Council Tax and Bailiffs ref only - NO POSTS ALLOWED

[casbah]

Well done Faceforward

 

In my experience when they have something to hide they take their time. If I was you I'd use this e mail and tell the council that as they cannot run the accounts correctly I would only be dealing with the council direct, also inform the borough councillor.

 

I would also check out the bailiffs and see if they have a complaints department, I have found that any money paid to the bailiffs is not neccessarily forwarded to the council immediately, they can take months to pass it along, hence the councils quickness at court action for any current years liability. I was taken to court in september this year, for the 08/09 liability, I was not in arrears but the council had allocated money paid to a previous year and guess who had that money???? yup the bailiffs.

 

Keep going, don't give up cos if we do they'll only get richer.

 

 

Best wishes

Cas

[face-forward]

I sent them a reply email last night stating all the previous amounts they had been requesting and their new amounts after "their error" I cc the local council tax dept head and my local councilor so they could see what the sneaky little so and so's were trying to do. I also mentioned that it might be a good idea for them to check their "digital pen system" on other peoples accounts as I am sure I am not the only person who has fell foul to their system error. I also put an email to my local councilor expressing my concern that if I hadn't requested a full break down the overchargers would of never come to light, and the fact that they are contracted out by the council tax dept to collect but are using sneaky tactics to overcharge debtors.

I am awaiting a reply and will post when I receive an email.

Oh just to mention I had originally sent 2 recorded delivery letters to jacobs requesting a full breakdown which they never replied to. It was only after reading the information on this site that I decided to email them and cc the council tax debt head and my local councilor that they bothered to respond.

[face-forward]

Had a reply from them today where they have ammended my charges BUT just wanted to check something they have a "levy" charge on my car. I have the notice of seizure of goods and inventory form here with me it was pushed through my door and I have never signed it can they still apply charges to this if it is un signed?

Oh another charge I noticed was a "waiting fee" £50 ?????????? and a schedule 5 head H fee £24.50

[brummyrach]

Hi,

well i sent the letters off to Equita and the same copy to my local council.

Today i recieved a reply from Equita......

 

Please find the information you requested regarding your account.

STATEMENT

 

Debt: £596.34

Baliff Fees: £85.50

Enforcement fees: £130.00

 

TOTAL £811.84

 

Paid: £Nil

 

BALANCE £811.84

 

Please be advised that your case is now with officer Mr. X and he can be contacted on xxxxxxxxxxxxx.

 

 

what are 'enforcement' fees?!

[casbah]

Hi Brummy

 

"enforcement fees"

 

This is a very mucky grey area, as newlyns claim it is for a van and man,

I think it is just their way of upping their fees.

 

There has been rumours that some bailiffs use their own van and make mega bucks.

 

If I was you Brummy, I'd ask for clarification

 

Casbah

[casbah]

Had a reply from them today where they have ammended my charges BUT just wanted to check something they have a "levy" charge on my car. I have the notice of seizure of goods and inventory form here with me it was pushed through my door and I have never signed it can they still apply charges to this if it is un signed?

Oh another charge I noticed was a "waiting fee" £50 ?????????? and a schedule 5 head H fee £24.50

Be very careful here, this may be dangerous waters. If they have levied against you then they have earnt their fee but, it shoulkd be in proportion to the debt, in my case they have levied my satalite dish, sky tell me it is worth mere pence. Ive noit heard of a waiting fee before maybe someone else has

 

Best wishes

Cas

[IS IT ME?]

hI,

CAN SOME ONE ANSWER THIS QUESTION, IF A BAILIFF HAS A WARRANT WHICH IS NOT WITH THE COMPANY HE IS WORKING FOR IS THE WARRANT ANY GOOD?

SAID TO COURT HE WORKS FOR ONE COMPANY AND THEN HAS DONE THIS WARRANT FOR ANOTHER ONE???

