Thanks again for your replies. Can I appeal the £235 on the basis that I was in contact with the council informing them of my partner's vulnerability BEFORE the agent had made any visits? Shall I wait to see if the bailiff attempts to enforce the fees before paying them? Sorry but I am a bit confused.

Oh B@gger! So the council are supposed to send the fees to the bailiff? They didn't out of the last lot of money I sent them. I paid the £920 over two installments. What about the mixed up fee structure? I wrote to the Bailiff for a fee breakdown on the 8th April and they haven't replied. Can I stall them with that? I really dont have another £300. We have £4K mortgage arrears!! I also responded to the council well beofre the bailiff came out and asked them to take it back because my partner is depressed. Can I appeal that the council should have taken it back on that basis and so no fees should have been applied? Thanks again

Thanks for all of you replies. I understand that I am 'supposed' to pay the fees but can the EA enforce them at this stage? The liability order was the council's and that has been satisifed. Can the bailiff come and clamp my car? Add more fees etc? We REALLY can't afford an extra £300 in fees! Thanks Karen

Hi all, I had an outstanding council tax bill. Equita attended my house on 7th April once and added Compliance fee 42.50 and Enforcement 235.00 I have now paid the council in full but do I have to pay the fees. I am going to call the bailiff tomorrow. Thanks Karen

Hi Guys, Thanks for the help! The council have taken it back so I am wating to hear from them. Jacobs responded to my complaint about the fees, they said they are fair! Of course they said that but I don't think 6AM is reasonable and no levy was made so not sure how they can justify the van fee either. Nevermind, hopefully we can get it sorted with the council. Thanks again, Karen

The PCN is in my partners name. He cant take my car cos its his debt. My car is blocking my partners car in. I have applied for an out of time notice so I am hoping he will go away tomorrow if I tell him that.

As far as I am aware he never levied anything. No form was left. The car that the PCN relates to is on the driveway having been SORN'd. There is is nowhere we can hide it really. I really dont want to pay because a) we cant afford it and b) He hasn't given us a chance to pay, showing up at 6am and has added all of these fees unreasonably. I dont think he can force entry to our home for a PCN and I certainly wont let him in. I am considering just letting the dog out in the front tomorrow, hopefully that will put him off! I have parked our other car (reg in my name, PCN is partner's) across the driveway so he can't 'steal' it! Thanks for replying!

Hi Guys, I am hoping someone can help me please!! I got a PCN a while ago and I didn't pay it and I thought it was unfairly issued. I had a pay and display tcket that must have blown onto the floor when I slammed the door of my car. I contacted the council about it but didnt get a response. I forgot about it. I got a hand delivered bailiff note through the door this am. It said they would be removing goods within 24 hours unless I pay £225.04. We found this letter in an unsealed envelope in the porch at 8.30. I rang the bailiff and told him I was a bit confused about it and would ring him that afternoon he said fine. I also asked him if he knocked when he delivered the letter, he said he had. I asked about the visit as I was unaware that it had been sent to a bailiff. He said they wrote to me on the 30th May asking me to pay the fine. I definatly never got any letter to that effect. I called the council and they said that the warrant issued was for £82. At this point I rang the bailiff back to ask about the fees that had been applied. He said for a full break down I needed to pay first. I told him I wont pay for something that hasn't been explained to me. He told me a visit charge had been applied of £42 and a 'van' fee of £96. I asked what time he called that morning and he said between 6 and 6.30am. I questioned the 'van' fee and he said that it is a standard charge and no avoiding it. I was confused as it was the first visit, asking for payment in full with a threat to remove goods the FOLLOWING day so why has the van fee been applied? He said it was a standard set by the council. He is supposed to be coming tomorrow to take goods even in my absence. I have applied for a 'out of time witness statement' but that hadn't been processed by 5pm when the council closed. He came at 6am this morning, I dont want him him showing up in the morning before I can contact the traffic enforment centre. What shall I do? Is he allowed to creep down my path at 6am and add a van charge on the first visit? Is he allowed to add £142 charges to £82 fine? If anyone can help I will be most grateful! I want to be ready for him! Thanks Karen

