Andrew James Enforcement: Are They Genuine, and How Do You Pay Them?

The company's name also raises a question worth settling early, since the answer tells you what sort of organisation is actually writing to you.

Who are Andrew James Enforcement?

The trading name belongs to Andrew James Enforcement Limited, a private company recorded at Companies House under number 04869085. It was incorporated on 18 August 2003 and gives its registered office as Latheron Chambers, 41 Mansel Street, Swansea, SA1 5SW. The SIC code on the register, 82990, describes "other business support service activities" rather than anything enforcement-specific, which is usual for firms of this size.

Two people have run the company since the day it was formed: Andrew James Mackay, who serves as both director and company secretary, and Susan James Mackay, a director. That settles the obvious question. "Andrew James" is not two individuals in partnership; it is the first and middle name of the founding director, so this is a family-run limited company rather than a firm named after two partners. It is a noticeably smaller operation than many of the national names covered elsewhere on this site, and it is based in Wales while working for councils on both sides of the border.

The company belongs to the Civil Enforcement Association (CIVEA) and sits on the Enforcement Conduct Board's accredited list, a status it has held since October 2023. Neither of those is simply a claim on the firm's own website; each can be checked with CIVEA and the ECB directly. Separately, the individual agents who attend addresses must each hold a certificate granted by a County Court, which is a personal qualification distinct from the company's trade-body membership.

A word of caution when you are checking who contacted you. Searching Companies House for "Andrew James" returns a long list of wholly unrelated businesses, so match the company number and the Swansea registered office above against your letter rather than trusting the name by itself. If you are unsure which kind of demand you hold, our guide to bailiffs and debt collectors may help.

Enforcement agents, not a debt collection agency

For the debts on this page they act as enforcement agents, which is the role most people mean by the word bailiff. A debt collection agency, by contrast, can only ask you to pay; it holds no power to step inside a property or seize belongings, and would usually have to sue and win first before any of that became possible.

When Andrew James Enforcement pursue council tax, business rates or a parking or traffic penalty, a court, a tribunal or the Traffic Enforcement Centre has already granted the underlying authority. That authority comes from Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, the regime that lets an agent take control of goods, apply the fixed statutory fees, and, in tightly limited circumstances, use reasonable force.

What Andrew James Enforcement are instructed to collect

The firm's own website sets out five service lines: council tax enforcement, business rates enforcement, Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, sundry debt collection and decriminalised parking enforcement. It is a local-authority and commercial caseload rather than a consumer-lending one, and reporting suggests a good deal of its council tax work is for its home authority in Swansea, though the firm acts for other councils too.

Council tax and business rates enforcement

Both council tax and non-domestic rates reach an agent by the same route: the council asks the magistrates' court for a liability order, and it is that order which opens the taking-control-of-goods process. The order is not, by itself, permission to break into anyone's home; it is the trigger for the statutory stages that follow.

There is a time limit worth knowing. Under regulation 34(3) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, a council may not apply for a liability order more than six years after the sum first fell due. That limit bites on the application only; it does not expire an order the court has already made, and it changes nothing once a case is with Andrew James Enforcement. In practice, once the firm holds the case most councils will point you back to the agent rather than take payment centrally, although a council can still recall a case where vulnerability is shown, which remains a request rather than a right. See council tax bailiffs and liability orders.

Decriminalised parking and traffic penalties

Parking and moving-traffic penalties follow a different paper trail. The unpaid penalty is registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre, the council obtains a warrant of control, and it is that warrant, not a liability order, under which the agent acts.

