Bailiff possible Fraud

[davitch]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new to the forum, my first language is not an English so I'm sorry for any mistakes.

 

We have a problem with the bailiff who is clearly trying to fraud us with his fees etc. and I'm finding council not being helpful.

 

We had an agreement with the Council dated on the end of June with the arrengement to pay £100 a month towards my council tax 01.04.2012 to 31.03.2012. We paid council as stated every single month, £100. On the 10th January we had a visit from the bailiff trying to recover outstanding £580. We made a payment of £200 in December what made the balance £380 not a £580. Bailiff check it with council and he confirm it was a £380 and he wanted it in FULL. As my partner was scared of him we end up paying him £350 cash, as we didnt have that much money on the cards. We receive now a letter from him that our outstanding balance is £459! Our debt to council was £380 we paid £350 and he still want us to pay £459, what will be in total £809 for the £380 debt. When we paid him money he put through the letter box form 7 (notice of seizure and inventory of goods) where he detailed cars on our driveway, which 2 of them doesnt belong to us anyway. I never sign him anything!

 

I called to the Council and I explained that the bailiff showed threatening behaviour and became vexatious in nature and why we have to pay if we had an agreement, but they said that our agreement was up till 12th September, after that date they ask us to pay balance in full and they gave it to the Bailiff Company. I cant really understand this practice, how does it works! Since september we paid £400 and we never received any letter, neither from Bailiff neither from Council saying that we have full outstanding amount to pay at once.

 

I want to write a complains, but as I said, my first language is not English and I dont know where and how. How the Bailiff can try to charge me over £400 for his visit!?

 

Please, anyone can help

 

Regards,

 

Vitch

[nohope]

Did you get a receipt for the £350 cash payment you made to him?

[davitch]

Yes I did receive the receipt but he date it 10.01.10 instead of 10.01.12, but it was typo I believe

[davitch]

Anyone?

[davitch]

Unfortunately nobody gave me any advice. I wrote a letter to them by myself and ... I got reply :

 

"I write further to your recent correspondence in connection with the above.

 

Having looked at the case whilst I note that no times of visits have been logged, the dates these took place were the (dates here - 4 exactly different dates). On each occasion no contact was made, apart from (date again - which is incorrect anyway, I have a proof of it) whereby our bailiff speak to a male occupant who claimed to be of a different name although ID was refused. Please see your breakdown below of the current debt, fees and balance owing:

 

(now it's is funny! Instead of all the £459 charges which I got letter from the baillif there is: Statutory Visit Fees: 42.50 and Levy/Visit Fees £36, but the most funny is "Payment received: £500" - where I paid them only £350!!)

 

We do have current and valid levy on goods and they are at risk of removal should you fail to pay"

 

My question now is, can I file a Form 4 complaint against them. This is clearly showing that they tried to fraud me, but after receiving the letter from me, they change the numbers. I have a Form 7 signed by this bailiff (he put it through the letter box, same day I paid him £350) showing £238.50 bailiff costs and after 3 days I got the letter that my outstaning balance is £459.

 

What should I do, or just leave them.

Why they gave me a quote that I paid £500 to them if I paid £350?!

 

And what do they mean that they have current and valid levy on the goods?!

Edited February 16, 2012 by davitch

[hallowitch]

your form 7 this is a notice of seizure of goods and inventory do you have this what goods are listed

[davitch]

I know this, but I havent sign him anything, and he listed there not even my vehicles

[hallowitch]

what do they mean that they have current and valid levy on the goods?!

 

what they mean is they believe the goods levied on the form 7 belong to you or a member of your family who lives with you and would have been jointly liable for the council tax debt

do the vehicles fall under the above situation

a form 7 does not have to be signed by the debtor to be valid

can you please tell the name of the council and the bailiff firm

[davitch]

It was an Equita and East Northamtonshire Council. Just spoke with the council Equita stating that they havent received any payment from myself directly (lying I have a receipt), and asked council to take the case of the bailiff, and I offered that I gonna pay in installments to them, but they refused saying "While the bailiff company is dealing with these arrears you need to discuss payment with them. The Council is not refusing to accept any payments from you. If you do make any payments direct to us we credit them to your accound and then advise Equita. If, after the bailiffs have followed all their procedures and have been unabe to collect the balance from you and return this debt back to the Council we will at that stage be able to discuss payment with you but not untill." - is this a normal practice? Why I have to deal with this cons instead of council?

[ashmk]

You can pay the council via their website. They cannot refuse then.

[mapadale]

The Council is lying to you, yes they can take it back and very easily at that. They just submit a re-claim form through the Equita Secured Members Section and it can be back with the council within 48 hours, it just sounds to me like the council are being difficult with regards to this and don't want to go through the process of starting action again if you miss payment. Keep applying presure to the Council and find out your rights with regards to the enforcement and then use that to your advantage for the council to take it back.

 

It's rather funny when it goes back to the Council, as all that goes back is the debt and not the costs and so Equita loose out.

