Baliff Problems

[Jeffo_01]

My wife is disabled and I stay home as her full time career so the only money we have coming in is the money that she gets for her disability and my £50;55p as her career.

 

We got our self's into arrears with our council tax before we knew we could claim relief from it, once we put our claim in, it was taken from the date of the claim so we still had arrears to pay them, we fell behind and they sent in the parasites who listed our goods for what there worth they no where near cover the bill.

 

Anyway we kept up our payments with the parasites and one day over 2 months ago now, we paid them on line as we usually do and we were on time with our payment and because of there own system muck up they said it takes 3 days for payment to get to them? so according to them we ended up paying them 3 days late, another parasite called and I was out, my wife and daughter were here and they charged us £130 late payment fee, Just more money we can't afford, This month again we paid 2 days late so were expecting them to call again with another late payment fee of another £130, we can't pay any earlier because we can only pay them when we get our money and we can't keep paying these late payment fee's.

 

When they arrive this time I'm in 2 minds to just say to them take the bloody stuff (sorry) you have on your list, get out and leave us a loan but something tells me its not going to be so easy.

 

The last time they called my wife was so frightened by them that they talked her into raising our payments by an extra £25 per month, I just hate these people and I find it very difficult to talk civil to them and I call them parasites and thieves, I know I shouldn't but I just hate these people and its water of a ducks back to them.

 

Is there any way I can stop them putting this late payment fee on us because it will Just continue to cause my wife more stress and its something she can really do without in her condition and were struggling to pay them as it is, we now have to pay them £100 PM.

 

I understand if its to late but I'm asking in the chance that there is hope for us? with fighting these parasites.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this and you all have my kindest regards.

[Ell-enn]

Hi, I'm sorry to hear you are having this trouble - it must be very stressful for you all. I think you should write a letter to your council under their formal complaints procedure, after all they are responsible for the people they employ to do their dirty work for them - if you need help with a letter let me know. Have you spoken to the council at all about this treatment?

 

Also, given your circumstances I think you would come under the "vulnerable" criteria which may put a different light on things - I will look that up and come back to you.

 

 

In addition, you should engage the help of your local MP - find out when his/her surgery is and go along with all the paperwork.

 

Ell-enn

[chris600uk]

My wife is disabled and I stay home as her full time career so the only money we have coming in is the money that she gets for her disability and my £50;55p as her career.

 

According to the national guidelines you would appear to fall into the "vulnerable" category.

 

This is an extract from the guidelines:

6. DISTRAINT EXEMPTIONS – VULNERABLE PERSONS
(COUNCIL TAX)

6.1 The bailiff company must at all times assess the personal and financial circumstances of the debtor.

6.2 The following class of persons should not be subject to distraint action: -

(a) Persons who display evidence of possible mental impairment.

(b) Persons with a profound sensory disability (seriously impaired sight or hearing).

© Persons (or the partners of persons) who are suffering a serious illness or who are terminally ill.

(d) Persons who have suffered the recent bereavement of an immediate family member.

(e) Persons who are frail due to old age or disability.

6.3 In all the above circumstances, cases should be returned to the Council. Costs incurred by the bailiffs to be in accordance with the agreed scale.

[chris600uk]

We got our self's into arrears with our council tax before we knew we could claim relief from it, once we put our claim in, it was taken from the date of the claim so we still had arrears to pay them

 

Let's see if I understand this, you were entitled to council tax benefit but you weren't aware of that.

once you became aware of it you made a claim, and you are now receiving council tax benefit.

 

If that is so then you should not now be subjected to enforcement action by the bailiffs, and your account should have been handed back to the council.

 

we fell behind and they sent in the parasites who listed our goods for what there worth they no where near cover the bill.

 

So not only did the council hand the account to the bailiffs, but the bailiffs have been into your house and presumably you have signed walking possession agreement, is that right?

 

When they arrive this time I'm in 2 minds to just say to them take the bloody stuff (sorry) you have on your list, get out and leave us a loan but something tells me its not going to be so easy.

 

Actually it's exactly that easy, but unfortunately that won't be the end of the matter, because they'll have the right to come back into your house and make a list of anything else that is not exempt; unless of course you have already sold it to a third party.

 

I understand if its to late but I'm asking in the chance that there is hope for us? with fighting these parasites.

 

I don't think that your account should have been passed to the bailiffs in the first place.

 

In all this time have you had any contact with the council?

[Jeffo_01]

Quote=Ell-enn;2041306]Hi, I'm sorry to hear you are having this trouble - it must be very stressful for you all. I think you should write a letter to your council under their formal complaints procedure, after all they are responsible for the people they employ to do their dirty work for them - if you need help with a letter let me know. Have you spoken to the council at all about this treatment?

 

Also, given your circumstances I think you would come under the "vulnerable" criteria which may put a different light on things - I will look that up and come back to you.

 

 

In addition, you should engage the help of your local MP - find out when his/her surgery is and go along with all the paperwork.

 

Ell-enn

Before I start I would Just like to thank you all for your replies and I will try to answer them all here.

 

Ell-enn

Believe me it is very stress full when you see your wife crying hours after the parasite left and then to see her wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying, when I see this it really hurts me and this is why I have turned to this forum for possible help rather than punch their lights out if they turn up to charge us again and I do think they will.

 

I would love your help with a letter because I'm useless at putting the correct words together apart from I don't know what I'm talking about regarding these matters, so if your kind offer is still open then I would be more than happy with your help.

