; an attachment of earnings order to deduct from your wages; or a charging order that secures the debt against your home if you own it²⁹. Each has its own route to challenge or vary.

For county court bailiffs, if the debt is over £1,900 or if goods are sold, further fees can be charged³⁰. That is a reason to deal with things before goods are sold rather than after.

Court fines work differently again. If you still do not pay, the court will usually ask bailiffs to collect the debt³¹. For magistrates' court fines in England and Wales, the fee for being instructed by the creditor, carrying out initial checks and investigations and receiving payments is £79³². Scotland has its own court fines guidance⁷.

On the solutions side, the options are the same ones that apply to any unmanageable debt: informal arrangements, a DMP, an IVA, a debt relief order or bankruptcy, depending on your circumstances and where you live. Our debt solutions guide compares them across the UK. If you are dealing with several debts, the debt avalanche method is one way to order repayments, and breathing space gives protection from creditors in England and Wales.

Complaints about debt collection do reach the Financial Ombudsman Service: 552 debt collection complaints were opened in Q1 2026/27³³. That is a route for complaints about firms the ombudsman covers, alongside the bailiff-specific routes above.