bailiffs and council tax help please

[lesley308]

can anyone help me with my problem? Had a bailiff turn up at the door on Thursday and demanding £1080 outstanding council tax bill. Obviously I said I didnt have it and he said in that case I need £200 as a deposit. To which I replied well I dont have that just now either. He said I have a week to get it to him. My husband phoned him when he got home from work and the lowest he will go to is £120 but my problem is that I dont work and my husband doesnt get paid for another 2 weeks yet. Is there any other way around this until he gets paid? Would be grateful for any advice anyone could give me. I didnt let the bailiff in the house if that helps anything?

Many thanks

Lesley

[questioning]

Hi,
A good thing to do so I have read is go and phone the council and see if you can get it put back in the hands of the council, apparently they can call the bailiffs off if you can come to an arrangement with the council.
In the meantime if the bailiff comes back don't let them in, no matter how they try & con you to get in. Don't even answer the door if you are uncomfortable doing so.
Also for up to date info search the forum for other threads relating to council tax & bailiffs.
I have had no personal experience with the bailiff companies that the council use, my experience was with the county court bailiffs, They were really good, after the first initial visit. I paid only a small amount when I wanted to usually once every two weeks. It took ages to pay a £300 ccj off. they never asked for proof of income & gave me no hassle at all.
Try not to worry, I'm sure someone else will come through with more info, especially some one who has experience of this.
I would definitely phone the council on Tuesday though.
Don't let it spoil your week end.

[lesley308]

well i phoned the council yesterday and they said its been passed to the bailiffs and thats it, you have to deal with them not us as we wont take it back!

We never had any letters or anything previous to this so turning up on the doorstep the other day was a bit of a shock!

[questioning]

Originally Posted by lesley308

well i phoned the council yesterday and they said its been passed to the bailiffs and thats it, you have to deal with them not us as we wont take it back!

We never had any letters or anything previous to this so turning up on the doorstep the other day was a bit of a shock!

What bailiffs 'can' and 'cant' do?
Have you read this, I see you read the sticky today.

I'm sorry to hear that, perhaps it depends where you live or how old the debt is, I have no idea but I have read that this is what you can do & I've read it a few different places.
I would have thought they would have notified you that they were putting it in the hands of the bailiff.
Do you know if you actually do owe the amount that they are claiming,
Had you tried making an arrangement with the council to pay this?
At the end of the day they can't get blood out of a stone.
Do some more reading, I actually answered my own question the other day with a bit more reading in the right place.
someone will come along soon with some sound advice that you will be able to rely on.

[dropit]

I used to work in council tax and we would not pass to bailiff until all other methods of recovery had been exhausted. The account could not be passed to bailiff until a summons had been issued and gone to court but this was several years ago so may have changed. I am sure if you can prove that you have not received any correspondance, it can be passed back to the council., however it used to be that the bailiff will make an arrangement, they work for the council and have to stay within the law.
Hope this helps!

[MARTIN3030]

Baliffs are usually used if an agreement to pay has not been kept to and where an enforcement order has been given.
Accounts will almost always be taken back by the council after attempts to collect by the baliffs have failed (this can be up to 6 months) or where a genuine mistake can be shown to have occured.
The Baliffs are obliged to follow codes of contact and they are charged with collection according to their remit.There are circumstances that have to be taken into account.A list of what these entail as well as other good info can be found in stickies at the top of the debt forums.
Most councils now offer online payment for council services,and its possible to make payments in this way,although the £120 would fall well short of arrears,it may be enough to ask them to consider entering a repayment arrangement providing you can clearly show them that they did not notify you of action.Failing this you have the option of holding off by keeping windows closed and refusing to deal with the Baliffs.The council will argue that in any event you must have known that you were in arrears and showed no intentions to pay.
Its essential that you read up on information that will brief you of your rights.In the meantime keep records of all communications between yourself the council and the Baliffs-including any notifications that come through your door.Keep your thread updated.
If you are absolutely certain that the Council did not give you opportunity to arrange to pay this,then you should inform them that you will make a Subject Access Request which will prove it....and follow up with a complaint to the local Ombudsman...if they HAVE boobed here....they will deal with you on hearing this.

[lesley308]

i think the problem is that it was for a previous address and thats probably why we havent heard anything. Im pretty sure they said it had already been to court.
Im not disputing what they say we owe or anything just need a bit longer to get hold of the £120 he is wanting. All ive got right now is money for food shopping which is cut down to bare minimum just now anyway, you know the usual beans on toast etc!
I just wouldnt like him to turn up, us not have the money and then them taking my husbands car (not that its worth much) but he needs it to get to work

[MARTIN3030]

There will be additional charges for the baliff...probably much more than the 120 he is asking for.By entering that he is almost certainly going to want to do a walking order.I suggest paying the 120 to the council online and then going to speak with them.

