Bailiff Clamped daughters car ** SUCCESS - WITHDRAWAL OF FEES**

[gina11x]

Hi i am hoping someone can give me some advice regarding what bailiffs can do. My son in law is being chased for a council tax debt from a previous address and this morning a bailiff came out and clamped my daughters car, are they allowed to do this. The debt is not in her name, and she did explain the car was hers however he clamped it and refused to remove the clamp until her partner had paid £240 these were fees apparently and they want the council tax paid at the end of the month, he had previously agreed to pay £120 pm when the bailiff 1st came around which he did for 5months, however when he couldn't find the bill the debt related to he asked for a copy of the bill realised it was for sometime after he had left the property and disputed the period of time the council tax bill related to with the council and never heard anything so thought the payments had covered the debt, but then this happened today. The bailiff has said the money he has received so far has been for fees, i have asked my son in law to contact the council to find out exactly how much is owed and how much if anything they have received from the bailiff, is £240 for todays visit normal i feel that it is really excessive the bailiff was rude and just didn't care the car wasn't his but my daughters can they take anything they want and charge ridiculous fees. Any advice would really be appreciated.

[ploddertom]

Did she also live with him at the previous address?

 

PT

[gina11x]

she stayed with him for about 4wks in total during the 6month period he was there she had her own place and was paying rent council tax etc

[gina11x]

sorry should have added she then moved to a bigger place and they decided to live together, so he gave notice on the hse he was renting thats the property the bill relates to so financially it was nothing to do with her as she has always had her own place

[nohope]

If its nothing to do with her then the fee charged for clamping the car can be challenged and you should be able to get it back.

[nohope]

If its nothing to do with her then the fee charged for clamping the car can be challenged and you should be able to get it back.

[gina11x]

Apparently the fees charged were for the collection of council tax no fees were charged for removing the clamp this was removed when he thought i had taken photos of him and the clamp, so i'm wondering whether they can charge £240 for just coming out the fees seem to high for such a small amount owed as i said he was paying £120 pm for 5 mths most of which was to cover collection fees i'm not sure how he can clear the council tax debt when they just keep adding these fees

[nohope]

You need to ask them for a breakdown of there fees to find out what there charging for.

 

If they have no levy then it's only first and second visit fee which is 24.50 then 18.00 and they can't add anything else unles they have levied on something of your son in laws.

[nohope]

And get him to start paying the council using there online payment system. All the time he's paying bailiffs they will add fees for anything and everything just to make money from him.

[gina11x]

ok i will tell him to make online payments to the council from now on, can they refuse to accept them? Do you know what happens once he has paid the full debt to the council with regards to the bailiffs coming out or will the council cancel them then? I will email the bailiffs for him to ask for a breakdown of the fee's do you know if it is something they are required to give you? They haven't levied on anything as my daughter wouldn't let him in and gave the bailiff my son in laws number at work so now i'm confused as to why they could clamp her car and make him pay the £240 in fees over the phone. Could they make a complaint over this? Sorry for so many questions i just want to help them get this sorted asap and without the threat of these people coming back out and being so nasty to my daughter, she had a baby 7wks ago and really isn't up to this atm Thankyou for your help

[wonkeydonkey]

Hi and welcome to Cag

 

There seems to be some conflict as to what is owed and what fees have been charged. To get a clearer picture you must first get your son in law to contact the Council and with pen at the ready ask the following:

 

1 - how many Liability Orders they have against him

2 - the dates they were obtained

3 - the addresses they were for

4 - the period of time each covers

5 - how much each one was for

6 - how much is still outstanding

7 - the dates they were passed on for enforcement

 

You will also need to contact the bailiffs in writing email followed by hard copy sent recorded/signed for mail will be best.

 

"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"

 

Come back here once you start to get the information together then we can all see a clearer picture and advise you how to follow the correct procedure to complaining to the right people to get this money refunded, while also getting the bailiffs back in their kennel.

 

WD

[nohope]

Beat me to it wonkey.

[gina11x]

He is going to phone the council this morning to get all the information he can from them, so i will update with that later today, I will also email the bailiffs, to request the breakdown and print a letter off for him to sign after work and send that to them. Hopefully then we will be alittle clearer on the situation. Could i just ask the situation yesterday happened in the morning, yesterday when my son in law arrived home from work about 6pm the bailiff was sat in his van behind my daughters car not doing anything just sitting there, this has scared my daughter even more now, as she thinks he's watching the house, my son in law thinks he might have just wanted to see what he drives so they can clamp that instead although the van he drives belongs to the company, is it normal for a bailiff to do this. I really think he's just trying to scare them into agreeing to anything he says, although i do find it appalling that the council would use such a method of recovering council tax surely they could find a better way other than using bullies to get there money sorry for the little rant but it really does infuriate me

[gina11x]

just spoke to my son in law the council says its 1 order, the amount was for £481.15 with a outstanding balance now of £216.15 which he is going to pay directly to them, he has paid the bailiff 1st visit £240, 5 mthly payments of £120 and yesterdays 2nd visit £240 totalling £1080 of which 265.55 was forwarded to the council meaning they have had £815 in fees I am now really looking forward to receiving there breakdown of the fees as this is extortionate!!!

[tomtubby]

If the fees being quoted are correct then this is VERY SERIOUS INDEED !!!

