Sophisticated scammers are pretending to be bailiffs, in an effort to trick individuals out of money.
In one such instance an individual was called by sophisticated scammers claiming to be from a company of bailiffs. The scammer claimed that they were, on the request of the courts in Huddersfield, on their way to his home due to his failure to pay £3500 awarded against him in a county court judgement.
Taking the number the “bailiff” had given individual, they decided to call the court. To their surprise they were met with a recorded message. It statined that they had called Huddersfield courts, before a number of options were listed. The individual was then put through to what they thought was an officer, who explained the process required, sending what appeared to be authentic documentation.
Once the individual got home they were still suspicious and looked up the number for the court online, which was different to the one they had been given and called them. The court confirmed that it was a scam and explained that the scammers had copied and were using their documentation. They had even lifted the phone intro from Huddersfield court.
Thankfully, this case ended well, but up and down the country millions of pounds are lost to scam telephone calls. Don’t become a statistic and stay safe from scammers.
Tips for dealing with sophisticated scammers
There are a few things to remember when picking up the phone to a bailiff to make sure that you are protected:
A bailiff company will never ask you to phone the court to pay an outstanding debt
Make sure they have the correct paperwork and that it is in date
Don’t give any private information such as bank details
Gallowglass Security, working with Cluttons – an international firm of chartered surveyors – has been providing Front of House services and 24-hour security for the former MI6 headquarters in London. The 72,000 square foot, Grade A commercial property in the heart of London was originally constructed in the 1920’s as the headquarters for MI6. It was occupied under the guise of the “Minimax Fire Extinguisher Company” to maintain its secrecy.
Since MI6 and the latest tenants have left the building, it has undergone a complete refurbishment to provide high-quality, Grade A office space.
Gallowglass Security has been securing the property in advance of the next tenants moving in, with a focus on high calibre front of house services whilst managing the day-to-day signing-in contractors whilst ensuring a high-level of customer service is maintained when potential tenants arrive to view the building.
The on-site staff managing the property are supported by the head-office team. This ensures the new tenants have the appropriate risk assessments and method statements available to them prior to taking on the tenancy.
The short-term contract to secure the site and prepare the building for its new tenants has been underway for the last two weeks.
George Oliver, the Head of Gallowglass Security’s property division said: “This is an example of a high-quality team delivering a flexible and effective service for our clients. Our remit is not only the protection of the building, but front of house services, ensuring all guests and staff receive a warm and professional welcome. We take pride in our ability to deliver services above and beyond those you would expect from a security company. We ensure a consistent, professional and secure service throughout the building.”
A famous restaurant in London has recently made the headlines due to a landmark case brought against this London establishment by the building’s owner. The owner is “demanding that the Wolseley’s operators Corbin & King pay all of the almost £1m of rent debt that built up while the restaurant was closed during coronavirus lockdowns” according to the Financial Times. Corbin and King have referred to the clause in their contract that states the company is not entitled to pay rent whilst unable to operate, which was signalled by the numerous lockdowns. This issue is one that is playing out up and down the country. According to the same article, estimates suggest that there is £6.4bn in unpaid rent across the UK. All of which could have an enormous impact on our city centres and high streets across the UK.
Here we look at what powers there are to pursue for rent and how tenants can get support to help manage the payments that landlords may legally be entitled to.
What is a High Court Writ of Control?
A high court writ of control is a document obtained via a designated high court enforcement officer, of a debt of £600.00 or greater. The writ itself can be obtained via a standard CCJ, or in this case, can be issued through a combined writ of possession and control whereby historical rent arrears are recoverable. It allows our enforcement officers to levy goods up to and including the value of the writ.
How do I obtain a High Court Writ of Control?
Once you have a CCJ or a possession order outlining rent arrears, Gallowglass Enforcement offers a variety of services. We offer evictions, as well as attempted recovery of the rent arrears, using experienced enforcement agents with an abundance of industry experience. Once the ‘transfer-up’ process is competed the writ will be assigned to one of our accredited enforcement agents to recover the outstanding debt. The ‘transfer-up’ process is the process of gaining a high court writ of control from a CCJ or a possession order from the county court.
What powers does this give me to pursue a former tenant?
You can pursue the debtor for your money as long as it is within six years of the original county court judgment. A high court writ of control affords our enforcement agents the right to levy goods should the debtor decide not to pay. Our enforcement agents can also force entry to commercial premises. There is a clear advantage of using high court enforcement rather than county court, where combined warrants are not possible; the county court bailiff does not work at a commission rate so there is no incentive to chase diligently. Gallowglass also offers a tracing service, therefore enforcement on historical tenants will prove fruitful assuming a forwarding address is found.
What powers does my tenant have?