Hi all, Friday I had a visit from 2 Newlyn's bailiffs. They were enforcing a liability order for £156 of council debt from last year. They were the enforcement bailiffs who said that I had had 2 visits from the levy bailiff. I am almost certain that this is not true as I have had no letters pushed through the door...I checked vigorously after they left! Anyways the charges for those visits were added (£42.50). So they wanted £198.50 off me. They we both really agressive from the minute they got there. As soon as I questioned their presence (which was a shock!) the second bailiff said he was going to take my car. This was before I was given the chance to pay.....he kept saying that they had come to seize goods not take payment. I went inside to check my online bank and came back 3 minutes later and the bailiff had added £150 to the bill for a van charge and a levy on my cars. I had told her I was going to close the door and going to check my bank but she said I slammed the door in her face and was being uncooperative. They also kept threatening to clamp my cars (2 cars) at over £100 each plus charges to remove the clamps. The sidekick kept threatening to take out the clamp. They wouldn't give me an exact figure for the charges but kept holding it over me as an extra threat. I was considering shutting the door and making a dash with one of the cars but she kept saying that she had gained peaceful entry because I had left my vestibule open. My front door was closed and is the one that I lock when I go out but they kept saying that they had gained peaceful entry. They also said they could take anything they wanted to and said they were going to clamp my cars, take 2 TVs ,my sofas and the flowers from my garden! This is for a £156 council tax debt! I paid them £346 to get rid of them and to stop the extra clamping charges. I rang the council and it turns out that they owe me £203 for a diff account number on the same property from back in 2006! FUMING! I should have told them to vacate my property in no uncertain terms but they caught me off guard and that is what I am most upset about. Anyway I am making a complain to the council and to the bailiff co and the county court but I have a few Qs. Did she make peaceful entry by being in my vestibule which doesn't have a locking door? What is the usual for clamping charges? And can they threaten to clamp 2 vehicles for £156 council tax debt? They need to inform me properly of the charges before they apply them? right? The van charge is spurious, disproportionate and not actually incurred, it was the bailiff's mode of transport they didn't come in an extra car or anything, does thjat make a diff? Can they charge a van fee if they levy a car? Thanks in advance for your help? Thanks Karen

Its almost magical the way they try to inflate the charges! Seriously though...who would be a bailiff? Thanks for your reply.

Thaanks for all of your brilliant replies....so to clarify the main points He cant come in cos there is no possession order in place. He can only charge me £42.50 even though there are 2 accounts because he (allegedly) visited twice. The liability order was grant to the council for the outstanding bill and does not apply to the fees. He shouldn't be attempting to blag me into pating inflated fees using the threat of the council's liability order HE has more chance of getting hit by lightening then getting me to pay his spurrious fees! I can feel a letter coming on!!!! Am I right? Thanks again xxx

Hi All, I had a council tax debt last year that was sent to Jacobs. The debt was for 2 separate years. They visited twice so I incurred charges for both accounts, 42.50 for both accounts despite only actually visiting twice. Therefore £85 was added to the bill. I paid the council direct last Dec and the account is clear however they didn't tell Jacobs and 3 days ago I get an aggressive letter saying they were going to swipe my stuff if I didn't pay within 24hours (plus an extra £300 in fees of course). I rang the council and they said they would tell the bailiffs. Which they did. The bailiff called and said we still had to pay the original fees. Today I came home and found another leter saying cough up by 5pm, just for the £85. This annoyed me cos it shouldn't have even been passed to an enforcement bailiff as the debt was paid. The letter also said he would remove goods in my absence! I am not worried about this because he has not been allowed access previously. I rang him and said I would be happy to pay anything I owed but I want a breakdown of the charges in writing including dates and times of visits. He said he could tell me over the phone how the charges were accrued. I said I wanted them in writing, he refused and said he would be back on Monday and would be adding MORE charges and he hung up on me. Sorry for the lengthy post.......what can I do about this? I know I am liable for the £85 if they have been genuinely applied to the account but surely I am allowed to ask for evidence without incurring additional charges. He was very rude too! Thanks Karen

