Council Tax Help us put Rossendales OUT OF BUSINESS

[tomtubby]

If this is council tax collection, the bailiffs fees are set by legislation, no contract can subvert legislation in this way. Councils cannot agree reasonable costs because they have no way of know the make-up of those costs in advance of the work being done.

 

Although I would agree with your argument, in a perverse way it is better that a council do at least cap the fee that can be charged by their relevant bailiff company instead of allowing the bailiff company carte blanche to make up their own figure.

[tomtubby]

Dont we know, I found this screen-capture taken from Mertons website funny as fcuk, and even more hilarious seeing it disappear from the internet as quick as a flash the minute a claimant stuck it front of a Judge.

 

 

In fact that reminds me that I have not as yet received a response to my FOI request to Merton. I wrote a while ago to ask how many debtors had been charged a Letter fee of £39 ( which is NOT allowed to be charged when enforcing council tax arrears).

[Nintendo Pü]

Different councils allow different van charges....

 

If a council is dictating a fee with intent to remove goods, then this could be interpreted as conspiracy to defraud. It is unlikely a council is specifying fee schedule into a contract when legislation says what the fee should be.

 

Nobody can guess what the fee for work done is until after the work has been completed.

 

If a council is setting a fees in advance of the work being done, and it is discovered the fee is charged but the work is not done, the bailiff commits an offence.

[Nintendo Pü]

In fact that reminds me that I have not as yet received a response to my FOI request to Merton. I wrote a while ago to ask how many debtors had been charged a Letter fee of £39 ( which is NOT allowed to be charged when enforcing council tax arrears).

 

You probably wont get a reply unless you can show your request is legitimate, e.g. you are a solicitor or a newspaper. The council may contend your request for information is for your own personal entertainment, or the information provided may incriminate the authority. They can decline your request under Section 14 of the Act.

[jimbo45]

Under what grounds do you think you'll stand a chance of removing the company from Companies House or the getting the Directors banned? None, I'd say.

 

If an individual bailiff has misrepresented himself then your beef should be with the court that certificated him....

 

Hi there

 

There is enough precedent in common Law that states specifically that a COMPANY (hence its directors) are 100% responsible for the actions of its employees AND SUBCONTRACTORS and this of course covers cases where either the employees or subcontractors acting on behalf of the company are KNOWN to be breaking the law .

 

In this case Rossendales have 100% no doubt whatsoever that their "employee" has been breaking the law with enough evidence to back it up should it ever come before a public court.

 

Not only that this particular company would not give me details of the scale of "Fees" the Bailiff has been attempting to charge butwas also obviously trying to exonerate itself from the actions of one of its "officers" by having a woman at the end of a telephone who just behaved like an old fashioned vinyl record where the needle was stuck into the groove repeating over and over again

"you must speak to the Bailiff" and wouldn't say any more than that whatever questions were put to her.

 

 

At the very least this company should immediately be reported to the various statuatory trading standards bodies and I hope that EVERYBODY who has had the unfortunate exp0erience of having to deal with these vermin report them forthwith.

 

None of us like paying taxes and people DO for all sorts of reasons get into debt -- but this whole area of debt and tax collection is so riddled with LIES,EXTORTION, THREATS and other really dreadful practices more suited to a Feudal society that in the rare cases where as individual we can fight back against this totally unjust system where the poorest people are suckered into paying really EXTORTIONATE charges we should do so at every opportunity until the whole wretched stinking sorded mess is properly regulated in a manner more fitting to the 21st century (and don't get me started on the difference between Councils harrassing old age pensioners and some of the proposals to award foreign criminals up to 2,000 GBP to return home after they've completed their sentences).

 

Cheers

jimbo

Edited January 2, 2010 by jimbo45

[Nintendo Pü]

There is enough precedent in common Law that states specifically that a COMPANY (hence its directors) are 100% responsible for the actions of its employees AND SUBCONTRACTORS and this of course covers cases where either the employees or subcontractors acting on behalf of the company are KNOWN to be breaking the law

 

Thart is correct, if a consumer is defrauded by a company, its contractor or agents, then he has a right to litigate the company.

 

A Form 4 is only good for making a complaint against an individual bailiff.

[calvi36]

EXCELLENT WORK !!

 

HOWEVER.....

 

A couple of years ago, I wrote to over 100 local authorities for copies of their contracts with bailiff etc and I also asked each council how many complaints they received concerning their respective bailiffs companies.

 

The vast majority stated that they received one, two or a maximum of three complaints !!! That is ALL ...

 

This is because a "Complaint" is only registered as a "Complaint" IF...AND ONLY IF...it is headed as a "Formal Complaint" and addressed to the Chief Executive's office.

 

Please ensure that you do this.....and this applies to all viewers on these forums.

 

PS: The Local Government Ombudsman's have also confirmed to our office that this should be done ( in particular if you are considering forwarding a complaint to the LGO.

 

Tomtubby, I did exactly this, Formal Complaint, complaint was upheld on 5 counts contained within the formal complaint. I have now had a full apology from Director Of Finance at my council and he wishes to arrange a meeting with me.

 

The main issue here is that Bailiffs are not used to the wee guys knowing the law, the councils are not used to us standing up and quoting the law right back at them. If you deal with things calmly and follow the advice on here then you will win.