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Couple locked out by bailiffs had to beg for pets’ return

8:00am Wednesday 16th March 2011 in Colchester By Adam Cornell

A COUPLE had to beg for the return of their pets after bailiffs locked them out of their bakery.

David Lyons and Pauline Leggett say they were left humiliated and homeless when they returned to find they could not get in to Baxters Bakers and Confectioners, in Old Heath Road, Colchester.

They ran the cafe, bakery and sandwich shop at the premises, which was also their home.

But they were left with just the clothes on their backs after falling behind with the rent.

They said it was only after police were called they were able to rescue their puppy Rosie and 54-year-old tortoise Wilma.

A note was put on the door by bailiffs earlier this month stating the lease had been forfeited and the landlord had taken possession.

Mr Lyons said the couple had run the business since 2004, but by 2010 had run into difficulties and had rent arrears.

An agreement to pay off the arrears collapsed and the locks were changed.

Ms Leggett said: “The first few days we were shell-shocked.

“We have not got any of our possessions. We were left on the pavement, humiliated and homeless.”

The couple are disputing the amount owed and the matter is with solicitors.

If agreement cannot be reached, the couple may be forced to sell the lease and move.

Mr Lyons said: “We would like to thank customers and everyone for their kindness.”

Comments(21)

Say It As It Is OK? says...
8:34am Wed 16 Mar 11

Obviously more to this story than we have been told because the note, claiming repossession, had been there some time but this couple had done nothing to move out. The landlord had a right to change the locks if all else failed and they were not actually denied entry to collect their pets but they had to contact the key holder for entry, under strict supervision. That was to prevent them moving back in.

To get an eviction notice served takes weeks, often months! So this couple knew what the outcome would be and it appears they did very little over a long period to help themselves, but then again its always a good story that sells newspapers, particularly when pets are involved!

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KA-Wivenhoe says...
10:46am Wed 16 Mar 11

I can't believe these people!

They don't pay rent, and do nothing about it. They had months to overcome the financial problem or move out normally, and when the landlord - quite rightly - takes action they ignore it.

This is not news, it's just because animals are involved, and a hope that some people might show some sympathy.

I don't, they don't deserve it.

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Another Point of View says...
1:10pm Wed 16 Mar 11

Be interesting to find out whether their tenancy allowed pets. Most landlords dont allow cats or dogs. Probably find they were in breach of more things than none payments!

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romantic says...
4:54pm Wed 16 Mar 11

The previous 3 posters obviously know them so well! They seem to take an almost unhealthy pleasure from the fact that another small business has gone under. Say it as it is, I'm sure they were well aware that trading was going badly, but what would you do in their situation? Just give up? Or keep trading, keep trying to get the situation back. I used to go there from time to time and the food they sold was good. They were both friendly people.

Legally, I'm sure the landlord has every right to take control of the property, but it does wind me up a bit that the 3 previous posters feel they can sit in some moral high-ground. "They had months to overcome this financial problem". No doubt that is true, but what do you do if the business simply is not there? Believe me, this will not be the last small shop to go under in the coming year. Those who sit there smugly saying, oh they had months to sort it out, I really hope you never have to experience your world collapsing around you.

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KA-Wivenhoe says...
5:19pm Wed 16 Mar 11

Q: "What do you do if the business is not there?"
A: Quit while you can before you get deeper in debt and involve anybody else.
If I had months to sort out a problem and couldn't, then I shouldn't be in business in the first place, nor taking advantage of other business people e.g., the landlord.
I ran a successful business for over 40 years and never found myself taking advantage of others.
This isn't 'high moral ground', it's just a fact of life.
(And 3 against 1 seems to confirm a majority view!!)

