Enforcement and Debt Recovery

The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 was given Royal Assent on 19 July 2007. Parts 3-5 of the Act reform bailiff law, which has been anticipated following a sharp increase in the number of personal and commercial insolvencies and record levels of consumer debt. The reforms include: a single framework for all types of enforcement agent; the abolition of the law of distress for rent- the introduction of commercial rent arrears recovery (CRAR); a unified system for taking control of goods; the right to use force to gain entry; changes to Attachment of Earnings Orders and Charging Order applications; reform of information requests about debtors; and, rights of debtors to apply for a debt management scheme.This book provides a practical and authoritative commentary on the reforms introduced by Parts 3-5 of the Act and places these changes in context by presenting a comprehensive review of the law of enforcement. The commentary is supplemented by examples of how the reforms differ from the pre-Act position and the stated aims of previous consultations, and speculates how parts of the Act are likely to be implemented by further regulations.
The text includes tables with data showing the efficacy and popularity of methods of enforcement, and opinions from enforcement agents, insolvency practitioners and commercial property lawyers. Parts 3-5 of the Act and the relevant Schedules are reproduced for convenience in the Appendix.