Episode 2 The Sheriffs Are Coming

If you're owed money but aren't getting paid,

it's time to call the sheriffs.

My name's Mr Grix. My colleague and I are Enforcement Agents.

I'm here to issue a High Court writ.

I've got to do what I'm instructed to by the courts.

They're Enforcement Agents of the High Court,

and if a court's ruled in your favour,

they're on your side.

If the debtor doesn't want to pay...

You currently owe £9,461.80.

..the law says the sheriffs can get you what you're owed.

If you don't come to the door,

we have to remove the vehicle off the drive.

You'll have a week to pay in full before it gets sold at auction.

Whether it's a small company...

Can I speak to the person in charge, please?

..or a household name...

We're here to see somebody from G4S.

..if they owe you money, the sheriffs get it paid.

I'm not going anywhere. You get him to come in here.

We're not going to wait around like that. It needs to be done now.

I just collected 42 grand.

Coming up, Lawrence and Kev face an unusual barricade

on an eviction job...

This will be interesting.

I think he's probably deadlocked it off, mate.

..but will they be able to get in

and reclaim the building for its owners?

Claire Yew wasn't paid the rent she was due from a lettings agent.

He owed me about six months' rent.

That was quite hard for me and my family

because I still had to pay the mortgage.

Sheriff Ken Warby has an ultimatum for the manager.

I'm going to have to insist on half payment,

or I remove the goods.

A bathroom supplier who's fallen behind with payments

is taken by surprise when the sheriffs come to call.

Until you guys turned up today,

I thought they'd just give me a bit of breathing space

to try and get some money together.

He's got cash, but is it enough?

Sheriff Ken Warby is in East London

on his way to a lettings agent in Whitechapel.

Our claimant was letting a property through them

and the debtor has not released the money to our claimant.

We're going for approximately £8,500 including sheriff fees.

The lettings agent is called Hometrader Properties.

They owe money to full-time mum Claire Yew,

who found herself in dispute with the company

after deciding to buy a house to rent out.

I was looking for a house for a buy-to-let investment,

so I wanted somewhere as close to London as possible.

She managed to find what she thought would be

an ideal property in Plaistow -

not too far from Central London, but still affordable.

It is actually a three-bed terraced house

with two receptions and a basement,

so one reception can be used as a bedroom as well.

And it's close to all the amenities, the hospital and public transport.

Her offer on the property was accepted

and the sale went through quickly.

As there was already a tenant living there,

the seller made a suggestion.

The vendor discussed with me and said,

"Well, they have been good tenants," and he said,

"Currently, I've got a guaranteed rent contract

"with the managing agent and they pay me every month no problem,

"so why don't we just keep the tenant and save all the hassle?"

The tenancy had been managed by Hometrader Properties,

and its agent confirmed they'd be willing for Claire

to keep the existing tenant on the same terms.

They would get the guaranteed rent of 1,300 every month,

so it doesn't matter whether the tenants pay or not.

Since they organised everything for me and made it easy for me

and they told me that we don't have to pay anything,

I thought, "Well, why not?"

For the first few months, the rent was paid as promised,

but then payments began to be delayed,

with the man at Hometraders saying there were problems

with tenants' housing benefit.

He told me that because the tenant is on housing benefits,

the tenant's rent is actually paid by the council,

and apparently, the tenant did some part-time job over December

and she didn't put in some paperwork and, I don't know, some red tape.

So, anyway, they claimed that

the council had stopped giving them the rent.

And despite Claire's contract saying the rent would be guaranteed

no matter what, payments continued to lag behind.

It just dragged on and on and on.

He owed me about 9,000, which is about six months' rent.

That was quite hard for me and my family because

I still had to pay the mortgage

in order not to have the house repossessed.

Claire decided the only way to stop the situation getting worse

was to get the problem tenant evicted.

In the meantime, the agents made occasional payments,

but nowhere near what she was owed.

He told me, "Don't worry. I'm not going to cheat your money."

Then the tenant leaves.

"It'll be sorted out once the tenant leaves, right?"

So, the tenant left.

I went to see him and said, "OK, now the tenant has left,

"can I have my payment, please?"

And he started to give me more excuses.

"Just give me two weeks, I promise. Three weeks.

