CTAX Debt, Dementia and Council CTAX Bailiffs..

[AnamCara7]

Hi, My question is on behalf of my father,

I recently discovered debt letters, bailiff warnings and threatening letters addressed to him,

the problem is my father has early onset of dementia and this has been recognized by various health experts,

he was found to be unable to deal with mail correspondence among other things.

 

A letter from council bailiffs has arrived stating we are to attend your property shortly to

remove goods in connection with your unpaid council tax debt due xxx council.

Our removal teams are in your area throughout the coming week and will enforce the liability order without any further notice.

My father is not of sound enough mind to deal with anything like people coming to the door,

I know this could also have serious implications on his state of mind and health too.

What can i do about this?

Is there any guidelines to help when dealing with someone who has health, mental issues like dementia?

I know that they have been previously informed of his condition by a third party

and have not seen any further correspondence untill now with this letter.

Any help would be greatly appreciated please.

[BlurredFX]

sounds like your Dad qualifies as a vulnerable person. \do you have anything to confirm his dementia? Letter from doctor?

[AnamCara7]

Hi, thank you for getting back to me so quickly,

 

the doctor said that he could not give me a letter to send to any persons I may need to share this information with

but if he received a letter from any persons who fall into this category of needing information could write directly with the information,

also there was a group who sent him to doctors and got reports on his condition independently,

 

i have requested copies of these reports but as yet have received nothing back,

 

as you can see this is not of any help because situations are getting worse and I need the supporting documents to send off.

 

I know that the council were sent copies of some of these reports by somebody else but it seems as if this has been completely ignored.

 

If they turn up when my father is alone he will not be able to handle the situation independently.

[BlurredFX]

Hvae you informed the council and baillifs of your father's dementia?

[AnamCara7]

Yes the council were sent a letter by another person authorized to speak to them, that letter contained copies of the reports about his condition, this was about two months ago.

[BlurredFX]

Sorry, I mean the Council Tax collections department!

 

Essentially, you need to inform the CT collections department and the baillifs of your fathers condition. Explain who sent the info, when and to whom if you can - or at least make an effort anyway. This is so that if they do step out of line, there is something to look back on. This in itself might be enough to put them off.

 

Then inform the CT that you will be holding them responsible for their sub-contractors (the baillifs) actions.

 

In all likelihood, the CT will say speak to the baillifs, the baillifs will say speak to the council, and they will try and frustrate you. In my limited experience, what actually happens is that behind the scenes they tend to target someone more likely to pay up.

 

Might it be that medical reports were sent to the Housing department? these departments dont speak to each other you see...

[BlurredFX]

Do it in writing to them both, and make sure you include the term "Vulnerable Person" - it has a specific meaning

[AnamCara7]

To the best of my knowledge,

a letter was sent addressed to my father saying that they were taking him to court and the court date was the following week,

 

The person acting on my dads behalf sent the reports to the person who sent him the letter.

 

Also the person acting on behalf of my father telephoned the court and informed them of my fathers condition,

they were not interested with his condition, only the money that was owed, all they wanted was an agreement to pay to stop the proceedings.

 

My father was unable to pay what they wanted (£150 per month) as he is on benefits now having been forced to retire last year due to his condition.

 

We have not received any correspondence since to the best of my knowledge,

but my father does get very confused and can not remember things, looses paperwork,

so I can not guarantee this, the first letter I have seen is the one from the bailiffs.

 

I hope what I have written makes sense to you. Thank you for your help.

 

I will contact CT collections department tomorrow and again inform them of my fathers condition

and ask them to look through the file to see the reports that were sent to them,

if it was them who actually got them, by the way it is birmingham council if that helps

[AnamCara7]

Just saw your later post, is writing to them better than phoning and should I do it recorded delivery?

[AnamCara7]

Thank you so much for your help

[i hate bailiffs]

i would say too that fall into vulnerable category

you will need to keep things in writing to keep a paper trail

 

council are responsible for bailiffs and can call them off at any point

most councils will say once it has gone to the bailiffs you will have to deal with them

 

deal with council and copy in bailiffs

 

if you can make arrangements to pay off any or all council debt do so DIRECT TO COUNCIL they cannot refuse payment

 

contact your local MP they tend to be very good and act swiftly with cases like this

[hallowitch]

link to the national standard's for enforcement agents

 

 

http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/courts/bailiffs-enforcement-officers/national-standards-enforcement-agents.pdf?

 

is the bailiff firm Equita ?

 

the reason you will be getting no help from the council is because they use a firm called capita to administrate council tax who use Equita bailiffs to collect the debt Equita are part of the capita group of company's

as the council are aware of your fathers situation i suggest a formal letter (can be done by e-mail) of complaint should be sent to the CEO [email protected]

[ims21]

Thread moved to Bailiff forum

[brassnecked]

Contact the housing dept,and explain he is vulnerable as per the guidelines due to the dementia, also has council tax benefit been applied for/in payment on his behalf? If they ignore the vulnerability you will need to raise a formal complaint with the council revenue dept, copied to council CEO, leader, councillor and MP.

