Has Any One Else Had Problems With Ross & Roberts?

[pegleg]

I was wondering if any one else has had any dealings with bailliffs called Ross & Roberts? We signed a walking possession a while back. We had to agree to pay £150 a month. Over Xmas we missed a payment. The bailliffs came back 3 weeks ago & told us that we had to pay them £150 there & then or they would take our belongings, so we paid them, but we went overdrawn at the bank & ended up in trouble with that. The bailliffs said they want £200 a month from now on as they & the council we owe the council tax to will NOT except any payment lower than that. We have three children & can't cope with the amount of money they want each month. Can anyone please give me some advice?

[Guest Screw The Bailiff]

Write or phone the council and explain your circumstances. The bailiff is trying to renege on a previous agreement and is behaving unreasonably.

 

Report back with a prognosis from the council, but in the meantime do keep to the agreed £150. If the council is uncooperative then consider making a complaint of misfeasance with the LGO.

 

If the bailiff threatens to 'get a locksmith' or break & enter using that walking possession document then report back & we'll advice with options. The bailiff cannot force you to live with undue hardship.

 

For the moment, check the (EDIT) and report of you find an irregularity & we'll advice with further options.

[The Chunchmeister]

PEGLEG how much do you owe and for what period, provide by private message if you wish.

 

The LGO do not have jurisdiction in this matter so a compalint to them will achive nothing.

 

I am confident that I can get the bailiffs to reduce the payment amount but I will need more info, it would be better to do this not in public forum so please feel free to send private message.

[ukaviator]

Please be aware of acting on advice given by PM .Anyone can make mistakes and if advice is given on the main forum, people can see it to correct it. Please also be aware of giving your personal details to strangers.

[pegleg]

Thanks for the advice. The easiest way for us to sort it out would be if the council would do an attachment of earnings order but they say they don't do them.

[The Chunchmeister]

Thanks for the advice. The easiest way for us to sort it out would be if the council would do an attachment of earnings order but they say they don't do them.

 

Depends how much you earn each week/month, however all councils do them as its the most cost efficient way of recovering debts.

 

If you want to provide amounts in open forum please do as the administrators on this site seem to prefer that.

 

I will be able to assist in this if you can provide information, I would prefer off line but if you are happy on line thenm I will oblige

[pegleg]

PEGLEG how much do you owe and for what period, provide by private message if you wish.

 

The LGO do not have jurisdiction in this matter so a compalint to them will achive nothing.

 

I am confident that I can get the bailiffs to reduce the payment amount but I will need more info, it would be better to do this not in public forum so please feel free to send private message.

Can I ask how you think you can get the bailiff to reduce the payment?

[chris600uk]

I'd like to know that too.

[Guest Screw The Bailiff]

and me.

 

And the OP can file at LGO against the council for exposing a family to live in undue hardship by a bailiff acting on its instructions - especially where a bailiff intends to renege on a previous agreement the OP has hitherto kept.

 

The op can also be awarded compensation & thats also in the LGO's remit. Start some dalog sooner rather than later.

 

I dont give advice in PM, I dont get forum users to PM me on the pretence of 'checking a bailiffs certificate' and start phone dialog with a view to sell a commercial debt counselling service with Premium-rate 0901 numbers to download temlates. My templates & advice is free and for the communal good of all.

[falcon185]

Maybe he is a bailiff or works for that particular company?? Does anyone smell a Troll perhaps?? Character assassination has no place on CAG, we ALL try to help each other hence posting on this open forum, mistaken advice can and will be corrected then by people with more knowledge.

[ukaviator]

Crunchmeister

 

We have a duty to protect people on this site. It maybe that you are just wanting to help, or you could be someone who could be touting for business, or worse. We get complaints all of the time, from users of this site, being approached by PM to provide information.

 

I am not saying you are, but i am responding to a reported post made by another user earlier, and it was'nt STB.

 

If you are here to help, and think advice on this site is wrong, then how about correcting the mistakes made, and i will concentrate on the running of the site behind the scenes.

[Guest Screw The Bailiff]

Can I ask how you think you can get the bailiff to reduce the payment?