"We'll give you a payment in three weeks' time."

So, I tried calling him so many times.

Just to speak to him, I have to call, like, ten times a day

just to catch him, and then he'll say,

"Oh, I'll call you back tomorrow. I'll check this out."

And he never calls me back,

so that's when I decided to take him to court.

But while she was going through the court process,

Claire received some surprising news.

The council called me up to find out why I evicted the tenant

because the tenant was a bit upset,

and I told her it's because the agent hasn't paid the rent

for six months.

That's when I found out that the council had been paying the rent

but it's just that, every month, they just deducted a little bit,

so that's when I found out

that he actually had the money all this time.

Claire won her case in court

after the agents didn't enter a defence.

The judge ordered them to pay back the money they owed to Claire.

He still didn't do anything. There was no response from him.

That's when I decided to escalate the case to the sheriffs

cos I've seen them on TV and they do really well.

They are my only hope of recovering the money for me.

In East London, Ken is on his way to Hometrader Properties

to get Claire's money back.

It's a large sum, but will there be enough assets to cover it?

There can be assets to seize at an estate agents, yeah.

Computers, printers. There's not usually a great deal,

but there's still usually a bit of office equipment there.

Right, I've found the place - it's there - but there's no parking,

surprise, surprise. You've got to watch the wardens.

They come out of the cracks of the pavement and do you.

I usually have it on me Bromleys pretty quick,

and get to my car before I get a ticket.

On your what, Ken?

Bromley-by-Bows - toes.

Spoken like a true Cockney.

The next rhyming slang we'll need is the one for "pay up".

-Knock-knock. Hello.

-Hello.

Hi there. Can I speak to the person in charge, please?

Is that yourself, sir?

My name's Mr Warby from the Court's Sheriffs Office.

This is regarding a judgment against Hometrader Properties.

The man doesn't seem to recognise the details of the case,

but another staff member does.

Well, we're here as a result of

a writ of control from the High Court.

Ken shows his writ,

but the man says the matter is still in dispute

and he asks our cameraman to leave.

Inside, the boss tells Ken

that he is contesting the court's decision

and so he doesn't want to pay.

He says the matter is being dealt with

by his solicitor, Mr Haque,

and as his office is only next door, he asks Ken to come and see him,

but they don't get very far.

After you. After you.

After you, I insist.

I'll tell you what, I'm not going anywhere.

-You get him to come in here.

-The boss refused to leave first,

making Ken suspicious it's a ruse to lock him out of the shop.

I've changed my mind. I want to see him in here.

Mr Haque does come to the agents.

Our camera is invited back in to record the conversation.

Ken's now had a chance to survey the assets in the office,

and there's not much, so he offers a deal.

Total stands at 8,496.60.

What I'm prepared to do today is accept half this payment

from your client and give 14 days to pay the balance.

But the courts have issued Ken with a live writ,

which needs to be paid and no excuses.

As it stands at the moment, I'm here with this writ of control

and I'm going to have to insist on half payment.

I think I'm being more than reasonable.

The choice is your client either pays half of it

or I call up a removal van

and remove the goods on my list.

You can make a complaint, sir, if that's what you want to do.

Mr Haque's refusing to back down.

Instead, he wants to make a complaint.

Ken gets the office on the phone, but it's his turn to speak first.

-Hello, Jack. It's Ken.

-OVER PHONE:

-'Hello.'

Require a removal van, if possible. It's general office equipment.

Ken's ramped up the pressure, but Mr Haque's come out fighting.

OK, this is Jackie.

Mr Haque wrongly believes that Ken is exceeding his powers.

The office asks him to put his concerns in writing.

Thanks.

Mr Haque leaves and our camera is again asked to step outside.

While the boss mulls over the offer of half payment,

Ken continues to list the assets in the office,

but in the end, removing them isn't necessary.

Realising that the sheriffs have the law on their side,

the boss gives in.

They paid me half after some argument,

and I've got a controlled goods agreement

for them to pay the balance within 14 days.

The job went well. I listed the items in there.

If they were to go at auction,

you probably wouldn't get much more than a grand for them anyway.

And as for their solicitor Mr Haque's objections,

Ken isn't the least bit worried.

