Schedule 12
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]
5:15 pm
16A (2) This paragraph applies if an enforcement agent has the power to enter the premises under paragraph 14 or 16 or under a warrant under paragraph 15.
(3) If the creditor applies to the court, it may issue a warrant authorising an enforcement agent to use, if necessary, reasonable force to enter the premises for the purpose of taking control of goods.
(4) The court may issue a warrant under sub-paragraph (2) only if it is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances.
(5) In considering whether to issue a warrant under sub-paragraph (2), the court shall have regard to the matters set out in sub-paragraph (5).
(6) Those matters are—
(a) the nature of the debt;
(b) whether the debtor resides at the premises specified in the application;
(c) whether the debtor carries on a trade or business at those premises;
(d) the personal and financial circumstances of the debtor and their family;
(e) whether the likely costs arising from execution of the enforcement power (including, but not limited to, those costs arising from use of reasonable force) are proportional to the debt;
(f) whether the creditor has, so far as it is reasonable, attempted to enforce payment of the debt by other means.
(7) For the purposes of this paragraph, exceptional circumstances are—
(a) that the debtor has been given reasonable opportunity to repay by affordable instalments but has deliberately or wilfully chosen not to do so;
(b) that the debtor is not a vulnerable person;
(c) that there is a reasonable prospect that the sum recovered from the sale of the debtor’s goods would be at least equal to an amount prescribed by order of the Lord Chancellor.
(8) Regulations shall prescribe the circumstances in which debtors are to be defined as vulnerable persons for the purposes of this paragraph.
(9) The Lord Chancellor shall consult such persons or bodies as he considers appropriate on the content of the regulations made under sub-paragraph (7).
(10) The court may not issue a warrant under sub-paragraph (2) until regulations under sub-paragraph (7) have come into force.
(11) The court may suspend the operation of a warrant under sub-paragraph (2) on such terms as it sees fit on its own volition or on the application of the debtor at any time before goods taken under control have been sold.’.—[Mr. Bellingham.]