Equita: what a letter means and what to do

A notice of enforcement from Equita gives you a short window before an agent can visit, and a visit adds at least £247 to a council debt, or £200 or more to a High Court writ. You can use that time to check the debt, contact the creditor, offer a payment you can afford and get free advice. This guide covers England and Wales.

Who are Equita?

Equita is registered at Companies House as EQUITA LIMITED, company number 03168371. It is an active private limited company, incorporated on 29 February 1996, with its registered office in Birkenhead. It was called Pretty 300 Limited briefly in 1996 and Equitable Revenue Holdings Limited until July 1999. Equita’s website names the same company and number.

Who owns Equita?

Companies House shows Equita was controlled by Capita Holdings Limited until 31 July 2023. Since that date it has been owned (75% or more) by ColX Limited. ColX Group says it was formed in 2024 through the merger of four enforcement firms: Equita, Jacobs, Ross & Roberts and Stirling Park.

Some websites say Equita is part of Marston. The public records do not support that: Companies House does not list any Marston company as a controller of Equita, and Marston is a separate group (see Marston). If your letter is from Jacobs, see our guide to Jacobs Enforcement.

Is Equita regulated?

The Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) lists Equita Limited as an accredited firm since October 2023. It is a member of CIVEA, the Civil Enforcement Association, and the High Court Enforcement Officers Association’s directory lists a High Court enforcement officer working with Equita Ltd. The ECB is independent but voluntary and industry-funded, and CIVEA and the HCEOA are trade bodies: there is no statutory regulator for bailiffs yet. Bailiff work is not regulated by the FCA, and we found no FCA register entry for Equita Limited.

Why are Equita contacting you?

Equita’s FAQs say councils instruct it to collect council tax, business rates, parking fines, commercial rent arrears, former tenant arrears, housing benefit overpayments and sundry debts, including associated High Court enforcement. What Equita can do depends on which of these your letter is about:

• Council tax and business rates: the council must first get a liability order from the magistrates’ court. Our guide to council tax bailiffs explains this stage.
• Parking and bus lane 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: a creditor with a County Court Judgment can transfer it to the High Court, where a High Court enforcement officer enforces it under a writ of control. Our guide to High Court enforcement officers explains how and when this can happen.
• Former tenant arrears, housing benefit overpayments and sundry debts: Equita says a debt collector, not an enforcement agent, visits about these. Without a liability order, warrant or writ behind the debt, a collector 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 Equita 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 a High Court writ, check the court, the claim number and the judgment. A judgment on a regulated consumer credit agreement, such as a credit card or personal loan, can only be enforced in the County Court, so it should never reach a High Court enforcement officer. 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 Equita do, and what can they not do?

Equita’s 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. For cases that started before 1 May 2026, the old 7-day notice period still applies.

Fees for council tax, business rates and parking

These fees are set by law, not by Equita, and are added to what you owe.

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 business rates arrears of £2,100 in a new case, the compliance fee takes the total to £2,179. A visit adds £247 plus 7.5% of £200 (£15), so £262, making £2,441.

Fees for High Court writs

Equita’s High Court FAQ was still showing the older figures and the 7-day notice period when we checked in September 2026, so check which column your case falls in, and ask Equita for a written breakdown if the charges do not match. Equita says VAT on High Court fees is charged to the creditor if the creditor is VAT registered, and otherwise to you.

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.

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 clamp or take a car you own from outside, unless it is exempt.

Vulnerable people

Tell Equita 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. Only the creditor can take the case back from Equita, so tell the council too.

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). If you can pay in full before a visit, you avoid the enforcement fee. If you cannot, offer an amount you can realistically keep up, to Equita 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. You must set 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 before you do anything else, and check whether the person is a certificated enforcement agent on the official register. You do not have to let them in, but they could clamp or take a car you own from outside.

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 Equita before you miss one.

Is this letter or visit really from Equita?

• Use the contact details on your own paperwork, or on the creditor’s official website. The council can confirm whether it has passed your case to Equita.
• 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.
• A genuine High Court notice will name the court, the claim number and the High Court enforcement officer. Check them.
• 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 Equita?

Council tax and business rates arrears are priority debts, 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. 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 Equita?

1. Complain to Equita first. Its FAQs say complaints are acknowledged within 2 days and a full response is issued within 10 working days, and that the response is shared with the client it is acting for.
2. 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.
3. Because Equita is accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board, the ECB can review a complaint about something that happened on or after 1 January 2025, once you have been through Equita’s process. Complain within 3 months of becoming aware of the problem, or within 1 month of the firm’s final response.
4. For High Court enforcement, you can also complain to the High Court Enforcement Officers Association. 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 complaints about collection agencies, which follow a different route.

What to do next

1. Do not ignore the letter. Work out whether it is about a council debt or a High Court writ, and when the notice period ends.
2. Contact Equita 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.