I am currently in a dispute with the bailiffs with regards to a warrant they were issued for non payment of non domestic rates.

The first letter was left at my parents address, not sure of the date, but I no longer live there, I was left a letter at my current address, not sure how the bailiff got this, but this was on the 7th Sept, I paid the non domestic rates bill to the council, via paypoint, on the 7th, and was surprised to find on the 9th a final demand letter posted stating that the debt was now reduced to their costs, and folded in this letter was a levy, which was apparently done on the 2nd sept, but had changes maked on it in the same colour pen as the notice posted on the 9th.

I wrote to the bailiffs after taking advice from the bailiff advice online website, asking them to justify their costs as the levy was on a vehicle, registration was wrong, colour was wrong and model was wrong, plus the vehicle was used solely for business purposes. I also asked them to provide me with the court and date of the bailiffs certificate.

I then received a letter on the 26th oct sating that the final notice amount now due was £269.50. with the usuall scare tactic wording about bankruptcy prison etc that bailiffs use. As i had not received a response to my letter of complaint I was extremely surprised at this...

I telephoned them to enquire as to why they had not responded to my letter, only to be told they had sent a letter out on the 25th Sept.

I asked them to e-mail this to me so I could respond, which they refused to do, but they sent a copy.... this read as follows.

Thank you for your further correspondance. we note the contents and have the following to advise.

We confirm that our bailiff attended your premises on 2nd sept 2009 and unable to meet with you he levied on a vehicle parked at the premises and left notification of this.

We note your comments regarding the vehicle levied upon and confirm that we have done a HPI check on the vehicle which has it listed as a ford transit torneo with a minibus doorplan,therefore the levy completed by Mr Browne is valid. We also note that it is a taxi however if the vehicle is also used for personal use which Mr Browne believes it is then he can still levy on it.

Mr Browne is an enforcement bailiff and is instructed by our office to collect payment in full or remove goods only. As such he has attended the premises with a view to removing assets and the subsequent charges have been raised.

Mr Browne is certificated and his certificate was granted by liverpool county court. Unfortunatley the register you refer to is not always correct.

To clarify all costs incurred are in accordance with legislation and you are liable for them. We have been advised by the local authority of the payment made direct to them and confirm that the cost outstanding at todays date are £269.50. In order to prevent further recovery action taking place please contact Mr Browne direct on **********.

yours faithfully

clare hughes

complaints officer

did not receive a levy notice on the 2nd, and the levy notice i received folded and posted in the same envelope as the final demand on the 9th had been altered to show the amount due after paying the council..... it may have been in different handwriting, I am not an expert in that field, but it was wrote on in the same colour ink as the writing on the final demand.

Does a levy notice on a vehicle need to be countersigned by myself to be valid?

they also avoids the issue that on the levy notice, forgetting that the type and colour of vehicle are wrong, there are three mistakes on the registration of the vehicle alone, 1 could be put down as a handwriting thing, in that there looks like a 6 but it is supposed to be a G, as i pointed out to the gentleman on the phone, but they still feel that they are entitled to the money they are demanding, and say they are going to come and take my works vehicle, or my personal vehicle. The hpi check was only performed after I sent my letter which states the correct registration

They also avoided the question I posed about where and when the gentleman was certificated, and only told me where, not when. He is still not on the on-line register, and unfortunately i have not had chance to phone the MOJ to verify where and when.

Could you advise the best course of action, I think i know but would perfer clarification from someone with much greater knowlege in this field.

Addendum

The notice of seisure of goods and inventory has my old address wrote on, but then crossed out with red pen and my new address wrote on, the section that states address giving rise to charge if different is not filled in, even though it is a different address to both my previous and current address... the original writing states a 45 levy charge, and other fees of 150.00 + 50, and lists a grey transit van with a registration, which is not a valid one, as it has three mistakes, one of which is an ommision of the number 4, and another is the use of w instead of v and 6 instead of G, the vehicle they are trying to imply is infact silver, and the registration should be easy to read if the levy was done on sight of the vehicle and not someone trying to recall from memory, plus it is a minibus, all these details are quite clearly printed on a plate issued by the council which is affixed to the rear of the vehicle. Also written in the same red pen as the final notice it was folded in, is written "now 245 to pay removal urgent."

