Equita Charges?????

[waynejg]

Hi all, defaulted on my council tax towards the back end of last year,council took me to court. Didn't hear anything till the 3rd week in january when i got a letter stating a bailiff would be calling to remove my goods. I phoned Equita to propose payment and was refused as it was now with a bailiff and gave me his number. I phoned him and he agreed a payment plan of £60 per month which 1st payment was made on January 22nd. My mother was taken into hospital around the time the next payment was due which i missed due to the chaos around me at that time. On 9th March my wife was greeted at the door at 3.18pm by a bailiff. She told him i would phone him the next morning because i was at work,he left a "REMOVAL NOTICE" with his name and number on it.Upon phoning him and explaining the situation with him and offering to pay £60 now he refused and said he would ring council and ask them.He rang back and said no but due to the circumstances the council would give me 14 days to pay.Following day i received this years council tax bill stating i still owed £516.67 from last year as from 28th February. This was the only figure that i had to work with as the bailiffs letter did not state it. 2 days later i sold our car to my brother for £520 to pay them. On saturday 14th March i had a letter from Equita telling me that a bailiff would be visiting to remove goods dated 9th March(the same day he had already been out)unless i pay immediately. I phoned bailiff on 23rd March to inform him i had the money to which he came round to collect. When he came he asked for £687.67. He said the extra was for charges. I asked him that if i had paid when i got the notification of his visit how much was payable,he replied £516.67. So i was not given the chance to pay and not incurr these charges. He took the £520 and said he would be back within 4 days to collect the rest. I contacted Equita asking about these charges and got email back saying they would contact me by post within 14 days. The bailiff came back on the friday and i ignored the door. Equita's response was basically saying i had not kept up payments so their actions was justified and the bailiff had identified a car, a silver ford fiesta reg number **** ***. Contacted them again to ask for a complete breakdown of all charges backed up by my M.P. Same auto response stating 14 days again dated April 7th. On April 18,had another "REMOVAL NOTICE" delivered, followed by their response on April 24th showing my charges which are;

debt £534.17

visit fees £ 42.50

levy fees £ 41.00

enforcement fee £130.00

card processing fee £ 1.00

TOTAL £748.67

 

Payments made

 

22/01/09 £61.00

27/03/09 £520.00

 

Balance outstanding £167.67 to be paid by May 1st.

 

 

My problems with these charges are;

visit fees, only had 1 visit

levy fees, the car was not there on 9th March as i was at work

enforcement fee, do not know what this is.

 

Never had any notice that the car had been levied until the correspondence from Equita dated the 4th april which i sold to pay them. The new owner has rang the bailiff to inform him that he owned the car. The bailiff said ok but did tell the new owner that it was levied upon on the 9th March.

 

Sorry it was so long, just wanted to put in all the information so somebody could advise me what to do next.

 

Thanx

[Guest Happy Contrails]

Your post doesn't give the amount of original council tax due. Deduct £61.00 and £520.00 and that is all you owe to the council. If you didn't sign any walking possessions agreement then you have not agreed to a walking possessions agreement and no fees are due.

 

Strangely enough there is no law obligating you to do business with a bailiff, your obligation is only to the council.

 

The law prescribing bailiffs fees for collecting unpaid council tax is the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 and it provides £24.00 for one visit. No other bailiff's fees can lawfully be charged if a bailiff has not moved your goods in a vehicle and you have not signed any document consenting to a fee or agreed to pay them.

 

The bailiff has committed fraud by false representation and you have a right to make a compliant to police because it is a criminal offence under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.

 

Phone the Ministry of Justice Public Register of Bailiffs on 020 3334 6355 and ask which court issued his certificate, then download the complaint form http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/form4_0606.pdf and send the form to the certificating court enclosing supporting evidence such as the bailiffs document showing the unlawful fees and any amounts paid.

 

With either complaint, say what you have said in your above post.

 

Approach the council and offer to pay the balance directly to them and quickly escalate to the Local Government Ombudsman if you are fobbed off with excuses by the council. The council wont like being caught hiring bailiffs who have been found cheating taxpayers with bogus fees. Make it clear you are contacting the local media and telling them their bailiff contractor is a fraudster and a cheat.

[waynejg]

Just to add. Can i ask for proof of the supposed visits

[waynejg]

thanx happy. Would i needed to have signed something or been given something when he supposedly levied upon car

[ooberj]

thanx happy. Would i needed to have signed something or been given something when he supposedly levied upon car

 

In the same boat just discovered I have paid over 700 in fees and will be fighting to get it back.