final removal notice,please help

[markr1985]

Hi,i'm new to this forum.

I had an agreement set up with EXCEL civil enforcement for £1263 paid at £130p/m (my OH let him in september and he took a walking posession) I missed a payment last month because work changed pay frequency the day before i should have been paid!! I got a letter from exel so i phoned them,they told me it had been passed to the bailiff and i should phone him. I rang him and he told me to call the office and make a payment because if he came it would be the full amount or removal of goods! So i did that,then after the card payment of 130 had gone through the man said there was £256 owing from last year! I asked for that to be looked into because I didn't think I owed it( I had made sure each payment went out) and i didn't have £256 even if it was owed.

Wednesday I came home to find a big red letter INSIDE my house.the amount outstanding shows £1643!!There is nowhere near that value of goods here (not even quarter) It's now friday and I've just got off the phone to the bailiff (who is now being a lot nicer after his scare tactics like "I will start committal proceedings against you" didn't work) and he's just told me "off the record of course" to make sure that my OH's dad's people carrier (that he passed us in) was away from here when he attends because it could be seen as vested interest as she is insured on it.Is this true?

We have 2 young children and are on edge all the time,I have no idea where I stand and can't see why they haven't turned up yet.What things we do have are either second hand,damaged or on hp(buy as you view) I even took today off work in case they came when my wife was here on her own with the kids

[hallowitch]

Hi welcome to GAG can you confirm this is debt is for council tax

[markr1985]

sorry yes it is

[seanamarts]

Your in laws vehicle is quite safe, they cannot levy on it and the bailiff knows this, its just a scare ploy. Have you let them in yet, if not then dont. they cannot force their way in or past you.

[markr1985]

yes, one bailiff was let in in september. This is why I'm so worried

[seanamarts]

Ok.. I missed that sorry, what did they levy on?

[hallowitch]

I had an agreement set up with EXCEL civil enforcement for £1263 paid at £130p/m (my OH let him in September and he took a walking possession)

 

can you list the goods levied and if any of them are on HP can you highlight them

So i did that,then after the card payment of 130 had gone through the man said there was £256 owing from last year!

does he mean lasts years council tax (new liability order )

how long have you been this debt

Wednesday I came home to find a big red letter INSIDE my house.the amount outstanding shows £1643

 

you need to explain this did someone let him in did he levy goods again what does this letter say

seanamarts is spot on about the car so thats one problem gone

[markr1985]

my laptop-on it's last legs

hi fi

skybox

mondeo -has no tax

 

it also says all other goods unless exempt by statue!

 

my wife was home at the time not me

[markr1985]

He didn't list anything on hp(she told him at the time they were from buy as you view)

 

No he wasn't let in nor did he levy goods,nobody was home but the door was open

 

We have had agreements with excel(all honoured before this) for the last 3 years(all for council tax)

[ploddertom]

Just having had a read of this and it would appear that the Bailiff is having his Xmas & holidays paid for by yourself, now that you have come here we'll all try and help you get this sorted. You appear to be in a vicious circle of always being in the claws of the Bailiff. Fortunately if you find that you have been overcharged you still have time to claim it all back and the better news is you get 2 bites at the cherry as the Council are 100% liable for the actions of their contractors. Hopefully we can give some ammunition to start firing bullets early next week, some can actually be sent by email over the weekend.

 

The Council

On Monday morning you need to ring them and ask:

1 - how many Liability Orders they have against you

2 - how much each one is for

3 - how much is still outstanding on each one

4 - what period of time each one covers

5 - the date each was passed to the Bailiff

 

The Bailiff

On request he must show you his ID and this has 2 forms - one from the Company he works for and the other is his County Court Certification. If you have his name you can search online to see if he is indeed Certificated - there's a link in the stickies above. If he is there and his employer comes back blank then he may be self-employed, if so another phone call to the Council will reveal whether the Bailiff Company can sub-contract - many cannot.

 

You should also send off and ask for a breakdown of the charges they have administered. If you have all the account numbers then a simple request will do, if not then you will need to submit a SAR which costs £10.

 

PT

[markr1985]

thank you ploddertom,i've just checked and I can't find his name or EXCEL civil enforcement on the hmcs site!

 

Will phone the council on monday morning

[markr1985]

I've found Excel on there now but not the bailiff himself

[ploddertom]

The list is not 100% accurate, there is a phone number there somewhere that you ring to check.