 

However, it is important to be aware that the LOCAL AUTHORITY are WHOLLY RESONSIBLE for the levy and fees charged by their agents. !!!!

 

I would suggest that your son in law contatcs the council RIGHT NOW to say that he is wnating to issue a formal complaint.

 

Also, as the council are responsible for the fees.....your son in law does not need to wait to receive a breakdown of fees from the bailiff.......the council must provide the info NOW!!!

 

The levy upon the car must be removed and all charges associated with this "levy"

 

Which bailiff company is this ?

[seanamarts]

£815 in fees

 

The most the fee's would be at this stage is £42.50, however if he has only been out once then it's £24.50.

 

Please do name the bailiff company, not the bailiff. Have you checked to see if the bailiff is certificated?

 

As TT has said the council are responsible for all bailiff action.

 

Bailiff cannot levy on your daughter's car or clamp it. I would start formal complaints to the bailiff company and the CEO of the council.

[gina11x]

Would he make a complaint against the council then as they are responsible for the bailiffs, or to the bailiffs sorry that be got me alittle confused,

 

I am going to email the council now requesting a breakdown of these charges i didn't realise the council could give you this otherwise i would have got him to ask when he spoke to them earlier, but as he won't be back from work until after they shut i am hoping an email should give them a start for when he can speak to them in the morning.

 

There isn't and never has been a levy on anything not even the car he just clamped it yesterday to be totally nasty and scare them into paying this £240 could i ask though this £240 paid yesterday was for fees however from what i've seen on here the 2nd visit should be £18 i'm totally stuck as to what he could put the other £222 down too any ideas

 

The company is ross and roberts not sure of the bailiffs name as he wouldn't tell me

[seanamarts]

Yes you need to write complaints to both the council and R&R, he should of given you his name and showed you his authorisation. Why am I not surprised it was R&R!! £222 were his made up fee's, this you can get back, but it will need some work to get them back.

 

For you to deal with this it may help you to get a letter dated and sign by your daughters boyfriend/partner for you to deal with this on his behalf. we can help with a template for that, just let us know, otherwise they may not give you any information and will not deal with you.

[gina11x]

Hi thankyou for your advice any templates you could let me have would be fantastic, as this is a 1st attempt at anything like this, is there a template regarding the complaint so we get it worded properly. i can't imagine the council or R&R being very forth coming with anything so i would prefer to get this as right as possible, £222 in made up fees just makes me so angry as i know how tight it was to find this money and they are going to struggle for weeks due to this now it is so wrong

[seanamarts]

[ Name of partner ]

[Address of partner]

acc no; ******************

 

[Date.]

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re; Letter of Authorisation, to act on my behalf with regards to [The matter at hand]

 

I,[Name of partner] of [Address of partner] do hereby give [ your name] of [your address] my full authorisation, to deal with all correspondence, whether by phone, email, letter or in person, in regards to [the matter at hand].

 

Regards

 

[partner signature] [partner print name]

 

 

[your signature] [ Your print name]

 

 

Write details in the brackets.

[seanamarts]

You need to send to council and bailiff company.

 

You first need to point out about the unlawful clamping and the aggressive nature of the bailiff.

 

You then need to request a copy of the bailiff's certificate.

 

You want a copy of the levy

 

You want a list of all charges.

 

This should get the ball rolling

[seanamarts]

Dont forget to send in proof that the car belonged to your daughter

[gina11x]

Thankyou so much i will get on to this straight away and hopefully update with what we hear back soon

[gina11x]

Is the letter below ok to send to the council if you could read through it and let me know this would be a great help

 

 

 

Dear Sir

 

I am contacting you in regards to an outstanding council tax bill i have with you, which is currently being dealt with by Ross & Roberts Bailiffs.

 

A bailiff visited my home address on the 8/5/2012. I was at work at the time and my partner gave him my number and said he should contact me. I then received a phone call from him demanding £456.15 which i did not have and i told him this. He then proceeded to clamp my partners car which is nothing to do with me (I have enclosed a copy of the V5 showing the car does not belong to me) He then refused to remove the clamp and stated he would have the car removed if i did not pay. I explained again that i did not have £456.15 and was unable to pay that amount of money. He then stated that if i wanted the car unclamped i would have to pay £240. I again explained the car was not mine but my partners and he was not allowed to clamp her car, he then stated once again he would have the car removed and i would have to pay the fees to recover the car aswell. Finally due to his constant aggressive manner and the refusal to remove the clamp I paid the £240 over the phone. He then informed me that the £240 was for charges not the debt and he would require a further payment next month.

 

I have now paid hundreds in charges which seem to be extremely excessive, i would therefore like a complete detailed breakdown of my council tax account including the date it was passed to the bailiffs, the start balance, balance still owing and any payments received, along with a detailed breakdown of all the charges the bailiffs have charged me, what they are for including dates, times of visits any levies etc

 

Due to the fact the bailiff was extremely rude and aggressive, clamped a car that he was informed did not belong to me I will no longer pay any money to them and will make payments directly to you. I will also be looking at a full reimbursment for any fees i have been unlawfully charged

 

I look forward to hearing from soon.

 

Yours Faithfully

[seanamarts]

Looks ok to me. I would send a copy to R&R as well.