Stanford & Green: Who They Are, and What a Warrant of Arrest Means

That explanation has a section of its own below, because it sounds far graver than a doorstep visit and is not something the firm can carry out on its own.

Who are Stanford & Green?

Stanford & Green Limited is the company behind the trading name, registered at Companies House with the number 04691456 and incorporated on 10 March 2003. Its registered office is Bank Chambers, 4a Court Street, Faversham, Kent, ME13 7AN, and its SIC code, 82911, is the one used for the activities of collection agencies. The business gives its correspondence address as a Kent PO box and presents itself as a local-authority and commercial enforcement specialist working out of the county across the wider UK.

Control now rests with the Stanford side of the name. Martin Stanford has been a director since incorporation, and Mandy Ann Stanford is recorded as company secretary and, from 2024, as a director; both are named as persons with significant control. The Green half of the title traces to Kenneth James Green, who was a director from the start but resigned that role in February 2023 and no longer appears among the current officers, so the trading style outlasts his day-to-day involvement. Do not confuse the firm with Stanford Green Investments Ltd, a separate company at a different address that has no connection to the enforcement business described here.

Stanford & Green say they have been collecting council tax since 1993 and non-domestic rates since 1990, and that they have carried out Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery and exercised a landlord's right of forfeiture for more than three decades across England and Wales. Those figures are the company's own account of its history rather than facts we have verified independently here. What can be confirmed elsewhere is that the firm belongs to the Civil Enforcement Association (CIVEA) and has been on the Enforcement Conduct Board's accredited list since October 2023, both matters of record with CIVEA and the ECB rather than unverifiable self-description. Its published accreditations also point to third-party quality and information-handling standards, though those sit outside the enforcement rulebook itself.

Are they bailiffs, or a debt collection agency?

Legally they are enforcement agents, the people most callers have in mind when they say bailiff. A debt collection agency has no comparable teeth: it can request payment, but it cannot enter premises or remove property, and it would generally need a court judgment in its favour before that changed. Stanford & Green, acting on council tax, rates or a road traffic penalty, operate on authority a court, a tribunal or the Traffic Enforcement Centre has already granted, an authority found in Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. If your letter leaves you unsure which kind of body has written, compare it against our note on bailiffs and debt collectors.

The debts Stanford & Green are asked to recover

The firm's service list is broader than most. Alongside council tax it names non-domestic rates and BID levy, road traffic debt, commercial rent, sundry debt, housing benefit overpayments, adult social care debt and warrants of arrest. In enforcement terms these collapse into a handful of legal routes, which the table sets out.

Recovering council tax and non-domestic rates

Council tax and business rates share the same starting point: the billing authority obtains a liability order from the magistrates' court, and only then can the taking-control-of-goods process begin. The order does not license anyone to break into a home; it is simply what unlocks the statutory stages.

A limitation point is worth holding on to. Regulation 34(3) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 prevents a council from applying for a liability order once six years have passed since the debt fell due. That cut-off applies to the application, not to an order already granted, and it has no effect on a file the council has already handed to Stanford & Green. Once the firm holds a case, councils will often redirect you back to it rather than accept payment themselves, although a council retains the discretion to recall a case where vulnerability is evidenced. Our pages on council tax bailiffs and liability orders go further.

Road traffic penalties and the Traffic Enforcement Centre

Traffic and parking penalties travel a separate path. The penalty is registered with the Traffic Enforcement Centre, the council secures a warrant of control, and that warrant is what Stanford & Green enforce rather than a liability order.

Where you never saw the original penalty charge notice, had already appealed and won, or were not the keeper at the material 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 the deadline has slipped. 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 is a challenge to the penalty, not to the agent's fees, and it can be worth pursuing where the facts fit. See the Traffic Enforcement Centre and the PE3 and TE9 forms. As with council tax, a traffic warrant does not permit forcing a way into a home on a first visit.

CRAR and commercial rent arrears

The firm's long-standing commercial line is Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, usually shortened to CRAR. It is open only to a landlord pursuing a business tenant, and only where the premises are genuinely let for business use, so it cannot be pointed at a residential occupier. In practice two conditions govern it: the tenancy must be evidenced by a written lease, and a minimum of seven days' rent must be outstanding, both when the enforcement notice goes out and again at the moment goods are first taken into control. The full conditions are worked through on our Dukes Bailiffs profile.