He seems to think that they should have 14 days

before they have to pay any money whatsoever.

I did tell him it was down to my discretion

and I wanted half payment there and then,

which is what I got.

Sure enough, Hometrader paid the final balance

and Claire Yew has got back the money she was owed.

I'm very happy about this cos I never expected anyone

to be able to recover the money from him,

but they managed to do it, so I'm very, very thankful to them.

The manager of Hometrader Properties says that...

He says he paid for maintenance work on the property

for which Ms Yew has never been charged.

And he says that the lettings agent

covered the legal costs

of the eviction totalling £1,280.

If you've been ripped off

and the person or company responsible refuses to pay you back,

the first step is to make a claim in the County Court.

It's simple to do this online.

For a small fee, depending on the size of the claim,

the court will review the evidence, and if it finds in your favour,

the debtor will be ordered to pay up.

If they don't, then for a further £66,

the High Court will grant a writ

authorising the sheriffs to act on your behalf.

If they're successful, you get all your money back.

It's an early start for Lawrence and Kev

who are on their way to a car garage in Luton.

The business owner has stopped paying rent,

so the landlord wants the premises back.

It's a car body shop

and the tenant has been evicted twice already, I believe,

but he keeps breaking back in again and carrying on business,

so we're going up there today taking possession of the premises

and then handing it over to the client.

This job is a writ of possession,

where the sheriffs are taking back a building

rather than pursuing a debt,

but from the information they've been given,

it sounds like there could be complications.

We've been advised that the roller shutter

may be blockaded on the inside by a vehicle.

And that's not all.

There's a small gated yard to the front

where we've been advised there might be a dog.

Doesn't sound too bad.

-Famous last words.

-Yeah, I bet it'd still bite you.

Maybe.

When they arrive, it's still early and the garage is shut.

It becomes immediately obvious

that they've got a problem on their hands.

-Oh, so, that's what he's doing.

-Oh, now I understand.

-Yeah.

So, that is going to be a bit of a pain.

We were presuming the car was inside and the door opens outwards,

but the door opens outwards with a car in front.

So, we've now got to get the car moved back

before we can get through the door.

As the handbrake's on, that's going to be tricky,

but locksmith Andy Marsh thinks he might be able to help.

Could try and open it through the...the air bag...

-You've got a puffy bag, have you?

-Yeah.

-And then see if we can pull the door handle, see if that does it.

-Yeah.

If Andy can get in and take the handbrake off,

it'd be problem solved.

We use air bags. Don't want to damage the vehicle in any way.

It's all electric, so you won't be able to wind the windows down,

so it's pretty much fingers crossed on this one.

The pressure's on.

While Andy gets started,

Lawrence and Kev get their bit of good news -

-the dog's not here.

-The neighbour has advised us

that if the dog was in there, we'd have heard it by now.

So, not going to get bitten, as yet. That's always nice to hear.

Meanwhile, Andy's struggling.

I think he's probably deadlocked it off, mate.

If the car's been fitted with deadlocks,

they won't get in without a key.

Some you win, some you lose.

But one way or another, it'll be moved.

The only option now might be a tow truck,

which the landlord has said they would provide if needed.

Lawrence gets on the phone, only to find they've been let down.

She's just informed me her nephew was looking into it

and the guy they were going to use is in Poland,

so he's been trying to find somebody else.

If the sheriffs had known, they would've brought one themselves.

-Now it's too late.

-This is one of the issues you get.

Occasionally, a client says they're going to arrange a truck,

so we've left it for them to arrange a truck.

Soon, the landlord herself arrives with her solicitor,

and it turns out she's pretty pleased to see Lawrence and Kev.

-Hi, Lawrence.

-Morning.

-Are you OK?

-Hiya, Kev.

-Hi there. How you doing?

Hello. All right? How's it going?

Big fan of you guys.

I didn't think I'd actually meet you in my life...

-Thank you.

-..but it happens to me, yeah.

While the family starts calling around for a tow truck,

Kev's looking at other options.

-Hello, mate.

-Hiya.

You haven't got any skates, have you?

-Skates? No, man.

-Not got any?

-Has anyone around here got any, do you think?

-Yeah.

Skates are rollers which can be used to move a stationary car,

and the search is on to see if they can borrow some.

