Rossendale council tax bailiffs -help

[Uksilverknight]

I have just found stuffed into my letter box a final notice including a notice of distress listing several items.

 

I am behind on my council tax from this year and last and have spoken with the council and explained that I have a disabled daughter who is 3 years only as we are in the process of obtaining disability living allowance. With out going into to much detail we have been battling with the DWP for the past year as they do not acknowledge her disabity until she turned 3years old. She was 3 beginning of May

 

We have been advised that she qualifies for the highest rate of disability, mobility allowances and my partner will qualify for carers allowance. This todate will be a payment of several thousand pounds, enough to cover this debt and some.

 

The distress notice has listed the following items: ( in very poor handwriting)

2 x sheds plus contents - sheds are my landlords! Or they are referring to a chicken shed that the chickens live in!

1 x large trampoline

1 x BBQ - this has seen better days and is due to go to the tip this weekend

Garden furniture

Selection of ?????? ( can't read the writing)

 

In one of the sheds/out building is my wash room with washing machine and freezer

Another has our bikes including my oldest daughters (6yrs old) all padlocked together

 

They also seem to have charges a number of fees these include 2nd visit, levy fee, other ( again can't read writing but amounts to £13 on other)

[Uksilverknight]

Sorry for the long thread above just wanted to get it all down. Thanks in advance for any help and advise given

[padja]

then you are classed as vulnerable and the council now have to take back the debt from bailiff, some others will advise best forward with that. if they listed the sheds then thats all not the contents. does the items cover the debt? if not then I believe its an invalid levy.

[Uksilverknight]

They have listed "2 x shed plus contents" the debt was £450 odd before they added all their fees now pushing this to over £600!!

Would you suggest going back to the council on Wednesday? Or going direct to bailiff?

[unclebulgaria67]

Go back to the council on Wednesday with full details of your current situation.

[brassnecked]

They have listed "2 x shed plus contents" the debt was £450 odd before they added all their fees now pushing this to over £600!!

Would you suggest going back to the council on Wednesday? Or going direct to bailiff?

Go back to the council, are you wholly dependent on benefits, or on a low income? If so Council tax benefit should be claimed. Tell the council about the vulnerability, show medical evidence to them.

 

As to the bailiffs and their levy, they are cruising between Jack and doggie doo, and Jack has left town. The levy is global, as they cannot claim something, with all it's "unspecified" contents., they don't know what is in there, you could have a chest full of pieces of eight guarded by an irate parrot in one of the sheds, but unless they can see it and list it they are out of luck. It is a "Global Levy" so is invalid..

 

Go to the council, and tell them their bailiff has imposed an unlawful global levy, so tas the law does not compel you to deal with a bailiff, you cannot trust Rossers to deal with yopu fairly, and in any case, as you are vulnerable they should take the debt back anyway. also remind them they are WHOLLY LIABLE for any wrongful or unlawful action of their appointed bailiffs Rossendales.

 

You should initiate a Formal Complaint to Head of Revenues, copied to council CEO, Elected council leader, councillor and MP. Incidentally you could contact your councillor pdq by phone, their number should be on the council website, oor email via www.writetothem.com they should be contactable 7 days a week up to 9 pm imho

Edited June 3, 2012 by brassnecked

[seanamarts]

Ok levy is NOT valid, Each item has to be listed. Bailiffs know this. Items that are a childs cannot be listed. White goods cannot be listed unless there is a duplicate item that will suffice.

 

Are you in receipt of any other benefits? If so can you let us know. This will make a difference.

 

All you owe on fee's at the moment is the following,

 

1st visit fee £24.50

2nd (if one occurred) £18.00.

There can be no levy fee as levy is invalid and cannot charge an attendance to remove fee as levy was invalid. At this point I cannot see what other fee's have been charged. can you PM me the name of the bailiff, and the council dealing with this.

[Uksilverknight]

Thank you all for the advise. I'm actually looking forward to the call to the council on Wednesday. Seems as long as I stress my daughters situation and the invalid levy that the council have no option but to take the debt back?

