Do bailiffs come on weekends?

What the law says about days and hours

The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 set out when an enforcement agent may exercise the power to take control of goods. The regulations exclude Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day. They also restrict visits to the hours of 6am to 9pm on any permitted day. Saturday is a permitted day, so a visit on a Saturday morning is lawful. A visit after 9pm or before 6am on any day is not.

Earliest a bailiff may visit

6am

Latest a bailiff may visit

9pm

Saturdays

Permitted

Sundays

Not permitted

Bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day

Not permitted

Why Saturday visits happen

Enforcement firms visit on Saturdays because that is when people are more likely to be at home. A closed door does not stop the costs. For most debts the £247 enforcement stage fee is added from the first visit whether or not anyone answers, and a vehicle outside can still be clamped. An agent who finds a vehicle on a Saturday and cannot reach the occupant can clamp it and must then allow at least two hours before removing it.

What ‘excluded days’ means in practice

Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day are excluded from the count of clear days in the Notice of Enforcement period. A Notice of Enforcement must give at least 14 clear days before a visit can take place, and those excluded days do not count toward the 14. Where a debt adviser requests an extended notice period, the minimum is 28 clear days, again excluding those same days. The Notice of Enforcement date checker can work out when the period expires.

The exclusion of Sundays from permitted visiting days does not mean an agent stops working altogether on a Sunday. Administrative work, telephone contact and arranging future visits are not the same as exercising the power to take control of goods, and the regulations restrict only the latter. A person may therefore receive a phone call or a letter timed to a Sunday even though a physical visit on that day is not permitted.

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The fees do not pause for the weekend

Whether a visit falls on a Saturday or a weekday, the same fixed fees apply. With a car or without one, for most debts £79 is added when the notice is sent and £247 on the first visit. On the standard scale the fixed fees are £79 at the notice, £326 once an agent has visited and £442 if goods are removed for sale, before any percentage fee on a larger debt. These fees are set by the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 and do not vary by day of the week. The full breakdown is on the bailiff fees page.

Goods are taken away in a small share of cases: 2,624 of almost 3.7 million in January to June 2025, most often a clamped vehicle. What happens far more often, with a car or without one, is cost. Of the cases that ended in payment in that period, 64% were paid at the enforcement stage or later, after an agent’s first visit had added the larger fee. The average fee collected on a case paid in full was £201, on the lower fees then in force.

Special rules for magistrates’ court fine agents

Enforcement agents collecting magistrates’ court fines work under the same permitted days and hours as those collecting other debts. They cannot visit on Sundays or bank holidays. The difference for court fines is not in timing: it is that those agents can, as a last resort, use reasonable force to enter a home, which agents collecting most other debts cannot do. The rules for court fine agents are covered in full on the magistrates’ court fine bailiffs page.

If a visit outside permitted hours or days happens

A visit on a Sunday or a bank holiday, or a visit before 6am or after 9pm on any day, falls outside the permitted times under the regulations. The Enforcement Conduct Board is the independent oversight body for the sector in England and Wales. A complaint about a firm can be made to the Board, and if the firm’s own process has been exhausted, the Board can review the complaint. Details of how to complain are on the how to complain about a bailiff page.