The first letter I received was on the 7 -9-09, which was a notice of removal.... I beleive that he had attended my parents address prior to this, but left no paper work.... I paid the outstanding amount to the council before I found the notice of removal posted at my current address on the 7th.....

I then received a final notice on the 9th stating i had 24 hours to pay the balance, which was stated as 245+ costs and folded in with this was the notice of seizure stated above, which was the first time I had seen this notice, and it had been altered as stated above.

the only place the supposed levy could take place would be at my parents address, and the bailiff was told that I no longer lived there, and no documentation was left there, I am not sure if the vehicle was at my parents address on the date in question, but if it was it would have been a minimum of twenty yards from the house as the house is set back off the road, and there is no driveway.

My understanding is that if a vehicle is levied upon, the notice of levy must be left. as this is clearly not the case, the ammendments etc, appart from the fact that it is filled in incorrectly, does this not mean procedure has not been followed?

Do I go ahead and make a complaint to the court that issued the bailiff's certificate? if in fact it was issued before the date of the incident, as when I was on the phone to their head office my impression was that this may not have been the case, as i was told that they renew every year, but there should be a record of any previous certificates, which I intend to find out from the DOJ.

I also subsequently received a notice of intention to force entry and remove goods, this is not dated, only has the bailiff reference number on, no client ref, written in the place of the client ref is an address which is on the same estate but not the unit I have. It states the removal will be between wed and sat 4pm till 10pm recall recovery +van + vat, the handwritten amount is 395 + costs.... we refer to our notice of seizure of goods & inventory dated N / A 2009... we will be re-attending at 4 - 10 am / pm wed to sat 2009 to remove the said goods "any time after 4 pm.

As an asside, I asked a solicitor to speak to the bailiff, but did not instruct them, to advise that the levy was incorrect and therefore all charges attached to it were void, unfortunately the solicitor was inexperienced and was conned into beleiving what the bailiff said was true, it is worth noting however that at this point, the bailiff offered to reduce his "costs" to 100 if paid within 24 hours, to which I informed the solicitor that I did not intend to pay something to which the bailiff was quite clearly not entitled, when this was relayed back to the bailiff the offer was withdrawn..... having read a few bits and pieces on the net, does this count as blackmail?

This is a copy of the letter I sent to jacobs :

Jacobs Certificated Bailiffs

4, Europa Boulevard

Birkenhead

Merseyside. CH41 4PE

September 24th 2009.

Dear Sirs

Reference Number: 5188490

I am writing in connection with the above account relating to arrears of Non Domestic rates.

From your files you will be aware that a bailiff from your company by the name of Mr Browne apparently visited my previous property on 2nd September and that he then visited my current address as detailed above on 7th September. At this visit on 7th September he left a Notice of Removal to advise me that the amount required to discharge this debt was £920.28 plus costs.

I was unable to get through to your bailiff after receiving this letter and I therefore contacted the local authority and was advised that the amount due was in fact just £676.28 and I therefore paid this sum at a paypoint machine.

I was surprised to then receive a further Final Notice dated 9th September and in the same envelope Mr Browne had also enclosed a copy of a Notice of Seizure of Goods & Inventory which stated that he had apparently “levied distress” on a Grey Transit Van on the 2nd September 2009 with the registration number of **O- *W6. This notice had been altered by Mr Brown to show that the amount apparently now due was £245 plus costs.

In the first instance I would like to make your company aware that this vehicle is NOT owned by me. The vehicle that I own is silver Ford Tourneo with the registration number **O4 *VG.

A further Notice of Intention to Force Entry was left at my current address by Mr Browne to advise that apparently I am liable to now pay your company an increased amount of £395 plus costs.

Clearly Mr Brown has made a serious mistake with this “supposed” Notice of Seizure in that my vehicle is neither the same model, colour nor registration number as that listed.

I have spoken to the office of Bailiff Advice Online and they have advised me that this Notice of Seizure cannot in any way be valid. In addition they have advised me that if a levy had been made on a vehicle then Mr Browne should have only applied a levy fee to my account. Instead he has charge a fee of £395!!

They also advised me that there has been a recent Detailed Assessment hearing against Marston Group where a District Judge refused to allow an “attending to remove” fee of £100 as the company were unable to prove to the court that this fee was “reasonable”. I therefore require an immediate explanation as to how Mr Browne is able to believe that a charge of £395 can be “reasonable”.

