Council Tax and Bailiffs ref only - NO POSTS ALLOWED

[megan34]

Well I have to sadly say that I have now come to the conclusion that although you may be a model citizen, struggled to pay off what you owe (never lying your way out of things), never been in trouble witht he police and worked all your life since leaving school - you get no thanks for it - infact id say your actuallly treat worse! - your more thought of if youre a lazy lay about - youve never worked - claim dole, do a fiddle job ( no tax or stamp to pay ) and claim every benefit you can.and youre richer!!

[Digitalfriend]

Hi,

I have just had a 72 hour notice that a bailiff will be visiting to remove goods from Chandlers Limited, i phoned them up and they said it was for un paid council tax from 2002, so i then contacted the local council who said that the debt was nothing to do with them and was from december 2002, the debt is £341.87 (however bailiffs say £384.37).

 

In short im worried majorly about this, and so is my wife, we are both suffering from depression and really dont need this at the moment.

 

Any help would be great, thanks

 

Tony

 

Sorry just thought i should add that i have been signed off sick since september 2006 for depresion and undegoing investigation into problems with my knees, i had 28 weeks of sickpay and income support as a top up, then had to change to incapacity benifit, however this was £6 more than i had before but the council nicely screwed me and my wife over by then saying they could only pay half the rent for us and 1 quarter of council tax, leaving us to pay £130 a month council tax!!!!!! and find an extra £340 for the rent, as a bit of a side question does anyone know if i can get back onto income support from incapacity as then the rent and council tax is paid in full, its a nightmare situation and if i didn't think it would take up years i would write all the details about it, but it goes well beyond belief.

[Guest Herbie]

Can you move this question to a new thread in the second section and I will answer.

[Digitalfriend]

yeah sorry herbie i have done that

[Guest Herbie]

Cant find your posting on another thread. I have sent a private message.

[zigster]

Two and a half weeks ago. A bailiff from a named company came to my door regarding council tax arrears from an old address in a different town. I was not home and my sister, who was looking after my children, opened the door. He wanted to come in but she denied him entry. He asked if I had a car on the street as he 'could use that'. He left three seperate notices for seizure of goods. The total owing was told to be £1514. I knew that this was wrong as my husband had paid £850 last year for this via an attachment to earnings.

 

On phoning the council they had no record of these payments. Fortunately, I had all my husbands payslips in front of me. They took a whole day to trace the payments and eventually found them and made no apology to me. I pointed out that a bailiff could have entered my home and I may have signed my goods over to him for an amount twice as high as that owed. I also called the bailiff office who put my account on hold for 7 days.

 

I have since written a formal complaint to the council, I have asked that they list all payments received and all those still owing in order for me to make an arrangement directly with them. I have not received a reply from them ten days on. However, yesterday I received two final reminders from the bailiff firm for a total of approx £670 with threats of a van attending if payment is not made. The reference numbers confuse me and I have lost track of which amount is for which year. I am really worried about someone turning up on my door and I have not got the money to pay ( I have never denied my eligibility to pay).

 

I have two children under three and I am even worried about letting them play in the back garden in case someone comes round the back. Not sure what to do next. Can anyone help? I am even worried that it is not safe to post on here (my first post), but don't know what else to do....

[joesoap]

Two and a half weeks ago. A bailiff from a named company came to my door regarding council tax arrears from an old address in a different town. I was not home and my sister, who was looking after my children, opened the door. He wanted to come in but she denied him entry. He asked if I had a car on the street as he 'could use that'. He left three seperate notices for seizure of goods. The total owing was told to be £1514. I knew that this was wrong as my husband had paid £850 last year for this via an attachment to earnings.

 

On phoning the council they had no record of these payments. Fortunately, I had all my husbands payslips in front of me. They took a whole day to trace the payments and eventually found them and made no apology to me. I pointed out that a bailiff could have entered my home and I may have signed my goods over to him for an amount twice as high as that owed. I also called the bailiff office who put my account on hold for 7 days.

