Urgent Help Needed - Bailiff Levy ***success***

[DodgyGambit]

Hi All,Joined the forum just hoping that I can get any kind of sound advice.

My council tax payments fell behind to the point where i got a summons letter. I call up Bham city council asking for direct debit payments to be taken, but as there was a payment still to be cleared they said to call back in a few days to set it up, payments can be made on 21st or 28th of each month.

Me being the lazy man that I am didnt call back, when it came to the next month I just paid what was due for the installment before the 21st.I received a letter on Tuesday 22nd November from Equita saying to pay off £553 of council tax oweing (amount due to the council was £510) if not a bailiff will come to my house.

The day after I came home from work to find a letter which has been hand posted by an Equita Bailiff saying he has come round but no answer, I have 24 hours to pay the full amount, he has also for some reason Levyed my partners car which was parked on the drive.

Breakdown given was £510 oweing plus £210 bailiff fee, so £740 is oweing.

In a panic I called City council but they just refereed me to the bailiff again. Called bailiff but no answer.

Today morning I got a call back saying he wants payment, I told him the car wasnt mine and I wasnt happy that I was given 1 days notice from the date i received the letter.

I later realised that the letter was dated on 15th November so unsure why it took so long to arrive (whether it was Royal Mail being slow or underhand tactics from Equita I don't know). I told the bailiff I will call him back later on this evening to try and get some sort of payment plan ( I hope anyway).

My questions are:

Should the council have sent me a letter before it was sent to bailiffs?The letter though dated 15th didnt reach me till the day before bailiffs, surely there should be a 14 day rule to give someone time?

The bailiff charges are about 40% which seems extremely high is that the going rate?Can they take my partners car even if she has nothing to do with the outstanding amount?

Is there anyway I can pay the amount off but without paying the extra £200?The amount oweing was £510 but the initial letter had £553, no breakdown on what looked like a photocopied paper with no signature (except 'Bailiff Manager'), would this be a techniqality problem as I could easily assume that this was a fraudulent company trying to make money out of me?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I hope I have posted in the correct Forum sectionThanks

Edited November 24, 2011 by seanamarts
Made more readable

[seanamarts]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

You are in the correct forum to to receive advice.

 

I have edited your post for more easy reading.

 

The guys will be along shortly to advise you.

[seanamarts]

Can you let us know who the bailiff company was,

 

It looks like they have charged for two visits before making a visit,

 

You have also now been charged a levy fee and possible van attendance fee.

 

How much is your partners car worth.

[bake]

do not make any payments to this baliffe, he can not come in your house unless you let him in , he will spin you all sorts of stories on how he will get the police to help him he cant ,unless you let him in he will go just shut the door on him thats the con this how the low life make the wages

[DodgyGambit]

Bailiff company is Equita This is the first visit I think (well I know of) Partners car isnt worth much £1000 at most, but can they levy my partners car legally?

[wonkeydonkey]

Have you verified exactly what is owed in CT with the Council ?(not the bailiff as they write their own versions of what is owed and what fees they can charge) you will need to contact them and get the following info.

 

1 - how many Liability Orders there are

2 - the dates they were obtained

3 - the address(es) they relate to

4 - the period(s) of time they cover

5 - how much each one is for

6 - how much is outstanding on each

7 - the names the Liability Orders are in

8 - the date(s) they were passed for enforcement

 

Then you will need to write to the bailiffs and get a breakdown of what they are attempting to charge in fees.

 

"From:

My Name

My Address

 

To:

Acme Bailiff Co

Bailiff House

 

Ref: Account No: 123456

 

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"

 

Once you have all this info come back here and caggers will help you solve this.

Meanwhile I suggest you pay start to pay the Council direct, using their online payment system, if you can only genuinely afford to pay £5/10 pw then do so ..but..make sure you do this on the same day every week. without fail. If you are in a position to pay the Council the amount outstanding then it will be to your advantage as the bailiff fees can be argued later.

 

WD

[hallowitch]

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/295/regulation/7/made#f00005

Information preliminary to distress

 

7.—(1) In regulation 45(1) (distress)(1), for the words from “the authority” to “may” there is substituted “the authority which applied for the order may, subject to regulation 45A,”.

(2) After regulation 45 there is inserted—

“Information preliminary to distress

 

45A.—(1) No distress shall be made under these regulations unless, no less than 14 days before a visit in connection with the distress is first made to the premises where it is to be levied, the authority have sent to the debtor written notice of the matters specified in paragraph (2) below.

(2) The matters are—

(a)the fact that a liability order has been made against the debtor;

(b)the amount in respect of which the liability order was made and, where this is a different amount, the amount which remains outstanding;

©a warning that unless the amount specified has been paid before the expiry of 14 days beginning on the date of the sending of the notice, distress may be levied;

(d)notice that if distress is levied further costs will be incurred by the debtor;

(e)the fees prescribed in Schedule 5 to these Regulations;

(f)the address and telephone number at which the debtor can communicate with the authority.”

 

 

 

 

can you list the fees charged that are written on the notice of seizure/distress

 

did you check the bailiff is certificated to Equita

www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/CertificatedBailiffs

[DodgyGambit]

I will send the letters out today, but how can I be sure that no more charges will follow as I did say I will call the Bailiff back tonight? Can I make a weekly payment via the telephone automated service or does it have to be online to the Council? The name on the hand letter with the contact number does not match....the hand delivered letter has a female bailiff called Sarah Biseker but when I called the contact number it was a male called Paul. Hallowitch, does that mean I should have a written notice 14days before a visit? I will find out the details of charges when I get home later as I do not have it on me at the moment.

