A man living in a house share had a “harrowing” encounter with bailiffs after his housemate missed a council tax payment.

The man, who asked not to be named, lives in Harringay Ladder and claims he was “bullied” on his own doorstep for more than an hour after debt collectors came knocking last September.

He has now called on Haringey Council to stop the practice of using bailiffs to collect council tax debt.

The council has said it is now investigating the incident.

It comes after action group Haringey ACORN launched a campaign to draw attention to the council's use of bailiffs, as it emerged that the council referred 8,184 cases in 2022/23.

On Friday September 30, the man said he was getting ready to leave for work when he opened the door to find a bailiff outside his flat share.

He alleged that, before he had a moment to think, the bailiff from CDER Group had put his foot into the door so that it could not be closed.

The bailiff claimed that he had been sent by the council to collect around £2,000 worth of council tax after the household missed an instalment on its repayment plan.

He showed the man a court order, but allegedly wouldn’t let him take a picture of it.

The man said he had no way of knowing if the bailiff or the court order were legitimate, and feared he could be being targeted by a conman.

He also claimed that, during the "harrowing" encounter, the bailiff continued to edge further and further into the house.

He said: “It does escalate the anxiety in your mind if you don’t know who he is.

“Every time I would look away, he had taken a further step inside the property.”

The man said he believes the bailiff’s entry into his property was “illegal” and that he was trespassing by not leaving when requested to do so.

A video shared with this paper shows the tense encounter.

The bailiff then allegedly threatened to bring a van to the flat and remove personal items if £2,000 was not immediately paid upfront.

The man said: “This guy was quite imposing, he stuck his foot in the door and the short of his spiel was that if we didn’t pay him two grand there and then, there was a van on the way and he was going to walk around our house and take our stuff.”

Only after the man’s housemate, who was the tenant responsible for paying the council tax, returned and paid £2,000 upfront after borrowing money from friends and family did the bailiff leave.

The man now believes that the threat to remove items from the home immediately was just a “bizarre tactic”, and that the bailiff did not actually have the authority to do so.

He accepts that the council tax debt was owed but claims that Haringey Council did not take sufficient care to contact his housemate about the missed payment before calling in the bailiffs.

Citizens Advice says on its website that bailiffs are not allowed to force entry if they are collecting council tax arrears and residents have the right to keep them outside their door.

They say: "The bailiff might say you have to pay them on the doorstep or you have to let them in - you don’t.

"They aren’t allowed to force their way into your home."

Bailiffs CDER Group did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the incident.

A spokesperson for Haringey Council said: “In line with our ethical debt reduction policy, we never use bailiffs for council tax debts where people are vulnerable, face mental health issues or are on low incomes.

“When we do use bailiffs, this is always as a last resort, and we have rigorous processes to ensure residents are treated fairly. We take allegations of agent misconduct very seriously, and all visits are videoed so that we can investigate complaints.

“In this particular case, no complaints were made at the time either to the debt recovery agency or to the council. Nonetheless, we are now investigating the incident to see if there is any retrospective action we need to take.

“We strongly encourage any resident who is struggling to pay their council tax to get in touch with us so that we can offer support.”