The whole purpose of trading as a ltd company is to protect personal assets. If the liability order is in the company name then none of your parents goods can be seized unless his car is registered as part of the buisness. If your parents are named and not the limited company then the bailiff can remove any of their goods to cover the debt and fees. Speak to the brewery as they can often help and will provide a list of fixtures and fittings. Ring the council to clarify the name on the bill if its wrong tell them ...produce the lease and they will have to re bill the company and cancel the bailiffs.

You can report the car stolen as a registration certificate does not prove ownership ...as you are in control of the car you can report the same way you would if you had a hire car that was stolen. Ultimately you need to demand the keys back and if they try to remove it call the poilce.

Just to try and help clarify a few points a liability order can only cover one debt at a time. Sometimes you may have 2 lo's for the same year due to a change in circumstances during the year but each will have a seperate l.o but could have the same linked reference. The reason you may have different amounts is that they have ghost called to get the fees on.So called in the morning and returned in the afternoon or the following day. The attendance fee can only be added when and only when a valid levy has taken place. The purpose of heade fee H is to cover full payment prior to goods being sold at auction once seized it a fee rarely usedand should be £24.50 or 5% of the debt whatever being the greater. Hope im not stating the obvious...

He has taken the car illegally contact the bailiff and demand the vehicle back if they fail to do so report it as stolen os as taken without the owners consent. you could be named on anyones insurance thay cant take there care either. You also should ask for compensation and make a complaint to the council about the bailiff. He is 100% in the wrong.

Please dont get to bogged down in thinking that being classed as vunerable is a get out clause. the guidelines say that vunerable persons are not necessarily at risk of undue hardship it is there to make the bailiff and the council consider their actions.

Whos name is the registered in ...if its in your name he can take it if not he cant. You need to bear in mind it is an offence to fail to notify dvla of a change of address which can incurr a fine of up to £2000 I think. They will state that had you changed the details on your log book you would have recieved the paperwork...I would imagine on that basis they will refuse your stat dec but its worth a try.

What i would do asap is register the vehicle in somebody elses name as once that is done they cant touch it. The councils response is totally ridiculous write to the chief executive complaining abut the unrealistic offer and maybe include an income and expenditure form and what you believe to be a reasonable offer of payment.

Bearing in mind they have offered to take the account back i would accept this and start paying the fiver it will stop the bailiffs attending, just ask the council if they will be quashing the bailiff fees and ask for it in writing. At least this will buy you some time whilst you olan your next step.

The police will only attend to prevent a breach of the peace not to assist him. as stated he cannot force entry ... consider applying for an out of time statutory declaration form the court, depending on the date of the original court date the ticket could be out of date as thay have time limits on them. Do not agree to pay what you cannot afford they have to take into consideration if you are suffering hardship. Do not open the door or let him in or sign any paperwork..

Hi the bailiff can remove "joint chattels and goods" to cover you debt so basically what you have as a couple can be seized however if the vehicle is used for the buisness then it can be classed a tool of the trade and they cannot seize it. For example i builders truck would prevent him working and could not be seized. i assume the council have taken the account to court prior to your monthly arrangement in that situation when the arrangement is broken they normally send it to the bailiff forthwith. Ultimately do not sign any paperwork or allow any access to you property and park you vehicle away from you house to prevent it being clamped or removed.

Unfortunately Collect services tend to do things by the book believe it or not. It is unlikely the council will take the fine back, If you are unable to pay in full offer to pay them in 3 installments, whatever you do dont wait to long as you will get another visit and further charges....!! As to the levy the part you sign is the walking possesion agreement so its always best to decline ... so yes he has a legal levy on you vehicle which enables him to clamp or remove it. The vehicle must be present for him to levy on it.

With regards to seizure of goods the normal rule is the bailiff has to be able to touch it. So looking over the fence would be deemed satisfactory,however this levy does not give him the right of entry as you have been advised he has not made peaceful entry so he cannot force entry and the police would only attend to prevent a breach of the peace. Goods screwed down can be removed it is common practice to remove wall mounted televisions. Goods deemed to be fittings are kitchen cabinets, doors, fireplaces,windows etc .... It is highly unlikely that he council will bankrupt you as there has been a change in policy since the new goverment came in and obviously it would cost the council and they probably have bigger fish to bankrupt.If you vehicle is motability or on finance they cannot seize it. The other point to note is that the guidelines state that just because somebody may be classed as vunerable it doesnt mean they are suffering hardship but clamping a vehicle belonging to a disabled person should be avoided. What you should consider doing is contacting the council direct and ask them to do an attatchment to your ESA it will be deducted at source at a low amount.