 

bear in mind that no matter what the council claim, they remain wholly liable, vicariously, and jointly and severally with and for any wrongful action by their agent the bailiff.

 

If as alluded to by Hallow this is Birmingham, Capita are being investigated due to complaints about the Capquita stitch up..

Edited July 24, 2012 by brassnecked

[BlurredFX]

Get the letter off first, post a draft up here maybe for people to have a look at. You need to start firing some ammo back, and that is the first salvo!

 

also has council tax benefit been applied for/in payment on his behalf?

From personal experience before Christmas, I had baillifs chasing, but once i agreed with the Council to take the arrears at £2 ish per week out of my ESA, the baillifs backed off.

 

Do let us know if they start adding fees, as they are only allowed two feees, but we will cross that if when it happens.

 

1) Get a brief letter (might only be a coule of lines) explaining your fathers situation, using the term "Vulnerable Person". Try and point them in the direction of any previous letters that help your fathers cause.

2) Try and get through to CT department and again explain the situation and try to set up payments.

 

Does he get ESA? If so, this in itself shoudl qualify him as a VP.

 

FX

[AnamCara7]

Hi,

 

My problem is my father is very ill, dementia and mental health problems, along with osteo arthritis, because of this he had to take early retirement and is on disability living allowance, he did have eesa, but didn't know it had stopped due t his health problems, he is not able to deal with any correspondence.

 

Things have got really bad, kensington mortgages have now said they are going to apply for an eviction date, my dad had no idea because of his mental health, I live in the house with my two young children, I am his unpaid carer. They refused to give me any benefits over a year ago. I get some child tax credit that's all,

 

Birmingham city council have sent letters to have my dad committed to prison although they have had psychological reports to support my dads position.

 

Kensington want to repossess the house because his payments are all over the place as he doesn't know what he is doing.

 

Another secured loan (Blemain) have tried to get possession f the house but the judge only registered a charge instead, we had no knowledge of this until we had the court decision papers. Although they have been informed of dads condition they send three or four threatening letters aweek addressed to dad, they were informed to address them to an authrized reprasentative but never have, this is the same with Birmingham City council.

 

I am genuinely fearing for my dads safety, he really has no ability to cope with this, he is extremely vulnerable, each time they address a letter to him he gets worse and i dont know where to start or what to do.

 

Any help, advice would be really appreciated, Im so worried and scared.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

You had a lot of suggestions on your previous thread. Please could you advise which ones you followed up?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?359119-CTAX-Debt-Dementia-and-Council-CTAX-Bailiffs..&p=3919856#post3919856

 

I'm not sure which forum would be best for this at the moment, but will flag this for the site team to see if anyone can advise on the non-bailiff issues.

 

My best, HB

[AnamCara7]

i followed all those suggestions up, and other departments started to send committal to prison letters, also letters saying no further consideration will be given in regards t the ustanding debt, they refused to talk with the authorized representative under power of attorney act 1971.

 

I have applied for council tax benefits and it was them who wrote back saying they would not consider any further arrangement.

 

I have a court letter stating dads disability but they still refuse to help and just send it to other departments, equita actually were helpful and suspended action for 28 days, the most he could do, but the council are refusing to help.

 

I started this thread because i have added the mortgage and blemain to it who are also not being helpful about the situation either.

 

Is there anything to help protect very vulnerable persons? They have been told and shown proof of his condition, they know he cant deal with it and will not correspond with anyone else, and the letters to him are getting more threatening.

 

Is there a way to help protect my father whilst i can sort things out?

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, firstly - can your father actually afford the mortgage payments?

[hallowitch]

can site team start a new thread in repossessions so the replies don't get mixes up

[hallowitch]

Stephen Hughes is the CEO of Birming city council

 

 

[email protected]

 

 

An e-mail headed FORMAL COMPLAINT should be sent to him today informing him that your father has dementia

 

Birmingham city council have been sent psychological reports to support this

 

as his daughter you have tried to sort it out but Birmingham city council have refused to deal with you

 

the debt was passed to Equita who have put the account on hold for 28 days

 

you dad has now had committal to prison letters

 

ask him why Birmingham city council are not adhering to the national standards for enforcement agents

your council should also have code of conduct for vulnerable debtors ask him to provide a copy of it

 

get your local council and your and your MP involved

[Ell-enn]

Yes definitely telephone your local MP's office and ask when you can have an appointment.

[brassnecked]

Yes address the council tax and Capquita here, and the repossession issues on the correct forum, the two need to be tackled independently

[AnamCara7]

Hi Ell enn, yes dad can afford the mortgage repayments but gets very confused with the money, what he cant afford is the council demanding an extra £200 per month for council tax and refusing help even though he gets disability and clearly is unwell, with evidence to support this. he has fallen into arrears because of how confused he is, money goes all over place and he looses track of it, that's why i have had to step in.

[Ell-enn]

How does he pay his mortgage payment? could you do this for him?

 

How much are the arrears on the mortgage?