Wilson & Roe: Legal Name, Fees and Force Entry

Wilson & Roe carry out High Court enforcement work: writs of control against money judgments, Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery against business tenants, and writs of possession covering evictions. Only the first two follow the taking-control-of-goods rules this page mostly covers; possession is a separate process with its own law, and is often the subject of its own, entirely separate letter.

Why the legal name matters here

A High Court Enforcement Officer's authority, complaints procedures, and any court application all run through the legal entity, not the trading name printed at the top of a letter. If you write to query a fee, name the dispute against the wrong company and it can sit unanswered or bounce between addresses.

Practically, that means two things are worth doing before anything else. First, look for Cerberus HCE Limited somewhere on the letter, usually in small print near the address or the payment details, alongside "Wilson & Roe" as the trading style. Second, when you search a public register or send correspondence that needs to reach the right legal entity, use whichever name the letter actually gives you as the reference, and ask the firm directly to confirm the other if it is missing.

Cerberus HCE Limited, company number 13460661, is registered at 26 Missouri Avenue, Salford, and takes instructions nationally. Checking the registers directly rather than the firm's own pages, CIVEA's published member list carries a corporate entry for Wilson & Roe at that Salford address, the Enforcement Conduct Board's own accredited firms directory lists "Cerberus HCE Limited t/a Wilson and Roe" as accredited from October 2023, and the High Court Enforcement Officers Association's member search returns Wilson & Roe with four named High Court Enforcement Officers against the entry.

Two further companies share that Salford registered office, and the reason to mention them is practical rather than corporate: a letter may arrive under a different name. Companies House shows Andrew Wilson & Co Limited (company number 03368100, incorporated 1997 and renamed from Cheshire Enforcement Agency in 2004) and Wilson & Roe HCE Limited (07272611, incorporated 2010 and named CWHCE Limited until January 2023) registered at the same address as Cerberus HCE Limited, with directors in common: James Samuel Walker is a director of all three, and Andrew William Roe of both Andrew Wilson & Co Limited and Cerberus HCE Limited.

What that means for you is narrow and worth stating carefully. A shared address and shared directors establish that these companies are connected. They do not, by themselves, make them one legal entity, and this page does not claim they are. If your paperwork names Andrew Wilson & Co Limited or Wilson & Roe HCE Limited rather than Cerberus HCE Limited, you are dealing with a different registered company from the one this page is mainly about, so quote the company number printed on your own letter in any correspondence, complaint or payment, and ask the firm to confirm in writing which entity holds your case.

Enforcement agent, not debt collector

A High Court Enforcement Officer's agents are enforcement agents, full stop, whatever the letterhead says. A debt collector cannot step onto your property or touch your goods; the only tool it has is asking for money, and going to court for a judgment before anyone gains any further power.

The writ of control side of Wilson & Roe's work runs on Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, exactly the law every other enforcement firm in England and Wales works under, whether a case began life in the County Court or the High Court. If you are still not sure what kind of letter you are holding, bailiffs and debt collectors covers the distinction.

Which kind of letter have you received?

Look for the actual words writ of control, CRAR notice, or writ of possession on your document, since which rules apply on notice, fees and entry depends entirely on that wording rather than on anything else in the letter.

Should this judgment even be in the High Court?

Whether a County Court money judgment is allowed to move up to High Court enforcement turns on Article 8 of the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991, as amended. Below £600, it has to stay in the County Court; there is no route up. Between £600 and just under £5,000, the creditor can choose either court. At £5,000 or above, only the High Court can be used. One category is fixed regardless of size: a judgment arising from a Consumer Credit Act 1974 regulated agreement, such as most credit card and personal loan debts, has to stay in the County Court whatever the sum owed.

That last rule is the one worth checking first if a Wilson & Roe writ seems out of place: a large card or loan debt enforced by writ of control would be wrong on its face. Our High Court enforcement officers guide sets the whole threshold out with its own table.

Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery

CRAR is available only to a commercial landlord against a business tenant on premises let for business purposes; it cannot be used against a residential occupier, and nothing in CRAR changes that unless the letting is genuinely for business use in the first place.

Two conditions matter most. Under section 74 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, the lease must be evidenced in writing. Under section 77, read with regulation 52 of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, at least seven days' worth of unpaid rent must be outstanding both when the enforcement notice is given and again when goods are first taken control of. If premises are occupied purely as a home, CRAR should not apply, whatever the paperwork says.

Writs of possession are a different process

Eviction and removal of trespassers proceed under a writ of possession, not a writ of control. It follows different notice rules, a different process entirely, and none of the fee scale or force-entry rules below. If your document says writ of possession, treat the rest of this page as not applicable and get advice specific to possession proceedings.

What a Wilson & Roe writ actually costs

On receipt (compliance stage)

£79, a flat charge with no percentage added.