[DodgyGambit]

Just another note, the letter was from Equita, the Bailiff who left the letter was[EDIT] (admins please delete if I cannot put names, apologies if this is the case) on the certified Bailiffs list her employers are GSD Collections, the number that I had dialled was answered by a[EDIT] (didnt catch his surname)

Edited November 24, 2011 by seanamarts
names removed

[hallowitch]

can you edit your post to remove the name of the bailiff i cant find her on the register employed by Equita you need to phone the Ministry of Justice Public Register of

bailiffs

on 020 3334 6355 and ask

 

 

when she was certificated

at what court

on what date

has she applied for a change to her certificate to her new employer (if yes when) you may need to phone the court where here certificate was granted to get this info

 

If possible please please record the cal you make to the bailiff

and to which bailiff firm

 

yes you should received this letter before the bailiffs visit

 

 

[hallowitch]

I'm not sure if you are aware of this

 

Bham city council don't administrate there council tax collection and enforcement this is outsourced to a company called Capita the capita group of company's own 2 bailiffs firms one of them is Equita therefore any phone calls made to Bham council will be dealt with by Capita

 

thats why its important to record all calls made to the bailiff, Equita and bham council also do everything by e-mail /letter (recorded)

[DodgyGambit]

Not heard anything from Equita yet.Just had a look at what they actually left me was Form 7 Notice of seizure and Inventory of goods, which lists my partner car (she is not the one who owes the money).There isnt a breakdown of costs just Bailiff costs of £213.50 added onto the original amount of £510 I owe BCC. As this is the first visit should it not just be £24.50?

[hallowitch]

council tax is a Joint and several liability debt therefore if your partner lived with you during the liable year that is outstanding she would also be liable for the council tax which means the bailiff can levy her goods

 

the notice of seizure should have a breakdown of cost written on it

if this was the bailiffs first visit then you should have been charged a levy fee only

on a debt of £510 the levy fee is £42

[DodgyGambit]

Dont think BCC have her name or anything...its always been under my name, whats stopping me from saying that its my friends car etc

[wonkeydonkey]

Dont think BCC have her name or anything...its always been under my name, whats stopping me from saying that its my friends car etc

 

Is the car and the Insurance for it in your partners name?

[seanamarts]

Dont think BCC have her name or anything...its always been under my name, whats stopping me from saying that its my friends car etc

 

They would want to see proof

[DodgyGambit]

Is the car and the Insurance for it in your partners name?

 

It is...I can see where your goingBut surely DVLA will not be able to give out that information to a bailiff

[hallowitch]

It is...I can see where your goingBut surely DVLA will not be able to give out that information to a bailiff

 

 

All bailiff firms can do a DVLA check to confirm ownership/registered keeper

 

your council will know/think you have a partner living with you if you don't claim the 25 % single occupancy discount

[DodgyGambit]

Ok guysI have paid off the initial outstanding amount via Bham city councils automated service. I'm not sure what I should do about the bailiff charges now. Told the bailiff the car they levied on isnt mine, but they have not said they will take away the costs. They have sent another hand posted letter saying they will come to collect all outstanding amounts by Saturday 7.15am and can get the goods even in my absence. This has obviously freaked me out. Should I tell them that I have paid the amount off to Bham city council? Would i still need to pay the enforcement fee of £200 odd quid they charged? Is that a valid charge considering its not my car they levied? I didnt get a 14 day notice letter before the bailiff was sent out, also the certified bailiff isnt registered under Equita on the certified bailiffs database but under a different company. It was a female bailiff and the 1 call i had with them it was a male who answered the phone...do I have any reasonable grounds not to make the payment?

[seanamarts]

I would let the council know that you have made full payment to them, but you need to also state that you are disputing the levy due to the fact that they had levied on a car not belonging to you.

 

I would also email the bailiff company with a copy that you have paid and also state that you are disputing their charges due to the fact that the car was not yours that the bailiff levied on.

 

The council may take out the charges from the payment that you made which will in fact make the liability order still stand, so make sure that you do make a noise about the levy not being lawful.

 

Im afraid you will have to pay their visit fees of £42.50.

[wonkeydonkey]

If they have not gained access to your home or performed a levy:

 

1st visit then they are entitled to £24.50

2nd visit they are entitled to a further£18

 

Total £42,50

 

The levy on your partners car...unless your partner is named on the CT then they have an invalid levy ....fees owed are those as given above.

Should they wish to persue you for fees not owed, invite them to make an application to the County Court to claim them:wink:

Should they continue to harass you for these invalid fees then a complaint to the CEO of the Council will start the ball rolling to get them off your back.

 

WD

[brassnecked]

Pay them £42.50 and tell them that is all they are entitkled to due to invalid levy, and that this completely discharges liability.

[DodgyGambit]

Got a response from Equita this morning.

 

They have given me a breakdown of what I owe them.....I have paid off the original outstanding amount for the council tax to the council, the only thing outstanding is the bailiff fees.

 

Breakdown is as follows:

 

Liability order: 21/09/11

Period upto: 31/3/12

Debt: £510.61

Statutory Visit fees: £42.50

Levy/Visit Fees: £41.00

Attendence/Removal Fees: £130.00

Total: £724.11

Payment Received: £510.61

Balance £213.50

 

Are these charges something I should be paying?

The first visit was 7 days after the letter was sent (my understanding is it should have been 14days)

on first visit levy was done on my partners car (who's name is not on the liability order)

2nd visit was some time later on and I paid off the outstanding amount to the council. Who should i be contacting in regards to the fees?

[ploddertom]

Can you put dates asto when the fees were charged? Are there any fees which have been charged on the same date?

[DodgyGambit]

levy visit and attendence/removal fee is for the same day..which was their first visit

the statutory visit is probably going to be for the second visit by default.