Dukes Bailiffs: what a letter means and what to do

If your letter is a notice of enforcement, a visit can follow once the notice period ends, and it adds at least £247 to a council debt. You can use the time before then to check the debt, contact the creditor, offer a payment you can afford and get free advice. If the letter only asks you to pay an invoice and mentions no court order, Dukes is acting as a debt collector and cannot take anything. This guide covers England and Wales.

Who are Dukes Bailiffs?

Dukes is registered at Companies House as DUKES BAILIFFS LIMITED, company number 04418615. It is an active private limited company, incorporated on 17 April 2002, with its registered office in Stone, Staffordshire. It is owned (75% or more) by Dukes Bailiffs Holdings Limited. Dukes says it was founded in 1993, helping councils recover the community charge, and describes itself as a privately owned, family-run business.

Is Dukes regulated?

Dukes Bailiffs Limited has been accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) since October 2023. It is a member of CIVEA, the Civil Enforcement Association. The ECB is independent but voluntary and industry-funded, and CIVEA is a trade association: there is no statutory regulator for bailiffs yet. The FCA register lists Dukes Bailiffs Limited (firm reference 759310) as no longer authorised. Bailiff work is not regulated by the FCA.

Why are Dukes contacting you?

Dukes’ customer website says it recovers council tax arrears, business rates, penalty notices, commercial rent, invoices, housing benefit overpayments and tenant arrears. It says it works for more than 160 councils, and for commercial landlords and businesses. The type of debt decides what Dukes can do:

• Council tax and business rates: the council gets a liability order from the magistrates’ court, and can then instruct enforcement agents. See council tax bailiffs.
• Parking, bus lane and traffic penalties: after an order for recovery, you have 21 days to pay or challenge it. If you do neither, bailiffs can be sent under a warrant of control.
• High Court writs: Dukes offers to transfer County Court Judgments over £600 to the High Court for enforcement, for debts not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act, such as unpaid invoices or commercial rent. Our guide to High Court enforcement officers explains how this works.
• Commercial rent and business debts: Dukes also acts for commercial landlords, including commercial rent arrears recovery and forfeiture of commercial leases. These affect business tenants, not people renting a home.
• Invoices, housing benefit overpayments and tenant arrears: without a court judgment, liability order or other legal authority, whoever collects these has no power to take your goods.

Is the debt yours, and is it right?

Check the name, address, creditor, reference number and amount. If anything is wrong, contact the creditor using the details on its official website, and tell Dukes in writing that you dispute it. Only the creditor can cancel the enforcement or confirm what the order covers.

• For council tax, the council can tell you which years and amounts the liability order covers.
• For a parking penalty, you can only challenge the order for recovery on limited grounds, such as never receiving the penalty notice.
• For an unpaid invoice or other debt with no court order, ask for evidence of what is owed and why. If it is a loan or other regulated credit agreement, you can ask the creditor for a copy of the agreement and a statement by writing and paying £1. See how to ask a creditor to prove a debt.
• For a High Court writ, check the court, claim number and judgment. If you never knew about the court claim, a debt adviser can tell you whether you can apply to have the judgment set aside.

What can Dukes do, and what can they not do?

Dukes’ agents follow the same law as every bailiff in England and Wales. The main rules are below; our guide to what bailiffs can and cannot do has more detail.

Notice

You must get a notice of enforcement at least 14 clear days before an agent can take control of your goods. If a debt adviser asks on your behalf before those days run out, this extends to at least 28 clear days (not for some business debts). For cases that started before 1 May 2026, the old 7-day notice period still applies.

Fees for council tax, business rates and penalties

The fees are set by law, not by Dukes, and are added to what you owe. Dukes’ website sets out both the current and the older figures.

The old scale applies to cases started before 1 May 2026, because the 2026 regulations do not affect enforcement action taken before that date. For example, on council tax arrears of £1,800 in a new case, the compliance fee takes the total to £1,879. A visit adds £247, making £2,126. There is no percentage fee because the debt is under £1,900.

Fees for High Court writs

For example, on a £1,500 judgment in a new case, a first visit adds £200 plus 7.5% of £300 (£22.50), on top of the £79 compliance fee. VAT may also be charged on High Court fees in some cases, so ask for a written breakdown.

Entry

You usually do not have to open the door or let a bailiff in. They cannot come in by pushing past you, when only children under 16 or vulnerable people are present, between 9pm and 6am, or through anything except a door. They can only force entry to a home to collect criminal fines, Income Tax or Stamp Duty, and only as a last resort. Council tax, business rates, parking penalties and ordinary High Court debts are not on that list. Different rules apply to business premises.