[bellevolupte]

Dear Marton I got a letter through the post telling me a bailiff had been at my shop for unpaid Business Rates.

The next day he showed up and asked to come in. Completely oblivious I let him in then he explained that he wanted the money upfront about £800 I only owe the council £475. He then proceeded in telling me that he could not give me anytime to pay and would be taking the goods. After a little chat he said he would levy the goods "walking possession" which I asked him to explain. He then proceeded to take note of all the stock I had in the shop and gave me a sheet of paper to sign. When he left i realised that the debt was only £480 and everything else including £175 enforcement fee was his fees.

What is my stand at this stage Ihave to pay up by Friday this week. Can I paid the owe debt direct to the council. What happens to the walking possession. Is it legal for him to charge the Enforcement fee and storage fee when the goods are still in my shop? etc

[Cobbers75]

Hi there,I had Rosendales Baliffs (Mr Duffy to be exact) come out today for "Unpaid" Council Tax think it was 07/08 (It wasn't unpaid the council very kindly didn't update thier records when we informed them of a change to incapacity benefit and we ended up with a claw back 6 months later)

 

The total Council tax "owed" is £219.25

+ £30 Levy Fee

+£154.50 VAW? Fee and SCH5?

 

Total £403.75

 

I am not happy about this situation at all.We contacted Rosendales several weeks back about making a payment plan,they asked us to send through documentation (i.e. incapacity,WFTC etc) all of these forms were at the solicitors as my Partner has recently applied for a divorce and they needed them for legal aid.We only recieved them back 2 days ago.Obviously they can't be bothered with waiting.

 

When the Baliff arrived he he told us about the debt and that we had to pay it there and then we explained that we Live on the breadline and that was impossible so he said well I have no other choice to take away your car (02 Zafira) A car with a value of about £2000 minimum sell on value!!!!!! £2000 car for a £400 debt???

 

I argued the case stating that it was the only means of getting our 3 children to school as we are very much out in the sticks.I said that we would have to look into ways of getting it payed,he said "if you can't make payment now I will clamp it" I was fairly certain that he wasn't allowed to do that and I said "you can't do that!",I argued the case some more and eventually he buckled and said I can give you till Friday to pay.He then handed me the notice of distress (which had my Zafira listed on it and the various fees).I said can we not set up a payment plan and he flatly refused!

 

Now I'm in a position that I am able to pay them as my mother has offered me the money to clear it.But I am unhappy having to pay thier charges especially the visiting fees,We have never seen a baliff till today,the only thing we have recieved are letters with the morning post say "our Baliffs called yesterday".I said to Mr Duffy that we had never seen a Baliff,he replied that they had these tracker pens and they never lie (which is crap as far as im concerned) I asked him for proof and he pull out a timeline but only uncovered 2-4 lines of printed writing (I noticed one stated a day and time that we were definatly)

 

I have read though quite abit of this thread and from what I make out of it I ask these questions?

 

Is it true that I can pay the council the original bill or is this only the case in certain areas?

If I do pay the council can Rosendales still claim thier "costs"?

 

At the end of the day the bill can be cleared but as my mum is paying it I don't want her paying for something that legally she shouldn't be paying for.

[scatz1972]

hi Cobbers

 

You really need to start your own thread in the bailiff section, your post will get missed in here.

 

If you are still in receipt of benefts then you need to contact the council and tell them you are classed as vunerable according to the national standards for enforcement agents as you are claiming benefits.

 

Ask/tell the council to take the debt back.

 

There are fixed statutory fees that a bailiff can charge you when collecting council tax, here is a link to national debtline, the fees are set at the bottom of the page.

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 02 Bailiffs And Council Tax

[tomglen10]

Hi, first time I`v posted please be gentle!!!

Fistly this site is brilliant and so very informative on a whole host of things.

