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 trouble paying my council tax bill and got behind on payments last year, the council sent it to Equita. This year i missed 1 payment and they sent it to Equita.
I contacted Equita and one of the bailiffs' came down and made a verbal arrangement with me, he said that once he got back to the office he would authorise it. I did hear from him for a while, so i contacted him again and his reply was "if you havent got the paperwork, then you cant pay it!". I was shocked.
I left it for a few days and then contacted him again, this time he told me that my case had been passed onto another bailiff, and to contact the office and they would give me the details.
I did exactly what he said and contacted the office and then contacted the new bailiff. I explained that i had made a verbal agreement with the previous bailiff. He said he would look into it and contact me.
I waited by no phone call, i left several messages but still nothing, i contacted the office but they couldnt discuss anything!!!
I was told that i could claim council tax benefit, so i did and asked for it to be backdated.
1 1/2 months later i was told that my benefit claim had been accepted and it would be backdated.
I tried to confirm this with the bailiff office but they said that they had no contact with the council regarding this. I phoned the council and they said all the information had been passed to the bailiffs and my council tax arrears have been cleared.
Today, whilst i was out i had a visit from the bailiff, demanding £230. The original amount was £45.14, which i had confirmed from the council this morning.
The bailiff refuses to listen to me and wants me to pay in full, which is impossible. I asked him if we could make an arrangement over the phone, he said no. He would need to levy my goods first. I said that i wouldnt let him in the house, this is when he refused to talk to me and terminated the phone call.
I am really stressed out with this and need some advice. I have a car parked on my drive, would he need to levy that first or could he just clamp it and tow it away, when he nexts pays me a visit, or shall i say when i next pay him to pay me a visit.
Park the car away from the house is my first thought.
Not sure if it's of use but when we had problems with council tax and waited 18 months for a benefit claim we finally got our MP involved and it was sorted out really quickly. MP's can question the actions of local government officers.
Hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge about bailiffs will help you further.
if i understand correctly you say that after you found you were granted council tax benefits that the council had confirmed that the debt had been cleared. If that is correct then surely there is nothing for equita to collect. The only thing as i understand it that you would be liable for is any costs they incurred up to the point that the debt was cleared. these charges a laid down by the and they cannot charge above these fees. they can charge for maximum 2 visist £22.50 for the first and £18.5 for the second and thats all. they may also be able to charge a nominal amount for correspondence sent. If they try and charges you for the attendance of a van, they cannot do this unless they have levied goods,
Firstly if a bailiff calls do not let him in. keep all doors and windows shut. Ask to see a current certificate issued by the courts to check he is registered to collect such liabilities, also ask for id to make sure he is who he says. tell him the charges are in dispute and you will deal directly with the council until they (equita) validate their charges. do not pay them anything until the charges are validated
write to equita and ask them for a detailed Breakdown of charges giving dates and times and details of things for which they are trying to charge.tell there are some template letters in the stick
Write to the council and advise them of your issues with equita complaining about teh charges they have levied. ask themto confirm that the debt is cleared.
they tried to charge me £300 above my council tax debt, i paid the council directly, challenged the charges and got them down to £41 thanks to great advice from this site and its members.
if i have made any incorrect statements i am sure some one better advised will correct me
Actions in progress Natw West on hold pending test case LLoyds claim 3 on hold pending test case,
Claims Settled LLOYDS TSB x 2 WON, MBNAWON, A&LWON, GE Money x 2 WON , c o-op visa WON, capital one visaWON, Halifax (o/h) WON, capquest, WON
thanks for the advice, i have moved the car away, and decided that i will pay the original charge of £45.14, by visiting their office in town and they can shove their charges were the sun dont shine.
The council explained that the council tax has been cleared and that the £45.14 is court costs etc???? They cleared the outstanding council tax but not the court costs!!!!
The bailiff said that even though the amount outstanding has been reduced by the council, they are still gonna charge me for all charges since they have been handling the account.
oh yeah i forgot to mention, i have only received one letter, which i acted upon as a matter of urgency, so i dont know what happened to the rest, maybe the staff at royal mail took them!!!
According to them they have written me several letters???!!!!
if there are court costs then i would have thought these too could be paid directly to the council as these are the costs they themselves incurred ? not sure but worth checking, so speak to the council again.
from what you have said they should only be able to charge you for one visit, and one letter. So write to equita and dispute their charges, ask them for a detailed Breakdown of these charges, then you will be able to challenge these costs and pay only what they are legally entitled to charge. You can check their breakdown against info on national debtline. If the bailiff calls again tell him the same.
If they dont give you this information then send them an SAR.
Actions in progress Natw West on hold pending test case LLoyds claim 3 on hold pending test case,
Claims Settled LLOYDS TSB x 2 WON, MBNAWON, A&LWON, GE Money x 2 WON , c o-op visa WON, capital one visaWON, Halifax (o/h) WON, capquest, WON
Equita again
' came down and made a verbal arrangement with me, he said that once he got back to the office he would authorise it. I did hear from him for a while, so i contacted him again and his reply was "if you havent got the paperwork, then you cant pay it!". I was shocked.
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