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

[seanamarts]

Cannot charge a Levy fee and a visit fee on the same day.

[ploddertom]

The way I see your fees is as follows but without the dates may just be guess work:

 

The object of the visit by the Bailiff is to levy on goods but where this is not possible - you were out - then he may charge a 1st Visit Fee of £24-50, if he makes a subsequent visit and the same happens again then he may charge a 2nd Visit Fee of £18-00. No matter how many more times he visits he can then no longer charge any more fees unless he can levy on goods.

 

You say he has levied on goods on his 1st Visit - therefore he is not entitled to charge a 1st Visit Fee. On the same visit he has also charged for an Attending to Remove Fee - as he has given you no time in which to pay this fee must be removed at this time. As he already has a levy on goods another visit made to you would be to Attend to Remove the said goods - he cannot charge a 2nd Visit Fee so this must be removed.

[DodgyGambit]

I just checked the notice of seizure and inventory of goods form left by the bailiff on the 1st day and they added £213.50 on that day when they levied my partners car.....which means all those charges where for that 1 day.

 

Should i be making a complaint?

what is stopping them from coming down and actually finding my car outside this time and levying it with the disputed balance of £213.50?

[tomtubby]

You advised the bailiff that this car is not yours and therefore, the levy is invalid and all fees associated with the levy MUST be removed and replaced with a maximum fee of £42.50 for "attending to levy" ( where no levy was made).

 

Sadly, this account appears to be yet ANOTHER one where the council is Birmingham and the bailiff company is Equita.

 

As many regulars on here will know, B'ham outsource the collection of their council tax to a "back office" provider by the name of Capita.

 

Equita ( and Ross & Roberts) are wholly owned by CAPITA !!!

[brassnecked]

You advised the bailiff that this car is not yours and therefore, the levy is invalid and all fees associated with the levy MUST be removed and replaced with a maximum fee of £42.50 for "attending to levy" ( where no levy was made).

 

Sadly, this account appears to be yet ANOTHER one where the council is Birmingham and the bailiff company is Equita.

 

As many regulars on here will know, B'ham outsource the collection of their council tax to a "back office" provider by the name of Capita.

 

Equita ( and Ross & Roberts) are wholly owned by CAPITA !!!

 

Little more needs to be said then, another stitch up and £££s for Capita.

 

Formal Complaint and escalation to LGO as required by Op imho

[DodgyGambit]

Im Back

I sent a letter to Equita telling them that they have not removed the invalid Levy fee, they responded by saying that they contacted the bailiff and he has stated that I knew that a levy was made. They have also asked for V5 and insurance docs to prove that I am not the owner of the vehicle.

Couple of things:

1) The letter states that 'he' (the bailiff) knew I made a levy...but the bailiff is female and I have pointed out that everytime I spoke to them it was a male who has not been proven to be a certified bailiff...any idea why this would be the case?

2) Yes I knew about the Levy fee and stated in my first correspondance to them I knew about it and that the vehicle in question is not mine

3) My worry is that the vehicle is my partners and she lives in the property, but is not named on any of the liability orders or demand for payment or any of the bills from the council, if I send the V5 and insurance docs can they count it as a valid levy?

4) The levy on the car was made on the first visit by the bailiff, I thought this can only be done on the 2nd visit....am I right or wrong? if I am right surely me sending the V5 and insurance docs shouldnt be applicable

[seanamarts]

A levy can be made on the first visit, however that can not charge for a visit fee on the same day. If you send proof that the car is not yours (even though they know this) this should stop the levy fee and the van fee.

You have every right to request a copy of both the bailiff certificates.

 

Have you complained to the CEO of the council yet.

[DodgyGambit]

Will the levy be valid even if its owned by my partner who is not named on any of the letters/demands/orders etc?

[outlawla]

Will the levy be valid even if its owned by my partner who is not named on any of the letters/demands/orders etc?

 

I'd see what others think, but in my opinion the levy will be invalid in these circumstances.

 

Also, it is unlikely the council will forward money to the bailiffs with regards the enforcement fees. However, it will likely tell you these need to be paid.

 

Bailiffs are allowed to "RETAIN" fees collected from the debtor.

[josephbloggs]

Equita will argue any goods at your home are jointly owned (joint and several) - and if you are a named driver on the insurance, will argue you have an interest in the vehicle.

Also, equita can not charge you 1st and 2nd visit fees as they have a habit of sending letters through the post not hand delivering them

[DodgyGambit]

I am not a named driver on my partners insurance. They did hand deliver the first visit letter. I dont want to really give my partners details to equita, I just dont trust what they would do with the information

[seanamarts]

equita will argue any goods at your home are jointly owned (joint and several)

Im afraid it is likely this is what they will say.

[DodgyGambit]

does it make a difference if we are not married? I just dont know what the next steps to take are

[hallowitch]

no it doesn't matter that you are not married council tax is a joint debt

 

(b)

who are not married to each other but are living together as husband and wife.

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/613/regulation/27/made

[tomtubby]

The purpose of the visit according to the statutory regualtions is to "LEVY UPON GOODS". Therefore, there should be NO need to charge an "attendind to remove" fee.

