On 1 May 2026, the fees enforcement agents can charge changed for the first time in over a decade. Fixed fees rose across every stage, the debt thresholds for percentage fees increased, and the compliance-stage notice period doubled from 7 to 14 days. The new scale applies to writs and warrants lodged on or after 1 May 2026.
The changes come from the Taking Control of Goods (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026, which amend the 2014 Fees Regulations. If you are a creditor recovering a debt, a landlord instructing enforcement, or someone facing it, the fee you pay now depends on when the case was lodged and which stage it reaches. Strikes Property Services handles enforcement under the new scale daily; this guide sets out exactly what changed.
What changed under the 2026 Regulations
The 2026 Regulations increased fixed enforcement fees by roughly 5% across all stages, raised the debt thresholds above which percentage fees apply (to £1,900 for non-High Court and £1,200 for High Court cases), and doubled the compliance-stage notice period from 7 to 14 clear days. The changes took effect on 1 May 2026.
This was the first fee increase since the original scale was set in 2014 – a gap of 12 years. Three things changed at once: the fixed fees themselves, the thresholds that trigger additional percentage fees, and the amount of time a debtor has to respond before an agent can visit. Each is covered in detail below.
What are the three enforcement fee stages?
Non-High Court enforcement runs through three fee stages: the compliance stage (administrative work after the Notice of Enforcement), the enforcement stage (the agent’s visit to take control of goods), and the sale or disposal stage (removing and selling goods). High Court enforcement has four stages, splitting enforcement into a first and second stage.
The stage a case reaches determines the total fee. Every case starts at the compliance stage, and resolving it there is by far the cheapest outcome for everyone.
The number of stages differs between the two enforcement routes:
- Non-High Court (county court judgments, liability orders, most warrants): three stages – Compliance, Enforcement, Sale or Disposal.
- High Court (writs of control): four stages – Compliance, First Enforcement (ES1), Second Enforcement (ES2), Sale or Disposal.
The High Court split exists because High Court enforcement carries a higher cost base, and the two-stage structure is designed to encourage payment or a controlled goods agreement before goods are physically secured.
When can an enforcement agent move from stage one to stage two?
Under the 2026 Regulations, a High Court agent cannot move from the first enforcement stage to the second simply by making a single visit. Where no contact is made on the first attendance, the agent must give the debtor another opportunity to pay in full or enter a repayment arrangement or controlled goods agreement before progressing to ES2.
The second enforcement stage begins when goods are physically secured. Critically, the ES2 fee cannot be recovered if the debtor pays in full or agrees an instalment arrangement during or after the first contact – so a debtor who engages at the first visit avoids the ES2 fee entirely.
How much have enforcement fees increased?
Fixed fees rose across all stages on 1 May 2026. The tables below show the old and new fees for each route:
Non-High Court fee scale
| Stage | Old fixed fee | New fixed fee | Percentage fee |
| Compliance | £75 | £79 | 0% |
| Enforcement | £235 | £247 | 7.5% above £1,900 |
| Sale or disposal | £110 | £116 | 7.5% above £1,900 |
High Court fee scale
| Stage | Old fixed fee | New fixed fee | Percentage fee |
| Compliance | £75 | £79 | 0% |
| First enforcement (ES1) | £190 | £200 | 7.5% above £1,200 |
| Second enforcement (ES2) | £495 | £520 | 0% |
| Sale or disposal | £525 | £550 | 7.5% above £1,200 |
The percentage fee rate itself remained unchanged at 7.5%. Note that the second enforcement stage carries no percentage fee – only a fixed fee.
What are the new value thresholds for enforcement percentage fees?
A 7.5% percentage fee applies to the portion of a debt above a set threshold. From 1 May 2026 those thresholds rose – to £1,900 for non-High Court cases (from £1,500) and £1,200 for High Court cases (from £1,000). Because the fee only applies above the threshold, raising it means fewer debtors pay percentage fees.
This is the point most often misunderstood: raising the threshold reduces fees for affected debtors, it doesn’t increase them. The 7.5% is charged only on the amount exceeding the threshold, so a higher threshold means a smaller portion of the debt is subject to the percentage fee.
| Route | Old threshold | New threshold |
| Non-High Court | £1,500 | £1,900 |
| High Court | £1,000 | £1,200 |
What are the new enforcement notice period and protection changes?
The compliance-stage notice period doubled from 7 to 14 clear days on 1 May 2026. Individual debtors can have this extended to at least 28 days if a recognised debt-advice provider requests it on their behalf. The extension does not apply to business debts.
The longer notice period gives individuals more time to pay, seek advice, or agree a repayment plan before an agent visits – keeping cases at the cheaper compliance stage. Alongside this:
- Debt-advice extension: Where a recognised debt advisor requests it for an individual debtor, the notice period extends to a minimum of 28 clear days. Businesses are excluded from this extension.
- Breathing Space: The Debt Respite Scheme remains a separate protection, giving eligible individuals in problem debt legal protection from enforcement while they seek advice. It is distinct from the 28-day extension above.
- Vulnerable debtors: Enforcement-stage fees are not recoverable against a vulnerable debtor who has not been given the opportunity to seek advice.
Which writs and warrants do the new enforcement fees apply to?
The new fee scale applies to writs and warrants of control lodged with the enforcement company on or after 1 May 2026. Any writ, warrant, or liability order lodged before that date continues under the old fee scale until the case concludes.
The dividing line is the lodging date, not the date of any visit or payment. A case lodged on 30 April 2026 runs to completion on the old fees; an otherwise identical case lodged on 1 May 2026 runs on the new fees. This applies across High Court writs of control and non-High Court warrants alike.
How do the new enforcement fees work for linked cases
Where an enforcement agent manages multiple cases against the same debtor at the same time, a transitional ‘split’ mechanism applies if the instruction dates straddle the 1 May 2026 timeline.
If the earliest case in the bundle was instructed before 1 May 2026, the old fee scale and old percentage thresholds (£1,500 for non-High Court/ £1,000 for High Court) carry over to apply to the shared enforcement and sale stages. However, any new warrant or writ issued on or after 1 May 2026 will incur the new £79 fee for its own distinct compliance stage.
This framework ensures that while creditors can still link cases to save on redundant visit fees, individual actions are charged under the correct compliance rules relative to when they were launched.
Why have enforcement fees only increased now?
The 2026 increase was the first since the fee scale was introduced in 2014 – a gap of 12 years. When the original regulations came in, fees were intended to be reviewed regularly, but no routine mechanism was ever put in place, and the fees fell well behind inflation over the following decade.
The 2026 Regulations do not introduce automatic annual increases either. Instead, the government has committed to reviewing the fees and thresholds every three years, with the next review due in 2029.
How Strikes Property Services Can Help
Creditors and landlords often underestimate how much the fee stage a case reaches affects total recovery cost. Cases resolved at the compliance stage cost far less than those running through to sale.
I founded Strikes Property Services in 2012 after a career as a certificated enforcement agent. I understand the Taking Control of Goods fee structure inside out – including the 2026 changes. My team handles enforcement under High Court writs of control and commercial debt recovery across England and Wales.
Key deliverables when working with Strikes:
- Enforcement under writs and warrants of control – correctly staged, correctly charged
- Compliance-stage recovery to resolve debts before fees escalate
- High Court and county court enforcement routes
- Transparent fee handling under the 2026 Regulations
- End-to-end support from instruction to recovered debt
If you need help recovering a debt through enforcement, contact Strikes Property Services today.
