I am working full time but in receipt of Working Family Tax Credit as a single parent.

I have called the council and they say they have no responsibility any more for this debt it is entirely with Newlyn and they can take what ever recovery action is necessary to recover although they did say it is very doubtful that they could break in without the Police and they would need a warrant of arrest. I am going to now phone Newlyn Head Office now and see what they say.

Thanks, but can they take a locksmith and enter the flat I own, I am not staying their at the moment but have possesion's in there , I have fully paid last years council tax and have just received this years bill but this relates to 2001/02/03. I did explain to the baliff I can make an arrangement now to clear this in installments so am not refusing to pay but he said if I don't agree to £300-£400 a month by monday he will bring a locksmith to both address and I could go to prison also?

Please could someone advise asap? I have an ongoing dispute with Newlyn about old council tax arrears on a flat I own , they are 3-4 years that they now want payment from me for which was when the flat was rented but they have obtained Liability Order in my name , the Baliff now says he will come with a locksmith to my parents house and the flat and take possesion unless I agree to clear in installment's over 12 months which is not affordable for me being a single parent on Tax credits , I am sure they cannot do this but he is adament under Levy and Distress laws he can bring a locksmith to both addresses , I have offered £100.00 per month he wants almost £400.00 per month

I own a flat that is rented out, I happenned to call the council the other week to enquire about this years council tax and the lady at the council told me there was some arrears that go back to 2003 where a previous tenant did not claim housing benefit so they obtained a liability order in my name as the owner and referred it to the baliff, It was handed back from the baliff as they did not collect it as I don't live there. I gave her my correct address and asked if she could send me a breakdown, there was two years in question and two amounts, fast forward seven days and I go out to go to work and my car has been clamped by Newlyn I phoned them and they say the council just gave them this old file, I rang the coucil to explain I am still waiting for the details of what the amounts relate to can they release my car , they refuse, so I paid the baliff £1000.00 being one of the files which is £800.00 plus his £200.00 costs. Still nothing from the council and the baliff said he still has the other file so I have had to hide my car in the meantime in case he clamps it again for the other file amount. What should I do , my father says I can put the car into his name while this is resolved and a payment arrangement is set up so I don't lose the car , I do not have another £1000.00 to give them , if I change the log book to my dad's name can they still clamp it? and as he gave me the other £1000.00 he says he will simply tell them I now owe him money so I have given him my car. I am not refusing to pay this but cannot pay this all in one go especially as I do not know how they came to this figure? what year etc.

yes I was going to say they may have put a tracker on without you realising I remember the guy from Log Book had to look over my car inside the bonnet etc , so could have put it on without me knowing but then my car was only worth £4000.00 and I only borrowed £1500.00 so I doubt it , but if you say it will be inside a garage then I guess they won't be able to get it out anyway? I'm glad the Solicitor has been helpful.

yes but have you moved your car....while you try and get an appointment with Citizens advice etc, otherwise you will be on here tommorrow and it will be gone. How many payments did you miss , did you ever call them , if you bury your head in the sand with these people then expect the worst then you just fall into their trap,

well that Solicitors should be very close for you its on the bridge in Kensal Rise, NW10. I would make an urgent appointment for a consultation which will not cost anything , and move the car in the meantime, they will probably come tonight or in the early hours of the morning to clamp it. You should have received a default notice. when you say you were paid up to last Jan ? do you mean Jan 06, then how did you miss payments?? had you finished your loan with them? I had a loan with them and did fall into arrears but I must admit I phoned a lady called Nicky in their Collections team and came to arrangements to pay arrears and current weekly payment and she was actually quite friendly after a while but i called her about twice a week to check we were still ok on the arrangement , and after a long hard slog paid it off and all the charges , but as I said I moved anyway so they could not clamp me car and so I will never know if they actually tried to do that sneakily, they probably did try but could'nt find it..

I just asked where in London you are as I have used a Solicitors in the past called CLC which I think stands for Community Law Clinic and they had specialist debt solicitors who I was referred to by Citizens Advice to help me , this was quite a few years ago but they still do this type of work they are in Kensal Rise on 0208 964 4222, they were able to help me negiotate payment plans etc to clear all my debts. They were very reasonable and accept Legal Aid client's too.

oh where is London are you?

They will take it , they did'nt take mine but I moved address after taking out the loan so they would not have found mine anyway , my first advice would be to move the car , do you have a relatives you could put it at for a few days , ring the law society and ask for a solicitor for that specialises in debt matters , or book to see trading standards asap, they may intervene for you.

Hi mimimadtrix , I too will probably do the same as you as I am no longer with them anymore, just for late charges though I was out of my penalty tie in. Let us know how you get on , I think mine would be for about £1500.00 of £50.00 charges

thanks for that it still seems as though £12 is a lot to be adding on weekly even when payments are being made for normal weekly payment and then an amount agreed towards the arrears but then to be continued to be charged £12.00 anyway. But I will write off as this still works out that I should be able to get at least £200.00 back which is the difference between the £12.00 and the £20.00 which was charged to me for 20 weeks in a row.

If you say they have changed their charges to £12 a letter recently does this mean they will refund the difference of all the £20.00 charges that they charged previously , I have finished my loan with them now and want to get some of these charges back?

yes I am working full time , but have a mortgage that takes about 65-70% of my salary am locked into it for another 3 years I am single with one child and have also high childcare costs etc , do not have many other outgoings apart from utilities etc but am probably worse off than if I was on benefits , i.e. the amount of money I have left after bills , my father is paying them out of his savings he is a pensioner becuase if they threaten bancruptcy he does not want to see me homeless becuase of a realtively small unsecured loan from years ago, and I did not want to take the chance of them following their threat through. It would take another 2-3 year to clear this with them and we don't even know how they arrive at their figures but they are very nasty when you call them anyway.