 

PT

[hallowitch]

I've found Excel on there now but not the bailiff himself

 

 

the list is not always 100% accurate phone the Ministry of Justice Public Register of Bailiffs on 020 3334 6355

you need to know if he is certificated and to what company the date of certification

 

There is every possibility he is self employed most councils don't allow the bailiff firm they employ to use self employed bailiffs

 

 

my laptop-on it's last legs

hi fi

skybox

mondeo -has no tax

 

it also says all other goods unless exempt by statue

 

goods levied must have a value when sold at auction they must cover all bailiff fees removal fees storage fees auction fees Vat on auction fees and a substantial portion of the debt

Try and put a value on your goods

find out roughly how much your car is worth (i think most look on auto trader ETC)remember auction value will be a lot less

bailiffs cant put all other goods unless exempt they must list the goods

laptop is it xp vista windows 7 (a vista laptop would be worth more than xp )

Hi fi (is it top of the range or bog standard that you bought for £30/40/50 )

sky box (is it sky HD box or bog standard )

 

by the way I'm not trying to knock your goods just trying to give you and idea of what to look at when trying to figure out auction value

[markr1985]

i would say the car is worth £300 at most,its a 14 year old mondeo estate! the laptop is a second hand packard bell that I paid £75 for because the keyboard doesn't work. The Sony hi was £250 about 9 years ago. and the skybox is an hd + box but because he only listed it as "skybox" i'm considering swapping it for an old one. i've moved a lot of things too now, the sofas have had toddlers' works of art scribbled all over them too!(probably why he didn't list them

[Dragonlaird]

Hi, just a quick question that maybe others can answer. Since I'm a cable customer I'm not sure how Sky works but for me, the box installed at my premises belongs to them, not me. If I were to cancel my contract with them, they take away the box. Does Sky have a similar setup? If so, that's another item you can scratch off the list.

[markr1985]

I don't think so,I know the viewing card is sky's property but i'm not sure on the box.

 

To be completely honest, I have a feeling that they're not going to come back now,he could have removed things the night he left the removal notice if he wanted to.I'm almost certain that our things won't even cover their costs let alone the £1175 council tax(will still be phoning the council on monday to ask exactly what i owe) I have got no problem paying the council,just not going to give this lying wannabe thug a nice christmas bonus at my kids' expense!! Horrible people that they are.

[hallowitch]

OK your levy is unlawful goods levied have no /little value therefore wont cover bailiff fees storage fees auction fees and a large portion of the debt

the wording (all other goods unless exempt by statue) is deficient

MRS AMBROSE v NOTTINHGAM CITY COUNCIL

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?200261-please-i-realy-need-some-help-as-soon-as-pos/page3

As important as the above is, the Judge also agreed that the wording on the Walking Possession was deficient in that the reference to “all other goods on the premises unless exempt” did not specify what those other goods were, and which ones were exempt. The Judge agreed that the levy was also irregular for this reason.

 

You will have to write letters (sent by recorded delivery )to the council/ bailiffs informing them that the levy is unlawful (for the reasons stated above) the council/bailiffs wont roll over and say fair cop we will remove the levy and associated fees you will have to fight for the removal of the fees

but eventually if you push it they will remove them

 

get it sent ASAP by e-mail first your e-mail/letter for the council should be sent for the attention of the head of revenues (have a look on council web site to try and find out who he/she is) at the top of the e-mail/letter put FORMAL COMPLAINT BAILIFFS UNLAWFUL LEVY(this puts the bailiffs and council in no doubt that its a complaint)

 

start keeping your door locked and don't under any circumstances let them back into your property

 

Another thing you can do is send a freedom of information request to the council asking for a copy of there contract /service level agreement between them and EXCEL civil enforcement they must by law provide you with this when requested

[Dragonlaird]

Maybe Sky have sold you the box making it your property, but if you have had it less than a year then you are still under contract to keep the box on your premises and connected to your phone line - A fairly minor point given the values concerned I'm just trying to follow up on a couple of points already mentioned in this thread (by hallowitch & PT above) where only individual items items listed on the Levy can be lifted and that the value of these goods must cover their fees and a substantial part of the debt owed. If we can scratch off some of those items listed you may be in a position to have the entire Levy rejected, especially if the remaining items are of little/no value when compared to the overall sum alledgedly owed.

 

Just a thought to try and give you a little more ammo when push comes to shove. The more you can throw back at them, the more you will show their incompetence if they try to present this stuff in a court.

[Dragonlaird]

Damn you hallowitch, stealing my thunder That was the point I was trying to make and not only did you beat me to it, you said it better than me and went even further lol

[markr1985]

Thank you so much hallowitch!!!!! I will start (attempt to lol) on those letters right now. Do you think they already know this?(hence them not coming back)maybe he's just praying that i get flustered/frightened into trying to borrow money ?

[markr1985]

posted pretty much the same reply twice there,brain rather fried! what should I say if he phones/turns up today? or should I phone him and tell him?

Edited December 11, 2010 by markr1985

[hallowitch]

Damn you hallowitch, stealing my thunder That was the point I was trying to make and not only did you beat me to it, you said it better than me and went even further lol

 

 

Ive done this before loads of times sometimes its easy(when they levy on a door mat) sometimes its hard to get them to remove the fees but its always Worth it in the end because not only do they lose the levy fee walking possession fee they also lose the van fee so a good few £££££££££ can be removed from the account

[MARTIN3030]

Test-

 

Seems ok-try again now.

[hallowitch]

Test-

 

Seems ok-try again now.

 

Thanks MARTIN can read the posts now