 

When this parasite turned up to give us a late payment fee my wife explained and showed her the receipt of payment with the date that was on time, this is when she said its because it takes 3 days to go through, this is what made me angry in the fact we had paid by the date stated, she gave my wife a direct number to call to make direct payment, the month before last she used this number only to find how difficult it was to get through and when she did eventually get through it asked for our post code, she gave the post code and it said it wasn't reconised and she tried over 6 times to try to pay it....In fear of them turning up again she contacted our local council and they said they would contact them which they did, 15 minutes later the parasite's called us and explained it was only parts of the post code it was asking for but it didn't explain this properly on the phone, I assumed it to be a ploy to get more money out of people but I don't know.

 

We did explain to the council about there charges but the woman we spoke to showed no interest in our complain this is why I think a written one may be so much better than a phone call.

 

chris600uk

 

Many thanks for taking the time to search the list for us, your list

C&E in your list seems to cover my wife, she has MS and is in a wheelchair but this doesn't seem to bother the parisites when they turn up, they even tried to list the car we have for her, I had to produce the documentation to prove it was a disabled car even though it had a disabled tax disk in the window that I pointed out to him, they even listed our 3 piece suite so my wife would have to stay in her wheel chair 24/7 or sit on the floor if they took it, not that its worth anything they would be lucky to get £50 for it but it didn't stop them listing it.

 

This line here I would be unsure on how to go about it, the council are aware that my wife is disabled.

6.3 In all the above circumstances, cases should be returned to the Council. Costs incurred by the bailiffs to be in accordance with the agreed scale.

 

chris600uk

I'll try to answer your list from the top down

 

1.Let's see if I understand this, you were entitled to council tax benefit but you weren't aware of that.

Once you became aware of it you made a claim, and you are now receiving council tax benefit.

 

If that is so then you should not now be subjected to enforcement action by the bailiffs, and your account should have been handed back to the council.

 

 

We fell into arrears before we were entitled to benefit and we now get 100% relief from it, so I do think the council is correct in there charges, just not the way they go about getting it back.

 

2.So not only did the council hand the account to the bailiffs, but the bailiffs have been into your house and presumably you have signed walking possession agreement, is that right?

 

Yes this is correct they did threaten me with prison and this petrified my wife

we also had to give them £100 and this was all the money we had to live on for a week so we had to contact the council who sent us around a food parcel.

 

3.Actually it's exactly that easy, but unfortunately that won't be the end of the matter, because they'll have the right to come back into your house and make a list of anything else that is not exempt; unless of course you have already sold it to a third party.

 

They listed the best we had and to be honest I don't think they would get a couple of hundred quid for it, My pc here was hidden and replaced with the most crapiest one I could find and the same with my printer and monitor, I changed the DVD recorder for a broken video recorder and a few other things I removed from the house so they wern't listed, the stuff they do have is worthless because its all broken gear.

 

4. I don't think that your account should have been passed to the bailiffs in the first place.

 

In all this time have you had any contact with the council?

 

I don't have an answer for this one I'm affraid all I know is they have and trying to talk to our council is like banging your head against the wall.

 

 

I hope I have answered everyones questions? If not I am sorry.

 

Thanks once again for everyones kind help.

[chris600uk]

they even listed our 3 piece suite so my wife would have to stay in her wheel chair 24/7 or sit on the floor if they took it, not that its worth anything they would be lucky to get £50 for it but it didn't stop them listing it.

 

Your wife cannot be expected to sit in a wheelchair every waking moment, wheechairs are for transport not for relaxing in. Plus you need somewhere to sit. That should make the sofa exempt.

 

 

 

We fell into arrears before we were entitled to benefit and we now get 100% relief from it, so I do think the council is correct in there charges, just not the way they go about getting it back.

 

If you receive benefit then the council MUST deduct £3.00 weekly from your benefit. If your income is sufficiently low to justify 100% council tax benefit then that is what you should be paying.

Do not get caught by a fit of guilt - the amount owing previously is irrelevant - what matters is your situation now.

 

It's really important that letters start flying into the bailiffs office, the council tax office with copies to your local councillor and your MP, you could really do with their help.

 

This is outrageous, it's not simply wrong!

[Ell-enn]

Chris is right - this situation is outrageous! Can you find out when your local MP has his surgery? you really need their help with this.

 

Use this link to find the telephone number for your MP's office

 

UK Parliament - Contacting your MP

 

enter your postcode in the Find Your MP box - and then phone them tomorrow.

 

 

Ell-enn

[Jeffo_01]

Thanks for you both so much for your kind help

 

I will get the ball rolling with the local MP but I'm unsure as what to write to the local council and the parasites office, can anyone guide me on what to write and how to word it?.

 

They have listed the 3 piece so its plain to see they Just don't give a dam? were still waiting for them to turn up demanding another £130 late payment fee but I'm not paying it this time so maybe they will come with there van I don't know how these people work.

 

We do get 100% council tax relief

 

Just used your link and found our local MP's details so I'll be calling tomorrow after the wife gets her new electric wheel chair from care aid, so perhaps the parisites would like to take that from her as well?

 

Thank you both once again for your kind help.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, ask your MP to write to the council on your behalf - his letter will have a much stronger effect. Don't forget to stress your wife's disability and that you are living in fear of answering the door.