equita advice needed please **WON**

[angela1606]

hi i had 2 council tax accounts with equita 1 paid up in 2005 the other last march now then after reading some of the storys on here i emailed them for a statement of the 2 accounts which i have just recieved today v v quick lol now then i believe there are charges i can claim back but i dont know what i have tried searching and reading but my brain just wont work so can someone help me please

 

account 1

debt £533.00

bailiff fee £72.00

enforcement fee £110.00

 

account 2

debt £421.59

bailiff fee £75.00

enforcement fee £110.00

 

what is it that i can claim back if any of it lol

 

thanks in advance angie xxx

[angela1606]

please can someone help lol i have no idea what the enforcement fee is cause if it is court fees then surely they were added to the debt by the council before it was transferred to equita ???

[angela1606]

bump ???????

anyone got any advice at all as to what the charges are that are not right i contacted the council and they said that a £55 court cost was added to the debt before sending it over but other than that the council hasnt a clue aout the charges they still seemed to think it was ok to charge for every visit and for sending me letters i dont think so

[angela1606]

ok i emailed equita to ask for a better explaination on the £110 charges this was the reply

 

Dear Mrs B,

 

The enforcement charge became payable once our removal team became involved. Our files show that Mr R visited your property february 2006 as you had previously failed to discharge your indebtedness.

 

The attendance fee incurred is made up of a combination of costs which include vehicle time,travel time,fuel & insurance. The charges are considered reasonable in accordance with the relevant legislation. Had you taken the opportunity to settle the arrears prior to Mr R assignement, additional costs could have been avoided.

 

now then mr r only came on that day to collect some money from me on my 2nd account he never came with a van never came in and never came to levy anything it was just to start a new order and to collect some cash from me it doesnt explain why the £110 is on the first account when it was cleared in 2005 hummmmmm getting their pantys in a knot arent they.

any advise please.

[angela1606]

ok sent s.a.r to equita on 30th of january recorded delivery and they havent responded i want to get my money back any advise anyone please as to what i can claim back from these am i to think its total amount minus first and second visit on both accounts which i make it £289.00 i can claim back is this right , also as to what steps i take now plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz lol

thank you in advance for replys

ang xxx

 

also can someone move this thread to the bailiffs section now cheers

[sequenci]

did the bailiff ever gain entry?

[angela1606]

never entered property once i knew that trick they never came with a van it was always one bailiff with a car and they never made a list of my stuff nothing they only ever came looking for money because i missed a payment or 2 but when they knocked they always got a payment and went away with a new agreement my main grrrrr point is the £110 on the first account when it was paid up months before this phantom van visit so it shouldnt be on it

[angela1606]

hi anyone got any suggestions as to what to do is there a letter to send or phone then as they are out of compliance with the s.a.r

[Markiemark1]

Just for info the fees that can be charged in law are:

 

Visit fees:

1st visit - £22.50

2nd visit - £16.50

 

A levy fee once levied of

 

Over £100 - 22.5% on the first £100 then 4% on the next £400, 2.5% of the next £1500, 1% of the next £8000 and 0.25% of any additional sum.

[angela1606]

hi is the levy fee once they take your stuff

[angela1606]

hi right just spoke to equita they are taking their time with the s.a.r as my account is in archive told them if they dont respond by the end of this week i am going to the information comissioners as they are 18 days out of compliance.

now then got on the subject of my fees and they have tried to tell me that the bailiffs cannot revert the debt back to the council if i have a disability or out of work which i was i was on i.b

and that apparently according to them hahaha i had to laugh at this

apparently they can add the 22.50 and the 16.50 which equal to 39.00 BEFORE the bailiff visits and then the bailiff adds his fees

i said that i wasnt stupid and that i had been on this site and the hmcs website and a number of other boards and that i knew what they could charge and that i wasnt stupid he put me on hold and told me tht his supervisor had told him that my case was being delt with and that i would recieve a letter along with the info i have asked for soon so i again told him that it better be here by fri or i will be phoning the i.c.

lol hmmmmm wonder what the letter will say.