 

I have since written a formal complaint to the council, I have asked that they list all payments received and all those still owing in order for me to make an arrangement directly with them. I have not received a reply from them ten days on. However, yesterday I received two final reminders from the bailiff firm for a total of approx £670 with threats of a van attending if payment is not made. The reference numbers confuse me and I have lost track of which amount is for which year. I am really worried about someone turning up on my door and I have not got the money to pay ( I have never denied my eligibility to pay).

 

I have two children under three and I am even worried about letting them play in the back garden in case someone comes round the back. Not sure what to do next. Can anyone help? I am even worried that it is not safe to post on here (my first post), but don't know what else to do....

 

You need to get a hold of your local councillor (you might find he even lives quite close) and explain to him what has happened and that you have no confidence in your local council collections department. I would also contact your local MP (they are always trying to score brownie points) and as icing on the cake, contact your local daily newspaper. Most are interested in stories like this; as long as you are one of the Can't pay and not won't pay brigade. It's fair to say that the media do not like bailiffs and they may be willing to hand out some negative publicity. Lastly, it's safe to post on here as long as you don't use your real name which, with a name like Zigster, you haven't.

[zigster]

Thankyou I will look into contacting councillor.

 

I live in a different part of the country now.

 

I have received a letter today from the council. It contains no apology for the money paid which they had not previously been acknowledged, in fact it says that their 'Banking team traced these funds' (well done banking team).

 

It has not given me details of money paid to them or broken down the figures. Their revised figure owed is £50 less than the bailiff is asking. It tells me to contact the bailiff to 'discuss how I intend to pay the arrears, plus any additional costs'.

 

What should I do now?

[Bajer]

Hi

 

So I've done the sending template letter asking for a breakdown of charges to Newlyn giving 14 days notice, (letter with copy and Junes instalment cheque sent direct to Council) Received correspondence from Newlyn almost by return saying they will investigate and get back within 21 days. Now on the top of this letter the heading reads:-

ARREARS OF: Council Tax (#####) DUE TO ######## ######## #######

 

TOTAL OUTSTANDING : £0.00

 

On the reverse of this letter is the account statement, which has

 

TOTAL OUTSTANDING £0.00.

 

So reading this we understood that we actually owed nothing to anyone, But being responsible people we sent this months instalment direct to the council, explained that we were still awaiting the outcome of the investigation and to return the cheque if they were not unwilling to accept (to date we have had nothing back)

 

Yet another harassing call from Newlyn saying they would take July's instalment by Debit card imediatley, pointed out that they had not yet presented us with a statement. The woman insisted that they had on 13th June, replied that therefore we owed them nothing. However pointed out that payment of July's instalment had already been made despite that according to their own statement we owed no one nothing.

 

Phone call today from very polit Newlyn manager saying she was trying to sort this mess out. Told her all of the above, she said they had sent their Statement out, I said we received nothing apart from the £0.00 and that payment was being sent direct to Council. She said charges were still being incurred as their client had not instructed them otherwise. Told her that it was in black and white on Newlyn headed paper that 0£'s and 0p was owed, so how can they charge when nothing is owed. Told her that I'd be talking to my solicitor and said a nice goodbye. 10 mins later another nice lady called, said naturally it had been a computer error and money was still owed and that another statement of charges was being sent by 1st class post, and by way of courtesy one of the fee's had been waived.

 

Told her to save her breath, that payment would continue to be sent direct to council as we were not trying to get away with payment, that we accepted liablity for the amount owing to the Council, had been willing to pay £50.00 per month, which had been refused, then had experienced nothing but harassing phone calls demanding payment of £100's. That I would most definatley be speaking to my Lawyer and would hand over the statement of charges once this was received, along with all other correspondence...and said Goodbye.

 

So do I go for legal advice when or if I get this dratted statement and carry on sending the payments to the Council.

 

Any advice gratefully accepted.

 

Cheers.

