Just as an update - received a letter today telling me that they are only going to charge the £39 fees only (I would push and say they only made 1 visit, but I think down from £241 is good enough!) Again my hugest thanks to Chrismc, blfuk & Bailiffchaser for their sound advice and to all those who have posted info this forum for the info too. Keep up the good work - and a donation will be with you soon!

Sent off my letters to them on Monday by post and e-mail - got an e-mail back saying that it will be dealt with in 14 days. Phoned up both yesterday and today (it gives you a warm feeling hassling a bailiff!! ) and found that it has been put on hold until 11 December - however I am still going to phone up tomorrow and pay the balance of the actual council tax debt, a.) because I want to get it over and done with, and b.) so no-one can accuse me of trying to get out of paying it! Therefore, from tomorrow, all that will be left to pay is the disputed "fees". Just like to say a huge thankyou to all for your advice and guidance - and if all goes well, a donation will be forthcoming for saving me £200!

As I said in my other post - phone the council tomorrow and explain. If there is one lesson I have learnt in the past couple of months is always talk to people you owe money too! - In your case though you should be able to claim Conucil Tax Benefit - see my other post!

The best thing you can do is to contact the council ASAP and explain your situation, as you probably qualify for Council Tax benefit anyway if you are receiving JSA (although it depends on whether you live with a partner etc etc) - Not sure of the forum rules on posting links - hope I'm not breaking any but this is the link for DWPs info on it : DWP - Services and benefits - Council Tax Benefit And no it is not a CCJ, so don't panic on that matter, however the best thing is explain to the council your situation as soon as possible!

You may have seen my other posts about Equit, please could you have a look at the letter I am going to send them - I am going for a two pronged attack 1.) Letter number 1 - is the letter I have seen on this website to the bailiff himself, requesting a breakdown of fees etc etc and a asking for his certificate number 2.) Is the letter below - any comments would be greatfully appreciated! Thanks! Following on from your letter dated 24 November 2006, I still have not received a full breakdown of the cost incurred on my account – instead I was sent a copy statement from October 2006 which does not even show the recent payments I have made. As a history : 1.) 26 September 2006 – First visit by Bailiff – letter posted through the door as your appointed bailiff, Mr ********, could not enter property (I was at work). I discussed with Mr ******* the debt in the afternoon of the same day over the telephone and agreed to contact him again by 13 October to arrange to pay the debt. At the same time requested Mr ******* to provide a full breakdown of costs – he provided the following sent by post (copy attached). Council Tax debt : £1036.89 Initial Bailiff Cost : £39.00 Enforcement Cost : £202.00 TOTAL £1277.89 2.) Week commencing 9 October 2006 – paid initial payment of £300 by card, set up arrangement to pay by card over telephone. 3.) At same time wrote to your company requesting a full breakdown of line-by-line costs as still no-one had provided me the correct information. I was provided with the following (copy attached) Council Tax Debt : £1036.89 Bailiff Fee : £91.00 Enforcement Fee : £150.00 TOTAL £1277.89 The fees for collection of Council Tax are set down in statute (The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 45.(2)(b) – amended in 2003) and where no levy has been made the most you can charge me is £22.50 for the first visit and £16.50 for the second visit and where no levy is made, no further charges can be made. By the above calculations and since no levy has been made, in my case the most you can charge is £39. Therefore I am writing to say that I dispute the costs you have added to the account as you have decided to charge me £241. Under the agreement I have made with your bailiff I am due to pay the remainder off on 30 November 2006 – and I am willing to pay the debt due to the council, but not the charges as they are not in following with the Statute indicated above. Therefore I require a FULL breakdown of the account including a complete breakdown, line by line of costs, or the re-calculation of the fees in keeping with the correct charges schedule. In keeping with this, and seeing that the agreed date of my final payment is in 4 days time on 30 November 2006 I will pay £336.89 which will mean that I will have paid £1036.89 (to date I have paid £700 by credit card) – the total of the Council Tax Debt, unless before then I am contacted (I have included my address, telephone numbers and e-mail address at the top of this letter) with the correct information. I have no issue in paying fees, and I will do so, but only if they are legal and explained. As I cannot tell the breakdown of costs, and seeing that I have no contact address for Mr ******, please can you forward the attached letter to him requesting the same information in case you cannot help centrally. It requests a breakdown of costs and his Certificate number as I intend to follow this matter in the courts if it is not resolved correctly. I await your reply

Got a letter back from Equita which was a copy of a statement from over a month ago! Thing is, I have had two different figures! First was from bailiff himself who sent this to me when I arranged to pay off the debt in instalments over the phone. Council Tax debt : £1036.89 Initial Bailiff Cost : £39.00 Enforcement Cost : £202.00 TOTAL £1277.89 However Equita HO has since provided me with this (this is their idea of a "breakdown of charges) : Council Tax Debt : £1036.89 Bailiff Fee : £91.00 Enforcement Fee : £150.00 TOTAL £1277.89 Therefore I am being two different set of charges by the same organisation! Don't forget that I responded to the first visit letter - the bailiff has never entered my property and I don't have anything outside that could be levied. I am paying this all off on 30 November - however it's annoying when you know that you're being shafted but can't do anything about it! The thing that really annoys me is that I am in the position where I can pay it all off. However there are people out there that can't and basically get used as cash cows from these b*stards. So I am going to compose another letter with all of the paperwork including printouts from the DCA website on charges, basically saying "I know how much you can charge me and I know you are taking the mickey" However any guidance on what to say? Oh and I love Equita's company hookline "Your natural choice" - sounds more like a laxative than a bailiff

Thanks for this guys, I am still waiting for Equita to come back me so i wil wait and see! Basically they never got to Levy, therefore they should have not stuck any charges on (apart from first visit fee). Seeing that it looks like "the fees" are the same on every debt (from other examples I have seen) regardless of size, it seems that they are basically just trying to make as much money as they can. Plus I am bit fed up - I have £700 to them so far and only £349 has ended up at the council. Worst of all is that Westminster Council's Tax is run by Crapita - who are are as aggressive and dismissive as Equita themselves! Thanks again!

Indeed I am in a similar situation for them quite simply sticking a letter through the door - funny thing is I was even in at the time and they didn't even ring the doorbell! (ok, glad they didn;t as I would have opened the door and let the vampires enter!). They've added £202.50 on top of the debt - I spoke to the council, however they have farmed it out to Capita (aka Crapita) who actually own Equita, and they were no help at all. I phoned the council again who said they had nothing to do with the bailiffs - even when I mentioned about "Duty of Care" - they also refused to send a letter detailing the advice given, or to give me his name. So I phoned ACEA to ask about complaints procedure, and guess what - a peach - I told them Equita had not been into the property and guess what he said "They can charge Levy fees if they INTENDED to enter the property" - which shows you that it's a self-serving organisation. So the council has told me to naff off, Equita put the phone down on you when you ask for details of charges and they aren;t even regulated by law. License to print money! Again anyone who can give nay advice - it would be much appreciated!