steve - thanks for the information, however, the boiler is an oil fired one, not gas does this make a difference?

sorry, need to be clear 1) We are worried that she hasnt paid her mortgage (why else would a guy from the mortgage company "drop in" for a chat) and therefore are worried that we could be made homeless. From conversations with the mortgage guy he knows nothing of a lease with the landlord and states that the lease is therefore invalid as the mortgage company fail to recognise us as tenants as they are not aware that the landlord is letting the property. They have asked us to get the landlord to contact them, and i have given the mortgage company the only mobile number i have so they can try to establish contact also. with regards to no PAt testing, boiler servicing etc - i understand from reading other threads that this is wrong, so we can persue that in other ways, but seems pointless if we are going to be thrown out! Any ideas what to do? We are prepared to pay the mortgage company our rent direct if that smooths things out?

Hiya We have recently moved to a property in Wales. We moved in without a tenancy agreement (which turned up 3 weeks later), no deposit and no guarantor. we have no record of boiler servicing (oil fired), energy certificates or other testing such as PAT etc. The lease states a rental sum significantly lower than that verbally agreed (so in our favour) and we have been paying that sum. We are approx 1.5 months in arrears (due to being self employed and out of work for a period) but now back in work and i will be paying double (the expected rental amount) per week over the next few weeks to clear the arrears. So far so good. My wife received a visit today from the landlords mortgage company wanting to know when the mortgage payments were being brought up to date. My wife told him that we were tenants not the owner, and he said that he had no record of the property being rented, and as such did not recognise us. he instructed us to get the landlord to call him ASAP. Problem is, the landlord still has all their mail delivered to our address and collects it once a week, and we have no forwarding adress for them. Any ideas of what rights we have?

Hiya All I currently have 4 phones on contract via T-Mobile Buisiness. In the enxt couple of weeks we are moving our business address to a farm in Wales so we can expand the business. We have checked the signal strength there (and with T-Mobile themselves) and everyone admits that there is no signal indoors and the chance of 20% strength outdoors on a good day. They therefore have told me that they will not guarantee signal on any given day. My contract with them is due to expire in January 2012, but T-Mobile have stated to me verbally that i will have to continue to pay the line rental to them for the remainder of the contract. In their words - "its not our choice that you have moved to a remote part of wales, its your problem" Now i wondered, i am happy to pay a proportion of the cost to get out of the contract, but can they really charge me full rental on the 4 phones until January 2012 at an average cost of £100 per month because they cant provide service? I would understand it if the phones were used all over the UK and only didnt work at home, but this is a 400 acre farm and i need the phones to reliably call other members of the farm team in adjacent fields etc. Do i have any basis in law to legally break this contract or do i just go with it? I have also been told that should the account fall into arrears during this period I personally will be liable for the debts of my Limited Company

Hiya I have received a bill of sale after requesting it (first time they sent me the credit agreement). can someone just check with me that it is genuine and enforceable. 1- it bears my name and address and signature 2 - it bears the name, signature and address of the car sales room where i purchased the vehicle. The car salesman was the witness to the Bill of Sale 3- the consideration is for the sums for the car and its payments (which differ hugely from what i actually pay, i assume that the BoS is made prior to when they add on the PPI and other insurances which are mentioned in the credit agreement) there appears to be no other markings on this standard document, save the amount i must keep the vehicle insured for. No court stamp etc on this document. Do i therefore assume that it is legitmate?

Hiy aTrooper. the original i have from 2007 has all my data filled in, except for the agreement number, the date, and teh reps signature. I do not have the BOS. I was never given a copy. This paperwork i have seems to be a CCA backing up the BOS? does that make sense?. The copy they sent me was the same paperwork as i had, but this time with the agreement number filled in, date of signature and the signature itself appears to have been added some three days later, not in my prescence. I will SAR them and see where that gets me. Whilst i have SAR'd them, i assume i still continue to make payments, or can i put them on hold as it is in dispute?