 

You tell the bailiff you have an agreement and there will be no change to thar agreement because it otherwise causes your family severe hardship and below the an income level otherwise available on prescribed benefits.

 

The bailiff gets funny then let me know and I'll show you how to do something about it.

[pegleg]

Thanks to all of you for your advice & especially to Screw the Bailiff as I know you are helping me & your advice is very welcome.

[counciltaxloser]

Hi yes I have. My ex had had some sort of agreement with them for council tax arrears incurred when he became long term sick. He then left me and I then had a visit from a Baliff from Ross and Roberts, I was so scared as he said that if I didn't come up with £150.00 there and then they would send a van and take my goods. I was in such a state as you can imagine as he was telling me that he had the right to just walk in. I tried to explain to him that I was in real financial trouble as my husband had walked out on me a week before, he then changed tactics and persuaded me to let him in so he could"help me" I foolishly did and at this point he began writing a list of goods down I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was just writing a list of what I had in the room. I asked him if he was going to seize the contents of the list to which he said oh no don't worry its just a list I have to write,he then spoke to my ex as by then my son had called him by phone he then agreed to pay him the £150.00 the next day,he has not paid anything since though I hasten to add preferrs to leave me to struggle to pay the lot. He then got me to sign something which I later found out was a liability order in my name I think for the rights to seize the goods mentioned on the list.

I agreed to pay £50.00 a month but could not afford to do this,as I only worked part time and had 2 children to support, they would not reduce the payments and the Council refused to intervene even though they knew my circumstances. I also asked that the debt be split 50 50 between myself and my ex, but they would not do this either, as I do want to pay it just don't think its fair I should pay all of it.The lat time I spoke to Ross and Roberts I had moved from the property involved and I was trying to make an arrangement to pay,I told them I wasn't prepared to tell them where I am as the debt has nothing to do with my new partner. He agreed to meet me so I could arrangea payment plan but said I would have to make a substancial payment to offset charges and even said that I should hand over my car.I did consider doing this just to aleviate the worry, but I need it in order to be able to work. In the end I didn't meet him as I was paranoid he would have the police waiting there to arrest me as he told me that that was the next step if I didn't pay.

I am so worried about it as I do want to pay,as if I get a criminal record I stand to lose my job.

What really upset me though was they called when I wasn't in with a van and spoke to my 15 year old daughter, they told her that if I didnt contact them they were going to force entry and take our goods. They sat outside my house for about 2 hours she was absolutely petrified. My ex has stedfastly refused since to take responsibility for his half, and apparently because I work and he doesn't they will keep chasing me even if I pay my half. I am in a no win situation it seems to me, and I can't seem to get any clear advice on what to do next and wether or not it is possible that if they find me they will arrest me and I will end up with a criminal record.

I am so sorry I can't give you any advice as as you can see I am unclear myself,but if you need to talk or if you have since found out any useful info on how to tackle them then could you pass it on to me I would be most gratefull. Or if any one else can that would be great to

THANKS

[chris600uk]

This is easy for me to say, but try not to panic.

 

Are you saying that you no longer live at the address that they have a liability order for?

[huggys boss]

I dont know how this would work............more experienced users will advise you better:)

 

But to my mind, if the bailiffs still don't know your present address, is it possible that you could pay them what you can afford via their automated payment system or using an online banking account?

 

The company that I am having trouble with refused to reinstate a payment plan I defaulted on. I just reinsated my standing order so that if it did go back to court or to the police, I could prove that I was trying to pay the debt even if it wasn't at a rate that they thought acceptable.

 

Hopefully, if you can do this, if and when they ever do catch up with you, your balance would be reduced if not paid in full.

 

As of today, I have stopped dealing with the bailiffs all together and have started to pay the council direct. (The council don't know this yet, but they will when they get the letter I have just posted demanding all my bailiff fees back!).

[Heathliver]

I don't know if this would be of any help but these are the standards laid out for enforcement officers to meet. Here is a link to a government website: Department for Constitutional Affairs - Enforcement - National Standards for Enforcement Agents.