[questioning]

Originally Posted by lesley308

i think the problem is that it was for a previous address and thats probably why we haven't heard anything. Im pretty sure they said it had already been to court.
Im not disputing what they say we owe or anything just need a bit longer to get hold of the £120 he is wanting. All Ive got right now is money for food shopping which is cut down to bare minimum just now anyway, you know the usual beans on toast etc!
I just wouldn't like him to turn up, us not have the money and then them taking my husbands car (not that its worth much) but he needs it to get to work

On the first occasion when cc bailiffs came to me for enforcement of ccj, my husbands not mine, I wasn't in, the car was parked outside and they stuck a walking possessions note( which we never signed) through saying that if we didn't pay by a certain time that they would take the car & wrote the reg. no. down.
I phoned them and they said my hubby uses the car for work and said no way do we have the money and after that they were OK, as i stated in my previous post.
Speak to the bailiff again and offer only what you can afford and when he knows you are offering what you can afford he will probably come to an arrangement with you to pay it off.
Did you leave a forwarding address when you moved, if so its not your fault you didn't receive there letters and that will go in your favour.
In the meantime, lock your car away in the garage & if you don't have a garage then park it away from your house where the bailiff won't think of looking and that way they won't know where it is, I know its hassle but you could do this if you are that worried & just while you are trying to sort it out.
Stick to your guns and tell the bailiff your car is used for work, but don't park it near your house.
Hope this helps

[MARTIN3030]

Agreed.
Tools of trade can be very hard to interpret.
There was a case of A taxi driver who thought his car was safe.The baliffs took it and he challenged it.His arguement was that he needed this to make his living.However a Court ruled that he could have carried on his work by hiring another car.
The rules are not as clear as we would all like.
Sadly you must now remember to do things that you have never had to do before...I hope you can sort it quickly.
Having to keep windows and doors closed in the Summer is not a very nice experience...as is having children who are used to leaving doors and windows open.....its normal.

[questioning]

Council Tax and Bailiffs.

Post 9 in particular is interesting in this above thread, you should have a read, if you haven't already,
I'll have a look for some examples of threads relating to yours, I'll let you know if I find any.
Just remember, windows shut and lock up when you go out, and keep the car out of the way, and you will I'm sure get an arrangment to pay in the form of what you can afford, eventually.

POST 6 Is good info for you in this thread, to do with getting the debt back in the councils hands!
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...need-help.html

[MARTIN3030]

Dont let them spoil your bank holiday Lesley

[zarzee]

Please help me the bailiff came round today as a second visit at first i owed £274.29 and he added £24.50 first visit charge this is for council tax and now he said i owe altogether £530.97 i am really worried he said he will be back in 2 days and take my car if i dont pay him, my car is still on fiance can he take it ? i am so scared as my husband is away from home and i dont no what to do , i phoned the balif and said can he come back as he had only just driven away from my house and sort it out and he said that he is not willing to drope the added on amounts even abit so i can pay him what i owe today so i put the phone down i am so worried about him coming back thursday and taking my car PLEASE can some one help me

[questioning]

Hi there,
First of all you need to open your own thread so that your problem doesn't get confused with the OP' Lesley 308's problem.
You are likely to get more response if you start yor own thread as people who can help will see it as a new post.
Please read this thread for advise and the links contained in it.
Also national debtline has a very good section all about bailiffs which will answer some of your concerns.
You can find it here Bailiffs | Debt Advice Trust

For the time being follow the advise found in this thread, links and PARK YOUR CAR AWAY FROM YOUR HOUSE WHERE IT WILL NOT EASILY BE FOUND, they won't go looking very far for it I wouldn't of thought, if at all. OR PARK IT UP AT SOME FRIENDS HOUSE OR GARAGE.

Only offer the biliff what you can afford he should give you tme to pay & not just take your car in the first instance. The link at nat. debt line will tell you what they can & can't do.
For breathing space once your car is out of the way don't answer the door to bailiff you do not have to and DO NOT LET THEM IN. you can talk through your window if you want.
I have just copied this from another post on the forum I think this info is from national debt line originally, ( I think) Here it is What if the bailiff does seize goods that do not belong to me?
If a bailiff seizes goods that are subject to a Hire Purchase agreement, seek advice urgently. Goods on HP do not belong to you until you make the final payment, but there may be circumstances in which they can be seized.
If goods have been seized wrongfully, then the owner of the goods can apply for them to be returned. You will need to get further advice about this.

[tomtubby]

Zaree

Once you have started a new thread I can respond. At the moment your question is getting confused with the previos thread.

In the meantime can you please send me a private message with the name of the bailiff and the company he works for and I will search our register of bailiffs for you to check that he is legally certificated.