Hi all, i wonder if you can advise. we took out car finance through Cygnet in january 2007. When we applied the chap there stated that although the interest was high, once we had made 50% of the payments we could trade the car in against another on a lower premium, and owe nothing on the remainder of the loan as it was a standard HPI agreement. I have since contacted them to enact this and have been advised that we dont have HPI, but infact a Bill of Sale. I have asked them for a copy of the bill of sale, and to be fair, within 24 hours they sent me a copy of the application form "regulated by the 1974 consumer credit act". I notice that this differs from the copy i have in as much as the copy i have (the original carbon copy of the form) it does not have an agreement number, nor a signature of the salesman. On th ecopy i recieved in the post, there is an agreement number (in a different coloured pen) and the name of a salesman, with the date by his signature dated some three days after mine. Can you please advise me therefore, where do i go from here. If all they have is a CCA form, does this constitute the Bill of Sale? if not, can then enforce the agreement or can i now hand the keys back and walk away without owing anymore? Is this form actually valid or am i paying over the odds for no reason at all? Any help most appreciated..........

hmm ok - i thought that bailifffs couldnt remove goods that were used as part of your livelihood, such as computer (if business related) and tools etc as part of your daily work. The livestock is part of a smallholding i run and registered with DEFRA as such, in the name of the smallholding. Do they still count then?

the council wont accept payments, i need to pay the bailiff. on a previous year i was able to pay the council in bits and that went OK. my question was, if the bailiff has started to accept payments then changes the amount that they want, can they lawfully do so? He is threatening to attend with a van and remove goods. He has never gained entry to my house so he cant come in, there is no levy or walking possession, however, although i have locked away all i can in the garden i do have lots of chickens running around the place and he has stated before that he will seize those. I have these hens for eggs and meat and he will therefore be literally taking my food from the kids! They are all "livestock" some are pets

Hi all, I cant see any information regarding this so i thought i would ask the question outrgiht. If you do an income and expenditure sheet, and demonstrate that youn only have £xx keft at the end of a month and offer this in payment to clear your arrears, can the bailiff refuse to take the installments? The reason i ask, is that i entered into such an agreement, and have made payments by cheque to the bailiff. The asked for £100+ per week, but as i pointed out, that was practically what i earned each week and i offered them £40 per month. They have accepted three payments to date. They have now written back stating that "their records" show that i could afford to pay them £60 per week (how did they come up with that?) if they have been accepting £40 per month, but now want £60 per week, can they do this without reason? if they have accepted the payments do this mean that they have accepted the schedule? If they therefore refuse my offer of payment, preferring their own terms, where does that leave me? I have spoken to the council who jusy keep telling me that its not their problem anymore as its in the hands of the bailiff. I must negotiate with the bailiff. I pointed out that the bailiff is under their instruction and therefore is their "employee". If the bailiff is not their "employee" can the council therefore share my personal data, phone numbers address etc with a third party without my consent under the data protection act? I thought that they could only share this type of information with their employees?? Your thoughts and wisdom welcomed as ever.

Hiya Got into difficulties with current years council tax due to unemployment. Bailiff attended and levied a visit fee of £24.50. he then appeared a second time baout a week later and charged £16. wrote out a walking possession order for the car (on finance) and stuck it through the door. Charged £68 for the WPO I wrote off to the bailiff with the template letter, reminded him that you cant WPO a financed vehicle and surely i had to sign something as well? Got my statement back to see that the visit fees were brought back into line with how they should be, and the £68 WPO fee removed. They asked me for installments of £250 per week for 6 weeks. i stated that as i earn £105 per week and get £160 WTC and FTC that after deductions for rent, electric etc that they could have £40 per month. Sent a cheque for that amount back with the letter. They cashed the cheque and then stated that due to my financial circumstances that they would accept £125 per week instead. The only shining light in my finances is that i can claim expenses on my travel mileage etc and that bring me in around an extra £50 per week They have made two visits already and are threatening a third if i dont pay the first weeks installment by the end of the month. any advice? they havent had access to the house and they have visitted twice already?? Typical expenses are: 650 pcm rent £100 pcm electric £200 pcm food total income = £13780 pa, expenditure is £11400 pa, leaving me with £2380 to pay for car insurance, house insurance, phone bill etc, so i feel that my offer of £40pcm was generous. any further thoughts?