Meanwhile, back on the forecourt,

the landlords haven't given up on the car

and are taking matters into their own hands.

What are we towing it with now?

It's going to be dragged.

This will be interesting.

-Safety footwear.

-LAUGHTER

And it's not just the funky footwear troubling Lawrence.

My concern is that silly little strap thing

that you can buy out of a petrol station.

It is no way rated to tow something that's in gear with the brakes on.

-If that hook goes...

-Could well ping.

-Yeah, so...

Don't stand too close to that.

It's not quite the set-up Lawrence and Kev are used to.

Not ideal, to say the least, but...

It's not ideal in the slightest.

Cable is not rated to pull that at all.

But will it work? CREAKING

The strain sounds wrong getting further back.

-CLATTERING

-There you go.

This is so ghetto, isn't it? This is...

Later, we find out whether the sheriffs

can get into the garage.

MOTOR REVS

A petrol grinder pretty much goes through everything and anything.

In the North East, Sheriff Chris Pearson

is on his way to a very different kind of job.

He's going to see a seller of upmarket bathrooms

who's got a debt to pay.

We're off to Stockton-on-Tees to see a company called Envy Homes.

Envy Homes owes £2,286

after falling behind

with payments to a supplier -

City Distribution Limited.

The company was taken to court.

It didn't defend the case and judgment was found against it.

Chris has been told it's a small, one-man company,

and on arrival, is pleasantly surprised.

Envy Homes.

Ah, looks more than a one-man band to me.

If it's a company, they normally have assets

and it's normally straightforward.

Fingers crossed that's how it's going to be here.

It's a large showroom full of stock.

But despite it being the middle of the day,

there doesn't seem to be anyone in.

Just as he's trying to reach the debtor by phone,

-a man arrives.

-How are you doing? Is this your premises, sir?

-It is, yes.

-Yeah, all right.

I've got a High Court writ to do with City Distribution Limited.

You've got a balance at the minute of £2,285.61.

I haven't got all that sort of money at the moment,

but I daresay I could have, like, half of it within a couple of days.

Yeah, you need to get it right now.

We're actually here to take control of your goods.

-I'll see what I can do.

-No problem, I'll hang fire. No problem.

The man goes inside to see if he can raise the money,

and for the time being at least, Chris is happy to wait.

We'll give him time to make a few phone calls.

I'm sure the threat of us going in there

and taking his stock, I think that's going to be more than enough

to get him to get the funds for us.

And while the boss does what he has to do,

Chris is doing a bit of window-shopping.

I like that mirror. See the mirror? I know it's just a standard mirror,

but the effect of it's nice, isn't it?

The boss has called some friends to try to borrow the money,

and while he waits to hear back, tells Chris what's gone on.

I always paid them.

I had problems before, but I always cleared my debts OK.

-But just this year, it's just killed it.

-Right.

It's just dead and so I couldn't pay the first month.

Then the second month hit and I just said,

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm still struggling."

I just assumed they'd realise business would be bad

and they would just take it easy.

I didn't expect you guys to turn up, put it that way.

But the County judgment was issued against the business

more than two months ago and it should have been settled.

Now faced with a demand for immediate payment,

it's not clear whether he's going to be able

to get the money together.

I don't know who he's phoning, what's happening, to be honest.

If he can't get the money, there's plenty of assets for us to take,

so we're fine there.

I can give him as long as he needs, really.

He seems a genuine guy, he's trying to sort things out,

so try and give him a bit of extra time.

Time to check out the bathtubs.

Very nice.

I don't think I can afford these prices, though.

Bit expensive in here.

We're more B&Q type people, to be honest.

Meanwhile...

..the boss has called in a couple of favours

and some friends have dropped by with the cash.

It looks like Chris is home and dry,

but when he counts the money, there seems to be a problem.

-How much did you say was there?

-It should be exactly...

Well, the exact amount. Is it off, is it?

Absolutely. It's quite a way off.

You're 520 short, by the looks of it.

The man had told Chris it was the right amount to the penny,

yet more than £500 seems to be missing.

-Could you give me five minutes?

-Yeah, yeah.

I'll see what I can sort out cos I don't know why...

Just when it looked like the job was in the bag,

everything's been thrown into doubt.

