Penham Excel: what a letter means and what to do

A notice of enforcement from Penham Excel gives you a short window before an agent can visit, and a visit adds at least £247 to what you owe. Use that time to check the debt, contact the council or creditor, offer a payment you can afford and get free advice. This guide covers England and Wales.

Who are Penham Excel?

Penham Excel is registered at Companies House as PENHAM EXCEL LIMITED, company number 03858546. It is an active private limited company, incorporated on 13 October 1999, with its registered office in Birmingham. It was called Excel Financial Services Limited until February 2000. Companies House lists Hammonds Group Limited as owning 75% or more of the shares.

Penham Excel says it is part of the Hammonds Group, which it describes as a family-owned business that also includes a vehicle services company, and that the enforcement firm was founded in February 2000. A separate company, Penham Excel Enforcement Solutions Limited (company number 09940166), is also registered in Birmingham. Letters are usually headed simply “Penham Excel” or “Penham”.

Is Penham Excel regulated?

Penham Excel Limited is a corporate member of CIVEA, the Civil Enforcement Association, a trade body. It was not on the Enforcement Conduct Board’s (ECB) register of accredited firms when we checked on 10 September 2026. The ECB is independent but voluntary, and there is no statutory regulator for bailiffs yet, so what this mostly changes for you is the complaints route (see below). We found no FCA register entry for Penham Excel.

Every agent who takes control of goods must hold a certificate from the County Court, and you can check an agent’s name on the certificated enforcement agent register.

Why are Penham Excel contacting you?

A creditor has passed a debt to Penham Excel for enforcement. Its website lists council tax, business rates (NNDR), road traffic debts, sundry debts and commercial rent arrears, and says it acts for local authorities, commercial landlords and housing associations. Each type of debt reaches a bailiff by a different legal route:

• Council tax and business rates: the council must first get a liability order from the magistrates’ court, and can then instruct enforcement agents. See what council tax bailiffs can do.
• Parking 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.
• Commercial rent: a business landlord can use commercial rent arrears recovery (CRAR) against a business tenant without a court judgment, if the lease is in writing and at least 7 days’ rent is unpaid. It cannot be used on a home.
• Sundry council debts, such as housing benefit overpayments: unless a court judgment or other legal authority is behind the debt, the firm is only collecting and has no power to take your goods.

Penham Excel also has a High Court enforcement arm. The High Court Enforcement Officers Association directory lists an officer trading as Penham Excel High Court Enforcement Officers. If your paperwork mentions a writ of control, read our guide to High Court enforcement officers, because the fees are higher.

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 Penham Excel in writing that you dispute it. Only the creditor can cancel 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.
• If the letter is for someone who does not live with you, Penham Excel’s FAQs say you should contact it with some details about yourself so it can stop agent activity while it looks into it. Bailiffs cannot take goods that belong to someone else.

What can Penham Excel do, and what can they not do?

Penham Excel’s agents follow the same law as every bailiff in England and Wales. The main points are below; our guide to what bailiffs can and cannot do has the full 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. Penham Excel’s website confirms that new cases from 1 May 2026 are on the new rules and older cases stay on the old ones.

Fees

The fees are set by law, not by Penham Excel, and are added to what you owe.

For example, on council tax arrears of £2,200 in a new case, the compliance fee takes the total to £2,279. A visit adds £247 plus 7.5% of £300 (£22.50), so £269.50, making £2,548.50. High Court writs use a separate, higher scale.

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 and parking penalties 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. Even if you do not let them in, they can take control of a car you own parked on the road, unless it is exempt, such as a vehicle displaying a valid Blue Badge and used to carry the badge holder.

Vulnerable people

Penham Excel’s vulnerability policy says it has a Welfare Team, that vulnerable cases are flagged and put on hold, and that after talking to the council it may return the case, move it back a stage and waive costs, or allow time to get advice. Tell Penham Excel 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. Only the creditor can take the case back.

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 Penham Excel and to the creditor. A debt adviser can ask for the longer 28-day notice period while you work out a plan.

If an agent visits

Ask to see identification and check it against the 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, and may be able to use reasonable force to get in. Only agree to payments you can keep up, and contact Penham Excel before you miss one.

If goods or your car are about to be removed

Contact Penham Excel and the creditor straight away, and get debt advice the same day if you can. The sale stage adds at least another £116. Always get a receipt for any payment.

Is this letter or visit really from Penham Excel?

• Use the contact details on your own paperwork, or on the council’s or creditor’s official website. The council can confirm whether it has passed your case to Penham Excel.
• 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 notice names the creditor, the amount and a reference, and a genuine agent can show you their certificate.
• 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 before you pay.

How do debt solutions affect Penham Excel?

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. 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.

If the debt is commercial rent owed by a business, the options depend on whether you trade as a sole trader or through a company: see business and self-employed debt. Each solution has costs, conditions and long-term effects, and the debt solutions comparison sets them side by side.

How do you complain about Penham Excel?

1. Complain to Penham Excel first, in writing, quoting your Penham reference. It says it acknowledges complaints within 2 working days and replies within 5 working days of that at stage one. If you are still unhappy, an office manager carries out a formal stage two investigation, aiming to reply within 20 working days.
2. Complain to the creditor as well, because the agent acts on its behalf. 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. The Enforcement Conduct Board reviews complaints about firms it accredits. Penham Excel was not on its register when we checked, so check the ECB register before you go to the ECB. CIVEA does not investigate complaints about its members.
4. For serious misconduct by a certificated enforcement agent, you can complain to the court on form EAC2. It is free, but you may have to pay costs if the court decides there were no reasonable grounds.

GOV.UK explains how to complain about a bailiff.

What to do next

1. Do not ignore the letter. Work out when the notice period ends and act before then.
2. Contact Penham Excel 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.
4. For your wider rights with bailiffs and collectors, see dealing with debt collectors.