Bit of urgent advise please re bailiffs

[seanamarts]

Thank you all for the help - it is much appreciated.

 

I cant understand why its taken so long either - just shows how efficient they can be at times!

 

 

Darren

Council are desperate for money at the moment, mostly due to the Icelantic crash, so they are grouping debts, some as far back as 1990's. Im sure they have little gremlins in their back offices trawling over unpaid CT reaching back eons

[ploddertom]

Suggestion in the meantime to try and stall or throw them. Ask for a Breakdown of their charges to date. use or adapt this as you see fit and send by both email and a hard copy send by Signed For:

 

"From:

My Name

My Address

 

To:

Acme Bailiff Co

Bailiff House

 

Ref: Account No(s): 123456

654321

Dear Sir

 

With reference to the above account. Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

 

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - the reason for the fee.

c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.

e - the date of the Certification.

 

This is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

 

I require this information within 14 days.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Ripped off customer"

 

PT

[lost_soul]

One other thing I forgot to mention - these letters were not in envelopes! Data protection?

[seanamarts]

One other thing I forgot to mention - these letters were not in envelopes! Data protection?

Oh thats a bit naughty

[MARTIN3030]

One other thing I forgot to mention - these letters were not in envelopes! Data protection?

 

 

 

Yes of Course Data Protection-but the one with recourse for complaint is the ex..............dont suppose you are keen to assist him on that score ?????

[MARTIN3030]

Sorry Martin I had to chuckle to myself there, :punless they have a nice bailiff dealing with this ( which I highly doubt but you never know) the bailiff would just laugh down the phone and say pay up.. I would suggest emailing the bailiff company and let them know what is occurring and ask them to give you time to contact the council so to get this sorted.

 

 

Yep I see your point-but its weekend-Council not there.

Bailiff could well return-but they could return in any event between an email being dealt with.Thing is advising that you arent paying and are taking it up with council at least lets them know-up to them if they listen or not.

 

Suppose depends as you say on the Bailiff....those who have phone recording facilities could put it to good use here-we know they dont like those.!

[seanamarts]

Yep I see your point-but its weekend-Council not there.

Bailiff could well return-but they could return in any event between an email being dealt with.Thing is advising that you arent paying and are taking it up with council at least lets them know-up to them if they listen or not.

 

Suppose depends as you say on the Bailiff....those who have phone recording facilities could put it to good use here-we know they dont like those.!

Dam these weekends

I can see your point though

[lost_soul]

Just a bit of an update.

 

The wife has been in touch with the council, they are calling off the bailiff for the ex husbands debt but she is liable for the other (we knew that anyway). Went through and confirmed amount and dates etc (no charges added). She offered to pay them direct but they said gone too far. They also confirmed the bailiff cannot break in.

 

The wife then went to citizens advice, they phoned the bailiff who is being an @sshole. He said he had the power to break in anytime he wanted - the woman from CA said no you cant to which he replied 'i can do what I want!'. He also said he wanted full payment for both debts regardless and had the lady in tears he was so abusive to her. Also phoned his company who where not interested.

 

The woman at CA advised us to contact the police as he is making threats - is it worth us calling them? Jacobs (the bailiff company) have online payment so we are going to pay it off in one go, but can I report this nasty meathead to anyone?

[selinajayne]

theres a procedure about how to complain im sure someone will be along and tell you how soon, i think it has to go to the courts but im not 100%sure

i cant believe he said that to the cab lady, he must be very stupid

[ploddertom]

For the debt you do have to pay is there a Council Tax Reference Number on the paperwork you have? If so then you may pay using the Council website or automated phone service - your payment is accepted regardless of what the Council tell you. If not then ring the Council back and ask for it - do not tell them why you want it, say you need it to cross reference payments previously made.

 

PT

[seanamarts]

I have to concur with PT, pay what you owe to the council, then what you need to do is make a Formal complaint to the Chief Executive of the council.

What you have to remember is the bailiff is working on behalf of them and they are fully responsible for the actions of their bailiff, if you can ask the lady at the CAB to write a small statement and enclose that, then you need to also send copies of that complaint to the bailiff company letting them know you have made a formal complaint to the council.

You have proof that this bailiff has acted aggressively and given false information.

Department for Constitutional Affairs - Enforcement - National Standards for Enforcement Agents

Have a read through this as this will help.

[lost_soul]

Thanks for all your help everyone.

 

We are going to pay it today (lucky we have just enough put aside which was our rainy day money).