If Mr Brown had seen my vehicle he would have also seen that it is clearly signed with the name “******** Private Hire” and that the vehicle is a Taxi. This is clear proof if any were needed that this vehicle is a “tool of my trade”.

As this Notice of Seizure is not valid I understand that I am liable to pay bailiff fees of just £42.50 which is calculated as to £24.50 for a first visit for “attending to levy where no levy was made” for the visit on 2nd September and a further sum of £18.00 for a second such visit on 7th September.

I am willing to pay this amount of £42.50 to your company today or alternatively I will pay it instead direct to the council.

Finally, I have search the Ministry of Justice online bailiff register and this does show a Mr Browne as being a certificated bailiff. Can you confirm the court and date that he was granted his certificate.

Could you please confirm safe receipt of this letter?

Yours faithfully.

I have recently sent them this letter regarding my problems with Jacobs, if it can help, feel free.

Plus any comments too! Thanks.

URGENT COMPLAINT

Jacobs Certificated Bailiffs

4 Europa Boulevard

Birkenhead

Merseyside

CH41 4PE

Friday 20th May 2011

Dear Sirs,

Re: Jacobs reference. ******** Authority reference. *********

Please read the following Notice thoroughly and carefully before responding. It is a notice. It informs you. It means what it says and is not from some wordsmith just trying to be clever. I am aware of my rights and I expect this letter to be treated very seriously by your company and not to be ignored! Legal advice has been sought in this matter.

I refer to your recent hand delivered letter dated 19/05/11 informing me that your company have been instructed by East Riding of Yorkshire Council to enforce a warrant/liability order etc. against me, in respect of arrears of council tax.

At no point have I expressed a desire not to pay this debt, but have expressed I am unable to pay this debt due to my personal financial circumstances.

In your letter you state that you will be visiting or returning to my home, even in my absence if necessary, to seize or auction my goods unless full payment of £XXX.XX is made by return.

The main purpose of this letter is to advise your company that I am in receipt of jobseekers allowance and am enclosing as proof, a copy of the letter from the benefits agency [hard copy in post]. I also enclose a Personal Budget Sheet outlining my Income and Expenditure for your records.

I am informed that deductions can be made directly from my benefits to pay my arrears of council tax. This is provided for in the Council Tax (Deductions from Income Support) Regulations 1993.

For this reason, I would request that this account be referred back to The East Riding of Yorkshire Council so that the relevant forms can be completed.

I am also aware that once deductions are in place, Regulation 52 of The Council Tax (Administration & Enforcement) Regulations 1992 expressly forbids any enforcement action.

A second purpose of this letter is to advise your company that I believe that also my circumstances fall within the category as contained within the National Standards for Enforcement Agents of “vulnerable situations”. The reason for this is that I am unemployed and actively seeking work and I have a lifelong condition of xxxxxxxx which is medication controlled. Accordingly, I would like to request that you do not visit my property as this would cause undue stress and anxiety related to my condition.

Other points to consider are as follows:-

The bailiff has an invalid levy because he is attempting to seize [model& make] motor vehicle registration **** ***belonging to a finance company [finance company name] under agreement numbered xxxxxxxxxxxx and the first bailiff, [name], indicated she can lawfully levy on the finance company’s goods in respect of my debt, I now understand the bailiffs made a factual error and cannot use the finance company’s goods as collateral for my debt, and by doing so the bailiff is committing an offence under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 and Section 12 of the Theft Act 1967. I have enclosed a copy [hard copy in post] of the finance document showing the vehicle registration mark and I confirm the final payment has not been made. Therefore this levy is voided by law [hard copy in post]. If you were to continue in the manner of this levy, I would then report the vehicle stolen and ask the police to attend the bailiff's address and recover it and return it to its lawful owner.

May I re-iterate this fact; the bailiff is committing an offence under Section 12 of the Theft Act 1967. I will inform the Police if pursued in this matter!!! The levy is voided by law!

I understand it is a criminal offence to defraud people, or make a gain, or obtain a money transfer for himself or his firm by making a false representation or by misuse of his position. I would therefore ask the criminal element of this matter is fully investigated as per Sections 1 to 5 of the Fraud Act 2006. I then would be happy to stand as a witness or provide a statement for the proceedings against the suspects in question.

