Newlyns now rossendales for old liability order from Canterbury council

[EveOwes]

Hi

 

I've just received a text from Newlyns saying they will attend tomorrow to remove goods.

I also accidentally deleted the text!!!

so can't remember the exact words a

nd don't have the mobile number it came from. I

remember it said to call 'this number' now.

 

This debt is a liability order from Canterbury Magistrates for non payment of council tax.

I own a small flat near there which is way too small for my family and which I'm trying to sell.

I've never lived in it.

 

Council have charged me a full year's tax with no rebate -

which I will need to look into as it's 25% rebate

most other places for single occupant (or no occupant?).

 

I have been unemployed for nearly two years and now have a job.

But Newlyns demanded I pay the £1200 over 6 months even though I was unemployed

when I spoke to them.

 

Having been unemployed for so long it's really crippling me trying to catch up with all my unpaid bills now,

to the point where I have nothing left each month within a week of pay day.

 

Sometimes I have to cancel a standing order.

I didn't pay Newlyn in November and I didn't pay them in January.

I'm just too broke.

 

I'm facing a huge council tax bill where I'm living now which will probably need to be paid by April,

which is £1100 and I'm hoping my daughter will have her housing benefit sorted by then so they will reduce the bill.

 

I don't know how to deal with Newlyns.

I've read some of the sticks about bailiff actions etc but I think this firm are really hard.

 

I think it's disgusting that a bailiff company can be successful enough to be a PLC in this day and age. I'm scared.

 

Does anyone know what I should do?

I have never had them visit my current address or discuss any belongings with them.

I know they asked for my NI number when I originally spoke to them.

They said it was to check I wasn't working.

 

thanks

[ploddertom]

Bailiff can only remove goods if he has a valid levy and as I assume you are NOT going to let him then he is full of hot air. They could however remove goods of any value from outside - car, gas BBQ etc. They cannot under any circumstances force entry unless they have had peaceful entry previously.

[unclebulgaria67]

Due to council budget cuts, most now charge the full amount for unoccupied properties. To be considered for a council tax benefit, you would have had to complete a form for the council, setting out your full financial circumstances. Councils will sometimes consider a backdated council tax benefit application, but I don't believe from I have read, that they have to do this. It is discretionary.

 

Suggest a phone call to the council to register a complaint and to inform them of any issues of vulnerability. You might be able to get them to put the bailiff on hold, while they look at your case. Get your local Citizens Advice involved, if you have to.

[EveOwes]

Thanks. I won't let them in.

But the text came out of nowhere -

no letters or calls etc, just the text.

 

I was hoping to stay under their radar for another 18 days when I could pay the monthly amount. I

 

've got about 2 or 3 payments left to make.

But I have to pay out over £2k per month before we can even buy food.

Honestly. And that doesn't cover gas, electric, water etc.

The cost of rent is horrendous and I have a loan on that flat which expires in June

so I've got to sell it by then.

 

I'm in a financial mess, on a DMP and losing the will to live.

And these collectors won't listen to anything you say - just pay up or else.

 

I don't know what a levy is?

But I guess I'll have to try and borrow some money from someone just to get them off my back.

 

thanks for your quick responses.

[dx100uk]

its council tax

if you can pay anything

 

pay the council directly.

 

cut out the bailiff

 

he cant charge anything for sending you a text msg.

I would not be entering into any dialog with the bailiffs

 

dx

[EveOwes]

Thanks DX, but I tried phoning the council once I realised it had gone to court/bailiffs but they told me to deal with Newlyn. I have managed to borrow half the amount and I will pay that electronically tonight but there's nothing more I can do.

[dx100uk]

that's the way

 

they cant refuse it that way.

 

send them an email about your next payment and when.

 

if the bailiff turns up

 

simply tell him

 

if you wish

 

you are dealing with the council directly

 

you don't HAVE to converse at all

through a window is best

 

even better is to film it on a mobile phone.

 

if he does visit

1st visit is £18.50 2nd is £24.50

 

that's all he can charge

 

don't get taken in by threats of police locksmiths etc.

