Rossendales Final Reminder, I need time

[chris600uk]

Hi, I've got a few Council tax bills going back over 10 years, 3 Liability Orders from 1997, 1999, and 2004.

They happened because at the time I didn't realise that you had to reapply for the benefit every time something changed in your benefits or you moved address.

I'd thought that simply informing the DSS was enough. Well I was wrong and the council refused to apply the benefit after 12months had passed.

 

Anyway, I spent years on benefits and didn't give these bills much thought until I came off benefits for good last year. I wasn't any better off but now the bailiffs are chasing me for thousands of pounds.

 

Worse, I've just discovered that I've been entitled to a discount from the start because I was caring for my Uncle, so the liability is wrong.

 

:)Now for the good news, in about two to three weeks I'll receive enough money to pay off the debt; but I don't want to pay more than I have to.

 

Does anyone think I stand much chance of getting the liability reassessed now, and can I put Rossendales on hold until I can get this sorted out with the council?

 

Any advice gratefully received,

 

Chris.

[dx100uk]

go see the council, thats your best bet.

sit down and talk to them

 

dx100uk

[chris600uk]

D'you think going through CAB will get their backs up?

[dx100uk]

go direct to the council tax officer.

get a review done over the whole of the period they are chasing for.

they are not there to rip you off, infact you will prob find they will have better knowledge and know the correct people to contact to get the benifits sorted.

cab are good, but i'd give the council a chance first, then if it doesn't work out to your favour, then go to cab.

 

dx100uk

[chris600uk]

thats a fair point, I'll try and get to see one in person Monday.

 

thanks,

 

Chris.

[Edz11]

which Council is involved - PM me if you prefer.

[MARTIN3030]

Dx is quite right Chris.

At the end of the day it is the Council you have to deal with.

You may be quite suprised at their response.

If they can see with some clarity that you want to get this dealt with and are prepared to make payment,then you should find them more than prepared to talk to you.

[chris600uk]

Liverpool City Council

[chris600uk]

17th November 2007

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Re: xxxxxxxx Client reference xxxxxxxx

 

I understand xxxxxxxxx City Council has appointed you to recover my Council Tax Liability arrears of £928.34

A liability order has been passed to you that I had no notification of.

To be clear, I have received no notification of a court summons or liability order from xxxxxxxxx City Council or the magistrates’ court prior to xxxxxxxxx City Council passing this debt to you.

I would like to make you aware that I am fully aware of my rights and you will not gain entry to my home under any circumstances to levy goods and I know the fees allowed under statute and when these fees can be applied.

 

I have discovered that the Liability arrears have been incorrectly calculated from the beginning up to the present day, and I will be contacting the council directly in order to resolve this.

A member of my family has offered to clear my debts in one payment directly to the Council once my liability has been reviewed.

 

Although I am aware that payments should normally be made to you directly, on this occasion I will not be doing this, because this will involve unnecessary extra fees and costs that will cause me hardship.

Due entirely to these circumstances, I have decided to pay the full amount owed once they have reviewed my case, directly to xxxxxxxxx City Council, as I have serious concerns that dealing with yourselves would lead to excessive fees.

 

Please be aware that at no time have I refused to pay my Council Tax arrears

 

I am sending a copy of this letter to xxxxxxxxx City Council

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's what I'm planning to send to Rossendales by recorded delivery, to try and hold them off until I've spoken to the Council.

 

 

 

Any comments, anyone?

[dx100uk]

i would not advise sending any letter, esp to ross yet.

it will only make things worse

 

go to the council first thing monday morning with all the paperwork you have.

if you are relying on getting what you owe reduced because of miscalculation of benefits or changes in circumstances during the period involved.

TAKE WRITTEN evidence with you, or some method of justifying your claim.

 

as for the bailliff and fees etc, the council have the power to cancel the whole bailiff involvement, fullstop, inc fees.

 

dont do anything stupid, get annoyed, send letters or anything.

 

but you MUST go and see them in person. monday morning.

 

if you are supposed to be in work, tell the boss honestly that you must go, dont look for excuses.

 

dx100uk

[chris600uk]

Oh hell!

I read a few posts elsewhere where letters, even when sent by recorded delivery had been ignored.