If the first you heard of the penalty was the enforcement letter, if you had already won an appeal, or if you were not the registered keeper at the time, the Traffic Enforcement Centre may provide a route back. For an ordinary council parking penalty anywhere in England, or a council bus-lane or moving-traffic penalty outside London, the usual route is a witness statement on form TE9, with TE7 if it is late. For a TfL Congestion Charge, LEZ or ULEZ penalty, the statutory-declaration route uses PE3, with PE2 if late. London-borough or TfL bus-lane and moving-traffic cases sit under separate London legislation, so check the form enclosed with the order rather than assuming either route. That challenge belongs to the penalty itself rather than to the enforcement stage, and it is often worth making where it genuinely fits. There is more on this at the Traffic Enforcement Centre and on the PE3 and TE9 forms. On entry, a parking or traffic warrant is treated the same way as council tax: no forced way into a home on a first visit.

Commercial rent and CRAR

Among the five services is Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, generally abbreviated to CRAR, which a landlord can use against a business tenant only. It cannot be turned on a residential occupier, and the premises must be let for business use. Two thresholds tend to matter: the lease has to be in writing, and at least seven days' rent must be unpaid, measured both at the point the notice is served and again when goods are first taken into control. Our Dukes Bailiffs profile works through the CRAR conditions in more detail.

What each enforcement stage costs

The fees are set by regulation, so they read the same whichever firm is instructed anywhere in England and Wales. Where a case starts at the compliance stage the charge is £79, and it rises to £247 once an agent attends or takes steps to take control of goods, with a further slice of 7.5% on any balance over £1,900.

These are the figures for instructions taken on under the scale that took effect on 1 May 2026. A case that began earlier may still run on the previous rates, so the date the instruction started is what to check if a bill looks wrong.

If Andrew James Enforcement hold more than one debt against you

Where several debts are in play, the fees do not simply stack. Regulation 11 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 lets the £79 compliance fee be charged once per enforcement power, but the £247 visit fee and the £116 sale fee can each be applied only once where the debts can reasonably be dealt with together. Two council tax liability orders enforced on a single visit should therefore come to £405, not two lots of £326, and a visit fee charged separately on each debt is worth querying in writing.

Can Andrew James Enforcement force entry?

For a council tax, business rates or parking debt, on a first visit to a home, the answer is no. Entry has to be peaceable, meaning through a door you choose to open or one that happens to be unlocked. You are under no duty to answer, and there is usually nothing to lose by staying inside and leaving the door shut.

An agent turned away peaceably has to leave, though they may still take control of a car left accessible outside, add the enforcement-stage fee where its conditions are met, and come back another day. The exceptions are narrow: business premises can carry wider powers than a home does, and where a controlled goods agreement has been broken, re-entry can be made using reasonable force if the statutory conditions are satisfied. Which paragraph of Schedule 12 allows what is set out in our guide to when bailiffs can force entry.

Goods, vehicles and what cannot be touched

An agent may only take control of things that belong to the debtor. Property owned by a partner, by another member of the household or, on business premises, by a supplier or a finance company is off limits simply because it is on site, though showing that usually takes paperwork rather than a bare assertion.

Some items are protected outright by regulation 4, whatever the debt: ordinary clothing and bedding, the basic equipment a household needs to function, anything required for someone's medical care or for looking after a child, a disabled person or an older person, pets and assistance dogs, and a vehicle showing a valid disabled person's badge. Work tools and equipment are exempt only to a combined value of £1,350, which is a single ceiling across everything claimed rather than a figure per item.

A car is often the first worry, because it can sometimes be taken without anyone entering the home at all. Ownership tends to decide it: a Motability car is leased rather than owned, a vehicle still on hire purchase or PCP may belong to the finance company until the last payment clears, and a car that belongs to someone else in the household is not the debtor's to lose. See what bailiffs can take and can bailiffs take my car.

Paying Andrew James Enforcement, and reaching an arrangement

Payment can be made online, by telephone and by post. Before you send anything, pin down which debt the money is going against, what stage the case has reached, and which fees are wrapped into the total; then get a reference and keep the receipt.