[Markiemark1]

That is a good one! So what if a bailiff successfully collects the amounts owed on first visit in cash! He can charge for a second visit - I think not -that is a mickey take big time.

 

A levy is when they actually enter your premises, and levy distress. As a result of this levy they can either remove goods to the value of the debt owed or they can do a Walking Possession, which is where the items are listed and the bailiff agrees to leave the goods in your possession so that you have time to make payment. If you don't then he can come in and remove the goods. So you only charge a levy fee when you levy! Not when you've left a letter.

 

HTH

 

RM

[angela1606]

ty i thought so like i said abve i did have the bailiff visit a few times as i was on incapacity benefit and disabled with m.e money was tight and i kept on defulting on payments by when he came he always got a payment and a new arrangement was made he never once entered my property and i made him aware of my illness and he still forced me to part with alot of money at a time and he never once turned up with a van and he was always on his own i find what they have said v funny indeed and have now found info on the particulair c tax i owed and it looks like they have broke the regs that the council set out to them

[angela1606]

ok had s.a.r response from equita v v interesting

it proves that they never ever entered my property , that i never signed a walking agreement, and that i mentioned that i had m.e even though they cant get it right and put that i told them i had m.s idiots

 

right in their own words this is what they say the charges r for

i will recap from post one first

 

account 1

debt £533.00

bailiff fee £72.00

enforcement fee £110.00

 

 

on the 17/01/2003 our bailiff called no contact so left letter charges of £20.00 was applied to your account for this visit

 

on the 03/02/2003 our bailiff made a further visit at the address supplied but no contact was made so a letter was left a charge of £15.00 was applied to your account for this visit

 

on the 10/02/2003 the bailiff called to levy, and a charge of £37.00 was applied for this action (hmmmmm this is literally all it says for this visit was there even a letter left???)

 

now this one cracks me up

on the 29/04/2005 your case was issued to our enforcement officer who atteded your property on the 06/05/05 with the intention of removing goods however full removal was not required as the outstanding balance of £308.41 was paid to the bailiff charge were applied for this attendance of £110.00

(i would have told them about the m.e by this point as was diag in may 2004 and reason for non payment as no money between sept 04 and jan 05 as wasnt entitled to any benefits until the jan they were made aware of this)

 

 

 

account 2

debt £421.59

bailiff fee £75.00

enforcement fee £110.00

 

on the 07/10/03 our bailiff called no contact was made letter was left charges of £22.50 was applied to your account for this visit

(on maternity leave on this visit daughter only 12 wks old)

 

on the 21/10/03 our bailiff called again no contact was made so letter left

charge of £16.50 was applied to your account for this visit

(and for this one too)

on the 12/12/03 the bailiff caled to levy, and a charge of £36.00 was applied for this action

(ooh yes and for this one tooooo)

on the 30/01/2006 your account was issued to our enfocement officer who carried out an enforcement visit on 14/02/2006 however when the bailiff spoke to you it was brought to his attention that you suffer from ms(its m.e i suffer with) but would attempt to pay all the outstanding sums within 6 weeks the bailiff took he view to abort the full removal under these cercumstances £110.00 charges were added in respect of his attendance.

 

 

 

now then who missed the flaw that not once did they mention a hire of van or extra people who attended with him thats because there wasnt anyone else but him so how can £110.00 be resonable costs and the m.e was mentioned well before that last visit as i told them time and time again on the phone as money was tight as got let go from my job because of the m.e and wasnt entitled toany benefits between sept 04 and jan 05 im sooo angry with them for treating me this way am just writting another post to go below this as i have roof from the council they were working for that this is so very very wrong

[angela1606]

ok this info has come direct fro the ouncil i owed tax to it is thier bailiff code of practise and what they are meant to do on their behalf i wont put it all up as it is a bit lenghty just the relevent parts for my case