 

So I sent it by email to [email protected] I reckoned they couldn't say they hadn't received an email. I suppose now I'll have to hope nobody reads it for a while.

 

As far as proof is concerned, I've just had that in writing from Palatine House, proving that I was receiving carers allowance for looking after my Uncle John who's Severely mentally impaired who lived with us. He wasnt a secret, he was disregarded for council tax purposes but it looks like the discount of 50% that I was entitled to was never applied.

 

I can see it's now absolutely essential that I'm first in line Monday morning.

 

Just one thing, where to go to first? One stop shop or the Liverpool Direct offices?

[chris600uk]

Don't do anything stupid.

 

That was good advice, thanks.

 

 

Sadly it would seem that I already have.

[dx100uk]

ok well not too bad really now.

the letter you indicate to in post 11, changes the perspective of the whole issue and, i would be incline to send a 2nd email to ross basically detailing its contents. then they should be able to workout that the original liability order is infact based on incorrect information not available to the council at time of issue.

 

as already guessed, i would now think it quite probable that the council will revoke it totally and allow time for their investigations dept to calculate the new liabilty to you.

 

just on another small point, keep it under your hat that you are going to clear the debt in one payment, plead continuing financial hardship [bearing in-mind you are/have looked after a mentally impaired relative for such a long time.] that way a payment scheme will be agreed upon.

 

In a week or two, recontact them [try to get the same person] and explain you are prepared to pay in a one lump cash sum to settle this, any chance of a discount incentive for paying it off. you might again be suprised.

 

as for which dept in liverpool to see, that i cant answer as such but i'd make a quick phone call first or p'haps look it up on the net?

 

good luck

 

keep us informed.

 

dx100uk

[chris600uk]

Thanks, I'll send them an email copy now.

 

Chris.

[chris600uk]

Spoken to the council, made an appointment to visit a one stop shop on Wednesday and take the proof of new information in by hand.

 

I'm told I can ask for a 14 day stop on the bailiffs while the "back office"

look at my proof, and if they agree, amend the bill and issue a new one.

 

They seem to still want me to make payments through the bailiffs, which I don't want to do.

 

I'll keep you posted,

 

Chris

[chris600uk]

Just been looking at Rossendales letters, previously when I asked them how they arrived at the figure they were chasing me for, they simply sent a list of their charges.

 

 

Debt 1227.20 Debt 1021.92 Debt 180.52 May 8 2007

visit fee 1 24.50 visit fee 1 24.50 visit fee 1 24.50 May 10 2007

visit fee 2 18.00 visit fee 2 18.00 visit fee 2 18.00 May 15 2007

Levy fee 59.00 Levy fee 54.00 Levy fee 28.00 Aug 3 2007

less £10 paid so

levy fee outstanding 44.00

 

I can't remember anyone visiting the house, I wasn't in, so I can't be sure if they actually came or not.

 

Can they actually charge three times for visiting the same house on the same day?

[chris600uk]

Sorry to keep drip feeding info, but we've been in chaos for over a year and I keep coming across letters and paperwork.

 

I've got a "NOTICE OF BAILIFF'S ATTENDANCE" , and 3 walking possession agreements dated 3rd August 2007, apparently signed by a bailiff but not by me, or anyone else.

The car referred to is a freinds who parked it at my house while he went on holiday.

 

Does this mean that the levy charged is illegal?

It seems that way to me.

 

And should I challenge it even after all this time?

[chris600uk]

My 1st email to [email protected] from post 9 received a receipt.

 

Your message

 

To: xxxxx xxxxxxxx

Cc:

Subject: Re: xxxxxxxx Client reference xxxxxxxx

Sent: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:03:24 -0000

 

was read on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:05:11 -0000

 

Rossendales Limited registered office: | Hardman Mill | New Hall Hey Road | Rawtenstall | Rossendale | Lancashire | Registered in England No 1501584

 

My other emails, sent to [email protected] received none

[chris600uk]

Met with the Council tax at the one stop shop today.

 

They weren't really interested in my carers allowance letter, because they think it's already been taken into account, but they said they will check.

 

They spent an hour going over my previous addresses to see what I owed and if/or when I'd made claims for council tax benefit.

 

Their computer system was updated in 2003 and showed little or no information from before that time, so anything earlier had been archived.