Your car and your belongings

If you let them in, they can take control of goods you own that are not protected. They cannot take clothes, beds and bedding, a cooker or fridge, a washing machine, basic heating and lighting, items needed to care for children, disabled or older people, pets, work tools and equipment together worth less than £1,350, or anything belonging to someone else. They can take a car you own from outside, unless it is exempt.

Vulnerable people

Dukes’ customer website has pages on vulnerability, Breathing Space and debt charities. Tell Dukes and the creditor about illness, disability, mental health problems, a recent bereavement or anything else that makes things harder, with evidence if you have it. GOV.UK says vulnerable people may be able to get extra time to pay or to get debt advice.

What should you do at each stage?

When the notice of enforcement arrives

Note the date and work out when the notice period ends (Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day do not count). Paying in full before a visit avoids the enforcement fee. If you cannot, offer an amount you can realistically keep up, to Dukes and to the creditor. A debt adviser can ask for the longer 28-day notice period while you work out a plan.

If you have a High Court writ and cannot pay

You can apply to the High Court to stay (pause) the writ if you are unable to pay or there are special circumstances, setting out your income, spending and assets. A court fee applies, and you may be able to get help with fees.

If an agent visits

Ask to see identification, and check whether the person is a certificated enforcement agent on the official register. A genuine High Court notice will name the court, the claim number and the High Court enforcement officer.

If you sign a controlled goods agreement

A controlled goods agreement lets you keep your goods while you pay, but you agree not to sell or get rid of them. If you break it, the agent must give you at least 2 clear days of written notice before coming back to inspect or remove the goods. Only agree to payments you can keep up, and contact Dukes before you miss one.

Is this letter or visit really from Dukes?

• Use the contact details on your own paperwork, or on the creditor’s official website. The council or landlord can confirm whether it has passed your case to Dukes.
• Do not rely on a phone number from a search result, or one given in an unexpected text, email or call. This page deliberately does not list the firm’s contact details.
• Ask for identification at the door and check the certificated enforcement agent register.
• Be wary of anyone pushing you to pay at once into an account you do not recognise. If in doubt, contact the creditor on a number you trust.

How do debt solutions affect Dukes?

Council tax arrears are a priority debt, because the consequences of not paying are serious, so they usually need dealing with before debts such as credit cards.

• Breathing Space pauses enforcement action on included debts for up to 60 days, and a creditor cannot enforce a judgment during it. Council tax is only covered once arrears have built up.
• A debt management plan is informal. Creditors can still take action even if you keep up the payments.
• An IVA is a legally binding agreement under the Insolvency Act 1986. Creditors bound by it cannot take further action to recover the debts included in it; secured debts, and debts that cannot be included, are outside it. See whether an IVA stops debt collectors and bailiffs.
• During a debt relief order, a creditor owed a listed debt has no remedy for it without the court’s permission. DROs are free, for people with debts under £50,000, less than £75 a month spare, assets under £2,000 and a vehicle worth less than £4,000.
• After a bankruptcy order, creditors owed debts in the bankruptcy have no remedy against your property or you personally for those debts. Bankruptcy costs £680 to apply for.

Each has costs, conditions and long-term effects on your credit file. The debt solutions comparison sets them side by side.

How do you complain about Dukes?

1. Complain to Dukes first. Its procedure has an informal stage, acknowledged within 48 hours and aiming to resolve things within 5 working days, and a formal stage, acknowledged within 48 hours with a full response within 10 working days.
2. Once both stages are complete, Dukes names the Enforcement Conduct Board as the next step for complaints from 1 January 2025. Complain to the ECB within 3 months of becoming aware of the problem, or within 1 month of the firm’s final response.
3. Complain to the creditor as well. If you are unhappy with a council’s response, you can go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, or in Wales the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
4. For serious misconduct by a certificated enforcement agent, you can complain to the court on form EAC2. GOV.UK explains how to complain about a bailiff.

Our guide to dealing with debt collectors covers your rights when a firm is only collecting a debt, with no court order behind it.

What to do next

1. Work out whether you have a collection letter, a council notice of enforcement or a High Court notice. Each needs a different response.
2. Contact Dukes and the creditor, using official contact details, with an offer you can afford. Keep a note of every call and a copy of every letter.
3. Get free, impartial debt advice from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline. An adviser can ask for more time and look at all your debts together. See where to get free debt advice.