Council tax committal: what "warrants of arrest" actually means

Because the phrase "Warrants of Arrest" sits on the firm's website beside its ordinary work, it is easy to read as a power the agents themselves wield. It is not. It describes a later, separate court process that only opens up for council tax after the usual taking-control-of-goods route has already been tried and has failed to raise enough.

The mechanism is regulation 47 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992. It lets a billing authority ask the magistrates' court for a warrant committing a debtor to prison, but only once an agent has reported being unable to find sufficient goods. Even then the court may issue a commitment warrant only if satisfied that the non-payment came down to wilful refusal or culpable neglect rather than a genuine inability to pay, and any sentence is capped at three months and lifts the moment the debt is cleared. The application is the council's to make and the court's to decide; it is not something Stanford & Green can set in motion on their own account.

This route runs in England only. Wales removed imprisonment for council tax non-payment in 2019, so a Welsh case cannot arrive at this stage no matter which firm is instructed, even though Stanford & Green describe their reach as UK-wide. If a case has genuinely reached a means inquiry, take independent advice straight away, from a solicitor, Citizens Advice or a specialist debt adviser, because that hearing is a court proceeding with real consequences and is a world apart from an ordinary compliance or enforcement letter.

The fee scale, stage by stage

Enforcement fees are fixed in law and therefore identical across every firm in England and Wales. A case opened at the compliance stage attracts £79; that becomes £247 the moment an agent attends or takes steps to take control of goods, and a further 7.5% applies to any part of the debt above £1,900. A final £116 arises if goods are removed for sale.

These rates come from the scale in force since 1 May 2026. Older correspondence, or a case that started before that date, may still show the earlier £75 and £235 figures, so if a quote you have seen elsewhere does not match, check when the instruction began before assuming an error.

More than one debt at once

Multiple debts do not multiply every fee. Under regulation 11 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014, the £79 compliance fee can be levied once for each enforcement power, whereas the £247 enforcement fee and the £116 sale fee may each be charged only once when the debts can sensibly be enforced together. So two council tax orders handled on one visit ought to total £405 rather than £326 twice over. A separate visit fee on each debt is a fair thing to challenge in writing.

When can Stanford & Green force entry?

On a first visit to a home for council tax, business rates or a parking penalty, they cannot force their way in. Entry must be peaceable, through a door you open yourself or one already unlocked, and nobody is obliged to answer or to let an agent past. Turned away without a peaceable route in, the agent has to withdraw, though they may take control of a vehicle standing accessible outside, add the enforcement-stage fee where its conditions are satisfied, and return later.

The exceptions are specific. Business premises can attract broader powers than a dwelling, and re-entry after a controlled goods agreement has been broken can be carried out with reasonable force where the statutory tests are met. Our guide to when bailiffs can force entry maps each of these back to the relevant paragraph of Schedule 12.

Which possessions are protected

Only property the debtor owns can be taken into control. Items belonging to a partner, to someone else in the household, or, on business premises, to a supplier or finance company are not fair game simply for being present, though establishing that ordinarily calls for documents rather than word alone.

Regulation 4 then places certain essentials beyond reach whatever the debt: everyday clothing and bedding, the basic kit a home needs to run, anything needed for medical care or for the care of a child, a disabled person or an older person, domestic pets and assistance dogs, and any vehicle displaying a valid disabled person's badge. Tools and equipment needed for work are protected only up to a combined £1,350, a single allowance across the lot rather than one per item.

Vehicles come up first more often than not, since a car can sometimes be dealt with without a foot inside the house. Ownership is usually decisive: a Motability car is leased, not owned; a car on hire purchase or PCP may remain the finance company's until the final instalment; and a vehicle owned by another household member is not the debtor's to forfeit. There is more at what bailiffs can take and can bailiffs take my car.