 

 

it states where more than one liability order is held for a debtor the bailiff were practicable will attend the property for all liability orders at the same time , with only ONE set of costs being made firstcall and second call visits must be made on different days

 

 

the bailiff should at all times use his professional judgement to refer back to the council if he considers that due to the personal circumstances of the debtor , it would be inappropriate to proceed to levy distress in particular, cases such as:

 

a list of diff people the ones relevent to me are

3. has young children and servere social deprivation is evident

10. long term sickness or serious illness including the terminally ill

 

 

a minimum of 3 unsuccessful visits are required before the case is returned to the council as unpaid at least one of these visits should be made to the debtor's address outside normal hours (mon to fri 8/9am to 5pm)

[angela1606]

ok i have sent an email to equita i phoned them and told me to do this so here is a copy of email please let me know what ya think guys

 

 

 

To ms karen fowler

 

i have been urged to contact you regarding my fees on the 2 above accounts

i am not happy with the fees that have been added to the accounts and i wish for a refund of fees on the bases that a bailiff should never have pestered me like mr ##### did on the grounds that i have m.e a serious longterm illness i will go through each account explaining my reasons

 

account ########

 

fee 1 of £20.00 i have no problem with

fee 2 of £15.00 i have no problem with

fee 3 of £37.00 i HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

a bailiff never came to levy, a bailiff has never entered my property, has never taken goods, i have never signed a walking possession agreement.

For making a levy (i.e. where the bailiffs gain peaceful entry and make a list of goods)

£22.50 for the first £100 or less

4% for the next £400

2.5% for the next £1,500

£15 or 15%

 

 

as this didnt happen i know that i cannot be charged for this event

 

fee 4 of £110.00 I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

this fee can only be charged once a levy has already been made which has already been covered that it didnt happen also can only be charged once goods have been removed i also instructed mr ###### that i had m.e and was told although sympathetic there was nothing he could do he was just there to collect the money and although i paid IN FULL was still charged the £110.00

i know now that at this point my debt should have been handed back to manchester city council the £308 that i paid mr ##### was my rent money and i was nearly evicted because of this i was forced to pay mr ##### as i was so ill and tired and was in a very bad state it was money i did not have.

 

For one attendance with a vehicle with a view to recover goods after the levy has been made under this heading

Reasonable costs incurred

(N.B. only one charge can be made.)

 

 

 

 

account ######

 

fee 1 of £22.50 i have no probem with

fee 2 of £16.50 i have no problem with (apart from tha bailiff shouldnt have called resons are as followed)

it says that the bailiff called to me on the 21/10/2003 i dont understand why a bailiff was instructed to call on me as a payments were up to date on this account at that time i made a payment on the 17/10/03 as per arrangement made on the 24/09/2003 under account ######

fee 3 of £36.00 I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

a bailiff never came to levy, a bailiff has never entered my property, has never taken goods, i have never signed a walking possession agreement.

For making a levy (i.e. where the bailiffs gain peaceful entry and make a list of goods)

£22.50 for the first £100 or less

4% for the next £400

2.5% for the next £1,500

£15 or 15%

 

again as this didnt happen i know that i cannot be charged for this event.

 

fee 4 of £110.00 I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

this fee can only be charged once a levy has already been made which has already been covered that it didnt happen also can only be charged once goods have been removed i again informed mr ###### of my condition.

now you say that equita and mr ##### knew of my m.e you still never sent my case back to manchester city council and you still charged me £110.00 even though nothing happened

 

For one attendance with a vehicle with a view to recover goods after the levy has been made under this heading

Reasonable costs incurred

(N.B. only one charge can be made.)

