Council Tax Bailiff & High Court Enforcement Officer Advice

[leeward30]

Hi, All

 

 

I am seeking advice on a double bailiff situation. Below is some information on what has happened.

 

1. The first situation is where I have goods listed for council tax arrears by a bailiff , that I have to keep up the payments otherwise our goods will be sold.

 

 

2. I had a visit from a HCEO bailiff to remove goods for a £550 oil debt after a (CCJ) was not paid.

 

3. He said he had a lorry at another address and in another breath said there was a lorry coming here to take all our goods and then went back to say there was a lorry at another address very misleading information.

 

4. He then went on to say he would take goods that were on finance and we had to prove it at a Manchester Court to get any finance belongings back and he counts all items in the house as the persons who debt it is. My husband challenged him on this, but he would not budge.

 

5. I told him we had council tax arrears and our goods were under them he said he would still take the lot as he was above them and the high court had executed a seizure for goods.

 

6. I did not let him in my house and there was no van after hour. There was no walk in or any of our items listed what so ever.

 

7. I asked why the debt had gone from £550 to £1373.09 he said fees. I asked for the fees breakdown he said it is fees. He then said I will make a phone call now it will be £120 hr for the van and £120 hr removing goods.

 

8. I asked my sister in law to pay the bill as I was intimated by him and he was stopping me from talking and I had an 11 year daughter worried about it all.

 

9. Before I paid the bill I asked to check the internet for help and to ring my solicitor he said no you do not have time for that and he had to cancel the van only if we paid.

 

10. He would not let me pay anything other than the full amount or any payment plan.

 

After some advice from others and my sister going over her credit limit on her card she said she might have to stop the payment.

 

I have sent the bailiff company an email asking for the fees breakdown.

 

Questions

 

How do I stand when my goods are under a council tax bailiff and the HCEO bailiff wants to take them?

 

How do I stand overall if the payment gets stopped?

 

 

Thanks in advance

[ploddertom]

Hi, All

 

 

I am seeking advice on a double bailiff situation. Below is some information on what has happened.

 

1. The first situation is where I have goods listed for council tax arrears by a bailiff , that I have to keep up the payments otherwise our goods will be sold.

 

 

Dealing with your CT problem first, have you confirmed with the Council how much is owing etc - do not believe anything the Bailiff tells you. Have you asked the Bailiffs for a breakdown of the fees they have charged? Can you list the items seized exactly as described on the Notice of Seizure - Bailiffs are known for seizing exempt goods or those of little value and it may be that their levy may be invalid?

[sgtbush]

if the goods are already levied by the bailiff, the goods do notbelong to you, the HCEO cannot take them as they belong to the crown at the moment, not you. he will know this, show him the form 7

[ploddertom]

 

2. I had a visit from a HCEO bailiff to remove goods for a £550 oil debt after a (CCJ) was not paid. Did you know about the CCJ?

3. He said he had a lorry at another address and in another breath said there was a lorry coming here to take all our goods and then went back to say there was a lorry at another address very misleading information. Typical trick

4. He then went on to say he would take goods that were on finance and we had to prove it at a Manchester Court to get any finance belongings back and he counts all items in the house as the persons who debt it is. My husband challenged him on this, but he would not budge. Yes he can but if you can shown proof of this at the time nothing should be taken/seized.

 

5. I told him we had council tax arrears and our goods were under them he said he would still take the lot as he was above them and the high court had executed a seizure for goods. See below

 

6. I did not let him in my house and there was no van after hour. There was no walk in or any of our items listed what so ever. Best course of action as regardless of what paperwork he has there is no automatic right of entry.

 

7. I asked why the debt had gone from £550 to £1373.09 he said fees. I asked for the fees breakdown he said it is fees. He then said I will make a phone call now it will be £120 hr for the van and £120 hr removing goods. Have you been given a breakdown?

8. I asked my sister in law to pay the bill as I was intimated by him and he was stopping me from talking and I had an 11 year daughter worried about it all.