My problem,

I owe 1100 in council tax, a lot I know, this is from 2006/2007, reasons,well marriage breakdown, having to move house etc. I have recently moved out of the area where I owe this, I`v been visited twice by Rossendales who left letters, i copied a letter from this site ( sent recorded delivery ) asking the council to take back the case and made an offer of 30 per month and also made a payment to them on line which I will continue to pay every month, I also sent r/dales a letter(recorded delivery) that was three weeks ago, i came home on friday there was aletter in the post from r/dales informing me that I have not been in contact and they will be sending a van (at a charge of 110) to empty my house. What can I do now?!!!

[andy210000]

Hello All,

 

Just want to say that I had a run-in with Newlyn re outstanding council tax to amount of £702.00, which by the time they finished rose to £856.00 . Difference in amount being their charges for sending 3 letters and making harrassing telephone calls threatening to send a baliff and van to collect my furniture..not that they'd even done a walking posession.

 

Anyway I've had quite a few dealings with Baliffs in my time so had no intention of being intimidated, just didn't answer the phone and left it on the answer machine. Anyway while I was ill last month they managed to scare my son into promising to send them £380.00 immediatley and £300.00 a month thereafter. I put a stop to that and sent £200 with a refusal to send anymore, hence the harassing calls.

 

Decided enough was enough and printed out your letter, but instead of sending Newlyn the instalment cheque, I sent it with a copy of the letter to the council (Newlyn wasn't getting hold of my money).

 

Received a reply today from Newlyn with ..

 

Amount owed to ##### Council £0.00...we are investigating the matter concern (that'll be their charges) and will answer within 21 days..despite in the letter stating I wanted an answer back within 14.

 

So looks like they have handed the file back to the council. Where I'll be sending the promised instalments, and will await their investigation results and let you know if anything happens.

 

Just like to thank everyone here. Don't anyone be intimidated or live in fear of these people no matter that they might try bullyboy tactics. It's important as already said here, that you don't speak to them or anyone else, get everything down on paper and use the templates that are on here. Certainly saved me a lot of time having to type my own, and certainly had the desired result, which is more important.

 

Take care

 

Bajer

 

Hi Thanks for your help and support could you someone please send me a template letter to send to the council so that i can send the same?

[39lou39]

Can anyone help i have had the bailiffs at the door demanding money for council tax arrears and they wanted me to pay more money than i can afford. They phoned me on my phone today saying if i dont pay it asap they will come down on me like a ton of bricks was his words, this was left on my answer and i still have it on there can anyone please advise with thanks

[purplelisa39]

hi my names lisa,we had a man from rossendales call a few months ago about arrears on council tax he was very nice i explained my hubsand had not long gone working for himself as i builder and the money wasnt coming in regular we where trying hard to keep up morgage repayments we filled in all out going forms and he advised me to only offer what i can afford we offered £125 a month they then have made as pay this weeky with a family to feed this has been very hardand had not to pay other bills to do this, we have rung and asked please can they change this but they wont .I am now to scared to answer front door we owe 400 pounds this was due before christmas have not had the money to pay it hubsand only just got some work in this week.You can not reason with this people even told them i need to be able to feed my children but they think stuff.

[jacqui_o]

Hi lisa did oyu let him in the house?

[rich777]

hi my names lisa,we had a man from rossendales call a few months ago about arrears on council tax he was very nice i explained my hubsand had not long gone working for himself as i builder and the money wasnt coming in regular we where trying hard to keep up morgage repayments we filled in all out going forms and he advised me to only offer what i can afford we offered £125 a month they then have made as pay this weeky with a family to feed this has been very hardand had not to pay other bills to do this, we have rung and asked please can they change this but they wont .I am now to scared to answer front door we owe 400 pounds this was due before christmas have not had the money to pay it hubsand only just got some work in this week.You can not reason with this people even told them i need to be able to feed my children but they think stuff.

 

I have just had a similar first time experience with a baliff for council tax.

 

Firstly, have a look around this site there are template letters that will keep them at bay. If you cant find one I will forward a PM someone kindly sent me.