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peachey says...
6:18pm Wed 16 Mar 11

I have to agree with romantic. There maybe more to this story as say it is ok has stated but this doesn't mean that they should not have been able to get their pets from the building. What would have happened if the police hadn't have been called? How callous! This was these folk's livelihood and their home for 6 years and, due to the current climate and no doubt big stores undercutting them they got in trouble financially. Yes maybe they chose to bury their heads in the sand while their livelihood went down the drain, not an ideal move but when it happens I can imagine this can be extremely stressful! This is going on all around the country, so have a heart you lot! It's sooooo easy to sit behind a pc screen and criticise

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25414nora says...
6:42pm Wed 16 Mar 11

Say it as....KA wivenhoe...Another
point of view..........If I were to hazzard a guess........I'd say that your generousity probibly exceeds your personal hygene!!!

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6079 Smith W says...
6:56pm Wed 16 Mar 11

Well it's good to have a working PC again, and good to be back here. And it is almost reassuring to see such predictable moralising from the usual suspects. As peachey and Romantic have said - have a heart! We have yet another local business forced out by the supermarket fat cats 'Say It' so loves to champion. And don't forget this is a recession caused by bankers. Of course if they had been running a bank it would have not mattered how badly, foolishly or wrecklessly they ran their business. If it all goes wrong us taxpayers are there to bail them out. Bankers and bakers, what a difference an 'N' makes...

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crum says...
11:29pm Wed 16 Mar 11

25414nora

How do you know about the hygene of KA-Wivenhoe?

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Say It As It Is OK? says...
9:39am Thu 17 Mar 11

6079 Smith W wrote:
Well it's good to have a working PC again, and good to be back here. And it is almost reassuring to see such predictable moralising from the usual suspects. As peachey and Romantic have said - have a heart! We have yet another local business forced out by the supermarket fat cats 'Say It' so loves to champion. And don't forget this is a recession caused by bankers. Of course if they had been running a bank it would have not mattered how badly, foolishly or wrecklessly they ran their business. If it all goes wrong us taxpayers are there to bail them out. Bankers and bakers, what a difference an 'N' makes...
Welcome back....
Don't we all moralise in our own little way?

My experience of working for one Supermarket group for many years definitely differs to your experiences in retail but you should't suggest I champion their rights any more than the rights of any business. Now I am still active in running a small business and well aware of what's going on in the market place I am involved in. Fortunately, or was it just good planning, I didn't and still don't have to rely on borrowing as the foundation to support my business activities. That is really why its all gone tits up for so many.

The bankers do have a lot to answer for but you fail to convict the previous government, who buried their head in the sand for so many years and allowed borrowing to go unchecked.

In relation to this case the writing was on the wall for a considerable length of time. It appears all discussions between tenants and landlord collapsed, which unfortunately resulted in their eviction.

I'm sure the landlord would have preferred to receive his due rent but what other option was open for the landlord, also in business? He/She most probably stands to lose a significant sum because they have little hope of getting costs or rent monies paid now. Where is the sympathy for the wronged here then, don't you, peachey or Romantic feel for their loss? Presumably not!

The irony of this story is it only made the papers because pets were 'allegedly' locked inside the property otherwise it would have gone the way of many other failed businesses, without trace.

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Andy Hamilton says...
11:08am Thu 17 Mar 11

Everyone loses when a business fails. The increasing number of empty retail units means there is no obvious action to improve things. If only there was a business equivalent to the free service from the Citizens advice bureau.

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Another Point of View says...
1:06pm Thu 17 Mar 11

Pets (and personal hygiene issues) aside here, there is a legal process that has to be undergone to evict tenants. These people had not paid their rent and refused to vacate, thereby undoubtedly causing financial hardship on the landlord who was expecting his income and would have had to pay to for the eviction. They would have been fully aware of the process and the date but choose to carry on living rent free in a property. Its sad when a a business goes down I agree but illegal squating, which is what this couple where doing, is as bad, if even at different scale, as what the bankers have got away with. I just hope a few of the "pro-bakery" brigade never have to suffer the problems of squatters in their own property.