 

9. Before I paid the bill I asked to check the internet for help and to ring my solicitor he said no you do not have time for that and he had to cancel the van only if we paid.

 

10. He would not let me pay anything other than the full amount or any payment plan. If you offer payments in instalments he should contact the Creditor to see if they agree.

 

After some advice from others and my sister going over her credit limit on her card she said she might have to stop the payment.

 

I have sent the bailiff company an email asking for the fees breakdown. You should also send this by post

Questions

 

How do I stand when my goods are under a council tax bailiff and the HCEO bailiff wants to take them? As far as I know the prior levy takes precedence although there is nothing stopping him asking the others to give it up.

 

How do I stand overall if the payment gets stopped? He will come back & add extra fees.

 

Thanks in advance

 

What paperwork were you left - Form 55 perhaps?

[leeward30]

Thanks for the reply's.

 

The council tax bailiff (Bristow & Sutor) have seized the goods below.

 

Flat screen Tv

Sofa

Dish Washer

Tumble Dryer

Microwave

3 Front room units

4 Bedroom units

 

I have not asked for a breakdown of fees of them, but I will do that and post on here. There was no van or nothing. He did come in and arrange a payment plan, that we are paying and listed goods.

 

I will get the exact amount of council tax owed. This is from previous years.

 

I think the bailiffs turned up and scared me and tbh it was a matter of agreeing to what they said as I never had this before and did not know there powers. I now know after reading etc I could off stalled them.

 

 

Oil bailiff (Andrew Wilson & Co)

 

I have sent this and will receive a reply within 14 days of the outcome.

 

I note that you charged me £542.23 in fees and costs that do not appear

to comply with regulations governing fees and costs that can be charged

to a debtor by a High Court Enforcement Officer.

 

Please send me the following no later than 3pm on 7/08/2012.

 

1. Fees charged under 1 to 11 of Schedule 3 of the High Court

Enforcement Officers Regulations 2004.

 

a) A list of amounts you charged

 

b) Identify which regulation of Schedule 3 you relied upon to

enable that fee

 

2. Costs claimed under Regulations 12, miscellaneous costs

 

a) A list of item descriptions or nature of work done giving rise

to each sum of costs incurred

 

b) the invoice or sales receipt proving when and whom you paid

those costs to

 

3. If you have a costs order, please send a copy of the order showing

the court name and the date the order was made.

 

4. Truthfully confirm in writing the above-mentioned costs are genuine,

and that they comply with the regulations.

 

If you are unable or unwilling to comply with the above, please refund

me the above-amount and I will close the file.

 

 

Can you advise me what will happen if the payment got cancelled ?

 

Thanks

[leeward30]

Did you know about the CCJ?

 

I knew about the CCJ and me and my partner were out of work at the time and I have just started again, so countless letters were coming through the door for everything and we were trying to make ends meet with everyone, so it was more of situation of forgetting to fill out the form at the time.

 

 

Have you been given a breakdown?

 

I have requested one and I will know in 14 days time. They have sent me out a letter to confirm this.

 

 

If you offer payments in instalments he should contact the Creditor to see if they agree.

 

He would not accept anything other than the full amount.

 

 

 

By the looks of it then I have to see what the fees are and hope I can some back.

 

Thanks again for all your help people

[ploddertom]

For your Council Tax

 

You need to speak to someone at the Council and ask the following questions:

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

8 - the dates & amounts of any payments

 

Send something similar to this for a breakdown of their fees, send initially by email followed by a copy in the post, email for B&S is [email protected]

 

"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"

 

I won't make comment on the levy they have made at present until we can see how much you owe, but it does like if they have made a dogs dinner of it.

[ploddertom]

As for the HCEO, let's see what you get back from them first as we will need to dissect them, the majority can be challenged.

[impecunious]

"The council tax bailiff (Bristow & Sutor) have seized the goods below.

