Equita Bailiffs

[Ziggy70]

Hi

just trying to get some advice about an outstanding Council Tax arrears. Have had a liability orders from the court, made one payment to Equita then missed one now have said case has passed to Bailiff who has said that I Have to pay the total amount + £200 because case was passed to him.

i am in a position to pay the full amount but I dont want to pay his fee's....Is there a way that I can pay the council the full outstanding amount and this will get the bailiffs of my case or is this guy going to hunt me down and try taking possessions or clamping car's etc..

Edited November 1, 2010 by MARTIN3030
moved named ind.

[rebel11]

Hi Ziggy

 

Welcome to CAG

 

I've moved the thread to the correct forum, the guys will respond shortly.

[hallowitch]

has this bailiff or any other bailiff levied on your goods

[Ziggy70]

No

I had spoken to him on Saturday morning, and he had said he was yet to start the ********* council until today. No one had visited my house as of yet. He wanted me to call today with a time of when i can pay the full amount.. he had said it should be between 7 and 14 days or he will start removing goods.

Edited November 1, 2010 by MARTIN3030
Removed identifiers

[ploddertom]

If he has not yet visited you can pay the full amount on your Liability order to the Council direct via their website or automated phone line. make sure you then print a receipt which contains both date and time. You can then avoid all Bailiff charges. If they do attend afterwards then that is their problem.

 

You are only liable for any Bailiff charges if he attends before you have made payment. A letter or phone call from them does not count.

 

Go for it and we'll all have a party.

 

PT

[MARTIN3030]

Ziggy keep us posted.

Have had to remove personal info posted.

[Ziggy70]

Total amount on Liability order was £1055.15 and I had paid £219.74 Then i had a letter a few days ago saying that outstanding amount was 877.91p then the guy was telling me that i had to pay him 1077.00 i had asked why it had gone up and he had said an additional fee of £200 was because it had been passed to him.

[Ziggy70]

Do you think i should just pay the £877 direct to the council? and the auto mated system will that allow it?

[hallowitch]

ok as there has been no seizure of goods your bailiffs fees will be 1st visit fee £24.50 2nd visit fee £18

 

you are about to pay the remainder of the balance of the liability order plus £42.50 bailiff fees in full

 

this should be by clear funds (direct to Equita or the council )

 

get your financial facts correct before you pay if you don't know how much the liability order is for (confirmed by the council not Equita) phone the council and ask

add £42.40 bailiff fees deduct the amount you have already paid pay the balance (by clear funds)

 

I would then send an e-mail (followed up by recorded delivery letter ) to both the council revenues department and Equita

Inform them that a payment of £xxxx by clear funds has been made on the (date) this being the outstanding amount of the liability order and bailiff fees of £42.50 as there has been no distress levied against your goods this should bring an end to the levy process and a nill balance should be recorded on your account request a copy of your account showing a nill balance for your records

 

 

because you are dealing with Equita I want to make you aware that everything should be done in writing if you receive no reply to the request for a copy of your account with nill balance this confirming that the account is closed do not leave it pursue it every few days by e-mail

 

the reason for this a firm called capita may administrate and enforce your council tax on behalf of your council Equita are part of the capita group of company's so keeping a paper trail and following things up in writing is very important especially as this bailiff is trying to overcharge you

[hallowitch]

OK as there has been no seizure of goods your bailiffs fees will be 1st visit fee £24.50 2nd visit fee £18

 

ploddertom is correct if you have had no bailiff visits then you bailiff fees are nill

 

I was working on the assumption that you had already had visits from the bailiff because you had entered into a payment agreement

[Ziggy70]

I had entered into a payment agreement couple of months ago over the telephone , no one has visited my house.

 

willl phone up council now... would Equita had paid them the £219 that i had paid a little whila ago..

[hallowitch]

willl phone up council now... would equita had paid them the £219 that i had paid a little whila ago..

