Council Tax Arrears, Warrant Officers & Walker Love (George Walker)

[scottybhoy]

OK, will try and keep this short and sweet.

 

My partner has Council Tax arrears from her previous rented house. I negotiated with Walker Love a Pro-Rata payment agreement, which they initially rejected, but after another letter accepted.

 

They then sent a letter saying that they had not agreed to the payments and wanted a Financial Statement (FS).

 

For various reasons, I never 'got round' to providing this but kept the payments by standing order at regular intervals.

 

Next thing I'm at work, partner phones all upset (during xmas and New Year), that Sheriff Officers turned up at the door and issued a 'Charging Order'. No warning form Walker Love (WL), nothing, anyway £47 added to the debt. My partner phoned WL and got nothing but abuse and shouted at - total disgrace, anyway, I called on her behalf and they are demanding MY financials as well.

 

I spoke to someone higher up the food chain in WL and they basically said that they would give us a grace period of £x per month which I said my Partner could not afford (my income has nothing to do with this debt) and they said they would be expecting £180 per month or they would send more Sheriff Officers around to reposess goods. I asked to take it to court but they said the Court had already passed judgement and they could pretty much ask for any amount they want per month or send Sheriff Officers around to reposess MY stuff if the amount they asked for wasn't paid.

 

Points to note:

 

-My mortgage is in my name and not my partners - its our home, but legally my house as is everything else in it (legally??).

 

-Can they just send Sheriff Officers around just because they feel that they should get more money paid towards the debt.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. I am willing to take this to Court, infact I want it to go to Court as these folk ARE bullying cretins. They had my Partner in tears and in emotional distress. There are standards against this, published by the OFT, but does this apply to Council Tax Arrears?

 

If I want to complain, who do I complain too? If they reject a pro-rata offer I make them and they reject it, how can I get the court to agree what is fair - as by all accounts, WL think that they are pretty much God.

 

I have not seen any other posts on this, so if more people are having issues with WL, then I urge you to start a New Post and start the title with Walker Love, so that we can make public the under hand tactics they use.

 

Short and sweet, yes it is ;-)

[maroondevo52]

Hi, scottybhoy.

 

I'll move this thread to the Scotland Forum and see if IdaInFife can give you some help.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[IdaInFife]

hiya,

 

do you mean they have gave her a charge for payment?

[scottybhoy]

Hi IdaInFife

 

Thanks for your reply - it is a "charge for payment".

[IdaInFife]

Ok this is good then as you can apply via the court for a time to pay order and let the court decide what is affordable reasonable

 

you use the first set of docs:

 

http://www.govanlc.com/counciltax_downloadform.htm

 

 

some help in filling here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?185249-Have-you-received-a-charge-for-payment-arrestment-summary-warrant

 

now I would always advise to make up your own income and expenditure sheet using

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=23296&d=1290349249

 

now all this has be back at the issuing court by the 14th day of date on the letter - the court will then contact the SO's and this will either be accpeted or declined - if declined then a hearing date woul dbe called for the judge to decide.

[scottybhoy]

This is exactly what we need. Have another couple of questions if you could help:

 

-Do I have to provide our Household income. This is my partners debt and not mine. If I have to provide both, then its not really a problem.

-If I only have to provide my Partners income/expenditure, would she be able to put in that she pays for half of the mortgage, elec, gas etc.... even though she is not on the mortgage. (I apologise if this sounds complicated).

 

That is all I can think of to be honest. Will keep you posted on the outcome. Many thanks again.

[IdaInFife]

She only has to put in her income and expenditre and yes it should include her share of the bills but be vigilant

 

i.e if the mortgage is £500 and you earn three times as much as your partner , they wouldn't be expecting her to pay half etc

 

reasonable outgoings and her pro rata share of them

 

this will aslo help you fill out the budget shett

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/pdf/self_help_pack/workingout_pbs.pdf

 

please do keep us updated

[IdaInFife]

another wee tip

 

Print off 3 copies of budget sheet - 1 to return to the court - 1 for yourself and 1 to send with the following.

 

REF xxxxxxxxxx

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Please find enclosed a copy of my current budget sheet which has been received by XXXXXXXX court along with a time to pay order application in response to the charge for payment dated xx/xx/xx.

 

I am proposing to pay £xx per month/week and will/have commenced this payment on xx/xx/xx. This will be paid by standing oder/cheque/debit card/online.

 

I received a letter dated xx/xx/xx from yourselves confirming that my previous payment proposal was accepted and I have continued to pay you £xx on a regular basis and do not understand why you have taken further enforcement action.

 

Yours.

