Bailiff entry via porch

[scedminc]

Hi,

Does anyone know the law surrounding bailiffs powers of entry via an unlocked porch.

Basically I have a porch which is left unlock during the day whilst we are home and locked when we go out and at night. I do not consider the porch the main entrance to my house. In the porch we keep our shoes and coats and then there is the main front door to the house which has a normal front door lock and is locked and shut all the time the same as you would a front door.

Does anyone know what the law is if a bailiff enters the porch does this mean they have gained access peacefully to the property. I have seen some conflicting information on this. The porch in question here was not built with the house and was added on later hence why there is still a front door inside.

Many thanks.

[Milo]

Re: Bailiff entry via porch

Hi,

Does anyone know the law surrounding bailiffs powers of entry via an unlocked porch.

Basically I have a porch which is left unlock during the day whilst we are home and locked when we go out and at night. I do not consider the porch the main entrance to my house. In the porch we keep our shoes and coats and then there is the main front door to the house which has a normal front door lock and is locked and shut all the time the same as you would a front door.

Does anyone know what the law is if a bailiff enters the porch does this mean they have gained access peacefully to the property. I have seen some conflicting information on this. The porch in question here was not built with the house and was added on later hence why there is still a front door inside.

Many thanks.

You have stated that the entrance INTO the porch is unlocked when you are at home but that the entrance into the actual house itself is a proper front door which is locked at all times.

Accordingly, if a bailiff were to visit the house when you are at home he can only gain access into a porch area. It does not and cannot mean that he has gained access into the entire property. Also, by gaining entry into just the porch the bailiff would not be able to commence the process for which he had entered (ie: of listing goods and placing them under control).

If however, the front door and the door to the porch were both unlocked, that would be a completely different story. The bailiff could gain 'peaceful entry'.

[Wombats]

Re: Bailiff entry via porch

Many porches were constructed as a "feature" to dwellings and as such the "actual" door to the property is contained within the porch. If the porch is open the Bailiff may enter but if he is then confronted by the locked original entrance then he has not gained peaceful entry.

Hopkins v Nightingale 1794 1 Esp 99 is one authority to this which says even if a door is within the boundaries of a property and can only be reached by passing through other gates or doors, if it constitutes the entrance to a dwelling it is protected.

[bluebottle]

Re: Bailiff entry via porch

I would tend to agree with Milo and Wombats. Any EA who claimed they had gained peaceable entry to a porch and had, therefore, gained peaceable entry to a property would have to be desperate, dishonest or deluded.

[wales01man]

Re: Bailiff entry via porch

So a Normal bailiff BB

[bizzybob]

Re: Bailiff entry via porch

If the porch door has a letterbox even, but is not normally locked, and there is another main door with a secure lock and letterbox, then even then entry to the porch is not peaceful entry although Marstons, Dossers, and Jacobs would tend to disagree.