Latest news with #bailiffs
Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway reveals she had bailiffs turn up at her door while her late husband Derek Draper was in a coma in hospital
Kate Garraway has revealed that she once had bailiffs turn up at her door while her late husband Derek Draper was in a coma. During Friday's instalment of Good Morning Britain, the presenter, 58, opened up on the tough situation she faced while her husband was stricken in hospital with a COVID-19-related illness. Speaking to money-saving expert Martin Lewis, who is campaigning to change the way councils call in debts of unpaid council tax, she revealed: 'Martin this is extraordinary. I've experienced this you know, when Derek was in his coma. She continued: 'In the latter half of 2020, somebody came to the door, a bailiff, it was all in Derek's name and they said: "You have to pay your years council tax plus the fines because we've been chasing you with letters." Kate explained the reason for the bill going unpaid, was because her husband was responsible for paying the council tax. She said she had 'no idea' it was going unpaid - otherwise, she would have paid it. She continued: 'It was my fault, I hadn't been opening the letters in his name because my head was in another place. 'And I've experienced the speed, as what happened was six weeks between him you know finding them, because he was in a coma, he hadn't paid our council tax, to having bailiffs at the door. 'And I, of course, am in a much more fortunate position than the sort of people you're talking about.' Following the admission, Kate was seen making her way to another job - hosting her Smooth Radio show in London. It comes after MailOnline revealed earlier this week that Kate had suffered another financial blow amid her £800,000 debt battle. The presenter had been frozen out of her bank accounts after changing her phone handset and reached out to Barclays Bank on social media in a desperate plea for help on Tuesday. Kate said that she had been unable to access either her current or savings account since Friday and hadn't been able to speak to anyone in customer service. Taking to X, she wrote: '@Barclays please please get in touch with me - I have not been able to access any of my Barclays accounts current or savings since Friday due to changing my phone handset and can't get through to anyone on customer service - please dm me.' Kate's message didn't go unanswered this time and a customer service rep responded to her through the Barclays X account. They wrote: 'Could you please pop into our DM's with your full name, postcode, contact number, and we can take it from there together. 'I've popped a link on this message that will take you through to us in DM. If you do have any other questions then please do let me know as we are here 24/7 for you. Thank you!' It's the latest financial blow for Kate who has been dealing with debt following her husband Derek's death. The presenter has openly discussed how she has been left with debts between £500,000 and £800,000 after caring for her late husband. Political lobbyist Derek died at the age of 56 in January 2024 following a four-year battle with long Covid with Kate paying £16,000 a month for his care. Now, a new liquidator's report has revealed the large tax costs that are yet to be paid by Derek's now-defunct psychotherapeutic company Astra Aspera. The company, which was jointly controlled by Kate, went bust owing hundreds of thousands of pounds to creditors, including a large bill to HMRC. Filings on Companies House have revealed how Kate has been trying to pay off the debt, with HMRC now submitting a lower revised total in a small boost. HMRC's latest preferential claim stands at £288,054, which is around a third of its previous 2023 submission of £716,822, according to the documents. It is not known why HMRC dropped the payment, and the filing has claimed there are also 'insufficient funds to pay a dividend to secondary preferential creditors'. According to The Sun, Kate has so far paid back £21,000. Addressing the filing, Kate's spokesperson told MailOnline the 'shocked' TV star 'doesn't recognise these figures' and is in contact with HMRC to make sure she 'honours what is required'. Their statement read: 'Kate has met all that the liquidators of Derek's company have asked for and more over the past four years. 'She doesn't recognise these figures and is shocked that it's being presented in this way by them. 'Caring for Derek and supporting her family when Derek could no longer run his own businesses has taken a huge financial toll on her but she's determined to put things right. 'She is in constant contact with HMRC to make sure she honours what's required from Derek's now-defunct company.' Kate said that she had been unable to access either her current or savings account since Friday and hadn't been able to speak to anyone in customer service Kate's message didn't go unanswered this time and a customer service rep responded to her through the Barclays X account Derek battled long Covid for four years before his death and Kate has openly discussed the devastating financial toll of funding his care during that period. When Derek wasn't in hospital, he had to be looked after 24/7 at home by his wife and a team of carers. Derek battled long Covid for four years before his death and Kate has openly discussed the devastating financial toll of funding his care during that period. When Derek wasn't in hospital, he had to be looked after 24/7 at home by his wife and a team of carers. In January, Kate explained how she has been left with 'excessive un-payable debt' as she spoke about dealing with the funding of his care. She shared: 'The family and I have been talking about the challenges we faced this time last year, one of the overriding ones, he went back into intensive care before he passed away was dealing with the funding of care. 'At the time of his death, there were two appeals that hadn't been heard for funding. It kept being pushed back and pushed back. 'In the meantime, I'm lucky I have an incredible job which is well paid. I was having to fund the situation. 'Now I've got excessive un-payable debt because of it. If I'm in that position what else are people going to be?' In March 2024, the presenter revealed that she had been spending £16,000 a month on care for her late husband. She told Good Morning Britain: 'I am ashamed of the fact I'm in debt. I have an incredible job that I love, that's very well paid. 'I'm not a carer travelling miles, paying their own transport to go and help somebody for minimum wage.