Paying, and agreeing a plan with Stanford & Green

The firm accepts payment online, over the phone and by post, and a plan can often be requested at the compliance stage, before any visit. Whatever you pay, first confirm the debt it covers, the stage reached and the fees folded into the figure, then take a reference and hold on to the receipt.

A plan on an enforcement debt is normally framed as a controlled goods agreement, keeping listed items with you for as long as the payments hold. Read the list before signing: make sure each item is really yours, that nothing exempt has been included, and that the outstanding balance and fee stages add up. A broken agreement counts for more than an ordinary missed payment, because it can bring a power of re-entry into being that was not there before, and that re-entry can involve reasonable force once the statutory conditions are met, so it is far better to get in touch ahead of a payment you expect to miss.

When you genuinely cannot afford it

Raise it early, and back it with numbers rather than a bare statement of hardship. A proposal grounded in an honest income and expenditure breakdown carries more weight than a figure picked at random, and National Debtline, StepChange and Citizens Advice will help you build one for free.

Challenging the amount Stanford & Green claim

If the argument is about the debt itself, it belongs with the creditor as much as with the agent. Stanford & Green recover what they are instructed to recover; they cannot rewrite a council tax account, restate a rates bill or adjust a landlord's ledger. Only the creditor, the court or, for a penalty, the Traffic Enforcement Centre can alter those records. Request the billing history, the date and amount of the liability order or warrant, the period covered and a full transaction breakdown, and put the firm on notice in writing that the sum is disputed and where you have taken the point.

When the named person no longer lives there

Tell the firm without delay, and back it with sensible proof of who lives at the property now, such as a council tax bill, a tenancy agreement or a recent bill in your own name. Resist paying off a stranger's debt just to stop the letters, but do not let it slide either, because an unaddressed mix-up can grow into a dispute over your own goods if an agent later treats the named person as still resident.

Raising vulnerability with Stanford & Green

Set it out in writing to the firm and to the creditor as soon as you can. There is no fixed checklist; the assessment turns on the individual, and serious illness, disability, bereavement, pregnancy, age-related difficulty, language or literacy barriers, recent trauma and household crisis can all weigh in, frequently together. The firm's own site steers vulnerability contact towards the local authority's benefits department as well as itself, and says it does not recommend paying for debt advice or debt management, pointing instead to free help. The response may mean more time, adjusted contact, a gentler plan or a temporary pause, none of which erases the debt; it changes how the enforcement proceeds.

Is your Stanford & Green letter genuine?

Accreditation with the Enforcement Conduct Board since October 2023 and corporate CIVEA membership both suggest a firm that has accepted independent oversight, yet neither vouches for a particular letter. The reliable test is to ring the council or landlord named on it, on a number you have found for yourself from that body's own website rather than the letter, and ask outright whether Stanford & Green hold your account. Councils must publish which agents they use, and that list plus a direct call tends to resolve the question quicker than anything else.

Their three-stage complaints process

Stanford & Green publish a complaints procedure in three stages, and it is worth using in order. The first stage is informal, acknowledged within two working days and usually answered within five; the second is a formal investigation by senior staff for more serious or unresolved matters, normally answered within 14 working days; and only once both internal stages are done does the third open, an independent review by the Enforcement Conduct Board covering enforcement action taken since 1 January 2025. Whichever stage you are at, give the date and time, the agent's name if you know it, the case reference, an account of what happened and the specific rule or factual error you rely on.

Run the creditor in parallel, because the council or landlord that instructed the firm is often the party that can actually move things, recalling a case or correcting an account the agent cannot touch. A quarrel about an individual agent's certificate, as opposed to the firm's conduct, is a distinct application to the County Court that issued it. Keep every date, letter, photograph and name as you go.

Your first steps

1. Pin down which debt you are facing, because entry rules and fees both hinge on it.
2. Test the stage and the charges against the tables above, and bring in regulation 11 if there is more than one debt.
3. If the debt is wrong, write to the creditor today as well as to the firm.
4. If it is right but unaffordable, draw up an income and expenditure position and offer what you realistically can.
5. If you are vulnerable, put it in writing now to both Stanford & Green and the creditor.
6. Keep any vehicle that is not yours to lose out of reach, with the ownership paperwork ready.