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6079 Smith W says...
7:04pm Thu 17 Mar 11

Say It - Even with a fortnight's break I must admit I'm becomingly increasingly sick and tired with this ridiculous blame pointing at the previous government - unless of course you're talking about their banking deregulation - then we're really talking. Not that I will ever defend the Tory Mark II New Labour project, but this was a truly global financial disaster, stemming from the US subprime mortgage market, and even New labour's banking deregulation can't be held responsible for events over there. Without this global disaster some of us may well have criticised New Labour's waste of money, and been left feeling that it could have been better spent, but nobody would be talking about the deficit. Global recessions see governments incomes plummet and their outgoings spiral, this is a very simple economic fact. The 'solution' to this crisis has been repeated the world over, government money being used to bail out the banks. In fact without it, capitalism would have collapsed (and believe it or not, I can think of nothing worse than 'living' through that). But no surprise these bankers are so happy. No longer does the idea of liberal capitalist democracy mean a small amount of the huge profits of capital being used to subsidise shelter for the poorest in society. No, today the poor subsidise the bankers. No wonder the bankers have called it 'socialism for the rich'!
And what will this do for the bankers' future behaviour? Will it tell them not to gamble with other people's money? Or will it to them - what the hell - doesn't matter how much they lose, the government will be there again to bail them out?
If you really believe in capitalism, you need to find a form of it that is sustainable, that doesn't continually lurch from boom to virtual collapse (actual collapse without subsidy). This means a capitalism that must be regulated, with strict controls. It means governments stepping in and intervening - and not just in the interests of the banks themselves - but in order to redress the inequalities and injustices of unfettered capitalism. This is needed not only for the likes of David and Pauline, but for the survival of capitalism itself.

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Another Point of View says...
9:16am Fri 18 Mar 11

Interesting post SmithW but the banking derugulation was a global exercise driven by Bush and supported by his poodle Blair and without doubt alot of input from Gordon Brown. Deregulation meant easy credit for everyone and in reality alot of those people who were lent money were bad credit risks in the past. The US banks got wise to a problem creeping up and bundled the mortages and sold them onto greedy UK banks.

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6079 Smith W says...
5:02pm Fri 18 Mar 11

Yeah, wont disagree with much of that, APoV. Yes ,some US banks got wise - most notably Goldman Sachs, who made a packet. But some most certainly didn't - Lehmans. I have today finished reading Paul Mason's (Newsnight economics editor) 'Meltdown - The End of the Age of Greed.' It really is the invaluable guide for those of us who want to move beyond the silly blame the last government line, and actually understand the grotesque chaos of neo-liberal fundamentalism and how it caused a global breakdown.

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romantic says...
5:40pm Fri 18 Mar 11

Say It As It Is OK? wrote:
6079 Smith W wrote: Well it's good to have a working PC again, and good to be back here. And it is almost reassuring to see such predictable moralising from the usual suspects. As peachey and Romantic have said - have a heart! We have yet another local business forced out by the supermarket fat cats 'Say It' so loves to champion. And don't forget this is a recession caused by bankers. Of course if they had been running a bank it would have not mattered how badly, foolishly or wrecklessly they ran their business. If it all goes wrong us taxpayers are there to bail them out. Bankers and bakers, what a difference an 'N' makes...
Welcome back.... Don't we all moralise in our own little way? My experience of working for one Supermarket group for many years definitely differs to your experiences in retail but you should't suggest I champion their rights any more than the rights of any business. Now I am still active in running a small business and well aware of what's going on in the market place I am involved in. Fortunately, or was it just good planning, I didn't and still don't have to rely on borrowing as the foundation to support my business activities. That is really why its all gone tits up for so many. The bankers do have a lot to answer for but you fail to convict the previous government, who buried their head in the sand for so many years and allowed borrowing to go unchecked. In relation to this case the writing was on the wall for a considerable length of time. It appears all discussions between tenants and landlord collapsed, which unfortunately resulted in their eviction. I'm sure the landlord would have preferred to receive his due rent but what other option was open for the landlord, also in business? He/She most probably stands to lose a significant sum because they have little hope of getting costs or rent monies paid now. Where is the sympathy for the wronged here then, don't you, peachey or Romantic feel for their loss? Presumably not! The irony of this story is it only made the papers because pets were 'allegedly' locked inside the property otherwise it would have gone the way of many other failed businesses, without trace.
Say it as it is, as it happens, I do have plenty of sympathy for the landlord in this case. I am well aware that it takes a long time for a situation such as this to develop. The bailiffs do not just appear overnight, the process which leads to that point is a long one. I don't know if they had stopped paying rent completely for months, or if they were trying to pay off arrears. Probably, you don't know that either.

