rossendales help!!! dont know what to do!!!

[spite]

please help anyone. im not sure what to do !!. i origionally owed council tax for last year 2007 which had gone to the baliffs, approx 400 pounds. i set up a payment plan and payed half of. i the fell behind on this years council tax which they also sent to the balifs. it started at 897.42 . i have struggled to pay all the bills and these aswell. i spoke to rossendales countless times trying to set up up a reasonable payment plan but they said they would accept no less than 200 a month which i cant afford.

a week later i had a man leave a note through my door saying he wanted to do a goods inventry and to set up a payment plan , i let him in when he next came round. he wrote six possesions of mine on a form then set up a payment plan for me. i also payed £110.00 cash and got a reciept.

he said as i had two accounts they would do a two tier payment plan???

i would pay £65 a month from the small amount then the next month i would pay £120 from the large amount and so on. once te small amount was payed i would pay £120 a month til the debt was cleared.

since then i have recieved three letters saying the debt has not been cleared and baliffs will be sent. i payed the first £65 on the date it was due. when i rang rossendales they said there was no such thing as a two tier payment plan and both debts were due imediately. i managed to pay the rest of the small amount off £181.00. the following week a baliff left a baliff removal letter for £1004.00 outstanding with five days to pay. the origional amount was 897.00 and i had payed £110.00. they have also added £120.00 for the cost of the van attending. the day after i recieved this letter my husband left me. i had to quit my job as i had no-one to look after my two children who are 3 and 4, i have just applied for income support , housing and council tax benefit. i rang rossendales to tell them and they said it had gone to the baliff and to speak to him. ( i thought they were te baliff?)

i spoke to the council who said the debt was for tax up until april 2009 so the debt will come down anyway , also my husband will be liable for his half. they told me to ring the baliff and explain this and they should pass the debt back.

i rang rossendales the next day but they just said the baliffs will return in two days!!!!

 

 

do i have to let them in???

 

im on benefits so can they take anything??

 

please help i dont know what to do!!!!!

#

 

sorry its so long i thought it would help if you know everything.

[chris600uk]

do i have to let them in???

 

Now that you've already let them in and signed a walking posession order - it would appear so yes.

 

im on benefits so can they take anything??

 

Well you could email and write and speak to the council asking them to take the account back, depends on which benefit you're on.

 

As far as I know they can only take the items listed on the walking posession order, but you could do with tomtubby's advice here, she's the expert.

[tomtubby]

Yet AGAIN this is utter nonsense. The council ARE WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE for the actions of agents under their control and they can and SHOULD request this debt back from the bailiff. This is simply buck passing.

 

I hate to say this but this is yet ANOTHER example of why it is so IMPORTANT NEVER TO ALLOW A BAILIFF INTO YOUR HOME.

 

Can you post back here with details of the items that the bailiff has written down on the walking possession and how much the debt is for.

[spite]

the debt was origionally for £897 . i paid £110, the ballif added 120 for coming round making it £1004, the maths doesnt add up.

he wrote down the tv, dining table and chairs, microwave, fish tank , dvd recorder,. i am now on income support, housing and council tax benefit and child tax credits.

[sophia86]

I'm sure there not allowed to take cooking stuff, and also surely they cant take pets?? Or do they want to take the tank and leave the fish???

 

From

Bailiffs and debt collectors : Directgov - Money, tax and benefits

 

What can a bailiff take?

 

Bailiffs can't take essentials such as clothing, bedding, cookers, fridges, most furniture and the 'tools of your trade' (for example, a computer you use for work).

They can take non-essential items such as your television. They can take possessions outside your home (for example, your car or garden equipment), or in unlocked sheds and garages.