[Bajer]

Well Got a reply from Newlyn. Typed in Comic sans by the way, saying that this letter is a copy a letter of one sent on 22nd June (the one we never received)

 

Council Debt........... £702.86

Court Costs............ £83.00

Visit Fee ................£42.50

Levy Fee................£46.00

Enforcement fee..... £210.00

Card Surcharge.......£6.00

Total Debt............ £1090.36

Paid.................... £348.00

Remainder balance. £742.36

 

All we have had are two letter shoved through the door. No walking posession, no goods levied.

 

 

 

Do I get advise from a solicitor or is there an easier way?

Do I complain to the Council while continuing to send instalments to them?

Ask for a total breakdown in charges from Newlyn & question that the original statement (that we never received)had actually been sent?

Stop paying once we reach the amount originally owed to the Council?

 

Could anyone give me a little adivise please, it's all getting very messy. I'm getting weary of the whole affair. I'm severley disabled with respitry problems and this is begining to affect my health.

[seanamarts]

they cannot charge for a levy fee if not goods were levied upon, they cannot charge you an enforcement fee either.

all they can charge you for if for two visits, if they have visited which they have to prove.

Newlyn love overcharging for fees.

I suggest you make all payments to the council in future.

[Bajer]

Thank you seanamarts really appreciated your reply, I have been making all payments to the council, and on the last letter requested that if they were not willing to take the cheque then to return it and we would put it to oneside until the account was passed back to them by Newlyn when we would bring all instalments up to dat. This Cheque has gone through which tells me that the council are willing to accept direct payment. So have absolutley no intention of ever sending Newlyn anything as from quering their charges.

 

The so called copy letter (which we never received) that Newlyn sent on Thursday, was accompanied by a compliment slip on which the Manager stated that this was a copy of the actual letter that was sent in answer to our original request for a statement of their charges ( the date of this letter is well within the 14 days required for compliance by the way!) This all seems a desperate attempt to cover up their own incompetence as reading all of the so called charges incurred, they have even got the amount owed by us on that particular date wrong. I do wonder too that as it's a copy of the original why it is unsigned by the manager who's name is on the bottom.

 

I have decided to write to Newlyn and ask for a full and total breakdown of these charges. What dates they visited on and evidence. All payments made by us up to the date of this so called unrecieved letter. Documentation of which goods have been levied etc. Then if they don't back down I will take this to our Lawyer and let him deal with it.

 

Thanks again for you time, as I said I am severly disabled and welcome any help that anyone can give me.

[seanamarts]

dont forget to tell them you are severely disabled you are classed as a vunerable case

[Janet-M]

WARNING TO ALL

 

 

Please be aware of acting on advice given by PM .Anyone can make mistakes and if advice is given on the main forum people can see it to correct it ,if given privately then no one can see it to correct it .

[joesoap]

I have an email indicating that there is a posting from herbiehasbeenmoderated on this thread. I don't seem to be able to see it. Where is it or maybe I should go to specsavers?

[kaijays]

if you look at my previous posts i had written to the bailiff for a complete breakdown of costs reply never received i re-wrote and today i received a letter containing the following:

 

Council tax arrears £652.34

 

First visit £22.50

 

Second visit £16.50

 

Levy £41.00

 

Van attendance fee £105.00

 

I was in the property when the letters to say they had called were simply pushed through the door and no one knocked i was actually cleaning right behind the door and the letter was simply pushed through.

 

I also had a reply from the council saying if i made payments of 100.00 off the arrears and 80.00 off this years, per month £180.00 which i cannot afford then after a few payments they would consider recalling back from bailiff infact the letter was short and direct quoting "i have just read the contents of your letter". with a direct debit mandate attached for julys payment. as they said they cannot set it up until August so therefore i have to pay £180.00 now and then £180.00 in two days, i cant do it. i dont earn that, i am part time and only earn just over £500.00? i do claim family credit but this goes on chid care as they only pay me 70% towards it, and to top it all the nuisance neighbour drugged up to the eyeballs wants to keep arguing with me and i am so stressed out, so i got to pay to live here and put uo with that all the time.

 

I do not know where to go from here? advice would be appreciated please.