 

Secondly and most importantly . DO NOT LET THEM IN. you can legally keep them from getting access to your goods. whatever they might say and they will try all kinds of bullying tactics . keep them out.

 

I am iin the process of now making all payments direct to the council to stop paying these parasites anything.. i will also send you a link to a site that will show you how much they can charge you

 

Main thing is... DO NOT WORRY... just keep them out and send/fax them that letter

 

 

good luck

[broke n scared]

please help my girlfriend has signed a wpo on a council tax bill that is in my name she never lived at the property nor is she on the tenancy agreement here i have not let anyone in or signed anything but obviously she has is the wpo valid?? would really appreciate some advise many thanks!

[broke & skint]

Hi I am desparately hoping someone will be able to help me. I have been dealing with Smiths Bailiffs regarding unpaid council tax for about 2 years now. I signed a walking posession order with them 3 months ago on a new account - we fell into trouble about 3 years ago when our then Landlord told us that council tax was included in our rent (we were incerdibly naieve and did not sign an agreement as he was a friend of a friend and had no reason to disbelieve him!) When we moved house (due to him never repairing anything and trying to up the rent 3 times in as many months) we recieved a letter from Smiths regarding almost 2 years worth of unpaid council tax - we tried to fight it with regards to ex LL promises but in the end we had to pay it as we had no written proof. I signed the initial walking posession order and the original account was paid off over a period of about 18 months - there were 2 further accounts on hold and I had another visit from Smiths to sign another walking posession order on the 2nd account - this was the one 3 months ago. They have always been very helpful and we had a very good relationship and I have co-operated with them since they sent the first initial letter. I was due to make a payment of £150 on the 3rd Jan this year - these payments are killing us and we are falling behind on council tax payments on our curent property, however for the first time ever with many things happening in my life at once (2 family members passing away, xmas etc) I completely forgot to call them after the New Year until Today (5 working days late) The phone was not answered Smiths but something and suitor. I tried to explain why I was calling and that I had made a genuine error in not only forgetting to pay but also letting them know that i literally had no money for another 2 weeks but that I would pay this months payment a little late and next months early (ie 2 payments in one to ensure we had not missed a payment) I was told that they did not work the way Smiths did and that not only have I broken the agreement I signed but also they want to "unhold" the other account and for me to pay both. I was told I had to call the bailiff to arrange posession of my goods. I called and spoke to the "helpful" bailiff who has said she did not have my file with her and as I had broken the agreement had to make an appointment to come and arrange collection of my goods and is calling me back tomorrow morning. I am worried sick. firstly I have never before missed a payment in almost 2 years (in fact I paid twice one month). I have offered to pay the full monthy amount the day I get paid and also to pay next months early - I do not understand the attitude as I have not tried to hide from them in anyway, they have not had to contact me regarding this payment and I have never once stated that I won't pay and that this was a genuine human error on my part. I am really stuck as to what to do. The Bailiff had a man in the background saying things which I could not hear and I am incredibly scared about what is going to happen tomorrow when she calls - Am I again being naieve to hope that she may be even vaguely understanding regarding all I have said above? We are stretching ourselves beyond breaking point at £150 a month as it is. Apologies for the very long post but almost 2am and can't sleep for worrying! ANy help would be appreciated

[jfs2804]

hi, i have had balliffs at the door this morning ready to remove goods as i wasnt at home they put a letter through the door stating i owe £788 pound to them. The initial council tax bill was £595. My partner has spoken to them and they have stated they will return on friday to retrieve goods and if were not home they will enter with the police and locksmith. I did have contact with them before and asked for weekly payments whcich they are saying they havent recieved. I spoke to the council who have stated once the balliffs are involved they cannot accept any weekly payments from us. PLEASE HELP

[rich777]

hi, i have had balliffs at the door this morning ready to remove goods as i wasnt at home they put a letter through the door stating i owe £788 pound to them. The initial council tax bill was £595. My partner has spoken to them and they have stated they will return on friday to retrieve goods and if were not home they will enter with the police and locksmith. I did have contact with them before and asked for weekly payments whcich they are saying they havent recieved. I spoke to the council who have stated once the balliffs are involved they cannot accept any weekly payments from us. PLEASE HELP

 

This is my experience of the last week..

