Me VS Equita ( on behalf of SODC )

[SECR3T]

Hey all, newbie here,

 

I today have had the pleasure of dealing with these thieves Equita concerning Non Domestic Rates which i have been unable to pay since a failed business, this is my letter i will be sending first thing, any adjustments advise is welcome obviously personal details are left out.The debt after it went to court was £864.49 now gone up to £1200 + since being handed to these scumbags. First visit today and gave them no entry, i never will

 

 

To whom this may concern,

 

I am writing this letter with regards to the unpaid Non Domestic Rates which you have been employed by the South Oxfordshire District Council to collect from me.

I have been given advice by the Natonal Debtline which I am now acting on, and I would like to request that your company forwards me the following details as soon as possible:

 

Which legislation your company Bailiffs are using and acting upon.

 

A full breakdown of my account so far.

 

A copy of your internal complaints procedures.

 

Information on which court the Bailiff in Charge Mr ******** is certified by.

 

I understand the importance of this matter and I am not refusing to pay, but I will not be bullied by any scare tactics and understand THE LAW and what MY RIGHTS are. I would also like to inform you of my intention of filing a FORM 4 complaint with the courts about the costs that seem to have been added to my account. I have the letter in front of me with what I owe the South Oxfordshire District Council plus the summons cost from when they took the debt to court, and the fee’s that the Bailiff in charge informed me of seem to be way out of line. I would also like to inform you that you will not gain access to my home at any point and I will be requesting that the South Oxfordshire District Council take back the debt so that I may agree on a fair payment. In the mean time I will await the information I have requested from your company.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Edited November 19, 2009 by SECR3T

[hallowitch]

hi and welcome

 

could you please remove the bailiffs name from you post for your own safety bailiff company's read these forums

 

he is certificated you will find his name on the registar

www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/CertificatedBailiffs/

 

its always a good idea to copy all letters to bailiffs company's to the council as well and always send by recorded delivery

[SECR3T]

hi and welcome

 

could you please remove the bailiffs name from you post for your own safety

 

done sorry forgot the name was still on the letter

[hallowitch]

i would also suggest you get in touch with the council to find out the exact date the liability order was passed to the bailiffs and the amount of the liability order

most bailiff company's add 1st and 2nd visit fees before any visits take place

 

if you have a car(not on HP or finance) move it well away from your home bailiffs always go for a levy on a car

[SECR3T]

thankfully i dont drive, i am going to speak to the council tommorow, on top of that im sure there are rules on bailiffs when people with mental problems are involved, my wife suffers severe depression and anxiety, im hoping that the council will take the debt back when i stick 100 notes in front of there noses tommorow plus my council tax account is in credit by £150, since i receive benefits at the moment its sat there doing nothing so they can have that untill they sort the Small business relief rates out. Seemst to be a bit of a trend with Equita on here, its just scary when they turned up at 5 today and give me 24 hrs, the hardest part is ignoring them and not letting them in, hopefully the council can call off action

[hallowitch]

NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR ENFORCEMENT AGENTS may 2002

Those who might be potentially vulnerable include:

• the elderly;
  
• people with a disability;
  
• the seriously ill;
  
• the recently bereaved;
  
• single parent families;
  
• pregnant women;
  
• unemployed people; and,
  
• those who have obvious difficulty in understanding, speaking or reading English
  

[SECR3T]

so what are you saying, i read that off the website but didnt quite understand... does it mean that bailiffs shouldnt have been instructed or that they must not call anymore, i will print all this information as im sure the council will deny its correctness

[hallowitch]

its not enough to tell a bailiff your wife is ill you must provide proof

 

once you provide proof doctors letter or something similar the bailiff should send the debt back or the council

 

you say you receive benefits ask the council to take payments direct from your benefit

[SECR3T]

We have proof, the council have proof as they know she recieves DLA, they moved us into our property last year with the application being on the grounds of mental illness getting us moved eaier. hopefully a visit to the council should prove enough in the morning

[dustbin]

Dear Secret,

Equita are cheeky, write to them,address the letter to Ms K Collins at their office and make it formal letter of complaint. By law they have to leave a leaflet with a list of their charges wgen they visit for the first time. The most they can charge you is £42.50 for two visits without a levy. I wrote and complained to them and I pointed out that they had over charged me regarding fees and they refunded the amount to the council tax account. Even when things are put in writing they do not read letters properly. I asked for a properly detailed account of what charges had been removed and what they were for but I didn't get it, neither did I get a list of their charges after asking twice for it. Send the letter recorded delivery, that will be sufficient. Check out the bit about checking the bailiff certification, it is easy to do. The bailiff will probably be certified at Northampton, since that is where they are based. I don't think SODC will take it back, they seem to very rarely. Good Luck to you.