Your tenant can contest the debt by applying to the court to get the judgment set aside. This would be via Part 13 of setting aside of varying default judgment. Since rent arrears originate from non-payment of a contractual obligation on the part of the tenant, they would therefore have little if no recourse for rebuttal. However, each defence from each tenant would have its own merits and the judge would make these decisions accordingly, should the tenant choose to contest the writ. However, at the point of the writ of control issue the judge may find that the debtor has had numerous opportunities to either pay the debt, or enter mediation with the claimant.
Who can offer support to my former tenant?
There are a variety of debt support and relief services, the Citizens Advice Bureau, stepchange.org and nationaldebtline.org to name a few. They may also choose to contest the debt using their own chosen legal professional.
Over the course of COVID-19, evictions were largely given a moratorium. However, according to the government “Courts will carefully prioritise the most egregious cases, such as those involving anti-social behaviour and other crimes” meaning “orders can now be enforced where the landlord has a valid warrant of possession”. However, bailiffs must provide 14 days’ notice of an eviction and have been asked not to carry out an eviction if they are made aware that anyone living in the property has COVID-19 symptoms or is self-isolating. As a result, Gallowglass Security has adapted it’s eviction process to meet these new rules and keep our staff safe from Covid-19.
Here we answer some of your questions to keep you in the know.
How do I correctly make a residential eviction?
At Gallowglass Enforcement we perform residential, commercial and common law evictions. Should you require an eviction, we can help from the point you receive your N26 Order for Possession from the county court. The N26 Order for Possession is required for both residential and some commercial evictions. For common law evictions, i.e., travellers on your land or trespassers in your commercial premises, only a notice will have to be served as a possession order is not necessary. We are able to assist and help with all such eviction queries and needs.
How do Gallowglass Security undertake a residential eviction?
Once we receive your N26 Order for Possession, our team will be able to transfer this to a High Court Writ of Possession under Section 42 of the County Courts Act 1984. Once this writ is received, the tenant is given 14 days to vacate the premises. Please note that Writs of Possession cannot be disputed the same way a County Court Warrant can – there is no leeway for a stay of eviction. Therefore, we have an excellent eviction success rate and endeavour to evict via legislative process ensuring diligence to our client’s immediate need, leaving problem tenants with no recourse for rebuttal.
Undertaking Commercial and Common Law Evictions on private land
Here at Gallowglass, we understand the constant problem of travellers on commercial land and property. The process of a High Court Writ outlined above can often be a lengthy drawn-out process- and the nature of the lifestyle of the traveller leaves room for their constant return after eviction. Therefore, we will exercise rights of self-help to remove these travellers from your land and will instruct bailiffs from Gallowglass to do so on its behalf. This right, under common law, is set out in Halsbury’s laws of England, Para 1400, volume 45 of Fourth edition.
The turnover time from the serving of such a notice to eviction of travellers is usually less than 36 hours. So should you suffer the blight of returning illegal travellers onto your land, we have a process in place to remove them almost as quickly as they arrive.
Undertaking evictions during the Coronavirus Pandemic
Evictions have become more difficult to perform due to health and safety concerns around the potential of transmission of coronavirus during repossession. Of course, problem tenants and trespassers are aware of this and will use this to try to delay the proceedings. Therefore, at Gallowglass we have the following policies and procedures in place to ensure successful evictions, and prevent unwarranted complaints from the problem tenant. We have taken official government advice as well as our own experience to come up with the following points to reduce these potential issues:
Preventing transmission
On arrival at a property, our enforcement agents will undertake a dynamic risk assessment. They will remain alert to risk throughout the visit and will act to mitigate these if they identify a risk to their own or another’s safety. Mitigation measures will be put in place throughout the entire visit.
Our enforcement agents work in pairs. They will operate in fixed teams where possible to minimise contact between different individuals.
Full PPE will be worn, so any potential problem tenants will not have potential transmission to use as an excuse to evade eviction process.
Just before Christmas 2020 Gallowglass Security took over the lease of 2 Bloomsbury Place from our long-term client, The Bedford Estate. The location has become a home to our key holding and response teams, providing respite for our foot patrol teams working through the coldest of winter nights and space for our growing enforcement department.
Although the building is brand new to us there have been many fascinating occupants since the first tenant Mary Frankland lived here from 1733 to 1735. At the time the area was known as “Passionate Bloomsbury” on account of the number of artists and writers who lived in the district. The name Bloomsbury is originally derived from Blemund’s Bury, a “bury” being the Saxon term for a manor house.
The house was occupied by from 1736 by lady Jane King before passing to James Booth who lived here for 42 years. Whilst his name is not a famous one his influence at the time was significant. He wrote the will of George the third, advised the Duke of Cumberland, brother of the king, that “in law no king of England has the power to bequeath personal property” after the king had torn up the will of his father George the second.
