Are There Any Goods Which The HCEO Cannot Take To Be Sold?
Yes, there are. You and your family cannot be deprived of all your goods, particularly those you need to be able to live and work on a daily basis. The law says that a High Court Enforcement Officer cannot take:
Vehicles and other goods subject to hire purchase or rental agreements; or
Those tools, books, vehicles and other items or equipment that are necessary for your personal use in connection with your employment, business or vocation; or
Clothing, bedding, furniture and other items or equipment that are necessary for satisfying the basic domestic needs of you or your family; or
Goods belonging to someone other than yourself – a “third party”.
The High Court Enforcement Officer will ask you, or any third party claiming to own goods at your property, to produce the relevant agreement(s) or evidence of ownership, where this is appropriate. Any claim to ownership by a third party may lead to a court hearing at which a Judge will decide who owns the goods; these are called “interpleader proceedings”. They can be very costly for the losing party and any claim should not be made lightly. A third party must say, specifically, that they own the goods and support their claim with evidence of ownership.
If you wish to claim that the goods that have been levied upon by the Enforcement Officer are “tools of trade”, then you need to take independent advice to ensure that you make your claim to the court within five days of the seizure taking place. You should also be aware that a limited company cannot in any capacity make a claim that goods are “tools of trade”. Again, an application to decide whether an item is a “tool of trade” can be very costly if you lose, and therefore a claim should not be made lightly to the court for a decision to be made.