Hi all A while back i bought some oil for my heating and they processed the card details wrongly. By this time i had lost my job in the run up to christmas and couldnt pay the bill. The took me to court and a CCJ was acrued. However, they got the name wrong. I.e instead of Mr Meekle they summons Mrs Meekle. I have tried to point this out, but they keep sending letters. So, as it is wrong to open post in someone elses name i send these letters back marked "not known at this address" I came home tonight to find a letter folded and pushed into (but not through) my letter box, unsealed without an envelope dated 3/4/09 (remember today is 1st of april) stating that a county court bailiff acting under a warrant of execution has called to speak to Mrs Meekle regarding the debt - and obviously to claim goods etc. I am "urged" to contact them immediately. What should i say? i am happy to enter into an agreement to pay as i do owe the money, but i believe that the bailiff has acted wrongly as he is pursuing a person who does not theoretically exist, has wrongfully posted this letter - viewable to anyone who pulled it from my letter box. Can i get this warrant rejected by the court? basically, i will be prepared to pay if they can tell me the correct name to which i answer and let me pay in installments. As the letter is dated for friday, does this make it invalid? your urgent advice is welcomed once more.

the business was a limited company. thanks to the advice from Chris, it would appear that even though he has the right to focefull entry into a business property, he can only do so if it is obvious that he property is only used for business and has no residential attachment to it. Now i know that some bailiff's are a bit.... challenged with their grey cells, but surely even this one would know that a 3 bed mid terrace property in the middle of a housing estate has residential accomodation and no some high fancy offices of a multinational... wouldnt he? I assume that posted the WPO through the door unsealed, not even in an envelope and the general conduct of the bailiff is worth a complaint to the relevant authorities then?

Hiya I came home today from shopping to find that a bailiff had attended my property for a claim against a company i used to run. I am no longer the director of this company and i have no further connection with it - except that my home address is still on their books as the registered address for the company. The company is now no longer trading. The bailiff apparently is acting on a high court writ from manchester county court, and as i wasnt there, obviously posted this walking possession agreement through my door. It states that all goods within the property now belong to the bailiff and that i am to make no attempt to remove them. It also states that unless i pay the full sum due within 7 days, he will re attend the property to remove goods - and as he has a walking possession that will give him the right to enter the property. It then goes on to state on page two that i am to list valuable items, and then post the agreement back, signed to their office. This walking possession was also posted through the door WITHOUT an envelope so all and sundry could read it should they so wish. Now, if this was a personal debt, i would tell them bullocks as i have not seen the bailiff, therefore he has not had entry and therefore a WPO does not apply - however, the fact that he is acting on a writ - does that change things? Also, if he served the WPO through the leter box without ascertaining who lived there, let alone not putting the WPO in an envelope - does that invalidate his WPO as it was incorrectly served? Any advice would be welcomed. I am not too worried if he does turn up to be honest as all goods within the building are personal, not business related therefore i will challenge anything he tries to take as it does not belong to the company, therefore he can not legally levy upon goods not owned by the debtor - if i remember correctly.

so i am not legally required to provide forwarding address? thats good news, but he will still harass my father in law for the address. can he do this. I know my father in law will probably tell him to bog off but you know what i mean

Hiya All. Just a query really, my current landlord is a pain in the a*se, and i have managed to secure alternate accomodation. Do i need to provide him with a forwarding address by law? He knows where my father in law lives and will pester him for the address no doubt, but can he do this under the Data Ptotection Act? Your thoughts and musings please!

now, if i am right, the bailiff cant levy on things that obviously belong to a child (ie the trampoline) and he must gain peacefull entry. Does peaceful entry included breaking a lock off the gate and entering into the garden? just asking incase it comes to that

Dear All I am in the process of moving house. I have notified the council that i will be quitting the tenancy at the end of the month, but i have an outstanding council tax bill for that property. The bill is for the full years council tax, which, as i am moving out of area i am a bit begrudged to pay a whole years worth when i only will get a few months service if you see what i mean. Anyways, i am moving my possessions fromone house to the next most evenings after work, and in the last couple of weeks i have found letters shoved through my door from a bailiff who wants to collect the whole outstanding balance. He is understandably getting irritated looking at his letters as i am never at the house when he calls. He now has posted a "final warning" letter stating that unless i contact him to allow him to levy a WPO his will distrain my goods. Now, no one knows the new address and i have asked for a final settlement bill for the rent and council tax to be sent to the property i am leaving so i can settle up before i go. Should i just ignore the bailiff? there are no real possessions left in the house now, except a few bits of junk in the loft which is the next job and a climbing frame and trampoline in the garden. Garden gate is locked. I know he legally cant smash in a door to gain entry but is there anything else he can do to gain entry? Just wondering what the next move is - apart from empty the place and wonder off........ but i dont wont to leave a debt hanging if i can help it. New house new start as it were.