 

Flat screen Tv

Sofa

Dish Washer

Tumble Dryer

Microwave

3 Front room units

4 Bedroom units"

 

I would suggest that this levy contains items that are exempt.

 

The 3 front room units that quite possibly store utensils required for preparing, cooking and eating meals: glasswear, china, napkins, tableclothes, cutlery, etc - perhaps packets of dried food, cereals, jars of food (overspill from kitchen) are exempt. Don't they??

 

Bedroom units are also exempt: they store clothing, etc.

 

Microwave can also be classified as exempt - as your cooker isn't actually working at the moment is it?

 

Tumble-dyer is also exempt: used for the cleaning/maintenance of clothes.

 

Sofa is exempt - it cannot be sold on - because it has no fire-retardant/safety labels, does it?

 

Did they put down the make, size, colour of your flat-screen tv and did they also include tv remote?

 

I would suggest that this levy is therefore irregular/invalid and all associated charges are removed and replaced with a vist charge.

 

Just my opinion.

 

I "store" foodstuff and china in my sitting room units and fill my very expensive leather-hand painted boxes and oriental vases with porridge oats or pasta! Voila! Instant food storage.

 

Sometimes you just have to think outside the box but well within the spirit of the regulations.

 

 

Impecunious!

[leeward30]

As for the HCEO, let's see what you get back from them first as we will need to dissect them, the majority can be challenged.

 

It has been 14 days and I have had no letter from Andrew Wilson & Co in regards to the break down of my fees. I have a letter here saying there procedure takes 14 days and yet I have received nothing.

 

Where do I go from here

 

Thanks

[ploddertom]

Wait a couple more days - give them post time and they will argue it is 14 working days, so approx 3 weeks - and give them a reminder.

[leeward30]

I have another question about one more issue, that has come through the post today.

 

I have just had a letter from Wessex waters saying they are going to take enforcement action against me and I now have a ccj against me. I owe over £2500.

 

Can I sign all my goods over to sister in law as I owe her money from her paying of another debt and will that stop them taking any of my stuff, not under any other bailiff ??

[leeward30]

I want to thank everyone for there help on here. I have a result.

 

Andrew Wilson & Co refunded me £373.06.

 

I can not understand why they get away with this, but I am happy to get my fees back. The only fees charged were normal ie petrol etc. I did write 2 reminders and told them there service was poor. They came back with sorry a lot our staff on holiday crap.

 

Council Tax £106 fees claimed back from Bristol & Sutor as they charged for a van, that did not come here.

 

 

Massive result thanks people.

 

 

I was wondering if anyone can help with my water bill like I stated above. I have 2 ccj's and one subject to a ccj and owe £2,500 in total.

 

The letter states, that the water company have spoken to Taunton County Court and was advised there Bailiff is currently attempting service of order for employment details. I am also required to go to a hearing.

 

On the subject to ccj they are saying I owe £1704 and want £171 up front and £100 a month from me, which I can no way afford with current debt situation.

 

Any advice would be very helpful thanks in advance and thanks for all the early advice

[ploddertom]

 

I was wondering if anyone can help with my water bill like I stated above. I have 2 ccj's and one subject to a ccj and owe £2,500 in total.

 

The letter states, that the water company have spoken to Taunton County Court and was advised there Bailiff is currently attempting service of order for employment details. I am also required to go to a hearing. For them to do this you will have had extra costs added to what you owe. If you are required to attend a Hearing then you must go as otherwise you could be arrested for Contempt, this Hearing will be for you to explain why you have not paid and what means you have. They are looking for employment details as obviously they are considering an Attachment of Earnings.

 

On the subject to ccj they are saying I owe £1704 and want £171 up front and £100 a month from me, which I can no way afford with current debt situation. Unless you apply for a Variation Order this is what you must pay and failure to do so can only involve you in extra costs & enforcement.

 

Any advice would be very helpful thanks in advance and thanks for all the early advice

 

Variation Order is applied for on Form N245, you may also apply to suspend any Warrant the Court Bailiff has on the same form.