Hi I have only just caught up with your posting If i repeat any information you have been given please excuse me ... Firstlt lets deal with the fees. For the first and second visit you can only be charged a maximum of £42.50 the levy fee will be a % of the debt owed I can calculate this if you need me to. Having levied they can charge reasonable costs and fees incurred for a visit with a view to remove this shouuld be in the region of £160. Any other fees are illegal. The vehicle can be levied clamped and removed no matter where it is. If you remove the clamp you are technically interferring with good seized but it is unlikely they will take further action.However if you cut the clamp off you commit the act of criminal damage and arrestable an ofence. As advised pay the council direct in cash at their office or on the internet then notify the bailffs office. Make a written complaint to the council and the bailiff company you can also complain to A.C.E.A.org the governing and ruling body for bailiff companies.Form 4 shouuld only be used in extreme circumstances once all othe avenues have been exhausted. You can check the bailiff on the HMCIs site its not that up to date but will give you an idea as to whether the bailiff is certificated or not. To collect council tax he must be by law. Hope this helps.

Be aware that some of the crafty bailiff firms will do a visit in the morning when they levy and return later the same day when they will add the van fee, there is still a whole big debate as to whether you can add the van fee at the same time of having been levied. Standard bailiff practice is that you can and so far the courts have not ruled against it.

All great advice but please bear in mind that some councils state on the paperwork that they can pay bailiff charges from any direct payments, they do it to prevent Tingys good advice.

You should have been charged a first visit fee of £24.50 plus the outstanding council tax and and court fees the council have added however I anticipate the bailiff will say he levied first and then you decided to pay it will be very difficult to prove otherwise unforunately ... they have refunded the walking possesion fee as it was not required when you paid in full so it would appear the only fee you have paid which is under dispute.

Hi Tingy and thanks for the welcome ...it was more to do with posts 10 and 13 and what you say I totally agree with however i beleive he stated that it was a civil debt which its not and the police attend to prevent a breach of the peace and should take neither one side or the other hopefully... but sorry if i appeared to be splitting hairs it wasnt intentional..

If they only set up an arrangement and did not list goods then they may well not have a valid levy or have one at all so have they no power to enter your premises. When you call the council you need to ask for the recovery team or the court section with regards to outstanding council tax my advice would be NOT to be on the offensive but try to explain to them the issue and explain you wish to continue with your payments.

After the levy the visit fees should gave £42.50 if they returned a third time they can add a further charge under section c which states for one attendance with a vehicle with a view to the removal of goods (where following the levy the goods are not removed) this could be your £120 fee. There is no fee for inspection !!! The liability order means that the courts agree that you own it and they issue a Liability order a bit like a warrant, distress means a debt that hasnt gone to court they act under common law.A distress warrant however means the court have issued it for rent,income tax etc.They could force entry but they have to be able to sell the goods and cover the costs of removl storage and auctioneer fees and most impoertantly A MEAINGFUL AMOUNT OF THE DEBT. So the bigger the debt the harder it is to remove . The C.A.B cannot stop the bailiff but can appeal to there better nature if they have one.

There is no doubt that Jimbo45 has got a lot wrong dont forget that to recover council tax by a bailiff the council ha to put the case before the magistrates court who issue a liability order there by agreeing the debt is owed. Its not a civil offence as you can recieve imprisonment for not paying. As for the original point the levy on the car is invalid so the fee is invalid and they can only add one attendance to remove fee AFTER LEVYING OR DISTRAINING ON GOODS. Good practice says that a bailiff should identify himself at all times upon request even if you have seen the bailiff before his certificate could still be out of date....

When you let them in did you sign the paperwork if so you probably gave them a walking possesion order so they can return at any time if you fall into arrears, if they levied on your goods and at that time did not charge you a bailiff fee they can charge an attendance to remove there is some dispute as to whether this needs to be with a van or not. If they did charge on the levy visit the £120 IS UNLAWFUL. Ultimately you need to contact the council as they "own " the account and they can instruct the bailiif accordingly.Finally if you dont open the door they can gain entry. They can use DVLA to establish ownership or use the council themselves as tey often have a lawful police contact. If the vehicle is on finance or needed in the course of your work or to travel to work mostly they cannot take it however if you "hide" the car they wont be able to ...

3 years ago I voluntarily surrendered my property back to the Abbey National after 12mths. They eventually sold the property with a loss of £121,000 !!!! Since that date I have never witten to them or made them a payment. I have heard that after 6 years I am no longer liable is this true ...