Thanks. I will pen this out ASAP

Hi all I know that a lot of charges to personal accounts etc are now stayed pending the court cases, but is this the same for a business account? I have been hit with an unplanned overdraft fee of £15 and a returned cheque fee of £35 this week alone. I am sure if i go back there will be more fees as well. Are these fees acceptable or are they the basis of me trying to formulate a claim to Lloyds to put the money back? Any help would be most welcome. Regards Mike

well i sent off an SAR to Welcome Finance over a year ago and i havent even had acknowledgment back from Welcome. I have sent a letter to Ruthbridge back in August saying that this debt is now in dispute pending the results of the SAR. AS it has now been over a tear since the SAR and nothign has come back, Ruthbridge havent contacted me - what shall i do? just sit it out and wait until Feb for the 6year timer to run out on the alledged default or shall i go guns blazing?

New company has written to Bailiff to confirm what goods are companies and what belonged to old company. The council also tell me that the Interpleader Proceedings are irellevant. Quote "In your letter to Bailiff and Co dated 4th September 2008, you refer to the initiation of interpleader proceedings. Bailiff and Co have advised us that the information regarding interpleader proceedings is relevant to where a High Court Enforcement Officer is executing a writ of Fi Fa, which also results in the seizure of goods. In that instance a third party claim would be resolved by interpleader proceedings, but Bailiff and Co, advise that they were not acting in that capacity in this case" So, are they right or is the Bailiff trying to gloss things over with the Council? The bailiff has asked if i would please send all evidence and documentation to him within 7 days to irrevocably prove that certain goods that i have listed in the letter issued to them on the 5th September belong to others than the debtor. "IF" they accept this evidence they will amend the WPO accordingly. The council also believe that the charges to date levied by the bailiff are correct. Where can i find the legal document (PDF of similar) so that i can demonstrate to the council that £50 per half hour waiting in a van is not a legitimate charge as currently they believe that the charges are correct and therefore i have no case. Thanks guys

Right. Council took the debt back after i lodged a complaint. I entered into a payment plan directly with ther council whilst they investigated the complaint. I have now received their response, basically disputing everything i have said, and passing it back to the bailiff. Apparently as my statement of events differs from the bailiffs, they are going with the bailiffs statement. The bailiff disputes that he said he would charge me to go to the van to get his court identification. He stated that he produced this on arrival. This is not true. he had his ID card, not his warrant. He states that he advised me of the £50 per half hour waiting and the council have informed me that this is entirely within the set scale of charges the council also state that the bailiff acknowledged that i informed him that some of the goods belonged to others than the debtor, but because i could not prove it there and then he did not need to enter into interpleader proceedings as he was not acting as a high court officer therefore it is irrelevant. The council therefore do not believe that the bailiff acted unlawfully and therefore have passed it back to the bailiff for collection. Any thoughts?

hello! Sent email to Council, urging them to withdraw bailiff due to unlawful WPO and accept my payment plan. They sent me a standard response saying that they are looking into the complaint and will aim to respond by 29th September with a decision as to whether they accept my complaint or not. So, with the fact that the bailiff is due some point in the next 7 days, what is my next course of action? Shall i send in the Form 4 complaint? will that stop him coming over to remove goods? Shall i empty the office of possessions before he comes around or is that illegal? Advice urgently required please? As they seem to be active in this area on a thursday i would expect a visit either tomorrow or next thursday.....

does the fact that the rates are business rates affect what they can or can not take? When i challenged the bailiff for putting a levy against the server, PC and plotter for my work, he said he could levy on anything in the business. I said that i thought he could not levy on something essential for the work of the business he said that was only applicable for domestic tax not business rates. Also, when i showed him my registration certificate and informed him that some of the goods were in the name of the new company, he said it didnt matter as the rent had been paid against the old company name therefore as far as he was concerned all goods inside belonged to the old company, irrespective of what i said. I thought he could only levy against goods definatley in the name of the person / company namesd on the liability order. Where any dispute occured it had to be proven one way or the other?