Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
I had an agreement with the council to pay my council tax bill of £350.55 with monthly installments of £30.00
This commenced on 15/06/07 and we made the payments on that date, then 15/07/07 and 15/08/07 (bringing the amount owed to £260.55) . Towards the end of August I lost my job so we immediately called the council to see if we could miss a month and they said this was fine and sent us a new booklet. Many difficulties followed, with my partner losing his job and both of us doing various and not regular contract work that bought in hardly any money and leaving us not much time to hunt for permanent jobs (you know the usual crappy run-around you get from recruitment agencies) Anyway we constantly kept the coucil updated and weren't claiming any benefits so came to an arrangement that we could commence payments on 01/11/07 when hopefully we had arrived at a better financial grounding. We have both just started new permanant jobs and are due to be paid very soon so would have been able to commence CT payments or indeed pay the full thing off in one or two payments.
Today (25/10/07) I receive a letter from 'Equita certificatedbailiffs' reading.....
"A liability order has now been passed to us. We therefore require the sum of £363.05 by return of post.
Failure to dishcarge this debt will result in our bailiff calling without further notice to enforce order by seizing your goods and chattels, which will then be sold at public auction. This will involve considerable additional costs which will also become payable by you.
Please contact our office immediately on 08706060101 with your proposals for discharging this debt."
Me being silly, in a complete panic call them up and after a lovely conversation with a rude young whippersnapper by the name of 'Joel' find myself agreeing to call them tomorrow (when money is in bank) and pay them the sum of £50 followed by monthly installments of £50, which is fair enough in a way but I really DO NOT want to deal with these people. I have already incurred a charge of £42.50(!!!) apparently for the letter I received today and have no desire to receive any more- although I am non-plussed how I seem to owe them £102.50 extra, concluding that my CT bill owed was £260.55 and they are billing me for £363.05.
Is there any way I can pay the council direct and not have to deal with these people or anything that I can do?
Please excuse my ignorance as I have read a lot of other posts but cant seem to find much info regarding the '1st letter'.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards,
'An un-educated fool regarding council tax and bailiffs'
PS: Have I unwillingly entered into an agreement with them by agreeing to pay over the phone?
They are entitled to charge £24.50 for the first visit and £18 for a second visit. Nothing more unless you have let them in and signed a possession agreement. Sounds like the bailiff are trying their usual trick of conning unsuspecting members of the public.
DO NOT PHONE THEM! Write a letter telling them that as they attempted to defraud you you will no longer deal with them and you will pay the council directly. Copy the council in on the letter and either enclose a cheque with the council copy of the letter or, better still, make the payment by BACS or electronic payment to the council directly. Make sure you include wording along the lines of "I am in no way refusing to pay my council tax"
Equita Council Tax Bailiffs Problem
bailiffs
Reply With Quote