 

As for other benefits I work full time (60+ hrs per week) as my partner can not work due to our daughters disability. We therefor get child tax credits. We also get the very lowest level of DLA just disability ( just £70 every 4 weeks) but as we have been advised this is incorrect and we should be receiving the highest level of disability along with the highest level or mobility.

 

Our daughter has moderate to severe cerebral palsy as was born 12 weeks premature, she has to attend weekly physiotherapy and occupational health appointments. She has been assessed for the use of an electric wheelchair by a charity that help with these things and they have advised us that we needed to reapproach the DWP, which we have done. I have had numerous calls to the DWP and they have also confirmed that we should be on the highest rates of both but typical govournment processes takes them 12WEEKS to access our application. ( it's ok for the government to take 12 weeks but for you and I 2 weeks late and youre in trouble)

 

Thanks again for you help and for any further help you can offer

[Uksilverknight]

I've also just noticed that the bailiff obviously failed maths at school

 

Client debt £460

Second visit fee £42.50

Levy fee £41.00

Other fee I can no read £13.00

TOTAL £673.50

 

Now since when did the above add up or am I missing something?

[seanamarts]

Did the bailiff hand deliver a letter or was it posted. Also are there any dates on which a visit was made and the levy was made.

 

When contacting the council, make sure you speak with the benefits and revenues manager, dont speak with any back office person that reads everything from a screen on what they have to do. Its pointless talking to them as they have no idea on bailiff regulations etc.

 

Bailiff is certificated, however I doubt it was the same bailiff who made the levy, hence why they didnt knock, it was possibly his lackey. Which is common for bailiffs. However at this stage cannot not be proved.

 

I understand that you have some back payment due and I am sure you would rather pay the council rather than Rossers, however they will want their share of the fee's which can be argued.

[seanamarts]

Second visit fee £42.50 Not right at all

levy fee £41.00 cannot be charged as well as a visit fee if made on the same day

Other fee I can no read £13.00 this would be a walking possession fee, cannot charge as this did not take place

[Uksilverknight]

The letter was pushed part way through the letter box. A woman bailiff attended about a month ago and I told her that i was in discussions with the council. She then left. This s the 2nd visit

[seanamarts]

Ok so two visits £42.50 in fee's so far, as stated before, levy is certainly not valid.

[Uksilverknight]

So basically once we are awarded the back payment pay the council direct and if rossendales say anything offer them a max payment of £42.50 as the rest is invalid?

 

Also should I place a "withdrawal of right of access" notice on my gate?

[seanamarts]

Also should I place a "withdrawal of right of access" notice on my gate?

 

I doubt that would work,

 

But yes pay council and offer Rossendales the two visit fee's and we can argue the rest.

[tomtubby]

It is so very important the in cases such as this that a LETTER OF COMPLAINT is sent to the COUNCIL.

 

The amount does not add up and I would suspect that this is because the bailiff has added an ATTENDING TO REMOVE fee to the account. He CANNOT do this.

 

Trampoline is clearly an "exempt" item as it is a childs item.

 

The bailiff CANNOT levy upon a shed AND CONTENTS unless he has gained entry into the shed. The levy against the shed is therefore INVALID.

 

I would suggest that a photo is taken of the BBQ so that you can demonstrate to the council that the item is worthless.

 

The grounds for making the complaint are as follows:

 

The bailiff appears to have seriously overcharged you by applying an "attending to levy" fee

He has levied upon shed contents without identifying what goods )if any) are in the shed.

Levied upon a worthless BBQ

Levied upon children's goods

 

and finally:

 

If there are insufficient goods on which to levy (to cover the debt and costs of removal etc) the bailiff is supposed to return the account back to the council as NULLA BONO (nil assets). The bailiff failed to do this and instead; levied upon worthless and exempt items for no other purpose other than to ensure that he obtained a significant financial benefit for him and his employer.

 

There is NO point in complaining to Rossendales for the simple reason that THE LOCAL AUTHORITY ARE WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LEVY AND FEES CHARGES by THEIR AGENTS !!!!

[brassnecked]

The council is the target, as they are the organ grinder and Rosser's are the monkey, so Formal Complaint TODAY, as outlined by tomtubby, and do copy the council elected leader your councillor, and MP into it.