From 1772 Richard Heron took up occupation describing it “above middle size, well made and of good construction”. In 1776 he would become principal secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland, where he was held in high esteem for his “integrity and devotion to duty”.
In 1786 a more recognisable name of Richard Ryder took up residence, a royal master carpenter who gave his name to Ryder Street in St James’s as he over saw its construction.
By 1841 the house was used by a charity called the Corporation of the Sons of Clergy which had been established in 1655 by royal charter during the reign of Charles the second. The charity gave pensions and donations to the widows of clergymen and provided education to their children.
This was not the last philanthropic organisation to be based at 2 Bloomsbury Place, in 1885 the Cholmondeley Charities took occupation. A wonderful anecdote from that time was the occasion Lord Cholmondeley was visited at 2 Bloomsbury Place by a famous confidence trickster called Horatio Bottomley. The fraudster made the mistake of pronouncing his lordships name phonetically, the butler advised the miscreant that “chumleigh” was the correct way to address Lord Cholmondeley. To which Bottomley retorted “I see, in that case perhaps you would tell his lordship that Mr Bummerley is here to see him”.
By 1920, 2 Bloomsbury Place became exclusively used for commercial activities, these have included a firm of watch importers, a lady named Millauro who specialised in the manufacture of glass eyes, and the press and public relations specialists, Richman and Associates. It is our turn to write a new footnote in this building’s wonderful history.
Gallowglass Security, although headquartered in London, has operated a successful regional security program across the country for over a decade, from North East, North West, Yorkshire and Birmingham to the South of England through to Bristol and down to Cornwall.
Gallowglass Security’s regional practice is over ten years old and led by Gallowglass Security’s Head of Regions, Jaco Nieuwoudt, from his offices in West Yorkshire.
Jaco Nieuwoudt with his trusted 2nd in command John Griffiths
Running a team of up to 80 guards, Jaco has been helping to deliver all Gallowglass Security’s core practices outside of the capital for over a decade, even before he became a Partner and Head of Regions.
COVID-19 has changed the type of business Gallowglass Security is working on, but despite the restrictions the phone continues to ring with new requests and a burgeoning client list, across the company’s business units of Property Security, Events Security and Enforcement.
Jaco said: “Prior to COVID-19, we were undertaking a lot of promotional roadshows with major brands and securing festivals and public events for our clients across the country. More recently we have been working with clients to secure their properties, evict trespassing travellers and undertake VPIs to ensure vacant properties are not being damaged or falling into disrepair.”
Gallowglass Security has been proud to work with Tough Mudder since 2012 across 12 of their events a year; however, during COVID-19, these security guards have re-skilled and utilised their experience to support clients across a range of eviction and property related security services.
Tough Mudder
Despite the challenges, the regional security team have adapted. Jaco continued: “We pride ourselves on our ability to adapt, our professional, above and beyond approach and our ability to deploy quickly. Client’s are having to adapt quickly under stressful circumstance, which is why we adapt quickly with them. Providing a reassuring, proactive, professional security presence is critical to curing client’s security concerns.”
Utilising Gallowglass Security’s significant Property Security experience, they are now working with a large number of commercial building owners. The types of buildings Gallowglass Security are protecting, include warehouses, commercial property, such as shops and trading estates for estate agents, business owners and administrators, offering VPIs, manned guarding, key holding and alarm response.
Jaco said: “I have always loved the events side of the security business and a personal favourite, as a keen cook, was Foodies Festival. We love seeing the competition and camaraderie at events like Tough Mudder, the joy at The Big Feastival and the energy at all the music festivals we support. We cannot wait to have them back and support them again. However, in the meantime, our skills and training programs have allowed us to adapt and attack the challenges our clients face today, across the country.”
Tudors on Tour
For those that are looking for security solutions, whether it be related to estates and properties, enforcement or events, contact Jaco and his team.
The unfolding Covid 19 crisis highlighted the perilous predicament facing rough sleepers from the heightened risk of Covid transmission. This being on account of a myriad of factors, notably; that many have chronic physical and mental health problems which are often heightened by substance misuse, the inability to self isolate, the absence of basic hygiene facilities, together with a peripatetic lifestyle.
We believe that the leadership of the Greater London Authority (GLA) deserve immense credit for being relentless in raising this issue in the public and political consciousness at a very early stage of the emerging pandemic. All this as well as maintaining it in the public profile, and providing the political impetus and means to ensure that relief was provided in the form of accommodating this highly vulnerable group at various London hotels.
The admirable and highly committed St Mungo’s charity, were commissioned to provide rough sleeping services at the hotels, and throughout the pandemic been at the vanguard in providing a variety of essential and invaluable outreach support to those being temporarily housed in hotels across the capitol.