First enforcement stage, once an agent attends or takes steps to take control of goods

£200, plus 7.5% of whatever the debt exceeds £1,200.

Second enforcement stage

£520 flat, again with no percentage.

Sale or disposal, if goods are actually removed

£550, plus a further 7.5% above that same £1,200 threshold.

This scale governs any instruction Wilson & Roe took on from 1 May 2026 onward; a writ that predates that may still run on the older figures. Note the £1,200 threshold here: county-court-only enforcement uses £1,900 instead, so the two scales are not interchangeable when checking a breakdown.

Two writs, one household

Where more than one enforcement power sits behind a case, regulation 11 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 allows a separate £79 compliance charge for each power. The first enforcement stage fee and the sale fee do not work that way: each should be charged once only, provided the debts can reasonably be treated as one enforcement exercise. Ask Wilson & Roe to itemise the bill stage by stage if that principle does not appear to have been followed.

Getting in: what the law actually allows

A first visit to enforce a straightforward writ of control at somebody's home gives Wilson & Roe no right to force a way in. The agent needs a peaceable entry: a door you open yourself, or one that turns out to be unlocked already. In practice, nobody has to open up, and there is no penalty for leaving the door shut.

Three situations change that, and all three are narrow. Business premises are the first: under paragraph 18A of Schedule 12, reasonable force to enter is allowed where a trade or business operates from the address and the debt is not a traffic contravention debt. Re-entry is the second, under paragraph 19A: break a signed controlled goods agreement and force to get back in becomes available. The third needs a court's say-so first, under paragraph 20, and is never automatic. A residential writ of control enforced for the first time falls under none of the three. The fuller picture, including what happens differently on commercial premises subject to CRAR, is at when bailiffs can force entry.

Whatever is taken has to actually belong to the debtor. Under regulation 4 of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, a defined set of items is off limits regardless: clothing and bedding, the equipment a household needs to function, anything required for medical treatment or for looking after a child, a disabled person or an older person, pets and assistance dogs, and a vehicle displaying a valid disabled person's badge. Tools of trade are protected only up to a combined £1,350. A separate rule, regulation 13, bars any visit before 6am or after 9pm.

Settling in instead of fighting it

Most arrangements take the shape of a controlled goods agreement: named items remain in the property while you keep to a payment schedule. Before you sign anything, go through the list and remove anything that is not actually yours or that the exempt-goods rules above already protect, because it is a broken agreement that hands Wilson & Roe the re-entry power covered earlier. Get in touch the moment you know a payment will be missed, not after it happens.

When paying in full is not realistic

An honest month-by-month picture of income against outgoings carries far more weight than a number plucked out of the air, and National Debtline, StepChange and Citizens Advice will each help you build one without charge.

Challenging the debt itself

The judgment, the rent account, or whatever sits behind the case needs to be challenged with the creditor, landlord or claimant, since Wilson & Roe has no authority to reopen either a judgment or a lease dispute on its own. What the firm should provide, on request, is the writ or CRAR reference, the date it was issued, and a complete breakdown of every fee added to the balance.

If vulnerability is a factor

Set it out in writing at the first opportunity you have. This covers a serious illness, a disability, bereavement, pregnancy, age-related difficulty, a language or literacy barrier, and a household crisis, and it is common for more than one to apply together. What Wilson & Roe can offer in response ranges from extra time and a different way of keeping in touch to a temporary pause on the case, and often depends on what is actually workable for the household; none of it removes the underlying debt.

Is this really Wilson & Roe?

Track down the writ or CRAR reference and the name of the court that issued it, using a phone number or address you have found independently rather than one printed only on the letter you received. Because the trading name and the legal name diverge here, this reference check carries more weight than trusting either name alone.

Before any money changes hands, work out exactly which judgment or account it settles, where the case currently stands, and what the fees actually cover, then keep the receipt afterwards. Answering the door is never a precondition for paying; the letterbox works just as well.

Taking a complaint further

The firm's own complaints route comes first, and naming Cerberus HCE Limited alongside the Wilson & Roe reference, where you have both, helps it land with the right team. From there, an unresolved complaint can go to the Enforcement Conduct Board, covering the firm since its accreditation in October 2023. A challenge to one specific officer's certificate follows a different route entirely: a standalone application to the County Court that granted it.

Hold onto dates, every piece of correspondence, and a note of who you spoke to.

Where to start

1. Identify the document: writ of control, CRAR notice, or writ of possession, since each carries different rules.
2. Record both company names shown on the letter for any reply you send.
3. Writ of control or CRAR: match the stage reached and fees charged against the tables above.
4. Writ of possession: this page does not cover eviction; get advice specific to that process instead.
5. Wrong judgment or rent account: raise it with the creditor or landlord, not Wilson & Roe alone.
6. Vulnerability: write to the firm about it without delay.