bailiff charges

[need_help-]

Hello, i'm after some advice regarding a council tax debt which was given to the bailiffs.

 

After getting behind with our council tax payments, equita bailiffs took the debt over and I set up a agreement to pay £40 a week by direct debit (this was over the phone with the call centre before it had gone as far as a bailiff visit) Stupidly it was my choice to pay £40 and the operator told me i could pay as little as £5 a week if i chose.

 

Anyway, we carried on paying the £40 a week for about 6 weeks and then my partner had no work (he was self employed decorator) so I called asking to lower our payments to £20 a week untill my partner had secured more work.

The operator told me this was not possible, leaving me with no choice but to cancel the direct debit with the bank as i didnt have the funds available.

I then recieved a letter from equita stating they were sending a bailiff out when i tried to call to set up another payment plan it just gave me the phone number of the bailiff who was going to come round.

 

After trying to call him several times with no answer i went onto equitas website and paid £20 off the £528.08 balance (which was all i could afford) After several days a bailiff called (at 7am) and luckily my partner, my children and myself were upstairs so didnt answer the door. After several atempts at knocking the door he posted a letter and drove off.

The letter stated that full payment was due in 24hours or he will re-attend and may remove goods even in my absence. With the letter there was also a 'form seven'- notice of seizure and inventory of goods, this had my mothers car regestration on (her car was parked on the road outside my house).

At the bottom of the form it stated the amount of owing council tax was £528.08 (remember i payed the £20) The bailiff costs were then £209.00 setting the total amount due at £737.08!!!!

Luckily my grandmother was willing to lend me the money as i'm 39 weeks pregnant and was totally freaked out.

I did not agree with the charges and pointed this out to the bailiff when i called to pay him, i also queried the £20 i payed. He put me on hold to speak to his 'manager' when he came back to the phone he told me i had to pay the full balance of £737.08 and then write to the legal department of equita to see if i'm eligable to claim the wrong charges back. Can someone please help me as i've read the bailiff fees can only £24 or something similar as he has only visited once and never gained entry, and although he has done an inventry it doesnt include anything belonging to me?? Please help, thanks

Edited June 13, 2012 by seanamarts
edited to make a little easier on the eyes

[hallowitch]

Hi welcome to CAG

 

you should claim the fees back from the local authority its there levy the bailiff Levy's on behalf of the local authority

 

will your mum give you a photo copy of the V5 (having said that Equita can do a dvla check to confirm ownership )

 

Have a read of this

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?262730-Has-a-bailiff-quot-levied-quot-upon-a-car-that-is-NOT-owned-by-you-...-LOCAL-GOVERNMENT-OMBUDSMAN-S-Report-!!!!

 

 

is the £209.00 bailiffs broken down to explain what fees you have been charged as in

 

fees to date £42,50 (this will be 1st and 2nd visit fees)

levy fee £42

these are the fees you should have been charged had the levy been valid (your car)

 

Is the bailiff certificated to Equita

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?210956-On-line-search-to-check-if-a-Bailiff-is-Certificated.....

[need_help-]

Hello, thanks for your reply. I have just checked and yes the bailiff is certified. The £209.00 has not been broken down, however he was in a van so maybe he has charged for that although reading through a schedule of charges bailiffs are allowed to make, charging for a van can only be done when returning with intention to remove goods after a levy has been made. This was the first time the bailiff has called to the house. When paying the bailiff over the phone he gave me the name and address of the lady at equita who i should write to with my query, should i write to her or the council or both? When i called the council before i payed they told me that they did not deal with charges or the fact my mothers car had been put down as ours and i should speak with equita! I'm totally confused what to do now.

[wonkeydonkey]

To get things on the right foot you need to start at the begining and build your case.

 

Start with the Council and with pen at the ready get answers to the following:

 

1 - how many Liability Orders they have against you

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

 

Next you need to get a breakdown of the dubious fees this bailiff thinks he can charge and to do that you need to write and ask:

 

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"

 

As Hallow has said you will need to get a copy of the V5 to show the car does not belong to you, but first get the above and come back here and then caggers will guide you the course to get back those illegal fees.

 

WD

[seanamarts]

If you cannot find out if the bailiff is certificated then please PM me his name and I will find out for you.

 

I would start complaining to the council as they have made an unlawful levy on your mothers car.

 

As HW has stated you owe for two visits £42.40

[need_help-]

Thank you, i'm really not good with things like this, half the words used i don't have a clue of their meaning.