 

dx

[EveOwes]

thanks, you've put my mind at rest. Much appreciated.

[brassnecked]

Just make sure all cars are away from the property or he will levy them. In fact be aware that Newlyn may already claim a levy on a car posxsibly a neighbours or a random one parked nearby. If they have levied a car other than yours, the levy is unlawful and all and any fees associated with it must be removed.

[ploddertom]

There is no law that says you have to deal with or speak to a Bailiff.

 

As has been said you may pay the Council direct but will have to budget for lawful Bailiff costs. If unsure then ask them for a breakdown, it's bound to be littered with things they claim to have done but probably haven't.

[aggrieved1]

Hi,

 

Sorry I may be a day late on this one.

.. perhaps not as I am aware of Newlyn's tactics and have posted a few threads.

 

My dealings with them are also for Canterbury Council Tax,

and currently I have an upcoming meeting scheduled with both the head of council tax at Canterbury and Newlyn's Client Manager

because of their outrageous behaviour and charging and I have been in touch with a reporter from the Times

who is waiting for the outcome of the meeting to write a further article.

 

My advice is to do the following to get them held off very quickly:

 

Contact the Canterbury Local MP - Mr Brazier

(I have met with him several times for Canterbury City Council Tax Collection

and he is concerned about Newlyn's practices so may be able to fast track a response out of the council).

 

He has been instrumental in sending letters for my case to the chief exec of Canterbury City Council

and was responsible for halting a lot of Newlyn's silly behaviour.

 

Send a recorded letter to Newlyn and email them a copy and if possible fax a copy all at the same time, requesting a breakdown of their fees...

. I guarantee they will be incorrect and even would go as far as fraudulent.

 

Demand times and dates when they have visited your property.

This most certainly won't exist and the fees will be wrong.

 

By emailing and sending them a letter and fax, you will most certainly get them to hold the account for a minimum of 10 days.

 

In my case,

they had added over £300 of bogus fees which when challenged they maintained for a long time,

even though it then transpired they had levied on a car which not only wasn't ours, but according to the DVLA doesn't even exist.

These fees were subsequently revoked.

 

When I pressed them further on their visit days and times and requested paperwork to prove their visitations,

they allegedly had a system error which mysteriously deleted all the relevent paperwork.

 

As a result you can understand why Mr. Brazier MP and Canterbury City Council

have some serious concerns about their practices in our area.

 

Thirdly,

send a recorded letter, fax and email to council tax dept. again outlining the problems you have..

. I would of thought you could be classed as vulnerable (with the DMP etc.).

 

Again whilst this may not force their hand in the first instance to withdraw the debt from Newlyn,

it may certainly buy you some time with the account on stop whilst you work out a battle plan.

 

Good luck and I'll be more than happy to discuss further my case if it is relevent to yours.

 

In the meantime remember....

 

Unless Newlyn have already been in your home, they have no right to do so.

 

They can bang and holler on the door as much as they like but you don't have to let them in.

And if you do have a car, park it a 5/10 minute walk away and there is pretty much bugger all they can do.

 

The text messages you have received saying we will vist XYZ are likely just a scare tactic

and the bailiff is highly unlikely to attend at the text message time

- I have at least 10 of the messages stored on my phone, and not one of them was adhered to.

[EveOwes]

Hi

 

I moved from a rented house to another rented house 8 months ago.

There was an outstanding council tax bill of £650 on the old house which I hadn't paid.

I gave them my new address etc and promised to sort something out but I then lost my job and have been unemployed since.

 

They passed it onto bailiffs - Rossendales.

They wanted £28 a week which doesn't sound a lot but when you add it to all the other debts and current bills etc it was too much

 

 

I asked them to reduce it until I found work.

I sent off the paperwork proof they asked for but never heard anything from them until just now.

 

 

The bailiff knocked on the door and handed me an enforcement notice saying he would be back in two days to remove goods.

 

I have emailed Rossendales and asked them why they didn't get back to me and what has happened to the paperwork I sent them and why haven't they looked at it. They haven't replied yet.

 

I am at my wits end and don't know what to do.

