council tax advisors has anyone used them? - dont - read CAG

[DaveA2013]

Hiya,

 

I'm getting hassle from a Ross and Roberts bailiff.

 

I have tried talking to the council about paying the bill and they just say you have to talk to the bailiff and he won't talk about paying off the bill unless I let him into the house which I won't do.

 

I came across these people yesterday council tax advisors.

 

They are meant to talk to the council for you to stop the bailiffs and come to some arrangement to pay off you bill for no fee.

 

I was wondering if anyone as used them or know about them?

 

I don't want to end up making things worse.

[sequenci]

I've never heard of them - and I work in the debt industry. Best avoided I would imagine.

 

Visit a CAB or call one of the debt charities if you need help: Stepchange or National Debtline

[sequenci]

Oh, and this is useful: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=02_bailiffs_and_council_tax

[DaveA2013]

Thanks I thought it maybe to good to be true.

 

We are going to see the CAB tomorrow.

 

My other half started a thread about our problem last week and then forgot what this site was called.

 

It's so annoying I want to pay money but the bailiff is a no go because we wont let him in the house and says he will keep coming to the house to put up the charges even when we know he can't do that.

 

We rang Ross and Roberts to talk to them and they hung up on us.

 

We rang the council yesterday to try get them to some agreement but they keep saying we have to talk to the bailiff and then said the bailiff is right and he can keep racking up the charges with multi visits, which must be a lie.

 

We are paying down the bill by paying money to the council whether they like it or not.

 

But that still doesn't stop the bailiff and my other half is worried about the car because she needs it for work and if she loses that she won't be able to get to work because she starts very early in the morning, 7 miles away and there is no public transport.

[sequenci]

You must hide the vehicle away from the house. So long as the car is hidden and you prevent the bailiff from getting in to the property they can only charge £42.50 for two visits. They'll end up passing the debt back to the Local Authority at some point, so keep paying the council like you have been.

[DaveA2013]

You must hide the vehicle away from the house. So long as the car is hidden and you prevent the bailiff from getting in to the property they can only charge £42.50 for two visits. They'll end up passing the debt back to the Local Authority at some point, so keep paying the council like you have been.

 

Thanks that's what we will do.

 

I was very surprised when the council backed up the bailiff with they can charge you for multi visits.

 

Because of the date the bailiff first came between to wage dates we have already paid off £300 of the bill.

 

Mind you we have to leave some other bills unpaid to do this.

[sequenci]

Local authorities often have staff that are poorly trained and unknowledgable. Do stick to your guns.

 

I had a look at the website for that firm you mentioned, it's a glossy site for sure - and they've recently switched models to one where they don't charge apparently. Not sure *how* they are funded, it doesn't make that very clear. The spelling mistakes don't fill me with much confidence either! I don't think they are an Advice UK member from what I can find on the Advice UK website.

 

Edit: Tomtubby has provided a little more info, thanks for that

[tomtubby]

It was my understanding that Council Tax Advisors offer FREE advice over the phone but that they then charge a fee for contacting the local authority. From a number of people who have contacted me I am told that they offer a solution to repay the debt by way of an Attachment of Earnings. I could be wrong but given that the phone service is free it could be worth asking a few questions.

[DaveA2013]

It was my understanding that Council Tax Advisors offer FREE advice over the phone but that they then charge a fee for contacting the local authority. From a number of people who have contacted me I am told that they offer a solution to repay the debt by way of an Attachment of Earnings. I could be wrong but given that the phone service is free it could be worth asking a few questions.

 

My other half did ring them last night and they gave all the usual advice don't let them into your house, lock doors and windows, move your car and they can only charge for 2 visits.

 

They also sent an email with a couple of forms one about your incoming and out going money and also this form.

 

It seems to give them a lot of powers.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48007[/ATTACH]

[DaveA2013]

Oh that image was a little small.

[ploddertom]

Providing the Bailiff has not been in your home or seized any goods outside then there is little he can do. You can always pay the Council direct using online banking, Council website or automated phone and allow extra for the lawful fees. Doing it this way sometimes upsets the Bailiff but so what.

[ploddertom]

Oh that image was a little small.

 

Best done as a PDF but remember to remove all personal identifiers.

[DaveA2013]

I will try again.

[ploddertom]

They know nothing we don't. I would urge caution.

[DaveA2013]

They know nothing we don't. I would urge caution.

 

You are right I have decided not to use them.

 

I will go down the CAB tomorrow to see what they say and keep paying the council the money and keep moving the car.

 

And not let the Bailiff anywhere near the inside of the house and will only pay him for 2 visits when it's all sorted out and when he puts the latest bill in the letter box I will send them a letter saying they are trying to collect the wrong amount.

 

I will update the thread with how things develop.

[DaveA2013]

And thanks for giving me good advice.

[ploddertom]

Just one other thing to be wary of.

