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Hi All

 

I wonder if anyone can comment further on the vulnerable status and what difference it makes to the councils action.

I had a bailiff visit today. I refused to let him in so he said "okay I'll give you five days"

 

I'm really worried. I am on the sick at the moment with depression. The council are aware of this yet they have still sent a bailiff.

 

We do owe the money and it has come about due to loss of income due to my illness.

 

We also have an adopted daughter who is eight and would be extremely distressed by bailifs coming into the house.

 

I don't know what to do or even what my options are.

My wife works but her income although reasonable, isn't enough for us to pay £1,600 just before Christmas.

 

We had two liability orders and paid one in full a few months ago but couldn't pay the second one.

 

I did communicate with the council and they promised to send me I&E forms but it took two further emails over about six weeks until they eventually emailed them to me.

 

How can I stop this bailiff returning to take our stuff in 5 days.

 

I have been getting better but this is making my depression worsen again.

 

Any help would be most appreciated

 

Thank you

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Hi and welcome to cag:

 

Firstly...if you have mental health issues that prevent you from working and you can get a letter to support that from your GP, then you must write to the head of revenues at your Council with the supporting evidence and ask they take the debt back in house due to your vulnerable status, suggest you can afford to pay xxx per month as this is both affordable to and sustainable by you., remind them you have previously provided them with an I & E showing the amount you are offering is all you can afford.

 

 

 

Moving on to the debt and Bailiffs visit : You say you owe £1600 ....is this what the Council say is owed or is it what the bailiff says is owed?

 

 

 

If it is the bailiffs figures you have been given then you need to contact the Council and ask:

 

1 - how many Liability Orders they have

2 - the dates they were obtained

3 - the periods of time they covered

4 - the amount that was owing

5 - the amount that is outstanding

6 - the date it was passed over for enforcement

 

Did the attending bailiff gain entry to your home to carry out a levy on any of your goods?

If the answer is no...then as long as you deny him entry and he does not get to levy on goods outside your home (cars are seen as good eating) then you can make regular payments online to the Council and ignore the bailiff.

 

You will need to budget £42.50 for his fees in your payments but as long as you make regular payment..same day /date every week/month he has no power to break in...unless the Council seek such an order through the Court..and even then this is rarely given, attend with a locksmith "bullsh*t," arrest you "ditto", take your kids into care "ditto", put your granny on the moon "ditto"

 

WD

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Hi Wonkeydonkey

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

I didn't let him in but our car was in the drive. It's an 18 year old Astra so it's not worth much but we rely on it to take my daughter to school as it's about 5 miles from our home.

 

Dealing with the Council has been a nightmare to be honest as they never do what they say without several requests. I recorded the first call for evidence as I knew they would screw up and all further communication has been via email so proving their incompetence (should I need to) is not a problem.

 

I already have the relevant sick note as well as a letter of support from my doctor so I will send it to them by recorded delivery and ask the questions you suggest too.

 

Thanks again

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The above is step one, if you get no satisfaction to this next letter then you will have to step up a level and send a Formal Complaint to the CEO at the Council.

Meanwhile I suggest you work out what you can afford and start to make payments regularly, online direct to the Council, this shows you are as you say a 'can't pay' as opposed to being a 'won't pay' and shows a willimgness to settle the debt.

Come back here when you have the answers to the above questions and caggers will be able to see what is actually owed and if the bailiff has tried to shop for Xmas at your expense!!!

 

WD

Edited by wonkeydonkey
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as aboth no they can not take you goods as long as you do not let the sc-----m in they pray on pepole not nowing there rights but on here you will find lots of saport regarding your rights, remeber the live of bonases they cart get proper jobs and its getting near exmass

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Make sure you send proof of vulnerability to the council, you could email the bailiffs and ssend a scan of any letter from GP etx, never phone a bailiff unless you can record the call.

 

If he comes back, don't let him in, and if you can hide the car so much the better, as you need to deny him the opportunity to levy goods.

 

Others can no doubt help further.

We could do with some help from you.

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The bailiff: A 12th Century solution re-branded as Enforcement Agents for the 21st Century to seize and sell debtors goods as before Oh so Dickensian!

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And don't forget to have a peek at Bristow & Suters website. This will tell you which professional organisation they belong to. (Not that that matters per se as they are toothless). However the organisation they have signed up to will state in their code of conduct that members will adhere to the National Standards re vulnerable people. Just a usefull something to quote when they say they can't help ...

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If they ignore the vulnerability once youhave sent the proof or otherwise shilly-shally and delay, you should be ready to issue a Formal Complaint to head of Revenues, the council CEO, elected leader councillor and MP

We could do with some help from you.

PLEASE HELP US TO KEEP THIS SITE RUNNING EVERY POUND DONATED WILL HELP US TO KEEP HELPING OTHERS

Have we helped you ...?         Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

If you want advice on your thread please PM me a link to your thread

The bailiff: A 12th Century solution re-branded as Enforcement Agents for the 21st Century to seize and sell debtors goods as before Oh so Dickensian!

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  • 5 months later...

Hi

 

I've just received a bailiff letter claiming they intend to visit my house and take away goods if I don't pay. I am recovering from a long period of depression but this has now set me back again.

 

The letter relates to Council tax on two properties. The first property I left in 2006 and the bill is for a few months tax in both 2000 and 2005. It's quite a small amount.

 

The second property is a flat that my wife and I let. It is currently unlet and unfurnished due to previous problems with a tenant who didn't pay rent for a year and left the property in a state. We have been unable to afford to do the work required to relet it as of yet but hope to soon.

 

The council are aware it is unoccupied as I wrote to them in May (by recorded delivery).