 

I will copy that letter requesting a breakdown of fees in the morning, thanks for that, its a great help as usually when writing letters i sit for about an hour with a blank piece of paper not knowing what to write!!

 

Also how can they charge me for two visits?

[seanamarts]

Unless you can prove otherwise, bailiffs will state they have visited two times even when they have not. They will state that they have proof, however this proof is rarely shown.

[need_help-]

Morning, sorry I should have asked yesterday but do you think the fact i've already payed the full balance including the charges means i'm less likely to get the money back? Thanks

[outlawla]

You will almost certainly have an "attendance with a vehicle with a view to remove goods" charge.

 

When/if you get a breakdown of fees, this will probably be described as a "van" fee, "attendance" fee or something similar.

 

As you have already been advised, this fee (if charged) and the levy on your mother's car will be invalid. They may have also included a "Head H" fee; if so, this too will be invalid.

 

Something to note regarding the "van" fee (if charged).

 

Even if they had made a valid levy, i.e. it was your vehicle. The bailiff will have added this fee (van) speculatively, as he would not have known what goods to remove – there was no prior levy.

 

As defined in the regulations, the attendance must be made “with a view to the removal of goods” so an enforcement agent would need to arrive in, say, a removal van for example, if bulky items such as furniture were to be listed on the Notice of Seizure, or a breakdown recovery truck, if a vehicle was intended to be levied.

 

Essentially the bailiff would need to be attending with a vehicle for the purpose of removing goods; the fee would only be lawful following a valid levy, where under normal circumstances, goods had been seized on a previous visit.

 

Contracts between enforcement firms and authorities would in general be breached if a bailiff were to attend with the view to levying distress, and removing goods, both on the same visit.

 

Even if conditions detailed in the Service Level Agreement allowed it; if the bailiff wanted to "Levy & Remove Immediately", the bailiff on his first visit would need to arrive with sufficient transport - vans etc, to remove the goods (unknown) he was intending to levy on that visit.

 

He had no idea what goods he was going to seize, he seized a vehicle, he did not turn up in a tow-truck, so could not have attended with the view to remove goods following the levy.

Edited June 14, 2012 by outlawla

[brassnecked]

Agree with outlawla, attend to levy come in Berlingo, cannot add attending to remove fee if he levies a house full of goods, in any case many levies fall due to exempt items being seized like children's beds, toys etc,

[need_help-]

Just spoke to south oxfodshire council and the balance is still £495.08 (I only payed the bailiff 2 days ago and the lady from the council said it could take 10days to clear) The thing i'm stuck on is that the council are saying £495.08 but the bailiff company are saying i owed £528.08. I am going to go through my bank statements now as i have always paid equita by debit card or direct debit.

[outlawla]

South Oxfordshire Council's bailiff code of practice.

 

Particularly items 7 & 8....

 

[EDIT]

 

For your interest: Freedom of Information request made to South Oxfordshire Council.

Edited June 14, 2012 by outlawla

[need_help-]

Thanks for that council info. I have just phoned the council again and asked for the starting balance, which was £1030.00, I have gone through all my bank statements which shows i've paid £602.00 which means the remaining balance should have been £428.00 not the £495.08 which is the figure the council have or the £528.08 which equita have!!

 

I have phoned equita who have told me that since they've had this case there have been six different bailiffs in charge of it and I have incurred a total amount of £307 in fees! Anyway, the lady on the phone told me she will get her manager to send me out a breakdown of these charges, although I have posted a copy of wonkeydonkeys template letter requesting all the details this morning.

[ploddertom]

With Council Tax the Bailiff is allowed to deduct his fees first, passing over any balance to the Council.

[ploddertom]

I would also suspect your Council has outsourced its admin functions to a company called Capita, they in turn own a company called Equita - can you see where we are going?

[outlawla]

I would also suspect your Council has outsourced its admin functions to a company called Capita, they in turn own a company called Equita - can you see where we are going?

 

Yes it's the CrapQuita duo. Also seem to share revenues & benefit services with the Vale of White Horse District Council.

 

Hall of shame: South Oxfordshire Council pursue an 80-year-old man for money he did not owe.

Edited June 14, 2012 by outlawla

[sillygirl1]

Hang on, if you are pregnant and there are young children then you are vulnerable and the council are at fault for sending bailiffs round - you need to let the council know this pronto.