I have enough cash to pay the original debt of £650 but not enough to pay Rossendales which is £900.

But if I paid the original debt it would leave me short for the rent which is due in just under 3 weeks time so that would be even worse - maybe!!!

 

I just want to die. Can anybody offer any advice?

 

thanks

[dx100uk]

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

[dx100uk]

what letters have you had from rossers and their titles please?

[EveOwes]

Hi

 

Thank you for replying.

 

 

Me and my daughter each had one liability letter advising the case was going to court to determine liability.

 

 

At that time I had a job and they told me I could not stop the order but would still have to pay a certain amount each month to prevent it going any further.

 

 

A little while after that I lost my job.

I was unable to pay them and all the other debts and current bills.

I think that letter was around July/August 2014.

 

They were sent to our current address but referred to our previous address.

My daughter is on income support and I believe most of her council tax was covered by benefits but mine wasn't.

So the majority of the debt is mine but we are jointly liable as it was a joint tenancy.

Each liability letter stated the full amount due.

 

The liability letters state the period the debt relates to.

There is approx £657 outstanding but this has now gone up to £902 with the enforcement agent fees.

 

I don't know when they were passed on for enforcement.

 

 

Speaking to Rossendales today they just said we had 14 days to respond to them

and they said they didn't get a satisfactory response and so we are where we are.

 

I sent them the paperwork they asked for about 7 days after they asked for it so it was within the 14 days.

They said today that they received info on my daughter,

then they said they hadn't

then they said they had received my info

then confused it with my daughter's.

 

 

I don't think they know what they have on file.

 

I have a mountain of un-dealt with debts and those I've dealt with but can't meet the payments they want.

I'm just going to go through it all now to see if I can find the dates of the liability letters and orders etc.

 

The bailiff was not a nice person - he said "I'll be back in two days to get your stuff".

I haven't called him yet to see if he will accept a few instalments

but he indicated to my daughter that he wanted the whole £900 or lose our stuff.

We don't have much.

 

thanks

[ploddertom]

What goods does he intend to come back & remove?

 

He has no automatic right of entry unless you let him in - a seriously bad idea - or has he gained access prviously & if so has he seized any goods. If this is the case can you give us a list of everything seized as listed on the Contol of Goods Agreement & did you sign it?

[EveOwes]

Hi

 

I've checked paperwork. I realise this is all my own fault.

 

The council sent me:

 

4 Sep 14 oustanding amount of £487.23 statement

10 Nov 14 Summons to each of us stating that we were to appear and explain etc, but on the reverse it says don't bother appearing unless it's to dispute liability

24 Nov 14 statement saying I have lost my right to pay in instalments

2 Dec 14 a financial statement template which I was unable to complete on time and get it back to them - I was (still am) in a deep depression and struggling to deal with debts

 

I think I remember seeing a letter saying a liability order was being sought - sent to each of us - which would have been before the summons. But I cannot find it.

 

Rossendales sent to me:

 

15 Jan 15 a Notice of Enforcement. We called them and they asked for more each week than we had available

26 Jan 15 a reminder NoE.

11 Feb 15 NoE Agent Visit - final opportunity. I emailed them asking them to take an amount lower than what they originally asked for.

23 Feb 15 they emailed back asking for proof of everything money wise within 14 days.

 

A week later I sent them a package containing all this. I did not keep proof of postage.

We didn't hear back from them until today when the bailiff knocked on the door.

 

I can see to a large extent it's my own lack of action that has let it get to this stage.

I have just emailed the council begging them to call off the bailiffs but I know it won't do any good

- they've already said this morning that they can't.

 

 

I'm am so upset. I can't stop crying. What will happen if all my other debts end up with bailiffs as there won't be anything left for them to take.

 

Hi

 

He hasn't been in our house yet,

he only turned up today for the first time saying he would be back in 2 days for our stuff.

 

 

My daughter told him that there won't be anyone in and we won't open the door to him.

But it's an awful situation to be in.

 

 

I've since called a couple of my other debts to make sure they hadn't got to that stage yet, which they haven't. I won't let this happen again.

 

All I can do is use this month's rent to pay him off.