[SECR3T]

they may not take it back but from what hallowitch is saying Equita will return it due to grounds of my wife being mentaly ill and having proof to say so.

[hallowitch]

they may not take it back but from what hallowitch is saying Equita will return it due to grounds of my wife being mentally ill and having proof to say so.

 

they should return it I'm not saying they will

if they don't go and see your MP

also if they don't get in to your home to levy and you don't pay them and pay the council direct they will return it to the council

 

kick up a fuss politely at the council offices

ask them for a copy of there complaints procedure

there code of practise for the collection of council tax arrears

tell them that you have been charge £300+ in bailiff fees for 1 visit and if you have to take the matter further it will against the council also as co-defendants as they employ the bailiffs

ask them the name of the chief executive as you will be directing any complaint to him/her personally

[hallowitch]

South Oxfordshire District Council

 

 

Council tax collection - enforcement

 

How we can enforce payment

 

The main ways we can enforce payment of the debt are as follows:

• If you are working, an Attachment of Earnings Order may be sent to your employer who will make deductions from your wage/salary until the debt is cleared.
  
• If you are claiming Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance, a request may be sent to the Benefits Agency for deductions to be made from your Benefit.
  
• Bailiffs may be instructed to remove and sell your goods to the value of the outstanding council tax and costs incurred. The bailiff will give you the opportunity to make a satisfactory arrangement for payment before considering removing your goods. If bailiffs are instructed, you may incur a significant amount of costs relating to their visits; levy on goods; hire of van; auctioneer's fee etc. We will send you a warning letter at least 14 days before a bailiff visit. We will include with this letter, full details for the costs which can be incurred. If you arrange payment immediately after receiving this letter you can avoid paying these costs.
  

If appropriate, we may also consider taking the following steps to enforce payment of the debt:

• The commencement of bankruptcy / liquidation proceedings.
  
• Application to the County Court for a Charging Order against your property.
  

Even when we take action to enforce payment of the debt, we will still try to help you if we feel you may not be claiming all the Benefits you are entitled to.

See Council Tax Benefit for further details.

If the bailiff is unable to recover the debt and another way of enforcing payment is not appropriate, we will make an application to the Magistrates' Court for your commitment to prison. Even at this late stage, we can still be contacted and we may be able to agree an arrangement for payment with you. The commencement of committal proceedings can result in additional costs in excess of £100 being incurred and the Magistrates can send you to prison for a period up to three months.

At whichever stage of the enforcement process you make contact to make an arrangement for payment, wherever possible we will try to ensure that you have the financial means to keep to that arrangement. This will mean that, in order to help you, we may sometimes need to ask for full details of your income and outgoings. There may also be occasions when we will advise you to seek help from one of the voluntary organisations who specialise in debt counselling.

We can be contacted to discuss your Council Tax at any stage

[SECR3T]

yes but its not council tax its Non domestic rates

[Nintendo Pü]

done sorry forgot the name was still on the letter

 

Good letter, you might get an excuse from the bailiffs asking you to pay £10. Add the following line to the end of your letter.

 

 

"This letter is a letter before action and is not a request to access any personal data under the Data Protection Act and no fee is due for providing this information"

[SECR3T]

Well guys a bit of good news for me today, spoke to the council that was useless, went to CAB they spoke to the council, arranged for my small business rate releif forms to be sorted finaly, when done the debt will be nearly half, then they spoke to the bailiff, come to a good payment agreement, they wont turn up at my house and CAB made it clear on the phone they wouldnt be let in and i wouldnt talk to them, so they saw that an agreement was the only route. On the funny side, all of the sudden the charges they put on my bill went from 300 down to 100 since last night, i think maybe when they speak to official people they know they cant pull the wool over there eyes, still though £100 is too much for one visit with no levy, £24.50 should be it, the bailiff who is certified doesnt know the correct charges and when CAB rang the company they didnt have anyone there that could tell them, funny that aye, at least we can open our curtains again now anyway, thanks for comments on here as it helped me help the adviser at CAB as she was a bit rusty on a few things to do with bailiffs.

 

hopefully thats the end of it with them now unless they refuse to sort the fees out in which case my letter will then go off into the post