 

I had a look to see if the bailiff is registered and his licence is up for renewal in september - is it worth us sending a copy of the complaint to the court that issued his licence?

[MARTIN3030]

Thanks for all your help everyone.

 

We are going to pay it today (lucky we have just enough put aside which was our rainy day money).

 

I had a look to see if the bailiff is registered and his licence is up for renewal in september - is it worth us sending a copy of the complaint to the court that issued his licence?

 

Well it cant do any harm.

[seanamarts]

Thanks for all your help everyone.

 

We are going to pay it today (lucky we have just enough put aside which was our rainy day money).

 

I had a look to see if the bailiff is registered and his licence is up for renewal in september - is it worth us sending a copy of the complaint to the court that issued his licence?

I would write any complaints to the chief executive first and the bailiff company, .. A form 4 complaint to the courts is really a last resort. It may end up costing you more in the long run.

[seanamarts]

Well it cant do any harm.

Im sorry to disagree with you there Martin but it may do harm, especially in the OP's pocket.

Complaints need to be sent to the chief exec and bailiff companies before a form 4 to the court.

[Dhimmiwit]

Im sorry to disagree with you there Martin but it may do harm, especially in the OP's pocket.

Complaints need to be sent to the chief exec and bailiff companies before a form 4 to the court.

 

 

Ok, I keep seeing "form 4" mentioned in the complaints procedure. Where and how do I get one of these please:-?

[seanamarts]

Ok, I keep seeing "form 4" mentioned in the complaints procedure. Where and how do I get one of these please:-?

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/form4_0606.pdf

before sending one of these please make sure you have exhausted all other complaints procedures first. Make sure you have enough evidence to go ahead with this course of complaint, and be prepared for what is to come, also be warned that you may incur costs for the other side.

[lost_soul]

All sorted now - paid council direct. Funny how one person says pay bailiff direct and another says yes thats fine and takes payment!

 

I am going to complain to the council and the bailiff company (I called them today to tell them it was paid - they put the phone down on me when I mentioned complaining).

 

I didnt realise complaining to the court was such a formal thing, i just wanted to put a spanner in the works for a truly nasty man (he seemed to get upset when I asked if he had been bullied at school).

 

Thanks for all your help it is much appreciated.

 

Darren

[tomtubby]

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/form4_0606.pdf

before sending one of these please make sure you have exhausted all other complaints procedures first. Make sure you have enough evidence to go ahead with this course of complaint, and be prepared for what is to come, also be warned that you may incur costs for the other side.

 

A Form 4 is the WRONG route. What should be happening is that a FORMAL COMPLAINT needs to be made to the Council marked for the attention of the Chief Executive.

 

In addition, I am aware that there have been recent complaints made to the Office of Fair Trading concerning the WORDING on recent letters from Jacobs.

 

PS: Have you established when the council obtained the Liability Order? This is a very important point !!!

[seanamarts]

A Form 4 is the WRONG route. What should be happening is that a FORMAL COMPLAINT needs to be made to the Council marked for the attention of the Chief Executive.

 

In addition, I am aware that there have been recent complaints made to the Office of Fair Trading concerning the WORDING on recent letters from Jacobs.

 

PS: Have you established when the council obtained the Liability Order? This is a very important point !!!

I didnt say it was the 'right' route TT, but in some cases it is a must.

[JH101]

I'd say reducing a CAB advisor to tears is worth a Form 4.

 

But see if you can get her to put her name on it too.

[tomtubby]

I didnt say it was the 'right' route TT, but in some cases it is a must.

 

I quite agree W but there are some bailiff companies who would appear to be employing the services of a QC to represent their bailiff at a Form 4 Complaint and as can be seen from a post on CAG last week, a poster found herself liable to over £3,000 in legal fees after the Judge threw the Form 4 out.

 

There have been representations made to the Attorney General concerning the way in which courts are incorrectly dealing with Form 4 Complaints. Lot is happening in the background but as I have said many times, any complaint should first go to the local authority.

[seanamarts]

I quite agree W but there are some bailiff companies who would appear to be employing the services of a QC to represent their bailiff at a Form 4 Complaint and as can be seen from a post on CAG last week, a poster found herself liable to over £3,000 in legal fees after the Judge threw the Form 4 out.

 

There have been representations made to the Attorney General concerning the way in which courts are incorrectly dealing with Form 4 Complaints. Lot is happening in the background but as I have said many times, any complaint should first go to the local authority.

I couldnt agree more, but I personally feel that SOME Judges throw out these cases without understanding what a form 4 is. I am glad it is under some sort of investigating