Help with Rossendales Baillifs Levied my Car !

[will_to_power]

Hi all

Hoping for some advice. A friend directed me to this forum, as im prettty desperarate.

 

Long story short, i have been in a right old pickle in the last year financially. I couldnt pay my C.Tax. Thought i had more time.

 

anyways last friday night 4.30pm a Bailiff from Rossendales knocks at my door. I answered the door and the guy asked for me. Now i dont engage in conversation with any caller at my door, so i denied who i was. I asked him who he was or for some ID, or for some paperwork or message i could pass on to the person he was looking for ( me obviously ) he said he couldnt tell me anything, so i shut the door on him. he then proceeds to knock on my neighbours door and chat with her. he then comes back, knocks on my door, and says along the lines of " right ive confirmed your identity with the neighbour. Im a bailiff and i know this is your vehicle ( my car on the drive ) , and im levvying it.

 

I didnt even know what this meant. he still hadnt given me any paperwork. I shut the door and watched as he wrote donw some stuff, sat ion his car again for 5 mins and then he posted something through my letterbox.

 

Finally info on who he was. he posted 2 documents

 

first was a Notive of Bailiffs attendance letter / liability order / warrant of execution saying i owed £1340 in C.Tax, and saying i could pay £140 then and there and be able to pay by intallments.

 

the second letter was a "notice of distress " , in which he listed my vehicle in the inventory. He had added a £62 levy fee to the bill, and then he just sat in his car. i guess waiting for colleagues / a clamper etc

 

I have never had an experience like this before, i wanted time to look into it online, but i was nervous and embarassed at him telling my neighbour of my debt.

 

I called his mobile number he has put on the form, and paid him the £140 with my card. i couldnt afford it, but we live in a rural location and id be in big trouble work wise without my vehicle.

 

He then brought a recepit foer the payment to my door and gave me some income / expenditure forms . Apparently i have to fill these in and post them back to try and set up a payment plan

 

I phoned payplan and they told me i shouldnt even drive my car around as the levy form means the bailiff technically ownsd the vehicle. I have never signed anything, and i paid this bailiff £140

 

Im really confused, and not sure what to do next. Pay Plan adviced me to phone the bailiffs, but i have read elsewhere that you should keep all correspondence in writing.

 

I just wondered if anyione could help me make sense of all this, let me know where i stand with my vehicle, and advise me on what to do next, and im proper stressing thinking he could come back at any time and tow away my card.

 

thanks in advance

 

will_to_power !

[will_to_power]

Just wanted to add, that the " Notice of Distress" he put through my letterbox on which he has listed my car in the " the inventory " section, was never and has not been signed by me. So I understand that i have not signed the "walking posession agreement "

[i hate bailiffs]

This bailiff has overstepped the mark but nothing is surprising with rosendales

 

Asking your neighbour about you and the debt is wrong

 

What is the car worth

Is it n finance

Is it current years council tax

[will_to_power]

Hi thanks for your reply. Yeah i thought talking to my neighbour was out of order too. She is an old lady and im sure even though he wasnt after her it would have caused her distress of some kind. When i did phone him after he put the letter through my letterbox, he said " oh i didnt go to your neighbour to embarass you, i did it as im within my right to " !!!!

 

Car is worth barely a grand. Probably less. No finance i own it outright. yes it is this years Council Tax.

 

i wonder if i should let them take the car, buy another one , but register it in a frends name .. it would be cheaper !

[i hate bailiffs]

The car would not cover the debt

Stop phoning the bailiffs

 

Formal complaint to the council about the bailiffs conduct he is not within his rights to speak about you to your neighbour

The levy has been done to gain fees for the bailiffs

 

Let your local MP and councillors know how you have been treated

 

I would be inclined to say levy invalided as won't cover the debt

So pay council direct from now on

[will_to_power]

I wouldnt call the bailiffs. thats what i was confused about.

 

To be fair, my car looks more expensive then it is. its only worth a grand but to look at it, you might believe it was worth 3 or 4 grand. wierd but true, so to be fair to the bailiff , he could have thought the car would cover the debt. The guy was a real piece of work, and i get the feeling he was just doing whatever he could think of to get some money out of me then and there.

 

I wonder how i can find out of the levy is valid or not ?

 

also, £62 fees, for writing my car reg on a form and posting it through my door, and waiting outside my house for 15 mins ? that cant be right

[josephbloggs]

Levy fee is on a scale so it will be correct. He can talk to your neighbour to ask if you live there or if you have a vehicle as long as he doesnt mention the reason for his visit. If you ignore them now and dont fill out the forms or set up an arrangement, an enforcement bailiff will return and add a van fee, probably clamp your car and attempt entry into your home, so whatever course of action you are going to take do it quickly

[will_to_power]

Oh I wont be ignoring the situation.

 

When you say " attempt entry into my home " do you mean as in try and gain peaceful entry ? I might be being dumb here but the levy on my car does not entitle him force unlawful entry into my home does it ?

[HCEOs]

'i hate bailiffs' I would be inclined to say levy invalided as won't cover the debt

 

Have you been taking your advice from another forum?

 

The levy is perfectly valid and the OP should deal with the bailiff and make an arrangement to pay to prevent his car being taken. The process has been followed correctly in this case.

Edited November 6, 2013 by HCEOs

[wiseajak]

When the bailiff says he will gain access to your home he means intimidate and say things that he cant do to scare you into paying him and letting him in, he can only gain access to your house if u let him in, DONT!

[will_to_power]

I have phone the Council and they have offered to negotiate the payment plan with Rossendales on my behalf. They would not take the debt back, but they said if we did it this way i could pay £100 per month. as opposed to the approx £300 the bailiff would try and negotiate. Apparently my car remains Levied for the whole period until the debt is paid in full. Any advice from anyone if this sounds like an ok way to proceed ?