 

And then make payments according to what you are putting through on the forms and keep a copy of the above letter for your own records

[IdaInFife]

and forgot to add

 

court forms either hand in by hand or special delviery and letters to SO's recorded deliver

[scottybhoy]

This is brilliant, thanks for the tip on the share of the bills. Now have all the info I need.

 

I'm very gratefull, now off to get a little stella before bed - saturday nights should be for chilling out and not worrying when the next time an SO will knock on your door! ;-)

 

Scotty.

[scottybhoy]

Have another question, to do with the pro rata payments, you said that i.e I earn 3x more than my partner I would have to work out pro-rata as she wouldn't be expected to pay half the mortgage, well Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit, would I have to put the whole lot on my partners expenditure that we get or would I say put 50% on her income?

[scottybhoy]

Have a wee calculation in order to work out Pro-Rata contribution of Partners salary/income to Joint Bills. If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to add them:

 

My Income/(Partners Income + My Income) = % Contribution to Joint Bills.

 

Bill * Contribution % = Payment contribution towards bills.

[scottybhoy]

Sorry, me again - I cant find the issuing court on this notice, would I just send the letter to Walker Love, the Council and my local Court? Have uploaded it so you can have a look.

[IdaInFife]

yes it easier to work out a percentage contribution and then just use that figure

 

the pic is too small can you maybe upload to tinypic or photobucket then repost

[scottybhoy]

sorry - im an idiot, found the Court - didn't read it properly.

[IdaInFife]

any joy?

[scottybhoy]

Sent off the letters and had them "special delivery". They were signed for but no response from Walker Love, the Council or the Court. There is a payment due out of my account for what they requested - higher than my partner is offering - so I think they are biding their time to see if it's what we offered - no chance - it's what I offered. CA's never fail to amuse me at all!

 

Will keep you posted, thanks for your help so far.

[IdaInFife]

no probs just wanted to check in

[scottybhoy]

Just an update. Got a response from these idiots today. They wanted what was offered in the "Time to Pay" order as well as what they originally wanted. And here I am thinking that if they did not accept the offer in the "Time to Pay" order, they had to then go through the courts to let them say what was reasonable or not. Clearly they think that they are above the law and are just trying to cause yet more unneccessary stress towards my partner.

 

Anyways, just sent a letter restating my original offer to see what they say to that and I put it into plain english as at times i do not think that their employees can read or absorb sound. Really I don't think I have anything to lose and they know they wont get any more, hence why they are chancing their arm by bypassing the court.

 

And another thing I noticed, my partner has two accounts with them, the "Charge for Payment" order was only for part of one of the accounts - which I did not think that they could do - unless they are just aimlessly chasing money until you pay up or throw yourself off a bridge.

 

Are these cretins governed by the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines as I am sure I could pull a few rules broken in there - and can I actually complain to the OFT as these folk seem to be rather heavy handed when it comes to debt collection by not accepting reasonable offers and putting debtors in a state of "fear and alarm" !!!

[IdaInFife]

Hiya,

 

re part of one of the account - not sure as not heard of that under CT before but will have a look around.

 

they are overseen by the sheriff principals

[scottybhoy]

having a wee look to see who to complain to about them as I don't think that the way the speak to people over the phone is appropriate, nor is the way they go about their business. Put it this was, if I was to call someone and speak to them the way they spoke to my partner, then Im sure I would have the police at my door!

 

Im sure its all in the psycological pursuit of breaking you down so that you pay what they want - had the same with British Gas and I won! Had the same issue as well with First Response - again I won, in fact I have a post on these forums about them. Anyway, Im sticking to my guns and they can do anything they want, but as long as my partner and I are honest with our creditors, then we don't have to fear a Court getting involved and making a judgment in the Creditors favour - infact it would probably benefit us if a Court did get involved.

 

Will keep plugging away and let you know the outcome. Thanks for your help so far.

[scottybhoy]

Many thanks for the help, GW caved in and confirmed that there was an agreement now in place. They are making it difficult now. Where they were happy to accept the payments into one account for the two accounts that my partner has, they now say that their systems don't support this and the payments will only go towards the account with the Time to Pay order on it. Basically they are being ar*es, but I have clearly stated, my partner cannot give them what she doesn't have. So now, I know exactly what they are going to do and send the Sheriff Officers around for the other account. Fine by me, they will just get another Time to Pay order which will be small as the saying goes "you can't have what I've not got".

 

Honestly, these people aren't just doing their job, they are mind-fu**ing people. Get a grip GW. Companies like this should be closed down.

[IdaInFife]

when i paid mine to them they just paid of the oldest and held the others so they can do it