 

 

i have been informed by a number of your staff that a debt cannot be refered back to the council i know that that information is not correct and that it can be refered

 

i have been onto the manchester city council website and have seen their bailiff code of conduct which can be found here

www.manchester.gov.uk/counciltax/payments/bailiff.htm

which says i quote

 

the bailiff should at all times use his professional judgement to refer back to the council if he considers that, due to the personal circumstances of the debtor, it would be inappropriate to proceed to levy distress. in particular, cases such as;

 

and it has a list of individuals i for example am covered under number

 

3.has young children and servere social deprivation is evident(as having m.e i dont go out very often and at the point of visits my children ranged from 12 wks old to 4 yrs old)

 

10. Long term sickness or serious illness including terminally ill (m.e is a longterm illness i so far have had it for 12 years but diagnosed in may of 2004)

 

 

 

one last note which involves both accounts is that there is discrepences with dates

for example

in account ###### i called on the 17/10/2003 when account ###### the same payment and conversation took place on the 20/10/2003

 

and again in account ###### you say that mr ##### called to my property on the 28/04/2005 yet on account ##### it was the 06/05/2005

i know that the correct date was the 06/05/2005 and both accounts were delt with at the same time.

 

what i would like is a return of fees for

account 1

£36.00

£110.00

totaling £146.00

 

account 2

£37.00

£110.00

totaling £147.00

 

TOTAL £293.00

 

 

could you please email or contact me on tel no to arrange to settle this matter asap

failure to resolve this matter will involve me contacting my local mp (mrs beverley hughes)and other institutions

also resulting in legal action being taken against equita as a member of the consumeractiongroup i am now

fully aware as to my rights on this matter

 

 

 

yours thankfully

 

 

 

Mrs A B

[Bailiffchaser]

ok i have sent an email to equita i phoned them and told me to do this so here is a copy of email please let me know what ya think guys

 

 

 

To ms karen fowler

 

i have been urged to contact you regarding my fees on the 2 above accounts

i am not happy with the fees that have been added to the accounts and i wish for a refund of fees on the bases that a bailiff should never have pestered me like mr ##### did on the grounds that i have m.e a serious longterm illness i will go through each account explaining my reasons

 

account ########

 

fee 1 of £20.00 i have no problem with

fee 2 of £15.00 i have no problem with

fee 3 of £37.00 i HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

a bailiff never came to levy, a bailiff has never entered my property, has never taken goods, i have never signed a walking possession agreement.

For making a levy (i.e. where the bailiffs gain peaceful entry and make a list of goods)

£22.50 for the first £100 or less

4% for the next £400

2.5% for the next £1,500

£15 or 15%

 

 

as this didnt happen i know that i cannot be charged for this event

 

fee 4 of £110.00 I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

this fee can only be charged once a levy has already been made which has already been covered that it didnt happen also can only be charged once goods have been removed i also instructed mr ###### that i had m.e and was told although sympathetic there was nothing he could do he was just there to collect the money and although i paid IN FULL was still charged the £110.00

i know now that at this point my debt should have been handed back to manchester city council the £308 that i paid mr ##### was my rent money and i was nearly evicted because of this i was forced to pay mr ##### as i was so ill and tired and was in a very bad state it was money i did not have.

 

For one attendance with a vehicle with a view to recover goods after the levy has been made under this heading

Reasonable costs incurred

(N.B. only one charge can be made.)

 

 

 

 

account ######

 

fee 1 of £22.50 i have no probem with

fee 2 of £16.50 i have no problem with (apart from tha bailiff shouldnt have called resons are as followed)

it says that the bailiff called to me on the 21/10/2003 i dont understand why a bailiff was instructed to call on me as a payments were up to date on this account at that time i made a payment on the 17/10/03 as per arrangement made on the 24/09/2003 under account ######

fee 3 of £36.00 I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

a bailiff never came to levy, a bailiff has never entered my property, has never taken goods, i have never signed a walking possession agreement.

For making a levy (i.e. where the bailiffs gain peaceful entry and make a list of goods)

£22.50 for the first £100 or less

4% for the next £400

2.5% for the next £1,500

£15 or 15%

 

again as this didnt happen i know that i cannot be charged for this event.