If the man doesn't have the cash,

then Chris might have to take goods after all.

But luckily, it turns out to be a simple mistake.

Right, located, mate.

There was some in the back of the drawer.

Check it over, but it's definitely right now.

Yeah, that's right there.

-Well done, mate. Brilliant. Thank you.

-OK.

-Thanks for your help.

Cheers. Appreciate that.

At the end of the day, I wasn't planning on going anywhere.

As you can see, my showroom's still here,

but the company decided to basically go forward

and put a County Court Judgment against the company

to get the money back.

But, as I said, you can only pay it if you've got it.

Until you guys turned up today,

I thought they'd just given me a bit of a breathing space

to try and get some money together.

The man's supplier has finally got the money they were owed,

and Chris is just glad to see the matter resolved

in the best way possible.

He's a genuine guy, pretty nice guy,

so I'm happy for him that he got the money together,

rather than having to tip him out, take all the gear.

Lawrence and Kev are in Luton trying to reclaim a garage for its owner

after the tenant stopped paying rent.

But a car's blocking the door

and a tow truck, which was promised, hasn't arrived,

so now the landlords are trying to move the car themselves,

much to Lawrence and Kev's disapproval.

-Could well ping.

-Yes.

Their first attempt failed.

CREAKING AND CLATTERING

Now it's take two.

-CREAKING

-Knot's going to go.

Not rated to pull that at all.

This time, it works.

-That'll do you.

-That'll do.

Yeah, remarkably enough,

the double knot on the little garage towrope did the job.

Now it's just a matter of getting through the door.

MOTOR REVS

A petrol grinder pretty much goes through everything and anything.

Diamond-tip blade on it.

Andy gets to work.

He's through the hinges.

And a crowbar finishes the job.

That was it, was it?

-There we go.

-No problem.

Inside, the garage has been left in a bit of a mess,

and you need to watch your step,

but much to the landlord's relief, there's no sign of any major damage

and the equipment they own is still there.

-Just a case of making it secure, then, isn't it?

-Yeah.

While work starts on the doors, Lawrence takes a look around.

The tenant owes rent, and so, along with the writ to evict him,

they've got another one to take control of goods,

but there's nothing here of value.

Certainly no sign of the supercars advertised outside.

Works on some nice cars -

Ferraris, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Porsches.

Can't see many people rushing to bring their Lamborghini here,

to be honest, but...hey-ho.

The only things of interest are some dirt bikes,

but it's not clear who they belong to.

They haven't got number plates on them,

so there's no real way of ascertaining ownership.

Doubt they're street-legal, to be honest.

Another obstacle to enforcing the writ of control

is that they have to serve the former tenant notice.

I brought a notice of enforcement with me today

in case he'd been here.

If he'd turned up, I could've served him with the notice,

but he hasn't, so we've now got to have an alternative address

cos obviously this is no longer his address.

Hopefully, he won't be able to get back in here.

So, for now, all that's left to do is seal the property up,

and this time, the landlord's solicitor wants it done properly.

We used commercial bailiffs initially.

We got possession of the premises

and the occupier broke back in the next day,

so we then got a County Court bailiff to come round

and again, the occupier broke back in the next day,

which is why the sheriffs are here.

And they're not going to make the same mistake.

Check out the fire exit.

Apparently, this is how he got in last time.

Yeah, he's nailed it all up.

He seems to have screwed it up quite securely since he got back in,

but I still see this as the weak point.

So, we're just making extra sure...

..that it's secured.

And then it's time to head off,

though not before enjoying a bit more attention from their fans.

-She's been banging on about you guys for ages.

-Oh, stop it!

It's all coming out now.

"The sheriffs are coming! The sheriffs are coming!"

I hope she doesn't tell you everything what I say.

-Oh, really? Sounds interesting.

-You'll start blushing again.

-Might do.

-Yes.

-SHE LAUGHS

Quite nice to not be getting abused.

It makes a change. But no, no, it's nice.

Job done.

Off for breakfast.

-There you go. There's your keys.

-Cheers, then.

-See you later.

-Very nice to meet you, guys.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, thank you very much.

The premises is safely back in the hands of its relieved owners,

and with another successful job in the bag,

the sheriffs are on their way.