 

So my understanding is that I should not be liable for any council tax on an empty property.

 

With regard to the first property I thought all bills had been paid in full so it's come as a surprise. They have spelt both my first and last name wrong on the council tax document. For some reason adding an "e" in both cases. Does this in any way invalidate the document?

 

I am currently under my doctor for depression and am finding dealing with this very difficult. From previous posts I believe we are supposed to be treated as a vulnerable family as we also have an adopted child who has some special emotional needs.

 

My mental state is so bad that I am very forgetful and I have misplaced the letter from the bailiff so I am going to call the council now to get the details again. Should I write to the council and CC the bailiff?

 

My question then is what do I do to defend this?

 

Thank you in advance for any help.

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any payments direct to council online or automated phone line

 

keep bailiffs out don't let them in

 

council should take the debt back contact your local Councillor and MP if council refuse to do anything about it

If i have helped in any way hit my star.

any advice given is based on experience and learnt from this site :-)

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Who is the bailiff company that is dealing with this.

 

Did you contact the council?

 

I am sure that you may find that you have to pay Council tax at a reduced rate even if the property is unoccupied, I am just going to check this out.

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Just found this, it should apply to you.

 

property which is empty. This means it has to be unoccupied. The property also has to be substantially unfurnished. The exemption applies for a maximum of six months and the property has to be vacant for the whole of this period (although up to six weeks of occupation during the period is allowed)

property which is vacant because it needs major repairs or alterations to make it habitable. The exemption applies for a maximum of 12 months whether the work is actually finished or not by then

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Hi seanamarts

 

Thanks, it certainly does apply to us. Can you give me a link to where you found it?

 

I wrote to the Council twice previously informing them that the property was empty and unoccupied.

I've just had another look at the original Council tax form and they have applied 10% discount for the property being "empty but furnished."

They've got it wrong obviously. The only thing in the property is an old table which is being used for tools/ paint etc.

 

I've also just received a summons to appear in court for this property so I'm confused as to how the Bailiff already has a liability order before we've even been to court?

 

I emailed the Council on Wednesday and the bailiff on Thursday (after finding their letter again). I marked the emails urgent and indicated that we are a vulnerable family but neither have replied yet.

The Council paper work conveniently has no phone number, just a fax hence my email.

 

Calling the bailiff was an interesting experience. I was asked the usual question about reference or case number to which I replied that I just wanted an email address for the company so that I could write to them. The lady then asked who I was and I replied that I didn't want to get into a discussion about anything but just needed an email address. She was so rude, telling me she wouldn't give me it as I was refusing to tell her who I was.

 

She suggested I could get the email address from their web site. So I asked for the web address and, having made the suggestion, she refused to give me the address of the site unless I told her who I was. This went on for a while and then she said I would have to google it if I wanted the web address to get the email address!

 

I can't believe how she acted or understand why she felt the need to be so rude and obstructive. What was the problem with giving me an email address to write to?

 

So I await the replies to my email.

 

Cheers

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http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/tax_e/tax_council_tax_ew/council_tax.htm#Propertiesexemptfromcounciltax

 

This is where I got the details from, but your councils web site should have these same details.

If this matter has not yet been to court then the bailiff should not be yet involved and no liability order issued.

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  • 2 weeks later...

After two letters (without reply), 3 emails (without reply) and a further form sent from the councils website (without reply) my wife called but got cut off. So she called the bailiff and told them our position.

 

Finally, the council email to say they were removing one of the liabilities as they could see the property was empty. No apology for the stress caused or time taken to respond.

 

In line with a lot of advice I've seen given here on the forums I have asked for the details of liability orders (amounts,m dates, bailiffs etc). I have three questions:

 

1. What happens if they don't supply this within 14 days?

2. In what way does this info help?

3. Can the bailiffs still proceed whilst this information has not been provided?

 

 

Thanks for all help

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Oh one more think

 

Is the liability order still legally valid if they misspell my name?

 

This happens to me a lot with both first and forename.

 

If they have put Smith instead of Smyth then no but if it is Brown instead of Black then yes.

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  • 6 months later...

I'm desperate for some good advice on this.

 

I've tried really hard to be reasonable with the Council but I'm astonished at their tactics including advising me not to attend court.

 

Early last year we almost lost our rental property due to a tenant not paying rent for months. We took a serious financial hit due to the lack of rent and damage done to the property.

 

The tenant committed housing benefit fraud as well as fraudulent electricity purchases. Yes he was claiming benefit and yet not paying the rent.

 

The work required to get the flat in order was substantial so I requested an extenuation to the six month council tax xxxxx.

 

I requested it but the Council did not respond. So I asked again and again no reply. They did reply to some of my emails but failed to deal with my request for an extension as well as avoiding all questions relating to the fraud. WIth probably close to 20 emails they have not once acknowledged that i have even raised the matter of fraud. It's incredible.

 

I now have to attend court on Monday (a 120 mile round trip) and I'm angry that the only reason we are at this stage is their complete incompetence.

 

Now after several calls and recent emails trying to get them to adjourn while discuss the matter they have informed me that the court date is a formality for them to obtain a liability order and there is no need for me to attend as I won't be able to speak in the court. They told me its not a public hearing and I won't be allowed in as only their officers are allowed in the court (or words to that effect)

 

When I challenged them stating the summons reads "you are herby summoned to appear" they said that's just legal speak and I wouldn't bother going but it's up to you.

 

I've been requesting the Councils co-operation since March 2012 and here we are at court on Monday all of which could have been avoided.

 

 

I recorded the calls (all 3 of them today) with two advising me not to bother going.

 

 

What do I do?

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