 

fee 4 of £110.00 I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH

this fee can only be charged once a levy has already been made which has already been covered that it didnt happen also can only be charged once goods have been removed i again informed mr ###### of my condition.

now you say that equita and mr ##### knew of my m.e you still never sent my case back to manchester city council and you still charged me £110.00 even though nothing happened

 

For one attendance with a vehicle with a view to recover goods after the levy has been made under this heading

Reasonable costs incurred

(N.B. only one charge can be made.)

 

 

i have been informed by a number of your staff that a debt cannot be refered back to the council i know that that information is not correct and that it can be refered

 

i have been onto the manchester city council website and have seen their bailiff code of conduct which can be found here

www.manchester.gov.uk/counciltax/payments/bailiff.htm

which says i quote

 

the bailiff should at all times use his professional judgement to refer back to the council if he considers that, due to the personal circumstances of the debtor, it would be inappropriate to proceed to levy distress. in particular, cases such as;

 

and it has a list of individuals i for example am covered under number

 

3.has young children and servere social deprivation is evident(as having m.e i dont go out very often and at the point of visits my children ranged from 12 wks old to 4 yrs old)

 

10. Long term sickness or serious illness including terminally ill (m.e is a longterm illness i so far have had it for 12 years but diagnosed in may of 2004)

 

 

 

one last note which involves both accounts is that there is discrepences with dates

for example

in account ###### i called on the 17/10/2003 when account ###### the same payment and conversation took place on the 20/10/2003

 

and again in account ###### you say that mr ##### called to my property on the 28/04/2005 yet on account ##### it was the 06/05/2005

i know that the correct date was the 06/05/2005 and both accounts were delt with at the same time.

 

what i would like is a return of fees for

account 1

£36.00

£110.00

totaling £146.00

 

account 2

£37.00

£110.00

totaling £147.00

 

TOTAL £293.00

 

 

could you please email or contact me on tel no to arrange to settle this matter asap

failure to resolve this matter will involve me contacting my local mp (mrs beverley hughes)and other institutions

also resulting in legal action being taken against equita as a member of the consumeractiongroup i am now

fully aware as to my rights on this matter

 

 

 

yours thankfully

 

 

 

Mrs A B

 

 

 

Hi

Just getting you to the point. If i were you and was on benefit i would issue against the bailiff company straight away. Regardless of what they say. Claim for the full amount including the original amount owed and word it so that the claim does not have a set value. Then watch as you are in the black again when they refund you your wad etc.

[angela1606]

anyone got any views on this please would love some feedback if anyone out there lol even if ive done something wrong

thank you

ang xxx

[angela1606]

bump bump anyone plzzzzzzzz am getting worried ive done something wrong as no answers lol

[mtamu]

Lol I feel for you

 

Hope someone reads this post and offers helpful hints

 

Good luck

 

bump bump anyone plzzzzzzzz am getting worried ive done something wrong as no answers lol

[angela1606]

OMG you are not going to believe this i know i didnt lol i thought i was going to be in with a fight with these guys BBBUUUTTTT

i have recieved this email today woo hoo

 

Dear Mrs B

 

We are confident the correct procedures were followed in the recovery of your arrears and that all the fees have been correctly raised and applied. However, it is not economic for us to defend legal action for a disputed amount of this size and, as a gesture of goodwill only we will, on this occasion, refund the sum of £293.00.

I have requested a cheque for the sum of £293 to be raised which will be sent out to you shortly.

Regards

Roxanne Nielsen

Equita Limited

OMG OMG OMG i soo happy woo hoo

[TheRealAvengers]

Yay hun!!!

 

I am so pleased for you!!

 

That is soooo good! They do give in in the end!!

 

Well done for being so persistent and getting the result!

 

A x

[angela1606]

thank you am still in shock woo hooooo another win on the belt

[Janet-M]

CONGRATULATIONS

[angela1606]

ty janet