I sent a copy of the bailiffs letter to the council and I have just had an email confirming the case is now closed, no fees to pay! A massive Thank you to everyone on here for your advice and guidance. Another victory for CAG!!

I have received a response from Chandlers so can provide some more information. The council claim Chandlers first visited us on the 21/06/2012, Chandlers have stated in their letter that their first visit was on the 29/06/2012. As I have previously stated, we moved from the property on the 25th June 2012 and the council have confirmed they have this date on record already as the day we moved as our landlord informed them. It therefore appears Chandlers a) visited our old address, even though the council had the new info and b) told the council they visited on the 21/06/2012 but have told me in writing it was in fact the 29/06/2012/ We were charged a first visit fee of £24.50. The second visit, according to the council was on 24/07/2012, Chandlers in their letter state it was on the 17/07/2012. Again, someone has something very wrong. I have spoken to our landlord, who also happened to be our landlord at the previous property, and he has said that a bailiff did in fact attend AFTER we had left and a new tenant had moved in. This would make sense as to why we have not received any paperwork. We were charged a fee of £18.00 for this visit. On the 20/12/2012 the bailiff attended our actual address and according to their letter 'levied on goods' - this resulted in £40.00 being added to our account. Because the bailiff attended with a van with the intention to remove assets and therefore an attendance fee of £125.00 was added to our account, hence the total new charge of £165.00 I believe the first two visits and charges (which we have already paid for) are invalid as they visited the wrong address even though the council had the correct information. This therefore must make the third visit invalid as it was actually their first visit to our actual address.

I am beginning to wonder actually whether the two initial visits were to the wrong address - we moved to our current address on the 25th June 2012 - This would be 4 days after the supposed first visit and a month before the supposed 2nd visit. Althought the council were informed of our new address could it be possible that they went to our old address? Can they still charge for this?

Hi Ploddertom, we have only been visited once on the 20/12/2012 when the bailiff knocked and handed us the 'Notice of bailiffs Attendance' . We received nothing on the two dates they list - 21/06/2012 and 24/07/2012. We have never received a Notice of Seizure from them. They have never been in our property and on the day they claimed they would be back to take our car (20/12/2012) they just left us with the 'Notice of Attendance'. Absolutely nothing else has ever been received.

Latest update - Chandlers have told me they are posting out a breakdown of the charges, the council have stated the following - £24.50 first fee was levied on 21.06.12 £18.50 second fee was levied on 24.07.12 I presume these fees were when the council sent them the debt as we certainly had no visits from them? The council have stated these fees have been paid and this must have been taken from the £150 I paid direct to Chandlers by way of the 3 x £50 installments. The council then added - "Because the November installment was a couple of days late, the bailiff re-attended your property on 20.12.12 at 08:23a.m at which, time you incurred additional bailiff fees - £125.00 attendance fee and £40.00 levy fee. " This is where the new £165 charges come from. When they say "re-attended" I get the impression they have visited before without leaving documentation. Either way, on the 20th December when they added the £165 charges the bailiff had just a normal van and handed us a 'Notice of bailiffs Attendance' . Nothing detailing a levy.

The notice they handed to my wife by the way was just a 'Notice of Bailiffs Attendance' - It detailed just the balance outstanding and that they would re-attend the same day and may remove goods in our absence.

I am waiting for someone from the council to get back to me with the info regarding LO / Levy fees and I will post back when I get a response. I have also sent the letter to Chandlers requesting a full breakdown from them. My only concern is that they stated their fees had to be paid by the 19th Jan, this Saturday, so concerned I will get another visit and more charges in the mean time. They cannot take the car now as my wife crashed it last night! It is a write off so I can present the pictures and insurance details to Chandlers if they need proof.

They only attended the once and he was in a normal van. He said he would get a recovery vehicle to collect our car that afternoon if we didn't pay

They have not supplied any breakdown of fees. The council confirmed Chandlers fees with me as being £40 levy fee and £125 attendance fee.

Thank you for the replies. The car is worth around £1500 and is owned by my wife outright. Should Chandlers not have provided us with a Levy notice and listed the car? It is completely unfair as I have basically been charged just for paying 2 days late. The bailiff could have knocked on the door and I would have been happy to pay him the £479.50 I ended up paying the council and that would have ended the matter. It seems he wanted to add the charges at all costs.

Back in September 2012, Swale Council passed some of our Council debt to Chandlers - a total of £629.50 inc. Chandlers fees. I came to an agreement with Chandlers to pay £50 per month on the 17th of each month. I paid £50 on the 17th Sep, 17th Oct but due to a delay in getting paid in November I could not pay them until the 19th Nov. I logged in to their website on the 17th Dec to make payment but the system told me I could not do this as the case was with a bailiff and I should ring them. I didn't get a chance as the following morning at 8.20 I had a call from my wife saying a man was outside taking details of her car and he had knocked and handed her a distress notice. He said he would be back in the afternoon to collect the money or take the car. I called Chandlers and was told because I had paid the £50 2 days late in November the agreement had been cancelled. The notice also said they had added a further £165.00 to the debt so in total I had to pay £639.50. £10 more than the original debt even though I had already paid £150 towards it. I contacted the bailiff and tried to make an arrangement but he was having none of it and wanted the full amount. I went to the council and after an hour of them passing me from different people, they said if I could raise the £479.50 they would ask Chandlers to hold off their fees until January 19th. I managed to borrow the money from a number of sources and cleared the debt to the council. No more owing money to them However, they told me the new £165 charges to Chandlers consisted of £40 levy fee and £125 attendance fee. Chandlers had never visited us before (we had only spoke on the phone) and on the paper they gave us it did not list any items. As we now have no debt with the council the only amount outstanding is to Chandlers themselves for these charges which I think are extreme. The fees need to be paid by the 19th Jan and so my questions are: 1) Is £165 for a first visit to high? 2) If I do not pay them do they still have the right to remove our car or belongings even though they are no longer collecting on behalf of the council? By paying the council directly and cutting out Chandlers I thought I got one over on them but £165 for being outside my house for less than 10 minutes and doing nothing is crazy. Thank you in advance for any help you can give.