 

Kaijays

[Pantman]

Our situation is that we had council tax arrears. We had the money to pay, but never got an accurate bill. Initially the amount was wrong because it took housing benefits forever to sort out what we did owe (they find self-employed people hard to deal with seemingly). By the time they had worked out what we should pay, council tax were trying to add charges for late payment despite the fact that it had taken that long for the council to establish what the bill should be. We asked for an accurate bill without charges, but never received it. When it went to court the lady from council said she understood and would sort it out. After that we got another bill with charges. This bills with charges were not broken down so that I could see what I owed in tax and what was charges. Then bailiffs turned up (Newlyns). The guy said that he could force his way in and basically physically threatened me (said he get aspt me whether I let him or not). He also lied and said he'd get the police and they'd let him in. I contacted the council and the same lady I spoke to at the court dealt with me. She was rude and very condescending. Turns out that at the court an order was made against us after she promised she'd deal with it! She said we had been sent a letter containing a bill with no charges - we never recieved it. She was no help at all and said she'd e-mail to confirm that she'd call off the bailiffs for a week. That e-mail never came either. In the following week I paid the outstanding council tax (and this years). That included £85 of charges. Now the bailiffs have been in contact. Asking for £271.50 - says its for council tax, but it is all charges. Two questions: 1) How do I get rid of the bailiffs? I know they have no right to come in, but how do I stop them hassling me as it's upsetting my wife. 2) Can I claim the £85 charges back from the council. I believe I can claim back any costs if I take someone to court (due to low income) - would it be worth chasing them for that money? Thanks in advance. Pantman

[The Watcher]

Basically, when Councils apply for Liability Orders they turn up at Copurt with an Excel file listing every one that they are claiming for.

 

There is NO detailed breakdown - its a job-lot en masse !

 

She would have told the Court that she was applying for these (in their entirety) and any attempt to remove one, would have sabotaged the whole corrupt process.

[casbah]

message for kaijays

 

have you applied for a rebate?

ask your council for a rebate form and fill it in and send it off, you may not be entitled to any discount but at least it may give you time, then tell the council that you will make token payments (say £100 per month) until it has been assessed.

[casbah]

I have an email indicating that there is a posting from herbiehasbeenmoderated on this thread. I don't seem to be able to see it. Where is it or maybe I should go to specsavers?

 

 

I've been to specsavers and i still don't see it

[casbah]

hehehe funny!!!!

[honey**]

i wonder if you could please advise me rosendales again we recently had them around about a councill tax bill from 2004 just over £200 i tried to be reasonable whilst not letting them in,explained i knew nothing about it ect and could they please give me a little time to look into it.they were rude tried to make me let them in said they would take my cat and wrote down the number and make of lock *for when they came back with a locksmith.

anyway the did a walking possesion on a viechle that was not even mine and i refused to sign so he signed it for me.

 

any way by now they wanted nearly £300 asked them if i could make payment off £100 a month starting that day the balliff refused on the phone,i then offered £100 every 2 weeks for 6 weeks still refused.

said my case was going to court on monday i had 48 hours to call him and pay by card over the phone or i risked going to prison.

 

i then called the councill and wouldnt take no for an answer,he called me back and said i could pay £100 a month for 3 months (still more then i could afford) so i sent them a cheque for first month straight away.

 

guess what they say have not recieved it,balliff will not take instalments and has been to my house every day this week and phoned me every day i have refused to open door or answer calls.debt is now £389 final notice today comming tommorow to remove my goods?? am scared i have some cash i can give them but only the instalment that they havent cashed.

 

should i give it to them? will they take my mums old van *it doesnt run*

should i insist the councill take my money please help

[tomtubby]

This query should be in the main section and under a new thread. A expert on these matters should be able to help you....if not cut and paste and start a new thread.

[honey**]

thanks tom

[lumpkin]

just got in from work and baliff been and left me a nice note. it appears he has walked round the rear of my property (no gate but stack of chairs stopping the toddler escaping) to note what garden furniture we have. is this legal or is this trespassing? i am in process of dealing with my debt but via the council as i cant get a sympathetic view from baliff!