Hi, My partner became unemployed in October and went on JSA, he has signed off now as he is working as of March. During his 6 months on JSA he had a few weeks work here and there and signed off during these times. We didn't claim DSS contributions during this time as we didn't think he would get it because he didnt have a continuous 13 week period of unemployment but I understand that claim periods can be linked. In the meantime we have accrued major mortgage arrears and have a repossession hearing date for 6th May. Is it worth trying to claim for contributions during his period of unemployment? He is now working on self employed basis so hasn't actually had any money since he signed off in March. I am a full time student but get a bursary....would they take that into account? Can anyone offer any advice please? Thanks in advance

I know!!! I have read the loan agreement and it states that they "A Facility Fee of 1.75% per Month of the Loan amount outstanding from time to time. This fee is payable for so long as all or any part of the Loan remains outstanding and will be added to your account at each Monthly anniversary of the completion of the Loan and will be payable by you on final settlement of the account. However, we will waive our right to collect the Facility Fee if during the lifetime of the Loan you are never more than 14 days in arrears with any Monthly Payment, repay the Loan no later than 7 days after the end of the Term and otherwise comply with the Conditions of your Mortgage." They are in administration and we couldn't get hold of them for 3 weeks but they are now deciding to collect the facility fees for the whole loan....where do we stand with them being in administration? I think they should think themselves lucky that we are coughing up at all nevermind trying to sqeeze an extra 5k out of us. I am so stressed about this and now have all weekend to wait before we can sort it out! :?

HELP ME!!!! I found out who the administrators are and have contacted them, they put me in touch with my original lender. They gave me a redemption figure for today but my solicitor said we cant complete on the new loan till Wed next week. The lender wants to charge me £5000 in fees to complete 3 working days late!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are in administration and I couldn't contact them for 3 weeks, the redemption date was 22nd Oct but if I completed today (17days late) it would have been 42K now they want 48K. My solicitor is off today which is prob why he said that we couldn't complete!!!!! HELP ME PLEASE....I am going to have a breakdown!!!! Karen

Thanks guys...was palnning on putting the cash in the bank and waiting for the call/letter. Wasn't sure if it was my responsibility to find the main lender or if I would incur extra charges as a result. Thanks Karen

Thanks for your reply....I dont know who the administators are yet. Will they contact me?

Hiya, We have a bridging loan that is due to be paid back this week but I have been trying to contact them for over a week and cant get through...I have made enquiries and it appears that they have gone bust. I am a bit confused as to who I pay back now? Shall I wait for the administrators to contact me and ask for the money? Prob the debts owed to the company will be sold and I will have to pay the new lender back but what happens in the meantime? I am a bit confused about where I stand, I dont want to ens up having to pay extra interest that i cant afford. Any advice will be great! Thanks Karen

Hi guys, Went back to Halifax and explained that I wouldn't be accepting their offer as it was far too low and for the past 2 years (since hardship started) they have applied about £2500 in charges. They said that they accept that I am in hardship but its best they will do! and told me to go direct to the ombundsman. Is this normal....I expected a bit more "haggling" than that!!! Thanks Karen

sorry for being thick?? Why july 07? Not Jan 07?

sorry...i forgot to mention that the unarranged overdraft was caused by charges! Thanks Karen

Hiya, Thanks for helping!! My partner was out of work between 01/07 and 04/08 so we just had my income, then I went on mat leave and got paid statuatory pay from August to January when I returned to work part time until July, I have not been working since the end of July. My partner is also on the edge of being made redundant. So we have had a catalogue of financial misfortune for the last 2 years almost. We are paying a bit more off the mortgage arrears each month and we are stealing from peter to pay paul with all of our other bills, we owe eon about £800!!. The charges were caused by lack of funds....sometimes because charges had been taken out and sometimes because I am not very organised. The account they have offered to pay me £238 for is not my priority account but has had an unarranged overdraft for about 4 months. I think I am due about £100 back from Egg from my credit cards but we have accrued about £4000 in charges over both my halifax accounts.

ok, will do!! Thanks for all of your help!

shall we mention the redundancy bit?