 

Exactly the same scenario that you are in. This is their first visit yes ???

 

There is a letter on this forum section somewhere that you need to give to the council and the baliffs. if you can't find it i will try and PM you with it.

 

You must send it to them recorded delivery immediately and keep a copy..

 

DO NOT LET THEM IN YOUR HOUSE. thats the important thing.

 

you do not legally have to pay the baliffs a penny and the council DO have to take any payments you want to pay them.

 

The important thing is never to let them in. They cannot get the Police involved and you shouldn't either.

 

As long as they have not been in and levied any of your possesions then you are ok. if you have a car/s park them away from your house

 

Main thing is dont worry. (as long as you do not let them in.)

 

will forward you the letter if i can find it

 

 

Good Luck

[ambershadow]

hi, i have had balliffs at the door this morning ready to remove goods as i wasnt at home they put a letter through the door stating i owe £788 pound to them. The initial council tax bill was £595. My partner has spoken to them and they have stated they will return on friday to retrieve goods and if were not home they will enter with the police and locksmith. I did have contact with them before and asked for weekly payments whcich they are saying they havent recieved. I spoke to the council who have stated once the balliffs are involved they cannot accept any weekly payments from us. PLEASE HELP

 

 

 

Yes they can except payments so don't let them tell you otherwise, thats how the bailiffs get their money because people don't know their rghts

 

Don't open the door to them at all if you can help it

[becca27]

hi i had this problem in september i owed 1700 to the council we got behind when my partner lost his job and his 2 children had just moved in with us so we was skint. Rossendales wanted 2050 pounds and 47 pence from us they wanted us to pay 50pw but i said we could not afford this but they said they could not except any lower due to council wanting the money repaid within 16 weeks. So we ended up falling behind so i ended up with a bloke coming round to say he wanted the money in full i told him i have not got that amount of money so he said he would be taking everything out of my house including plates knifes and forks carpet and curtains. He said if he did not get the money we owed at auction (which he wouldnt have because our furniture is all old hand me downs) That me n my partner would go to jail and i said well they wouldnt be able to do that because we have children and that we wasnt refusing to pay we just could not pay it in full he said no u will both go to prison and your children will get taken in to care unfortuntlay we both got scared and my mum offered to get a credit card out ant pay him the money. I agreed to this because he intimidated me by telling me what he would take n the kids being taken off us n prison wish i had found this site before would i be able to do anything about him telling me these lies or was he within his rights? I got charged 110 for the van coming but he didnt end up taking anything would i be able to claim that back?

[marti138]

I too have been conned into signing a walk in possession order, i have been mking payments since of £100 per month but the bailiffs have not accepted this offer and now want at least £800 which i havnt got!!! Ive offered £200 per month and written to council and my local councillor. The bailiff says he will be back next week and if i dont have the £800 he will clear the house of all its contents! Surely all they can take are the items listed on the walk in - is this right? I cant sleep or eat with worry, ive spent all day today boxing all my valuables and ornaments and storing them in a relatives garage!!!! Need help

[ambershadow]

Marti

 

you need to post your own thread so someone can help you

[lautaro]

hello, i would like to received any information that can help my situation. i had a bailiff in my house to take goods, i foolishly signed a walkin agreement with my car, that i use for work ( i am a builder ). the amount that i owe to the bailiff ( council tax ) was 368 and when he came over it had gone up to 568. i am mow scared that they have i right to take my car, is there anything i can do now. i have phoned the council and they are even worse then the bailiff, to be honest i have received more sympathy form the bailiff company, then the council.