People that share a house or flat with others could have their possessions taken by a bailiff if one of their housemates has bad debts and they are both registered as living at the same address. This is also the case if a family member or friend officially lives at the same address as them, but in fact really lives elsewhere. However, there are ways to prevent your possessions being sold at auction as a means of covering your housemate’s debts. The bailiff Caroline De Mey gave the VRT’s consumer programme WinWin some top tips.
Home-sharers beware! Bailiffs could take your possessions too if your housemate is in debt
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A listener to VRT Radio 2 contacted WinWin with the following story. Recently the man’s son was evicted from his home as he was unable to pay the rent. He also has other debts.
He has taken his son in and he is now officially registered as living at his parents’ home. They are expecting a visit from the bailiffs soon. Bailiff Caroline De Mey confirms that legally speaking the parents’ possession could also be taken by the bailiffs.
Seizure by bailiffs
A seizure never happens out of the blue and a bailiff cannot simply take your belongings away on a whim. “Reminders are always sent first to encourage people to pay their debts. If that doesn't work, the creditor can call in a bailiff. However, before they can, they have first to get a court order or an enforcement order or an official document if the creditor is a government agency, such as the Taxation Service”, Caroline De Mey.
When a bailiff knocks at the door with an order to seize belongings, the goods will not be taken away immediately, Ms De Mey explains. “The first visits in first to make an inventory of the goods that located at the place of residence”
“If you share a home with several other people, the law assumes that everything at that address belongs to all the people that live there. As such these goods can be used to repay the debts of one of the dwelling’s residents”.
Getting goods removed from the inventory
There are, however, ways in which you can prevent your own belongings from being sold at auction in order to pay off a housemate’s debts. “If you can prove that the items do not belong to the debtor you can get them removed from the list. In order to prove ownership, evidence such as proof of purchase or invoices are required”.
It is not the bailiff that decides on who owns what. The evidence proving that an item or items don’t belong to the debtor must be put before the judge that issued the attachment order. They will decide whether the goods can be removed from the inventory.
The judge can take all kinds of evidence into consideration. “If the person that owes money does not yet officially live with you, it is a good idea to make an inventory of all your belongings before they register at your address. This way, you can prove that they were already there before they came to live with you. Even old family photos showing certain pieces of furniture can serve as evidence”
Once an inventory has been drafted you have a month to submit a request to the judge for goods to be scrapped from it.
“This means that a bailiff can only come and take the goods at least 1 month after the inventory has been. The goods are then sold at auction. However, in practice, this rarely happens. We mostly try to avoid it coming to this”,
The law stipulates a list of items that may never be seized. These include beds and bedding, up to 1 months’ worth of food and fuel and mobile phones.