[davitch]

mapadale thank you for the reply. I have spoken to the council and they told me that they can take it back ONLY in extream circumstances. Whatever they meant by this. The lady I spoke with sounds a bit scared about all the "noice" I made, she called me already 3 times as she was talking to the bailiff, because what they tried to say now is that my £350 which I paid them bailiff took towards my traffic offences not a council! This made me fourious! Bailiff took £350 for a parking ticket? On the 1st visit? And after 3 days Equita sent to me a letter Removal Notice about this parking ticket! They have to look on the dates what and when they are doing. I have all house in CCTV front door, gate, etc. Dates Equita gave me when the Bailiff tried to be here are lies. I checked it. Another funny thing is, I had an agreement - this is what the lady from Council said, but it was till October, and in October they sent to me a letter asking for a full balance. Not because I havent pay etc, because the agreement was for 3 months to review it. I believe october 14th they sent me a letter asking for full balance to be paid by December, but on the letter from Equita is September and October date when they tried to collect the council. My question is WHAT COUNCIL? As I have an agreement with Council till October, and the outstanding balance was to be paid in December! Joke, it looks like they are all backhanders!

 

Any propositions how to take it further, as I will not let any con do tricks like this!

Edited February 16, 2012 by davitch

[mapadale]

Do you have the original agreement that you made with the council, as they should outline in response to any agreement in writing. You could also argue the fact with the council, about payment terms under a court order and minimal payment terms requirements, which is as little as 50p depending on your circumstances. Find out as much information you can and then back it up with more information, councils don't like dealing with people who are clued up, as it makes there job even more difficult in the long term.

 

You could also apply to the court, for the matter to be taken back and dealt with by the court, bearing in mind that if you do this, you are also entitled to reclaim all costs from the council (Also a good point to remind the council). Now as you have said you have CCTV, which so long as the video/stills are date & time stamped and can be verified, then you have a case against Equita for falsifying documents.

 

Report Equita with regards to falsifying documents, first point is trading standards, then the council and then file a Form 4 Complaint against the bailiff and Equita, this has to be submitted to the court that licenses them - 0207 210 0516 - Give them the name of the bailiff & Equita and they will advise you of the Court and address to which the Form 4 complaint has to be submitted to.

 

But least of all, don't let Equita bully you. Read as much as you can and challenge everything that is said and if you are going to challenge Equita then get a solicitor involved.

[wonkeydonkey]

Hi davitch

 

I think before you go out with all guns blazing you need to deal with one thing at a time. As I read your post I see we have two debts both owed to the Council ..

 

1. Council Tax

2. Parking Charge

 

As I see it...... you have paid an Equita Bailiff the sum of £350 to what you believed was outstanding Council Tax leaving a balance for CT of £30 on that account. prior to this you had an agreement with the Council to a repayment plan and you made regular payments to it? this was to be reassessed in October?

 

Did a bailiff ever attend your home to levy upon goods for Council Tax? if the answer is yes then can you tell us when that visit took place and what goods did he levy upon.

 

You had occured a parking ticket/s that went unpaid and the Council passed this to the Bailiff....

1. when were you first aware of the Parking ticket?

2. what was the original amount of the ticket?

3. what figure did the bailiff demand to be full payment?

4. did the baiff leave any paperwork on any of the visits he claims to have made before the first time you spoke with him?

5. what paperwork exactly did the bailiff leave you on his first visit?

WD

[davitch]

wonkeydonkey thanks for the reply.

 

Parking charges, at the time when the PCN was made I was not an owner of the car anymore. Unfortunetely V5 never get to the DVLA (it was sent, but they stating that they havent received it), but I made an applications to the CCBC TEC and it is stoped now. I also informed DVLA about it, and I have sent them a letter with the scan copy which is signed by me and the new owner when I sold the vehicle.

 

We had an agreement with the council tax for the payments. It was from July till September and by the 01.10.2011 they asked for the outstanding balance. The first time I have met Bailiff was in January this year, and I was surprised really. He was saying to me that he was here few times before bla bla bla, but I checked on the CCTV, and the only one time he have been it was a day before in the evening (banging in the doors like there is no tomorrow if you know what I mean) and we were not at home. But from the letter from Equita is showing that he came first time in the end of September. This is what I can't understand, why, if we had an agreement with Council. First letter from the Baillif I received on the 07/10/2011 about the Liability orded and a sum to pay by return post. So ... End of September first visit, 07/10 first letter? And full sum asked by council was to be paid on the 1/10. We never received any letter from the council saying anything about the case passing to the bailiff etc.

 

About parking tickets, no paper work was left on any of the visits simply, because there wasn't any visit, as I chcecked on the CCTV.

 

About Council tax, he attend once on the 9th and then on the 10th of January when I was surprised, but I have paid him £350. He put through the letter box form 7 that day with the Bailiff costs of over £230. But from the letter from the Equita it's showing around £70.

 

The £350 I have receipt for he put account number there regards to the PCN, but he 101% let us believe that the payment we are making is towards the council tax, basically this is what he came for. There was no mentioning anything to the PCN.

[seanamarts]

subbing

[seanamarts]

It's rather funny when it goes back to the Council, as all that goes back is the debt and not the costs and so equita loose out.

 

Thats not entirely true, many councils will pay the bailiffs fees first from the payments that are made, then they start coming of off the accrued debt.

[tomtubby]

All that we need to know is this:

 

You have a Notice of Seizure and one it, the bailiff is stating that he has seized vehicles. You have said that 2 vehicles do not belong to you. How many cars are listed and how many belong to you?

 

What I am trying to establish is whether a levy was made on more then 2 cars.

[ploddertom]

Another worth checking on the Notice of Seizure is to see what they are claiming the levy is against - check the Ref No - are they for your Council Tax or PCN, they can't claim it is for both.

 

PT