Warrant Sale
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A warrant sale was a statutory means of collecting debts in Scotland until 2001. Legal procedure for warrant sales was governed by the
Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this ...
. The practice was controversial. Those who opposed it were concerned that it affected the poorest section of society who genuinely were unable to pay a debt, but others claimed the legislation was needed to ensure people paid their debts. It became a contentious political issue in the late 1980s, when Scottish councils used the legislation against an ever-increasing number of
Community Charge The Community Charge, colloquially known as the Poll Tax, was a system of local taxation introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government whereby each taxpayer was taxed the same fixed sum (a "poll tax" or " head tax"), with the precise amount bei ...
defaulters, which involved councils applying for a warrant from the local court to collect the money owed by non-payers. Sheriff officers (private companies even though their title suggests they are court employees) were the choice of the local authorities to collect the outstanding debts. Under the 1987 act, debt collectors were permitted to enter a debtor's home and poind (put a value on) items, which would be subject to a later
auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...
under warrant (warrant sale). The practice was abolished when
Tommy Sheridan Thomas Sheridan (born 7 March 1964) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from ...
, MSP, of the
Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an Scottish independence, independent Socialism, socialist Scottish Scottish republicanism, republic. The party was fou ...
, introduced a
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
in 2001, and the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
voted to remove the legislation from Scots law under the
Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Act 2001 The Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Act 2001 was an Act of the Scottish Parliament to abolish the previous practice in which a debtor's goods are priced (poinding) in preparation for the enforced sale of the debtor's possessions ( warran ...
. In July 2022,
Jackie Baillie Dame Jacqueline Marie Baillie (' Barnes; born 15 January 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2020 Scottish Labour deputy leadership election, 2020. She has been Member of the Scottis ...
, MSP, accused the Scottish government of attempting to reintroduce warrant sales as part of the Moveable Transactions Bill.


References

Scots law legal terminology Debt collection Sales Housing in Scotland Poverty in Scotland 2001 disestablishments in Scotland Governmental auctions {{Scotland-law-stub