Any attempt to subvert or rebuke this notice will result in an invalid levy and I will automatically file at court a Form 4 complaint with an application for costs against the certificated bailiff without contacting you further in this matter.

Additionally your fees quoted on your document appear to be inconsistent with prescribed regulations, please provide me with a breakdown of your fees so we can make a more informed decision on whether they are lawful. Your document appears to be computer-generated and indicates you (or your company) may be systematically and routinely overcharging with your fees and your company may be benefiting from proceeds. Hence your Bailiffs would not receive commission payments. For the avoidance of doubt that in your failure to provide me that breakdown in seven days, I will automatically pass the matter to the certificating court and to the police for criminal investigation under Sections 1 to 5 of the Fraud Act 2006.

I have tried to seek an amicable resolve with the bailiff who rudely ignored my request.

Your company’s Mission Statement states:-

“To collect debt as quickly and efficiently as possible maximizing income for our Clients. To act in a firm but fair manner being both professional and sensitive to the circumstances of each individual case”

HARDLY, me thinks. [name] is the Bailiff in question.

On Thursday 19/05/11 I received a hand-delivered letter regarding my personal situation with Jacobs. The word processed piece of paper in nice red and black ink, is a REMOVAL NOTICE 24 HOURS. On receipt of this letter I immediately contacted [name] on the number. I had to leave a voicemail message with my private mobile number for a return call. I do not particularly care for giving out my mobile number to anyone, due to the privacy concerns.

Ten minutes later he did return my call and I tried to explain my present situation to him, he proceeded to talk over me without showing any empathy, he was derogatory to my concerns, he insinuated that I was a trouble causer and didn't care, and he threatened me with imprisonment if I did not pay by tomorrow! (This is against the law, but I am sure your legal team will deny it as [name] will too) Where on earth an impoverished person like me is supposed to magic money from in that time scale, I’ll never know? I even offered to pay him what I could reasonably afford and he said that I was way out of time for that and I should have been aware of my obligations to him (???) sooner. I don't think because a person uses Sir to address someone constitutes politenes, when the content between is discriminating, harrasing and threatening. Then he quite rudely hung up on me, when I threatened to speak to my legal people. He also did not answer my call when I tried to return it. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he had been driving too, breaking another law! Although I have no proof of this?

I hardly think a Bailiff knocking the outer door to my property, then posting a word processed and hand delivered piece of paper through a communal doorway before skulking back to his car with a big bottom lip constitutes any form of visit at all. In fact [name] has never returned any of my calls, apart from the one mentioned. I have never seen this man at all; therefore have never seen his written authority to collect this debt or indeed his proof of identity and there is no other evidence that he is who he says? Now I know that no-one deserves criticism for actually undertaking the duties of their job, but in this instance I hardly think the sympathetic nature of your Mission Statement, bearing in mind my personal circumstances, has been endeared to at all. There are laws and regulations to be observed here and I think this has been a failing on his/your behalf.

Now in a fair world this situation has hardly been a matter of priority for Jacobs, being months and weeks in between contact. In fact there is minimal contact of any kind and I have indeed been re-billed by the local council for the full amount of arrears and in the processes of coming to a law binding arrangement with them for this debt, hence your obligation to hand back the details. (It is the Law)

I have indeed investigated into the forum threads and case studies of Jacobs posted on consumer rights websites on the internet, these do make very interesting reading indeed! Some of the harassing, bullying and intimidation techniques used I’m sure would be of interest to the media and the consumer action groups, in total interest of the people. I will refrain from this course of action if satisfactory return to the local council and all processes by your company are dropped immediately.

I would be grateful if you could confirm safe receipt of this letter in writing, and confirmation that this case has been returned to the local council. At no point should Jacobs, or any of its employees, contact me by telephone in this matter, as all contact in the future must be done in writing, of which any further charges which will incur, I will not be liable for. I am copying this letter to my local authority Council Court Officer, Local Constabulary and my Member of Parliament.

As I have now made you aware of my circumstances, and provided proof, if your company continues with enforcement action, I will consider making a formal complaint about the bailiff’s and the company’s conduct to the County Court.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Yours faithfully,

[my full name]

Even though this is an e-mail I have posted hard copies of all relevent paper work by Royal Mail to confirm receipt.

I do sincerely hope that this letter gets the relevant results!

Please comment!!!