An arrangement on an enforcement debt normally runs through a controlled goods agreement, under which listed items stay with you provided the instalments are kept up. Before signing, check that every listed item is genuinely yours, that nothing exempt has crept onto the list, and that the balance and the fee stages are right. Breaking such an agreement carries more weight than a missed payment on an ordinary plan would, because it can create a power of re-entry that did not exist before, and where the conditions for that are met, re-entry may involve reasonable force. Better to make contact before an instalment is missed than afterwards.

If the amount is unaffordable

Say so promptly, and support it with figures rather than a flat statement that you cannot pay. An offer backed by an honest income and expenditure summary tends to be taken more seriously than a round number chosen without working, and free help to put one together is available from National Debtline, StepChange and Citizens Advice.

Disputing an Andrew James Enforcement balance

A dispute about the underlying debt belongs with the creditor, not only with the agent. Andrew James Enforcement collect what they are told to collect; they have no power to rewrite a council tax account, amend a rates bill or adjust a landlord's rent ledger. Only the creditor, the court, or the Traffic Enforcement Centre in a penalty case can put those things right. Ask for the billing history, the date and amount of the liability order or warrant, the period it covers and a full transaction record, and tell the firm in writing at the same time that the sum is disputed and where you have raised it.

If the letter names someone who has moved

Flag it quickly, with reasonable evidence of who actually lives at the address, such as a council tax bill, a tenancy agreement or a recent utility bill in your own name. Do not pay off someone else's debt merely to end the correspondence, but do not ignore it either, because an unresolved address problem can turn into an argument about your own belongings if an agent later assumes the named person is still there.

Telling Andrew James Enforcement about vulnerability

Put it in writing to both the firm and the creditor as early as you can. Vulnerability is assessed on the individual situation rather than against a fixed checklist, and serious illness, disability, bereavement, pregnancy, difficulties linked to age, language or literacy barriers, recent trauma and household crisis can all count, often more than one at once. Depending on the circumstances the response may be extra time, a change in how the firm communicates with you, a more affordable plan, or a temporary hold. None of that writes off the debt; it changes how the enforcement is carried out.

Checking an Andrew James Enforcement letter is genuine

ECB accreditation since October 2023 and corporate CIVEA membership are both fair signals that a firm has signed up to independent oversight, but neither confirms any single letter. To test a specific one, phone the council or landlord named on it using a number you have sourced independently, from that body's own website rather than from the letter, and ask whether Andrew James Enforcement really are instructed on your account. Councils have to publish the enforcement agents they use, and that published list, together with a direct call, usually settles it faster than anything else.

Complaining about Andrew James Enforcement

Begin with the firm itself, in writing or by email where you can. Its website describes trying to resolve a dispute by telephone first where that suits both sides; we could not independently confirm a published, multi-stage complaints timetable with fixed response deadlines on the company's own site for this profile, so set out the date and time, the agent's name if you have it, the case reference, what happened and the specific rule or factual error you are relying on, and ask in writing for the complaint to be logged and answered.

Take it next to the creditor, the council or landlord that instructed the firm, because that is frequently the step that actually shifts something: a creditor can recall a case or correct an account in a way the agent cannot. After that comes the oversight route. Because Andrew James Enforcement are accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board, the ECB can look at a complaint about enforcement conduct once the firm's own process is exhausted, while a challenge to an individual agent's certificate is a separate application to the County Court that granted it. Keep dates, correspondence, photographs and the names of anyone you deal with throughout.

Where to start

1. Identify which debt this is, since both the entry rules and the fee scale depend on it.
2. Match the stage reached and the fees charged against the tables above, and apply regulation 11 if more than one debt is involved.
3. If the debt itself is wrong, write to the creditor today, not only to the firm.
4. If it is right but beyond your means, prepare an income and expenditure position and make a realistic offer.
5. If you are vulnerable, say so now, in writing, to both Andrew James Enforcement and the creditor.
6. Protect any vehicle that is not yours to lose, with the paperwork ready to hand.