 

probably not they will have taken fees of £42.50 if this is the case you will have to pay the amount the council say is outstanding to satisfy the liability and fight Equita and the council for the return of any unlawful fees

[Ziggy70]

Right, have called council and asked for the outstanding balance due to them... £877.19p which he said i could pay over the phone.But he did say that would not clear what ever Equita have added on..... Now do I ask them to add on the £42.40 for the bailiff fee and pay all that. or just pay the 877 and let Equita chase me for what ever else they are trying to squeeze outta me?...getting there

[hallowitch]

It sticks in my throat to say this but personally i would pay the £42.50

 

depending on how your council works if you pay the council they could send £42.50 to Equita for there fees leaving a balance on the liability order which the bailiffs will pursue and may levy on your car increasing there fees

 

if you pay it then you can pursue Equita and the council at your leisure for the return of the fees without worrying about the bailiffs levying your goods

[hallowitch]

hang on a minute before you do anything

till i tally this up it looks like you may have already paid bailiffs fees

[hallowitch]

Liability order was £1055.15

bailiff fees £42.50

Total £1097.65

paid £219.74

outstanding amount 877.91p

council confirm debt as £877.19p

 

pay the £877.91 to the council this covers the liability order and the £42.50 in bailiffs that have already been added to your account and deducted from the payment you have already made

[Ziggy70]

that sounds good to me!

[Ziggy70]

The council did say that the outstanding amount for the liability order was 825.91 then there were two fees one of £35 and another of £17 making it a total of 877.91

 

going to ring up council in 20 mins and pay full amount.. asking them to send me a reciept (is that right) then send a email and letter to equita about full payment been made... etc then see how greedy they want to be..

do you think that would be the end of it?

[hallowitch]

The council did say that the outstanding amount for the liability order was 825.91 then there were two fees one of £35 and another of £17 making it a total of 877.91

 

going to ring up council in 20 mins and pay full amount.. asking them to send me a receipt (is that right) then send a email and letter to equita about full payment been made... etc then see how greedy they want to be..

do you think that would be the end of it?

 

I have no idea what these fees are for

fees for council tax are set by The council tax administration and enforcement regulations nowhere is there a fee of £17 for anything

A levy fee on this debt (if a levy on goods had been done would be more than £35

 

 

 

Liability order was £1055.15

bailiff

fees £42.50

Total £1097.65

paid £219.74

outstanding amount 877.91p

council confirm debt as £877.19p

 

pay the £877.91 to the council this covers the liability order and the £42.50 in bailiffs

that have already been added to your account and deducted from the payment you have already made

 

This is the fee structure you should be working with which Tally's with this(Then i had a letter a few days ago saying that outstanding amount was 877.91p ) there has been no levy on goods therefore there can be no more fees

once you make the payment you must send the letters (post 9)

 

 

pay this amount to the council ££877.19p then send of the e-mail letters

 

Liability order was £1055.15

bailiff

fees £42.50

Total £1097.65

paid £219.74

outstanding amount 877.91p

council confirm debt as £877.19p

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ziggy70]

Ok rang council and paid the full outstanding 877.91. said they are sending reciept out to me and will also let their recovery team know. I will wait for reciept then send letters and email to Equita.

i'm a lot happier now....

 

but makes me angry that these people can intimidate people who may not be in such a fortunate position as myself in being able to pay it off straight away. Had me worried for a few days and dreaded anyone coming to the door. But thanks to forums like this people can come get some good advice. i know this wont end here just but glad that I have paid off what i genuinly owe and not some made up fee's.

[fork-it]

The bailiff made a false representation by telling you must pay £200 because the account was passed to a bailiff. You now have a right to make a complaint and make a claim for compensation (usually about £100-150 per case). Write to the council, and if they dont cooperate, then ask the Local Government Ombudsman to intervene.

[hallowitch]

and while your at it add the £42.50 bailiff fees that should never have been charged as there were no visits to levy distress

[ploddertom]

In my view if some charges have been made and you are sure that no visits have taken place you should ask them to provide the appropriate details. If they then have fictitious charges then charge them your admin fee for sorting this all out. If they refuse or drag their heels for more than 7 days then submit Form N1 naming Bailiffs and Council as Co-defendants. Anything you write to the Bailiffs send a copy to kept on your file at the Council.

 

PT

[seanamarts]

I would now make a formal complaint to the chief executive for bogus fees the bailiff tried to add.

[seanamarts]

I would now make a formal complaint to the chief executive with regards to bogus fees the bailiff tried to charge