 

Furthermore, there should be NO requirement for YOU to prove ownership of the car because.....ALL BAILIFF COMPANIES HAVE ONLINE ACCESS TO DVLA RECORDS.

 

Under an FOI request, DVLA confirmed that Equita have been granted this right!!!!

[outlawla]

does it make a difference if we are not married? I just dont know what the next steps to take are

 

If you have paid all outstanding debt to the council the levy should be irrelevant. You don't owe the bailiffs if your debt to the council has been settled. The statutory fees that the bailiff is demanding are not the bailiffs. They are in fact the council's fees which they allow them to retain. This will be detailed in their contractual arrangement with the bailiff firm.

 

It is highly unlikely the council would forward any fees to the bailiff firm, unless you paid over and above the outstanding debt to the council to cover their fees.

 

To be safe, you could ask the council to put it in writing that your debt has been settled in full.

 

Bear in mind – even if confirmation is received – the council would likely state that you still owe money to the bailiff. This would be between you and the bailiff (the council wouldn't care less about the bailiff's fees). If you receive confirmation that your council tax debt has been settled in full, they would not be allowed to enforce the levy.

Edited January 19, 2012 by outlawla

[brassnecked]

If you have paid all outstanding debt to the council the levy should be irrelevant. You don't owe the bailiffs if your debt to the council has been settled. The statutory fees that the bailiff is demanding are not the bailiffs. They are in fact the council's fees which they allow them to retain. This will be detailed in their contractual arrangement with the bailiff firm.

 

It is highly unlikely the council would forward any fees to the bailiff firm, unless you paid over and above the outstanding debt to the council to cover their fees.

 

To be safe, you could ask the council to put it in writing that your debt has been settled in full.

 

Bear in mind the council would likely state that you still owe money to the bailiff. This would be between you and the bailiff. If you receive confirmation that your council tax debt has been settled in full, they would not be allowed to enforce the levy.

If the council give it to you in writing the Liability is fully discharged, the bailiff cannot rely on his levy to enforce for his fees alone as the debt has effectively died. he would have to use the small claims track to sue you for his fees which he would have to swear were fully legitimate, and actually owed. This is something he may well be reluctant to do, for whatever reason.

[DodgyGambit]

I asked the council a while ago to send the bailiffs a letter confirming all outstanding balance payments, which they have as the bailiffs have acknowledged that payment, but they are still demanding the levy charges. What if I send a copy of the V5 documents but black out the addresses and say I dont trust them with the information but have provided proof that the vehicle is not owned by me?

[outlawla]

If your council has sent confirmation to the bailiffs that your debt has been settled, can't you also request the same? Once you have this in writing, you will know that the bailiff has no powers to obtain any payment from you. The only risk you might possibly take would be, as brassnecked pointed out, the bailiff commenced further action himself to obtain his fees, which is unlikely and in my opinion, not worth his time.

Edited January 20, 2012 by outlawla

[seanamarts]

I would email the bailiff company and offer them the visit fee of £42.50 for two visit fee's.. then tell them that the onus is on them to find out who the car belongs to, they have access to DVLA to check, so even if you sent a copy of the log book with the address blanked out they can still see where the address is.

However they may argue that your partner is also responsible for the CT bill as she lives there also and you are living as man and wife.

You could argue back that if your partner had moved out regardless whether there was any out standing debt, they would not chase her for it as she is not on the bill.

[DodgyGambit]

Not sure if this is gonna help me, but my partner has not changed her address on her V5, she still has it at her previous address...If i send this without insurance docs it would still prove ownership of the car isnt mine

[seanamarts]

Not sure if this is gonna help me, but my partner has not changed her address on her V5, she still has it at her previous address...If i send this without insurance docs it would still prove ownership of the car isnt mine

 

I am afraid I will have to leave that up to your own discretion.

[DodgyGambit]

do you guys think this would suffice?

[DodgyGambit]

Got another letter from them yesterday

(dated 3 days after the last letter)

telling me they are sending a bailiff to collect my things within the next 2 weeks.

I thought enough is enough and called them....

 

Equita: Have you called to pay the outstanding £263

Me: Nope

Equita: Have you called to arrange a payment plan

Me: Nope

Equita: Then why have you called?

Me: To get an apology from Equita!

 

He then said the outstanding balance is for council tax,

i told him the council tax has been paid and the outstanding costs were bailiff charges which were illegal.

I then carried on using words like fraudulent, vulnerable, harrasment etc.

The guy then said he had escalated the matter to his manager who will call back

 

Later on in the evening I got a call back and i was prepared for a war,

but the manager was actually pretty good,

i fibbed and said the owner of the vehicle who had the car levied doesnt want to send out the information to Equita as they have seen them on Watchdog,

the manager just looked through the history and said that they will take off all bailiff charges and just charged the visit fees of £42 which i happily paid

 

Hopefully thats an end to the saga, just a quick thanks to everyone who has helped out.

[seanamarts]

Well done!! excellent news indeed, will add success to your title.