Notice of Enforcement

Minimum notice

14 clear dayswas 7

If a debt adviser asks in time

28 clear daysnot for business debts

Fee added at this stage

£79the compliance stage fee

Power lasts

12 monthsfrom the date of the notice

What the notice is

The law says an enforcement agent “may not take control of goods unless the debtor has been given notice”. The Notice of Enforcement is that notice. It marks the start of what the fee rules call the compliance stage: the period in which the debt can be paid, or an arrangement made, before anyone visits.

Receiving one means the creditor has passed the debt to an enforcement firm, and the £79 compliance fee has been added.

How the days are counted

The notice must be given “not less than 14 clear days” before the agent takes control of goods. Clear days leave out the day the notice is given and the day of the visit. Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day are not counted either.

In practice that pushes the earliest possible visit to roughly two and a half weeks after the notice is given, and longer around Easter and Christmas.

Work out the earliest visit date

The 28-day extension

This is new from 1 May 2026. Where “a request is submitted by a debt advice provider on behalf of the debtor” before the original notice period expires, the minimum period becomes 28 clear days.

• The request has to come from a debt advice provider, as defined in the Breathing Space regulations. A person cannot make it for themselves.
• It has to be made before the first 14 days run out.
• It does not apply to business debts that fall outside the Breathing Space scheme.

The free debt advice services listed at the foot of this page are debt advice providers.

What a valid notice must contain

Regulation 7 lists what has to be in the notice. It must be in writing and include:

• The debtor’s name and address, the date of the notice and a reference number.
• Details of the court judgment, order or other power the debt is being enforced under.
• Enough detail to identify the debt, and the amount owed including any interest.
• The enforcement costs so far, and the further costs that could be added if the debt stays unpaid.
• How and when payment can be made, and how to contact the enforcement agent or their office.
• The date and time by which the debt must be paid to stop goods being taken and further costs being added.
• That free advice is available from a debt advice provider, with contact details. New from 1 May 2026.
• That the notice period can be extended on a debt advice provider’s request. New from 1 May 2026.

A new prescribed form for the notice came in on the same date.

Rather talk it through with someone? Request a call

How it can be delivered

By post to the debtor’s home or business address, by hand through the letterbox, by fax or email, by fixing it somewhere it is likely to be seen if there is no letterbox, or by handing it to the debtor in person. It must come from the enforcement agent or their office.

When a shorter period is allowed

A court can order a shorter notice period, but only where it is satisfied that goods are otherwise likely to be moved or disposed of to avoid being taken.

What can happen during the notice period

• The debt is paid in full. Enforcement ends, and the cost is limited to the debt plus the compliance fee.
• A payment arrangement is agreed with the enforcement firm. If it is kept to, no visit takes place.
• A debt advice provider asks for the 28-day period, or applies for Breathing Space where the person qualifies.
• The creditor takes the debt back. Councils and other creditors can recall a case, for example where someone is vulnerable.
• Nothing happens. Once the period has passed the agent can visit, and the £247 enforcement stage fee is added on the first attendance.

Of the cases that ended in payment in January to June 2025, 36% were paid at this stage, according to the figures firms gave the Enforcement Conduct Board. The other 64% were paid at the enforcement stage or later, after an agent’s first visit had added the larger fee.

Which of these fits someone’s circumstances is a question for a debt adviser, not for this page.

Common questions