 

You also need to check to see if their assessment is correct, and that you are getting the correct benefits

 

http://www.turn2us.org.uk

[need_help-]

Hello, okay so this morning i received a reply from equita with a breakdown of my account. It went like this:

 

Debt: £1030.00

Statutory visit fees: £24.50- 30/08/11

Levy fees: £41.00- 12/06/12

Enforcement fees: £167.00- 12/06/12

Card charges: £21.00

Unpaid direct Debit: £65.28- 04/01/12 & 27/04/12

 

TOTAL £1348.78

 

IThere is then a huge list of of payments i've made from 14/09/11 when the account first went to them all the way up to the final payment i made of £734.08 on 12/06/12 to stop any further action.

 

I have checked all the payments against my bank statements and they are all there. I'm not sure where i need to go next with this as from what i've read they cannot charge the levy fee or enforcement fee as they never gained access and made a llevy on a car thats neither my partners nor mine. Also i dont know what the card charge is about as all the payments were collected by direct debit except 3 which were paid by card which they charge £1 for card payment which are shown on the amounts received by me. Also there were two occasions where the funds wernt in my bank to cover the direct debit but can they really charge me £65.28 for these occasions?

 

Thanks

[seanamarts]

Debt: £1030.00

Statutory visit fees: £24.50- 30/08/11 OK

levy fees: £41.00- 12/06/12 incorrect levy, no charge

Enforcement fees: £167.00- 12/06/12 Cannot charge as incorrect levy

Card charges: £21.00 Cannot charge for

Unpaid direct debit: £65.28- 04/01/12 & 27/04/12 Cannot charge for this, no where does it state that they can charge a fee for this.

 

the only fee that you owe is for the first and second visit of £42.50.

[outlawla]

If the bailiff had levied your mother's car, apart from the levy being invalid (making the levy fee and attendance fee void), the bailiff has charged these fees on the same visit.

 

Even if it was detailed in the council's Service Level Agreement (which it wouldn't), a bailiff wishing to "Levy and Remove" on the same visit and incur those fees, would need to arrive with sufficient transport - vans etc, to remove the goods it anticipated distraining upon.

 

In your case the bailiff levied on a vehicle, he would need to prove that he had arrived in transport sufficiently capable of safely removing the vehicle. A point worth remembering for anyone else incurring both these fees in respect of the same attendance.

 

This is not only relevant for levy and attending to remove fees made on the same visit, it also applies to attending to remove in general. If they haven't arrived in suitable transportation and incurred that cost themselves, they will be attempting to defraud you by imposing it, and actually defrauding you if they are paid it.

Edited June 21, 2012 by outlawla

[need_help-]

Thank you, from all the posts last week I was quite sure that the charges were unfair, I just don't really know where to take it from here. Do you think there is anyway I can claim the fees and charges back even though I have paid them all? I did dispute them with the bailiff when I called to pay but he said all action against me would continue, I had to pay it to stop action and then take it up with equita's legal team?? I really wish I hadn't paid it now but as I'm due to give birth tomorrow I was getting myself into such a state that my grandmother gave us the money to pay it off!

[brassnecked]

Thank you, from all the posts last week I was quite sure that the charges were unfair, I just don't really know where to take it from here. Do you think there is anyway I can claim the fees and charges back even though I have paid them all? I did dispute them with the bailiff when I called to pay but he said all action against me would continue, I had to pay it to stop action and then take it up with equita's legal team?? I really wish I hadn't paid it now but as I'm due to give birth tomorrow I was getting myself into such a state that my grandmother gave us the money to pay it off!

 

Surely the bailiff could see you were in the final trimester of pregnancy, and therefore potentially vulnerable, once you have the new baby safely delivered, and you have settled you could start Formal Complaint procedures and copy your MP into them. For the moment you should try to relax, and enjoy your new arrival when he or she arrives. good luck, and post back when you are ready.

[need_help-]

Thank you

 

I was upstairs with my two children (it was 7.30am) and didn't answer the door so he never saw me. When I explained to him on the phone I was less than 2 weeks off giving birth he just started talking about his pregnant girlfriend??

 

What should be my next step? Should I write to equita's legal department? The bailiff gave me the name of the lady who is the head of legal and the address, if so I'm totally clueless on what to write (I'm awful at letters etc)

[need_help-]

Should I call equita to try to sort it first or should all correspondence with them be written?

[need_help-]

Hello again, sorry to keep on but does anyone know if, and if so, where I could find a template letter to send to equita to try to claim back the fees?