I am happy for you that your business has done well. It is certainly the case that a lot of businesses have set up over the years with a far larger amount of optimism than realism, and as a nation we have had a decade or two where credit has perhaps been too easy to come by. Put the two together and businesses go to the wall. My point, perhaps because I know them - albeit only as an occasional customer - was that the first 3 posters seemed to show little sympathy towards them. KA says that if the business is in debt, you should just shut it there and then. Well, you may well be right, but isn't it human nature to try to turn things around, to believe that things can pick up. I have no idea of the nature of either your (say it) or KA's businesses, and you seem very sure that your plans will work out and you will never face this situation. I hope that is true. Circumstances can change.

I have sympathy for all involved. This couple, yes. The landlord, yes. Nobody really wins from this, apart perhaps from Ellisons.

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Say It As It Is OK? says...
8:40am Sat 19 Mar 11

Romantic, I'm not at odds with what you say and anyone who goes into business, particularly now, is taking a massive risk. Your last paragraph says it all really because too many people only consider one side and there are two sides to every story.

We only know what we have read! All our sympathies should go to this couple and also to their landlord because nobody is the winner. They have lost their home and business and the landlord has lost out financially.

Some haven't considered the rights of the landlord as being as important. In terms of losing your home it becomes not 'personal' for the tenant but the landlord is still a victim.

Leaving this case aside I believe too many people think running their own business will bring in massive profits, well it often doesn't! To start or run a business on borrowed money is and always has been, in my opinion, very risky! In business we all take risks, but often many don't calculate those risks!

One thing I would add is anyone setting up in business should ensure their home and family life is totally separate from their business life unless that is unless they are fortunate enough to own the freehold on the entire property.

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Say It As It Is OK? says...
11:17am Sat 19 Mar 11

Meant to say....."In terms of losing your home it becomes more 'personal' for the tenant.

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luckilucki says...
9:11am Tue 22 Mar 11

As a semi regular patron of the bakery, I woould like to add that some weeks prior to the closing of the shop, David and Pauline told me about the ongoing problem they were having in evicting a tennant from the flat above the shop as the rent had not been paid for a long time. They were following all the proper legal channels, but the system is not the quickest.
I am only guessing now, but they probably let the flat so the rent would help cover the overall cost of the building as I dont imagine the profit margin in that bakery was very big and then when the rent stopped coming in it would have compounded their problems. They obviously managed to get rid of the tennant and cut their outgoings by moving in themselves but a little to late.....

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Moaning Minnie says...
1:35pm Tue 22 Mar 11

LuckiLucki - the problem tenant this baker had was known to me and whilst I do not in any way condone the way he treated this couple by witholding his rent - he felt this was a last resort to try to sort out the problems that he was experiencing and that the landlord was not sorting with the property. Whilst they were trying to sort out their problem tenant thru the correct legal channels, this man did not comply legally with some of the actions he was taking - putting up posters regarding his tenant in his shop, cutting off the electricity, water and heating in the coldest winter months to force them to move out. If the truth be told - he was probably subletting the flat above anyway - he isn't the most honest of characters... Dont believe all you hear - you only every get one side of the story...

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luckilucki says...
1:58pm Tue 22 Mar 11

Moaning Minnie - I totally agree with your comment about one side of the story and I had only heard theirs. I am in no position to play judge and jury and only wanted to point out that the case wasnt as open and shut as appeared. I always wondered how they made any money, as most of the time the shelves were empty, albeit when they did have filled rolls they were rather tasty and now unfortunately I have to travel further afield for my lunch :)

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