 

As good as CAB may be their advice on Bailiff matters leaves a lot to be desired unless they have had specific training. I've seen in the past where they say the Bailiff is correct & you must let them in. Just be careful.

[sequenci]

Just one other thing to be wary of.

 

As good as CAB may be their advice on Bailiff matters leaves a lot to be desired unless they have had specific training. I've seen in the past where they say the Bailiff is correct & you must let them in. Just be careful.

 

When you speak to the CAB, it *must* be a qualified 'Money Adviser' that you speak to. They WILL have the training on bailiff matters.

[Coughdrop]

See post 11. Don't let the bailiffs into your house, keep the obvious levy parked out of the way (your vehicle) so as Seq said they can only charge for two visits then.

 

After that, pay the council directly, ensuring your pay £42.50 on top of whatever is on the LO to cover the bailiff fees. This can be done online or via the automated phone system. If you can't pay it all at once, pay what you can on the same day every week. Either the bailiffs will return the account to the Council or you will be able to get the council to take the debt back due to the bailiffs making 'mistakes'.

 

I made an appointment for Council Tax Advisors to phone me two weeks ago so I could find out more about them. I have emails confirming they would, but the call was never forthcoming. That does not give me a lot of confidence in them. I think you'll get everything you need to sort out a CT debt here.

 

Do you know how many LO's the LA have, the dates they were issued and the amounts they were for? Also the date they were passed for enforcement?

[DaveA2013]

A latest update.

 

On Saturday received a renewed CT bill with current total, which was again different to what I'd heard over the phone, but not too worried about that.

At first, I thought they'd withdrawn it from the bailiffs.

 

Then this morning, I received a very long letter (3 pages) from the bailiffs, referring to the letter of complaint that I sent recently.

 

They checked with the bailiff and said that he'd acted in an appropriate manner.

Then said that they are in constant contact with the council, and the council inform them when we make a payment.

They produced a total in the letter of what we owe, which yet again was a completely different amount to what the council had told me over the phone.

Then confirmed in the letter that they want the £270 in charges so that they can come into the house and levy our goods.

 

So, thought I'd pop to the CAB. Which I've just got back from.

 

In all honesty, they were totally hopeless, and seemed more interested in backing up the bailiff than providing me with any help.

When I mentioned the £270 in charges, he totally ignored that.

 

He almost said that we should let them into the house at that point.

In reply, I said that there was no way they would gain entry.

Then he went to speak to his manager.

 

When he returned, he told me that the manager said not to let them in, to keep doors and windows locked.

 

I was informed to send two cheques for the £24.50 and £18.00 fees, even though a second visit hasn't happened yet.

Probably because we've been contesting everything, they haven't got around to that yet.

I imagine in the next day or two we will receive a knock.

He also said that we should send a cheque for a payment of what we can afford, and then try and negotiate with them.

 

But as we told them, we've had a letter from the bailiffs today, who refuse to negotiate unless they can charge us £270 in order to come into the house.

 

I also informed him that I would be forced to move my car every day now so that they can't levy it,

and as good as said that it wasn't exactly the right thing to do.

 

So, I just thought, they haven't levied it yet, so I can park it wherever I want to.

 

So, the CAB visit was a waste of time. The man in the know was the manager upstairs.

 

My next action will be to write to the bailiffs again, to say that the amount they have in their letter is incorrect,

and that some of the facts the bailiff said are incorrect also.

 

They said in the letter that the bailiff will continue to call, unless otherwise advised not to by the council.

 

So, I guess another letter to the council will be written asking them to call off the bailiffs as we are paying them.

 

It's just going around in circles all the time.

[ploddertom]

Have you asked the Bailiffs for a complete breakdown of their fees. As I'm elsewhere I don't have a copy of the letter to send them to hand but am sure someone else will post it up for you.

[DaveA2013]

Have you asked the Bailiffs for a complete breakdown of their fees. As I'm elsewhere I don't have a copy of the letter to send them to hand but am sure someone else will post it up for you.

 

Hiya,

 

No I haven't asked them for a break down in fees as far as I know it's only £24.50 for the first visit.

 

But on the Council tax bill the council sent me on Saturday the had added £70 in court costs.

 

I have seen that letter somewhere on the site I will have to hunt it down and send it to them.

[sequenci]

The court costs may be legitimate. They can charge for the obtaining of the liability order. That said some councils charge an astronomical amount which could be seen as blatant profiteering.

[tomtubby]

The costs are indeed permitted.

[DaveA2013]

To tell you the truth I'm not really worried about Court costs they have added them to the council tax bill and we will just pay them off.

 

It more about the £270 costs the bailiffs are wanting to charge even before they talk about paying the bill off and the threats about putting the costs up with repeat visits.

 

But this site has put are minds to rest over this. We will send another letter to the council and bailiffs just to annoy them and keep them busy.

 

And keep paying the bill off to the Council.

 

Mind you one thing the CAB did say was we seem very clued up with our rights.

 

I will do another update at a future time and give a donation to the site at some point after Christmas.