The Independent
18 hours ago
- The Independent
Kate Garraway reveals she had bailiffs at her door while late husband Derek was in a coma in hospital
Kate Garraway has revealed she had bailiffs at her door after unknowingly not paying her council tax whilst her late husband was in hospital in a coma. The presenter opened up about the 'horrible' ordeal on Good Morning Britain on Friday (20 June), telling guest Martin Lewis that the letters were in Derek Draper 's name and she had not opened them whilst he was in hospital. Garraway said she had 'no idea' that the council tax was going unpaid for six weeks and was shocked when bailiffs appeared at her property in late 2020. She told Lewis, who is campaigning to change the way councils call in debts of unpaid council tax, that her mind was 'in another place' as she cared for her late husband who fell seriously ill with long Covid.
The Sun
20 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
GMB star Kate Garraway reveals she had bailiffs at her door while late Derek Draper was in a coma in hospital
KATE Garraway today revealed how she had bailiffs at her door while her late husband Derek Draper was in a coma. The Good Morning Britain presenter, 58, opened up about a tough time she faced while her husband was stricken in hospital with a Covid-related illness. 4 4 4 Kate - who's husband Derek sadly passed away last year - revealed her shocking story during today's GMB. Her revelation came during a chat with money expert Martin Lewis who is campaigning to change the way councils call in debts of unpaid council tax. Kate - who has been faced with a stressful £800,000 debt battle following the death of her beloved husband - then revealed how whilst her husband Derek was in a coma after being stricken by Covid, bailiffs turned up at her house. She revealed it was after she had unknowingly not paid her council tax for six weeks. Kate explained the reason for the bill going unpaid, was because her husband was responsible for paying the council tax. She said she had "no idea" it was going unpaid - otherwise she would've paid it. Kate revealed how "awful" it had been for her family when bailiffs suddenly turned up at her door, especially during such a tough time. FINANCIAL NIGHTMARE This latest revelation comes after The Sun revealed how in her struggle to pay back huge debts. The cost of caring for Derek during his four-year health nightmare ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds. At the same time, Derek's psychotherapy firm Astra Aspera Ltd - which was jointly controlled by Kate - went bust owing hundreds of thousands to creditors, including a huge sum to HMRC. GMB's Kate Garraway reveals she still can't pay 'excessive debt' for late husband Derek Draper's care - on anniversary of his death A liquidator's report revealed how Kate has been trying to repay debts as well as a more palatable revised total. HMRC has submitted a preferential claim of £288,054, a third of its previous submission of £716,822. It's not known why the HMRC have dramatically dropped their demand. There are also creditor claims of and £196,548 from four other firms including a £50,000 bank loan. However, at this stage, there will be no pay out for any creditor after liquidator fees of £32k and 40 per cent of assets have been realised. A representative for Kate said: "Kate has met all that the liquidators of Derek's company have asked for and more over the past four years. 'She doesn't recognise these figures and is shocked that it's being presented in this way by them. "Caring for Derek and supporting her family when Derek could no longer run his own businesses has taken a huge financial toll on her but she's determined to put things right.' 4 MORE MONEY WOES Meanwhile, earlier this week, Kate revealed she had been hit by another financial blow. The popular presenter told fans she's been frozen out of her bank accounts after changing her phone. Taking to social media to beg the bank for help, she wrote: 'Please please get in touch with me. 'I have not been able to access any of my Barclays accounts current or savings since Friday due to changing my phone handset and can't get through to anyone on customer service - please dm me.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
I'm finally about to regain control of my property