And hope I can borrow the money back off someone to cover my rent.

The worst thing would be to lose our home for rent arrears.

 

I'm on a slippery slope to nowhere right now with all the bills backing up. What a mess.

[dx100uk]

others debts?

 

 

don't worry about cards/phone/tv etc etc

a DCA ARE NOT BAILIFFS.

 

 

rent/mortgage/CTAX MUST take priority

then its gas electric

 

 

everything else gets dropped to £1!!!

[dx100uk]

what about other benefits?

 

 

try the entitledto website

[EveOwes]

Hi

 

I've got credit card debts of around £23k (down from £69k so have been paying until I lost my job).

 

I have old gas and electric bills, water bills etc but

I've contacted them and made payment arrangements

- which I can't keep anyway as I have no money, but I will contact them again.

 

One of them advised me to contact Step Change but I was paying my card debts through them

and they don't want to know if you haven't got a minimum amount each month spare.

 

I've just got lots and lots of these things.

 

I need to pay BT and mobile bills or that will just store up trouble and will leave me unable to try and get work.

 

I also took out Sky before I was "laid off" so now I also have that to pay each month.

 

Current council tax is in arrears from last year but they said they won't issue summons until May so I have some breathing space.

 

They also said they would make an arrangement with me once summons is issued which will be affordable.

 

The previous one that Rossendales are chasing did not make an affordable arrangement with me.

 

So, yes, I am drowning in debt at the moment.

 

I wrote to CAB before Christmas asking for an appointment but they never got back to me.

 

It's a no-hoper my case. But I keep trying to keep it all under control.

 

I've written again to the council who hired Rossendales begging them to intervene

 

but they haven't got back to me. I doubt there's anything they can do now anyway.

[ploddertom]

I note you say you suffer from depression. Without appearing nosy can you tell us for how long this has gone on, are you taking medication - just a simple yes or no to this one, are you currently seeing your GP or other practitioner for ongoing care for this?

 

Do not use your Rent money to pay him as you must keep a roof over your head. As said previously he cannot do very much if he cannot gain entry to your home. If there is anything of value lying outside then remove that NOW and put under lock & key somewhere. These people are known for telling tall tales so please believe me when I say he cannot have you arrested, imprisoned, sell you for a slave etc - it is all planned to ramp the pressure up.

[ploddertom]

Have you contacted your local Councillor(s) and asked them to intervene on your behalf?

[dx100uk]

forget the credit card bills

the mobile bills

the BT bills

and the sky bills

 

 

they are NOT priority!!!!

[EveOwes]

Hi

 

I'm on Prozac but I'm useless at taking it so I guess it's not doing much good.

 

But I've been depressed ever since my finances went belly up and the strain of being unemployed for long periods of time has made it worse.

 

I understand that he cannot force entry but he will just take our car and we neeeed our car, trust me.

 

My daughter has two very small children both babies.

 

The car is the only way of getting them places together as we only have one single buggy.

 

Also, I can't allow a bailiff to take stuff from our home.

 

We only have essential stuff here, nothing fancy or worth loads of money.

 

The kids would be distraught with no furniture or a TV for their CBBees etc. Life would be unbearable.

 

I realise I shouldn't use the rent but I have no choice.

All I can do is try and contact a few people and ask them to help me out when the rent's due.

 

The bailiff told my daughter that he won't take instalments and that he works for Rossendales

and we should contact them if we want to talk about instalments.

 

Rossendales said the bailiff was self-employed and they have no control over what money the bailiff agrees to accept.

 

Someone is lying, but we don't know which one!

 

Does anybody know who can authorise an instalment plan even if we can get it down to 2 or 3 payments.

 

thanks

[ploddertom]

Is it possible you can move the car - into a garage or next door neigbours drive or pub car park even?

 

I would venture to suggest that you may be classed as a vulnerable household given you are on Benefits and your medical disposition. To do this you would need to write to both Council & Rossendales outlining all and providing proof - for Benenfits this is a recent Award Notice & for medical issues a letter or similar from your GP or other medical professional which should also explain your situation could be made worse if enforcement continues.