[HCEOs]

If you make a sensible arrangement and stick to the payments then the bailiff should have no reason to take your car. This is exactly how enforcement should work. The car is levied as security until the debt is paid.

[will_to_power]

What if i wanted / need to sell / trade int he vehicle ? what is the vehicle was in need of repair that meant it was cheaper to get a new car ?

 

Im essentially trapped in the situation. Feels like a jack boot crushing my skull. is that " exactly how enforcement should work " ?

[HCEOs]

You would need to get approval from the bailiff who levied the car. It might be argued that the car must be sold for valuable consideration and that money passed to the bailiff against the debt. An alternative is that he could seize other items to continue his security for the debt.

 

It's best not to worry and concentrate on making a sensible arrangement that you can keep. If you do this you have nothing to be worried about.

[lookinforinfo]

If you are sure you can pay the Council £100 per month, every month-including over Christmas and January [which is often a very tight month] then pay the Council. Do not agree to pay the bailiff £300 per

month since he chose that figure because he feels that you won't be able to keep to that amount.

[lamma]

"I phoned payplan and they told me i shouldnt even drive my car around as the levy form means the bailiff technically ownsd the vehicle"

Just a correction to that. They are wrong, Clamping the car (the act of Distress) does not transfer title. It, in this case, comes into 'the custody of the court'. Custody is not ownership.

[HCEOs]

lamma is correct, you are perfectly entitled to use the vehicle.

[Surfer01]

Are bailiffs able levy on a first visit?

[will_to_power]

Forgot to mention earlier, that when i spoke to the council they said that Rossendales are claiming they visited my property on Oct 26th, so that the visit last friday was the 2nd visit to levy. But they didnt visit, they didnt knock at my door and they did not put anything through my letterbox whatsoever.

 

Im not sure if i can keep the £100 repayments over xmas but at this stage with the situation as it is, i just have to do what i can in the here and now to keep them off my back and keep my car. I can make the 1st payment of £100 due Nov 22nd, but not sure after that.

[lookinforinfo]

Well that is the reason why you should not make an arrangement with the bailiffs as the moment you miss a payment they will be round to take your car and add a couple of hundred pounds or so to their fees.

 

Talk to the Council and explain your situation re Christmas and see if they can agree to a lesser payment In December with perhaps a bit over the £100 in future payments to catch up with the shortfall in December.

I was going to add that you have nothing to lose by asking, but of course you do-your car.

[i hate bailiffs]

Have you been taking your advice from another forum?

 

.

 

No I have not thank you for asking

 

You would give one sided advice anyway

 

Good day sir:yo:

[i hate bailiffs]

 

The levy is perfectly valid and the OP should deal with the bailiff and make an arrangement to pay to prevent his car being taken. The process has been followed correctly in this case.

 

Council tax debt of £1340

Car worth around a grand at auction considerably less £400 poss less with no keys and logbook

There would also be bailiff fees auction and storage fees

Eating up any money that the car would sell for

So how is the levy valid in this case?

 

The op need a car to continue to work and earn a wage without the car there will be still a large amount owing

 

By paying bailiffs if you are a day late a penny short they will add on fees

Bailiff fees are deducted before they pass money on to council

 

Where is the logic of taking a car that will prevent further payment ? Simply there is not

It is current years tax with the aid of a letter or two possibly local MP this can be simply returned to. The council

 

There may be some one in the house hold that falls into vulnerable category

[Rossyrossers]

Re_Rossendales

We should name & shame every uk council & court who wastes tax payers money on instructing these nutters, Middlesbrough Council is one of them, the courts are as bad.

Your Lucky that they managed to levey your car, the clown who turned up at my house whilst l was out the other day only levied my neighbours van, any simple call to the DVLA would have confirmed this, but no this company isnt professional enough to think of that !.

It shows you what incompetent people they have as employees who don't know the first rule of bailiff law

The fees are incorrect also .

They have no rules and make them up as they go along, asking your neighbour to confirm your identity is well out of order, why are the courts who instruct these people not bothered in how they operate !!!

its a sham and its laughable that in 2013 we have to put up these people on our doorsteps.

[will_to_power]

Just wanted to add an update - i have now been advised and confirmed that this was an INVALID LEVY. as i did not sign the walking possession agreement.

 

I was advised this by PayPlan, and then had it confirmed by a specialist solicitor. So in fact my car was never truly subject to a Levy. This also renders the apparent Levy fee added by the Bailiff to be false and fraudulent. That, combined with the Baliff using tactics such as knocking on my elderly neighbours door to try and identify me ( embarass me ), means i will be filing a form 4 complaint against the bailiff in question.

 

These people are not above the law no matter what they would prefer you to believe. I honestly dont know how any human being can do that for a job, how they can sleep at night, but thats their issue to deal with ultimately, not mine.

 

Well I have managed to get the council to put a hold on the whole thing for the next 2 weeks while i seek further advice from the C.A.B, and as it turns out, im 90% sure the council will take this debt back from the Bailiff.

 

Did I mention that these people are vile ? I would love to apply Bill Hicks legendary quote about people from marketing to Bailiffs. You know the world would be a better place if they did all shuffle off it !

 

I will keep y'all posted

[will_to_power]

Have you been taking your advice from another forum?

 

The levy is perfectly valid and the OP should deal with the bailiff and make an arrangement to pay to prevent his car being taken. The process has been followed correctly in this case.

 

may i ask you please, what made you say the Levy was vailid ? i did not sign the possession agreement, the levy in invalid . How can you read what this person did from my OP and further details and say he has acted in a way that is correctly following process ?