 

Be aware that some councils receive a proportion of the bailiffs fees as commission for work given, something I would have thought was in direct contravention of all enforcement rules. If you meet the vunerability criteria, the bailiff must refer back to the creditor. You will also see that a bailiff must identify themslves and are not allowed to overstate their powers. Wonder how many of them have read the national standards, Kermit excluded ofcourse.

[chris600uk]

You must follow a plan with the bailiffs.

1st Establish the name of the bailiff who issued the WPA, then find out if at that time they had a current certificate issued in favour of Ross & Roberts.

If not then AFAIK the WPA isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

 

2nd If the bailiff does have a certificate correctly issued, then you need advice on whether it allows them to pursue the debt at another address, I think it does but you need to check.

 

3rd Consider your current legal status, does it allow you to claim "vulnerable status", if so there are pre-prepared letters that you can customize to demand that the council take the account back.

 

Finally, if all else fails make a list of your partners property, which I imagine;) covers everything in the property you are living in including all motor vehicles. And if you DO own your own car, make sure you park it outside the curtilage of your property and have witnesses prepared to swear to that.

 

If 1. is successful then you may find R & R reluctant to pursue the matter any further - from my own experience with another bailiff firm.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Chris.

[chris600uk]

It may be worth pointing out that the council is legally obliged to hand the account to the bailiffs unless you can provide them with a lawful reason why they should take it back. There was a test case when a council tried to freeze the bailiffs out, they lost.

[counciltaxloser]

Hi,

Thanks so much for your reply, I am probably not classed as vulnerable now as I have a better job and not on anti depressants anymore, but at the time they issued the liability or possession order I was. I don't know f this would be a valid reason. At that time I was off work or had just been off work and being treated for depression due to my marriage split and the years of abuse I had suffered, honestly I was in such a mess, and that was so obvious at the time to the Baliff, as I was crying so much my 19 year old son had to talk to him on my behalf.

I don't own anything here at all, not even the car I have is in my name, and yes I no longer live at the address the order was issued for. At the moment they do not know where I am, although this could change as I recieved a letter from the Council stateing they had over paid me some Housing Benefit,I don't know how mind you because they hardly paid anything to me and in the end I could no longer afford to live in the property, and was waiting to be housed by another Council under the Homeless act, as I had been issued with a section 21 by my Landlord.

I had a Debt Counselling Agency working on my behalf aswell trying to get them to split the Debt, that was the Council, but they did not want to know. Its so frustrating as I know I owe it and do want to pay it , just only my half of it. I also pointed out to the Council the more pressure they put on me, forced me to contact my ex to get him to help, which in turn put me in danger of being abused even more by him.

Do you know if I can just go to the Council and just pay them half, or would I have to pay it to Ross and Roberts? Thanks so much for your reply, it has helped.xxx

[counciltaxloser]

The only bit of useful info I recieved was just before I moved and that was if the payment plan you agreed on was more than you could afford and you had proof of that, which I did as the Debt Counsellors had written me out a Financial Statement which clearly showed at that time my outgoings exceeded my income,as long as you put it in writing, they have to accept the amount you can afford to pay.I wish I had known this before.

[sweep1]

counciltaxloser

 

You say that your ex-husband had an agreement to pay the bailiff(s).

Up to this point you would have been foolishly mislead into signing a "form of walking possesion" agreement, this document which differs from the court approved "walking possesion" agreement, in that a "form of wpa" allows the bailiff much greater right of re-entry without "forced exclusion" having first occured

 

For the Bailiff to recover Council Tax Arrears and get a "form of WPA" signed,a Liability Order must have first been obtained by the Council, are you aware of such a Order? Is the Liability Order in his name or both your names?.

For Council Tax recovery, only the person(s) named on the Liability Order can agree and sign a "form of WPA".

If the Liability Order is in his name, it`s his debt and his problem and the bailiff is in the wrong.

If the Liability order is in both your names, joint and several liability exists and you have a problem.

Has any of this applied to you?

[tomtubby]

SWEEP.

Your advice is EXCELLENT....