Letter I have written to equita/council re:paying council not equita - input please!!

[ninjamo]

Right ok, so I have written a draft letter that I'm going to send to Equita and the council regarding not paying them, but paying the council direct as i have only had one letter from them by post and already have £42.50 worth of fees on amount owed!!! If you lovely people could take a look and let me know if I need to change anything it would be most appreciated as I do feel like I'm fumbling around in the dark a bit with all this, so here goes.....

26th October 2007

Re: Unpaid Council Tax Arrears of £320.55
Property:XXXXXXXXXXXX

Dear Sir/Madam,

I understand xxxxxxxx City Council have appointed you to recover my Council Tax arrears of £320.55. A liability order has been passed to you that I had no notification of, and of which I was completely unaware.
I received a letter from you on 25/10/2007 stating that a liability order had been passed to you and you were to collect the sum of £363.05 – an amount already evident with unlawful and fraudulent additional costs of £42.50.

Firstly I would like to make you aware that I am fully aware of my rights and bailiffs will not gain entry to my home under any circumstances to levy goods and I know the fees allowed under statute and when these fees can be applied.

To be clear, I received no notification of a court summons or liability order from xxxxxxxxxxx City Council or the magistrates’ court prior to xxxxxxxxxx City Council passing this debt to you.

Although I am aware that payments should normally be made to you directly, on this occasion I have major concerns regarding this, as it would appear that from the very limited time you have had this debt, you have managed to apply additional fees of £42.50 without an adequate explanation.
Following a conversation I had on 25/10/07 with one of your advisors Joel, reachable (apparently, but to no joy since) on 01604258473 regarding payment arrangements, he could not give me a satisfactory explanation of what those fees were for, considering the only contact I have had from you is one letter received by post.

Due entirely to these circumstances, I have decided to pay the full amount owed, directly to xxxxxxxx City Council, as I have serious concerns that dealing with yourselves would lead to excessive and fraudulent fees that are not in line with statutory legislation.

I would also like to take this opportunity to ask you to provide me with a complete breakdown of your fees regarding this debt so far, which I am entitled to receive from you within 14 days.

Please be aware that at no time have I refused to pay my Council Tax arrears, and prior to your company being involved, regular payments were being made directly to xxxxxxxxx City Council.

I have sent a copy of this letter to xxxxxxxx City Council in addition to my full and final payment, and please be aware that a formal complaint has been made with the county court against yourselves and xxxxxxxxx City Council regarding appropriate procedures not being taken, concerning notifying me correctly regarding the liability order summons.



Yours Faithfully,

Also, apologies for my erratic posting about this over the last couple of days, just a bit stressed and the posting skills are obviosly some kind of medical condition associated with dealing with bailiffs!!!!

Any help or input regarding my letter would be most appreciated!!!
Thanks xxxx

[ChloeJane]

26th October 2007

Re: Unpaid Council Tax Arrears of £320.55
Property:XXXXXXXXXXXX

Dear Sir/Madam,

A liability order has been passed to you that I had no notification of, and of which I was completely unaware.

I understand xxxxxxxx City Council have appointed you to recover my Council Tax arrears of £320.55.

On 25/10/2007 I received a letter from you stating that a liability order had been passed to you and you were to collect the sum of £363.05. This amount demanded by you was with unlawful charges not incurred and not as part of regulation of £42.50.

Firstly I received no notification of a court summons or liability order from xxxxxxxxxxx City Council or the magistrates’ court prior to xxxxxxxxxx City Council passing this debt to you.

Secondly I am aware that payments should normally be made to you directly and that a cost for writing to me has been incurred.

Thirdly that it would appear that from the very limited time you have had this debt, you have managed to apply additional fees of £42.50 without an adequate explanation.

Following a conversation I had on 25/10/07 with one of your advisors Joel he was unable to give me a satisfactory explanation of what this fee of £42.50 is for and has not quantified the charge nor does it appear under the Regulations as being incurred.

On this basis I refuse to pay an amount that is not understood and as your Company is known to charge fees of an unlawful nature that are unwarranted and instruct Bailiffs to continue to visit and increase charges with merit, this is in my opinion tantamount to exhortion that demands can be made for monies with no explanation.

I have decided to pay the full amount owed, directly to xxxxxxxx City Council. I have grave concerns as to the honesty and integrity of your Company. My concern is that obviously it already appears unlawful fees have been charged and I do not trust any arrangement that I would have established with your Company or the Bailiff.

I will pay the only fee to date you have justifiably earnt in this matter which is the statutory fee for the letter you have sent. This is *** £ and I enclose a cheque for the full sum due and oweable to your Company.

I have sent a copy of this letter to xxxxxxxx City Council in addition to my full and final payment. Please be aware that a formal complaint has been made with the Court about your Company and xxxxxxxxx City Council regarding appropriate procedures not being taken, concerning notifying me correctly regarding the liability order summons.

In closing I am making a formal request to ask you to provide me with a complete breakdown of your fees regarding this debt to date, which I will allow 14 days for a return reply.

Yours Faithfully,




*** Your letter was great! Just changed a little....sorry hun. Hope you don't mind. The context was fantastic well done!!!!

The only changes I made were little and slight as often I can read the emotion of which I too, am guilty for when angered at dealing with the situation. Clear and concise and they will read that you mean what you say.

You do have to pay the letter fee. That is all they have earnt though, so don't try and get out of that or the whole thing will fall apart. The council will accept the matter as over if you pay the letter fee which is minimal really...considering if the Bailiff kept fees going!"

WELL DONE!!!!!

[dx100uk]

i notice a date of 25th oct, how long has this money been outstanding?
have you spoken to this council tax office about not receiving their
letters requiring payment?

there is an outside chance that if you go and speak to them direct & explain you did not receive their letters, they will accept payment in full and you can forget about the letter charge.

but if its been several months outstanding, then i agree with the other poster, 42.50 is a small price to pay.

dx100uk