 

They said that they had "escalated" my enquiry and would review my case going back to 1997 and wrote a letter there and then to their own benefit team.

 

They said that they would NOT put a stop on the bailiffs.

 

They suggested that I pay what they said was outstanding to the bailiffs and that if they discovered that I'd overpaid them that they would credit the overpayment back to my current years council tax bill, which is horribly large but not yet at the summons stage.

 

They said that I must pay the bailiffs the outstanding debt, not the council.

 

They also said that I must go to the DSS and ask for a letter stating when I had been in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance or Income support.

 

Anyone got a view?

[dx100uk]

TBH i think thats a fair deal.

i think you need to start paying something as a goodwill payment, then when it has been re-assessed you'll know the balance.

 

dx100uk

[chris600uk]

We thought so too, they couldn't have been more helpful and suggested that this had largely happened because of a serious of c*** ups.

 

I still don't like the idea of paying money to Rossendales, and as soon as I've got the money am going to try and pay it online so that the Council are paid, and come to an agreement about this years bill.

 

Once I've established what Rossendales are entitled to, I'll pay them too, if I have to.

 

As far as I can see, they are entitled to £24.50 plus £18.00 on each liability order because they've never gained entry or a signed walking posession agreement.

 

What do you think?

[tomtubby]

Chris

 

 

Could you resend the breakdown of fees that Rossendales have charged you as I cannot read it very well in the formatt that is shown in your post.

[chris600uk]

Ref xxxx662

may 8 debt 180.52

may 10 visit fee 1 24.50

may 15 visit fee 2 18.00

aug 3 levy fee 28.00

 

Ref xxxx752

may 8 debt 1227.20

may 10 visit fee 1 24.50

may 15 visit fee 2 18.00

aug 3 levy fee 59.00

 

Ref xxxx751

may 8 debt 1021.92

may 10 24.50

may 15 18.00

aug levy fee 54.00 less £10.00 paid Aug 16 so £44.00.

 

hope that's clearer,

 

Chris.

[Crutey]

They are right in what they are saying, the legislation states that any pending award of benefit or relevant discounts cannot be used as a reson not to pay the charges. It states that you should pay as originally billed. Until you actually receive an amended bill the original one is due. You should pay the charges due and then, like they say, should there be a credit due it will be applied to current charges. This is correct procedure based on current legislation.

 

If you pay the charge in full to the Council then the Bailiff will be within its right to continue persuing you for the fees incurred to date providing they have been incurred legally.

 

To be honest with you fees can be incurred for visits carried out while you were not at home. It is quite common for a bailiff to attempt to levy on a car at your property. It is strictly up to you to demonstrate its not yours. Bear in mind levying is intended to coerce payment, it is likely they have no intention on actually uplifting.

 

I would suggest that you request a full break down of fees, when they were incurred specifically and copies of any levies carried out etc so you can determine if the fees are fair.

 

 

Another thing, unfortunately the council will not consider the fact that you do not receive notices. The law states the council has to have proof they passed certain notices to royal mail for delivery but has no requirment to make sure you receive them. This makes sense really as they would have to be held responsible for the performance of royal mail firstly, and secondly it would be quite easy to throw the notices away and tell the council you never got them to avoid the charges.

 

If you need anything clarifying about what the Council said to you i would be happy to help. Sorry if ive not assisted you at all lol.

[chris600uk]

You're right, and I've no intention of trying to avoid paying what's due.

But I will not pay for fees that I don't have to, and so far it seems to me that the only fees the bailiff is entitled to is £24.50 + £18.00 on each liability order.

 

If I'm right, then that's what they'll get, less the tenner they've already had.

And the council will get the outstanding tax bill.

 

As far as the levy is concerned, my feeling is this.

OK, it might have been fair to assume it was my car at the time.

But no agreement was signed to that effect and no entry peaceful or otherwise was gained - so I don't see how the levy fee can be justified, and therefore won't pay it.

 

So far the advice I've had says that once the Councils been paid off, the bailiffs fees become a civil matter between me and them, and they won't have the benefit of their previous status, cos they'd be collecting their own debt not the councils.

 

If anyone has a different point of view, I'd welcome it.

 

Thanks, it does help

 

chris

 

I'll be glad when this is all over.