We were invited by the GLA to provide security support at hotels under their responsibility, an invitation that we had no hesitation in accepting despite the challenges and uncertainty brought about by the pandemic. Ultimately we reacted as we always do, with alacrity, and deployed carefully selected and well briefed teams of guards at various locations, with the tasks of ensuring the safety of the residents, outreach workers and hotel staff as well as enacting any and all special instructions received on site.
As the pandemic worsened, we were assigned to provide security regimes for more hotels under the aegis of the GLA; as well as expanding our involvement into the London Boroughs of Westminster, Havering, Waltham Forest and most recently, on behalf of the long standing and renowned homeless charity Crisis.
For Gallowglass this assignment represented a paradigm shift from the range of services we are accustomed to providing, not least because of the absence of any formal guidance on security provision at the front line amongst a demographic profile of persons at a high risk of Covid transmission.
Undaunted though, our guard force was carefully selected on the grounds of their skillset and aptitude for this work, and were comprehensively briefed and rapidly deployed. Despite national shortages of PPE at the time of initial deployment, we were able to procure it, and equip all guards with it. Simultaneously all sites were rigoursly and critically risk assessed so establish safe systems of work for them.
Drawing on advice and subsequent updates from bodies such as Public Health England and the NHS, our H&S Manager assimilated the scientific advice and then distilled and adapted it in the form of a series of highly unique security relevant training syllabus’s. These Covid specific training modules have been, and continue to be updated and delivered on site on a one to one basis in the form of toolbox training.
We believe that this highly considered approach has been instrumental in building awareness and understanding of the very specific challenges posed, and has ultimately cultivated the necessary skill sets and understanding that has contributed to our guards excelling in such a unique environment.
As with all, it is our hope that oncoming vaccines mark the beginning of the end of this pandemic. Until vaccines are clearly entrenched throughout the population and their efficacy thereby established, rough sleepers will continue to require the support that local government provides along with dedicated and skilful charities. We remain on hand to assist whenever and wherever required, especially over the Christmas period.
Managing Partner Giles Turnbull says.
“This is and remains a remarkable project, and one that we regard ourselves as privileged to be involved in on account of its inestimable social value. It’s successful delivery is a result of a highly collegiate effort, where our staff have been encouraged to draw on their intelligence, accumulated knowledge and experience, and apply their initiative for the benefit and success of this project .
The final word must go to the guards on the ground who have shown great professionalism selflessness, determination and effectiveness in delivering our security services. There are many who have distinguished themselves and I thank them all. Particular commendations though must go to Adedotun Ajao, Mohammed Ismail, Grzegorz Grabowicki, Amir Khattab, Ashley Campbell and Yuri Asenov all of whom have been particularly outstanding.”
The frustration that has been continually expressed to us repeatedly over the years by property and landowners and their agents, is the seemingly labyrinthine and highly costly process of recovering land and property and restoring them to their lawful owners.
Recovering land and property does involve many parties, namely Enforcement Agents, Solicitors, the Courts, Security, Locksmiths and even the Police; aligning their availability and efforts to secure an expeditious and successful outcome. If one party in this process not ready to proceed, delay and unnecessary cost can arise.
Gallowglass has acquired extensive experience and inestimable skill in supporting Enforcement Agents in the physical recovery of property and land together with post recovery manned guarding, and in many instances, these have been very large scale and have attracted intense media interest.
Given the delay and uncertain cost generated by the traditional model of recovery, Gallowglass has studiously evolved a fresh vehicle of service delivery designed to expedite the process in a transparent and cost effective way.
We have secured the appropriate authority that allows us to internally transfer a County Court Possession order to a High Court Writ thereby avoiding the delay commonly associated with County Court Enforcement, a problem that has been exacerbated by the Covid19 pandemic.
Currently Gallowglass has six fully SIA licensed guards fully trained as Enforcement Agents and a large pool of highly able and experienced SIA licensed guards to support them in the recovery and post recovery phases of the enforcement process. All this together with an able and trusted network of Enforcement Agents throughout the UK.
We have also teamed up with lawyers and other ancillary partners and negotiated with them transparent fixed fee arrangements so that we can provide precise cost projections at the outset. All cost savings generated are passed on to our clients and we don’t charge an uplift on any of their services.
We are geared to rapid reaction and operate 24/7. This means that whenever and wherever in England and Wales a High Court Writ of Possession is handed down we will enforce it immediately.
If you require our assistance or would like to talk to us on a no obligation basis, then please don’t hesitate to contact either Morgan Sheldon, George Oliver or Vlad Stefanov on 020 7326 7840 or email at enforcement@galsec.co.uk