[Uksilverknight]

I have just spoken to the councils enforcement team. There was no such thing as a revenues and benefits manager at my local council. I was advised that I must deal with the bailiffs, even though I explained my daughters disability the back payment from DWP and the invalid levy.

 

They did however say that they would speak to rossendales as using my ref they could not see any notes on the bailiffs system for our account.

 

I will certainly be sending letters of complaint up today to all mentioned above by brassnecked.

 

Is this rig that I now have to deal with rossers? The council have said that the bailiff will require full payment as this is a van bailiff. Is this correct?

[ploddertom]

The Council are issuing their own interpretation of what the they think is right. The reality is that they are 100% responsible for the actions and charges of their contractors - in this case the Bailiffs. They will argue otherwise for the simple reason that they don't know. You need to escalate the matter to a higher level within the Council - most of those you will have spoken to are just at the bottom and have a script they cannot deviate from. There is no law that says you have to deal with or speak to a Bailiff - payments can be made direct to the Council using online banking, Council website or automated phone, you may also pay in cash to the Council and if you are met by refusal of this you must ask for the name & position of the person refusing as this will form the basis of any complaint.

[seanamarts]

I have just spoken to the councils enforcement team. There was no such thing as a revenues and benefits manager at my local council. I was advised that I must deal with the bailiffs, even though I explained my daughters disability the back payment from DWP and the invalid levy.

 

They did however say that they would speak to rossendales as using my ref they could not see any notes on the bailiffs system for our account.

 

I will certainly be sending letters of complaint up today to all mentioned above by brassnecked.

 

Is this rig that I now have to deal with rossers? The council have said that the bailiff will require full payment as this is a van bailiff. Is this correct?

 

Are the 'enforcement team', stating that there is no revenues and benefits department???? i find that very hard to believe.

 

who is the council dealing with this.

[outlawla]

Completely agree with ploddertom.

 

Councils operate like machines. The staff you have been dealing with will have been instructed to lie to "customers" or face the consequences.

 

Authorities brag about bailiffs being a free service and coming at no cost to the council. Its policy to fob-off customers this way will most likely have originated from accountants advising councils to avoid 'man-hour costs' being attributed to dealing with bailiff quiries.

Edited June 6, 2012 by outlawla

[tomtubby]

I am sorry but this is a dreadful response from the council and therefore I would sugget that a formal letter of complaint is sent to the council and marked for the attention of the CHIEF EXECUTIVE. In the final paragraph of your letter I would suggest something like the following:

 

Finally, I would also like to register a complaint at the advise given to me today by a member of staff in your council tax department. I outlined my concerns at the levy and fees charged by your bailiff and discussed as well the serious matter of our daughters disability. Despite the fact that the local authority are wholly responsible for the levy and fee charged by their agents, I was shocked to be told that all enquiries must be made to the bailiff company.

 

At this present time, I am considering a complain to the Local Government Ombudsman but will await your response to this complaint before taking this course of action.

 

Yours sincereley

 

 

PS: With any letters of complaint, always keep to the point and try to not to make the letter too long.

[Uksilverknight]

Horsham district council

 

They now use mid Sussex district councils rev and benefits departments

[outlawla]

Have you seen this:

 

http://revsandbens.centralsussex.gov.uk/331.htm

 

Complaints: Email your complaints to the Head of Revenues and Benefits [email protected]

 

Also:

 

http://revsandbens.centralsussex.gov.uk/243.htm

 

 

[EDIT]

 

On the CenSus website

Recovery methods available to recover unpaid Council Tax

 

• We may send your debt to the Bailiff for collection
  
  

This will mean you will have to pay bailiffs' fees, which can be substantial. Any payment or arrangements for payment then have to be made direct to the Bailiff and not the Council. Equally, any queries about bailiff action must be addressed to the bailiff.

 

 

I wonder if they can be prosecuted for publishing these lies?

Edited June 6, 2012 by outlawla

[seanamarts]

Head of revenues and benefits, well what do ya know, Your council has one despite them saying they dont have one.

And he is the email to prove them wrong.

 

Complaints:

Email your complaints to the Head of Revenues and Benefits

 

[email protected]