A week or so ago a regular contributor on here (Dodgeball) started a discussion thread on the subject of when a bailiff should legally be able to charge a 'Sale Fee' of £110. The importance of this subject prompted me to approach CIVEA (The Civil Enforcement Agency) and yesterday they provided me with a copy of their official Guidance Note on the subject. A copy of this should be featuring on their website this weekend. Dodgeball's important and interesting thread on this subject has run to 5 pages and with 100 replies, I thought that this Guidance would get better publicity if it was posted on a separate thread. The original discussion thread can be found under the following link: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?453200-Removal-for-sale-fee-when-can-it-be-charged

A month ago, a regular contributor to this forum (Dodgeball) started a thread on here about the ‘sale stage fee’ of £100 and when it should be charged by bailiffs. The regulations were completely overhauled in April 2014 and there is (and will continue to be) a great deal of differing of opinion about the wording and application of the regulations and will no doubt not be properly resolved until a court makes a judgment. Unfortunately, Dodgeball’s thread was once again the focus of unwarranted attention elsewhere and with this in mind, the thread ended up running to seven pages. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?453200-Removal-for-sale-fee-when-can-it-be-charged I am reliably informed that because of the importance of this subject, Dodgeball approached the countries expert on bailiff law; John Kruse for his professional opinion. John considered that the question was important enough to be quoted is his regular Bulletin (that is available to the advice sector for free or available by subscription to the public). Given the popularity of this forum, it is frequently viewed by members of the the enforcement industry. Those individuals are unlikely to read a copy of John Kruse's Bulletin. Hopefully by providing a copy of his opinion on the charging of this fee it may prove useful to them. A copy of Dodgeball's question is below: I am currently engaged in an interesting debate about sale fees and when they are applicable- in particular if a bailiff can charge the sale stage fee whilst on an enforcement visit. Many, particularly HCEOs, are under the impression they can. My position is that they cannot. My arguments are these: Sch.12 para.13 TCE Act 2007- this section outlines the ways that goods can be taken under control; it says that one of the methods listed must be used. Since only controlled goods can be sold then presumably only one of these can be used and must be used prior to removal for sale. It must be noticed that none of the options relate to the sale of goods, in fact they all indicate that another attendance must be made, to removed the previously secured goods or to inquire about the failure of a controlled goods agreement. The mention of removing goods in para.13 is, as you say in Bulletin 27, for purpose of storage rather than sale, so a subsequent attendance must be made there also. The Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations state that “the sale or disposal stage ... comprises all activities relating to enforcement from the first attendance at the property for the purpose of transporting goods to the place of sale etc.” The attendance at enforcement cannot in my opinion be for the purpose of transporting goods to the place of sale, because no goods have been seized at this point. There is also the matter of arrangement for sale as you mentioned in Bulletin 29. I do not believe that merely ringing for a van can fill these criteria as I believe the MoJ has suggested. Thirdly I think that the procedure was intended to be in three stages, so allowing the EA to circumvent the last stage by switching from enforcement to sale whilst in the enforcement stage is not what was intended. I would appreciate your thoughts.