Collect My Debt: CRAR, Writs and Evictions

Working out which of those applies to you is the first job, because the rules genuinely differ between them.

Who are Collect My Debt?

Collect My Debt Limited is registered at Companies House under company number 10002804, incorporated on 12 February 2016. The firm's own contact page quotes that same registration number and gives 85 Great Portland Street, First Floor, London, W1W 7LT as its office, distinct from the registered-office address Companies House shows for postal filings; both are on the same central London street. Regional presence is also advertised in County Durham and Worcestershire. The founding director named at Companies House has held the company since it was set up.

The firm's own name, address and phone number appear on the High Court Enforcement Officers Association's member directory, a listing confirmed by checking that register directly in August 2026. A separate check of the Enforcement Conduct Board's accredited firms register and of CIVEA's published member list, also carried out in August 2026, found no entry for this firm on either. Both of those are voluntary industry bodies, so their absence changes nothing about statutory powers or fees, though it does affect where a complaint can be taken further, covered below.

Bailiffs, or something else?

For the High Court and commercial side of its work, the correct term is enforcement agent, someone already operating with court or statutory backing rather than merely asking to be paid. An ordinary debt collector holds no such authority and has to sue first. Collect My Debt's own materials describe acting under a writ of control, a CRAR notice, or a possession order, any one of which already carries that authority. See bailiffs and debt collectors for the wider distinction.

The services Collect My Debt lists

Household council tax, domestic business rates and parking penalties are absent from that list entirely, which is usually the single most important thing to establish before reading the rest of this page against your own letter, unless the letter itself already names one of the services above.

Rent arrears and ending a lease

CRAR works only against a business tenancy, never a residential one. A written lease has to exist, and at least seven days' net unpaid rent must be outstanding both when notice is served and again once goods are actually taken into control. Forfeiture is a different remedy aimed at ending the lease itself rather than collecting what is owed while it continues, and it typically needs a court order to complete. Neither sits anywhere near the household council tax fee structure.

High Court writs, land and vehicles

A High Court writ case usually began life as an ordinary County Court Judgment that was then transferred upward. Article 8 of the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991 keeps a judgment below £600 in the County Court and requires one of £5,000 or more to move to the High Court; a Consumer Credit Act regulated agreement cannot transfer regardless of size. Nothing on Collect My Debt's own site names a specific High Court Enforcement Officer, so it is worth asking who that officer is and checking them against the HCEOA's own public listing rather than taking the firm's word for it.

Someone who cannot pay, or who has grounds to say enforcing now would be unjust, may apply to the court for a stay of execution under CPR rule 83.7. Land clearance work, squatters, trespassers, travellers, abandoned cars or fly-grazing horses, runs on an entirely different footing: a possession order or the landowner's own legal standing, not the Schedule 12 debt machinery. Anyone facing that kind of notice should query it with the court that issued the order rather than treating it as a debt problem.

Force, and where it is limited

For an ordinary civil debt, entry into somebody's home cannot be forced on the first attempt. It has to be peaceable: through a door left open or one the occupier chooses to open. That changes on commercial premises, where paragraph 18A of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 permits entry without consent provided the debtor trades there and the debt is not a traffic contravention debt, a meaningfully wider power given how much of this firm's caseload is business-facing. Breaking a signed controlled goods agreement can also trigger forced re-entry under paragraph 19A. More detail sits in when bailiffs can force entry.

Cost of a High Court case

The percentage threshold on High Court work is lower than on the council tax scale.

Those numbers apply where the writ was taken on from 1 May 2026 onward. None of it touches CRAR, forfeiture, evictions or land clearance, each of which is priced under the lease, the relevant court fee, or whatever the landowner has agreed. A Notice of Enforcement issued on or after that date must allow a minimum of 14 clear days, stretchable to 28 if a recognised debt adviser asks in time and the debt qualifies as non-business; given the commercial nature of most of this firm's work, that extension frequently will not be on offer.

Protected goods

Taking control of goods only reaches property that actually belongs to the debtor, whether an individual or a company. Regulation 4 shields ordinary clothing and bedding, equipment a household relies on day to day, anything needed for medical treatment, pets, assistance dogs, a disabled person's vehicle, and tools of trade up to a combined £1,350. Where the premises are commercial, items belonging to a customer, a supplier, or an entirely separate business sharing the address are not fair game either, though establishing that usually calls for paperwork rather than a verbal claim.

If the judgment, lease or debt itself is wrong

A judgment can only be revisited by the court that made it; Collect My Debt has no authority to alter one, except to the extent it may agree to pause action pending a court decision. A rent or lease dispute belongs with the landlord, or with whatever court is already seized of the matter. Ability to pay, as distinct from whether the judgment was correctly obtained, is often what a CPR 83.7 stay is for.

Struggling to pay

Raise it early, and back it with actual figures rather than a general statement of hardship; a stay of execution application in particular turns on a witness statement setting out your means. National Debtline, StepChange and Citizens Advice all offer free guidance to individuals, and a business in this position should look at specialist insolvency advice rather than treating it as a personal debt problem.

Making sure the letter is real

Work out first which service is actually in play, CRAR, a writ, an eviction, or something else on the list above, since the process and the cost basis differ for each. Contact the firm through details you have sourced yourself rather than a number printed only on the letter, and where a High Court writ is involved, ask for the authorising HCEO by name.

Taking a complaint further

Start with Collect My Debt's own procedure: reference number, date, and precisely what went wrong. Where the underlying issue is the lease, the rent, or the judgment itself, that goes to the landlord or the court, not the enforcement firm. Because the firm sits on the HCEOA's directory, conduct by a named High Court Enforcement Officer can be raised there; it does not sit on the ECB register or CIVEA's list on the evidence of this check, so neither offers a further stage for its non-HCEO work, and an individual agent's certificate is a matter for the county court that issued it.

A short checklist

1. Pin down which service this is, CRAR, forfeiture, a writ, or an eviction or land clearance, since each has its own rulebook.
2. For a writ, check it against the £600/£5,000 thresholds and get the authorising HCEO's name.
3. For an eviction or clearance notice, go to the possession order or the landowner's authority rather than the debt-recovery rules.
4. Send any dispute about a judgment or lease term to whichever body actually has power over it.
5. If the amount is right but genuinely unaffordable, put figures together and consider a stay of execution once High Court enforcement has begun.