Regular readers of my column will likely remember the ongoing saga of my tenant eviction. To refresh your memory, it's the one where the tenants asked me to serve a Section 21 so they could get a council house. We will bypass the moral outrage and get to the meat of the story which is the Section 21 was issued on January 23 2024. It expired and the tenants should have left on March 28 2024. As the council advised them to stay put, they did, and we went to court late in 2024 whereby the tenant was ordered to give up possession of the property on or before December 30 2024. The council advised the tenants to stay put until the bailiffs arrived and, in the interim, offered to pay me thousands of pounds to keep the very same tenants in the very same property. I was tempted by the offer, but, anxious what the tenants may do if they found out I'd sold out to the offer from the council, I continued with the possession action. Fast forward to May 2025, and I finally got a date. The bailiffs are attending on June 19 2025 – precisely 449 days from when the Section 21 expired. When you take into consideration the date from when I actually served the notice, it's 514 days. Now, I know you're probably familiar with stories about tenants being hoofed out overnight by greedy landlords, their possessions scattered across the pavement, and I'm here to tell you it's all BS. And what is further twaddle is Labour's Renters' Reform Bill, which aims to abolish Section 21. I have no idea what the Labour Party think it's doing when it already takes an eternity to try and get your own property back. Without Section 21, I am just weeping at the number of tenants who will lose their homes as I – and many others – continue to sell up rather than remain in this insane industry. I only thank the property gods that my tenant is still paying rent and looking after the place. Just imagine the financial misery and hardship that would be put on a landlord if that wasn't the case. I know (as many readers continue to tell me) that I'm screaming into the wind, but I am going to yell very loudly all the same, because what is happening is truly bonkers. The latest Ministry of Justice figures show landlords waited over seven months on average to regain a property through the courts in the first three months of 2025. Obviously, that's an average and doesn't even take into account the colossal wait for a bailiff (add on an extra five months). But what my real-life case does demonstrate is how utterly broken the housing justice system is. It is ludicrous that Labour continues their rampage against private landlords in the face of such major problems. The Conservatives may have started this war on landlords, but at least they had the good sense to recognise how ill-prepared the system was and say: 'Hey, we better fix this before we pour more oil on the fire.' Write to me: secretlandlord@ Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
I'm finally about to regain control of my property
Regular readers of my column will likely remember the ongoing saga of my tenant eviction. To refresh your memory, it's the one where the tenants asked me to serve a Section 21 so they could get a council house. We will bypass the moral outrage and get to the meat of the story which is the Section 21 was issued on January 23 2024. It expired and the tenants should have left on March 28 2024. As the council advised them to stay put, they did, and we went to court late in 2024 whereby the tenant was ordered to give up possession of the property on or before December 30 2024. The council advised the tenants to stay put until the bailiffs arrived and, in the interim, offered to pay me thousands of pounds to keep the very same tenants in the very same property. I was tempted by the offer, but, anxious what the tenants may do if they found out I'd sold out to the offer from the council, I continued with the possession action. Fast forward to May 2025, and I finally got a date. The bailiffs are attending on June 19 2025 – precisely 449 days from when the Section 21 expired. When you take into consideration the date from when I actually served the notice, it's 514 days. Now, I know you're probably familiar with stories about tenants being hoofed out overnight by greedy landlords, their possessions scattered across the pavement, and I'm here to tell you it's all BS. And what is further twaddle is Labour's Renters' Reform Bill, which aims to abolish Section 21. I have no idea what the Labour Party think it's doing when it already takes an eternity to try and get your own property back. Without Section 21, I am just weeping at the number of tenants who will lose their homes as I – and many others – continue to sell up rather than remain in this insane industry. I only thank the property gods that my tenant is still paying rent and looking after the place. Just imagine the financial misery and hardship that would be put on a landlord if that wasn't the case. I know (as many readers continue to tell me) that I'm screaming into the wind, but I am going to yell very loudly all the same, because what is happening is truly bonkers. The latest Ministry of Justice figures show landlords waited over seven months on average to regain a property through the courts in the first three months of 2025. Obviously, that's an average and doesn't even take into account the colossal wait for a bailiff (add on an extra five months). But what my real-life case does demonstrate is how utterly broken the housing justice system is. It is ludicrous that Labour continues their rampage against private landlords in the face of such major problems. The Conservatives may have started this war on landlords, but at least they had the good sense to recognise how ill-prepared the system was and say: 'Hey, we better fix this before we pour more oil on the fire.'
