Equita Bailiffs re. Council Tax

[ohdearwhatshallido]

I hope somebody can help us. We have unpaid council tax with liability order. This was then passed to Equita. We have been receiving threatening letters re. a bailiff calling and today received the below....

 

We are to attend your property shortly to remove goods in connection to your unpaid council tax debt due to ................................

We are in your area throughout the coming week and will enfource the liability order without any further notice which includes goods (including motor vehicles) which may be removed if you are not in attendance.

To avoid this action you must contact us immediately and make immediate arrangements to pay this debt now.

 

I've called them again today, like I have the last few times and they will refuse to make a payment plan. They said they can not stop the bailiffs from calling but any payments I make will look better on the file when the bailiff does call?

 

I take from reading other posts that if I don't let them in that they have no right to enter my home??? even with a liability order is this correct? Also if I don't park my car on my drive but away from my house what can they do about finding out if a car is mine and removing it? If we don't have a car we can't get to work and can't earn the money to pay the debts.

 

Any help I would be grateful for.

[rippedoffagain]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bailiffs/58550-council-tax-bailiffs.html

[jules2002]

I am in serious need of help and/or advice. I have received several letters from Equita threatening removal of goods. They have now sent me a recommendation of condemnation to imprisonment. I URGENGLY need advice. I am in the process of going through an IVA who have advised me not to pay anything as it could counteract any IVAs. Please, Please Please help

[alexteh]

Jules, I recommend you start your own thread as you may get more help that way.

 

Is this a council tax debt because this would have to be classed a priority debt so you need to speak to whoever is doing your IVA about it but a couple of rules of thumb when dealing with bailiffs is NEVER to phone them and DO NOT let them into the house. Make sure all your windows are closed and locked too so they can't let themselves in.

 

Someone should be along soon to give you more advice about your specific situation but my understanding is that you cannot not pay council tax because they will take you to court.

 

If you are classed as vulnerable - on benefits, disabled, pregnant, etc. then there are very strict rules as to what they can do too but like I said, someone with more knowledge than me should be able to help.

[sequenci]

I am in serious need of help and/or advice. I have received several letters from Equita threatening removal of goods. They have now sent me a recommendation of condemnation to imprisonment. I URGENGLY need advice. I am in the process of going through an IVA who have advised me not to pay anything as it could counteract any IVAs. Please, Please Please help

 

what debt type is it?

 

council tax?

 

if it is then cancel the iva as it is probably the single most piece of ridiculous debt advice i've ever come across. please start your own thread, it seems you need decent assistance.

[jules2002]

Thanks for that sequencie but what do i do, i have spoken to equita who have said that the bayliffs could be round at any time, spoken to the iva people who have said that if they do turn up I should make a token payment, and they said they will speak to them again for me and phone me back. I am absolutely terrified and really do not know what to do. Need some helpful advice.

[alexteh]

Is it a council tax debt?

 

The bailiffs are unlikely to accept a token payment so your best bet is to ignore them when they come round for now. The IVA people sound like they don't have a clue what they are talking about so you are in the right place here - lots of experienced people on CAG who can help both with the bailiff problem and the debt problem generally so please don't panic. We do need information though if we're to help you!

 

The important first question to answer is whether you could be classed as a vulnerable person because if you are, you can get the bailiffs to back off straight away by informing the council that you are.

 

The next question is are you on benefits? If so, and it's a council tax debt, there is a specific maximum amount they can take (a few pounds a week i believe) to repay council tax arrears. Remember, nobody cannot force you to pay more than you can afford.

 

What I believe you should do is deal with this bailiff/council tax issue first - and we can help you! and then deal with the underlying debt problem. I'm not convinced from what you've told us so far that an IVA is necessarily in your best interest - you may be better off with a DMP or just managing it yourself and there are loads of people here who can help you but the first step is probably to CCA all of your creditors to ensure they have the right to collect the debt (you'd be amazed how many don't!).

 

In the meantime, DO NOT PHONE THE BAILIFF OR SPEAK TO THEM IF THEY PHONE. DO NOT ANSWER THE DOOR TO THEM. DO NOT LET THEM IN! If you have a car parked outside your house, park it a way away from there so they won't have the opportunity to try to levy on it. Remember, if you follow the advice above, the absolute most the bailiff will legally be allowed to charge is £24.50 for a 1st visit and £18 for a second so don't believe their BS. If/when they post something through your door, let us know what it says and we can advise further.

 

First things first though, we need you to let us know the answers to some of our questions!

 

Have a read through the bailiff forum and you'll find a ton more information about your situation too!

[ladders1962]

i am new to this forum, but i would ask anyone who has got any issues with the baliffs ,is to go onto the "what rights do baliffs have" web sites and judge for themselves what they can and can't do. a baliff cannot force entry into your home.they can gain access through an open door or window legally. If they bring A POLICE OFFICER WITH THEM, REMEMBER THIS IS ONLY TO KEEP THE PEACE.If you let them gain entry the first time, they are within their rights to gain entry by force th next time, even if you are not on your premises. do not be scared. after all, they are only human beings and not the law.

[The Golden Shot]

Hi, just need some advice please, this company have been sending letters to my address to someone, we have been sending them back unopened, this morning I thought whats this all about, i opened it and low and behold they are after unpaid council tax arrears from this person, I've phoned and tried to explain that they can not have access as i have firearms on the premises, the numpty on the other end said that i was threatening him which i found really odd as i had just tried to explain that the person that owes the money does not live here and they will not be allowed in, they have asked for a copy of a gas bill to prove who lives here, I don't feel that we should do this as they could look on the electoral role, and under data protection they could do what they like with the utility bill.

 

P.S. I've got the managers number if anyone wants it his name is Paul Saunders

[The Golden Shot]

Can anyone advise please, thanks in advance

[The Golden Shot]

Is there someone that could let me know if i'm doing the right thing

 

Cheers

[42man]

If it isn't you on the letters, keep sending them back....but it might be worth contacting Trading Standards and explaining the situation to them...

[FairPlay77]

If it isn't you on the letters, keep sending them back....but it might be worth contacting Trading Standards and explaining the situation to them...

 

They will probably give up in the end and they certainly have no right to enter your premises. But if you want to intervene now to stop this flood of annoying correspondence, you could write to them on the following lines.

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

You have continued to send me a flood of letters pertaining to ......,

who does not live at this address. I have already informed you of this fact by phone, yet you have continued to harass me with this mail.

 

I hereby inform you that I am no longer prepared to tolerate this abuse and that you are therefore instructed to cease this correspondence forthwith.

 

You are further ordered not to vist my premises or to attempt to contact me in any other way.

 

Should you continue this unlawful harassment, I shall have no choice but to take legal action against you.

 

Yours etc

[The Golden Shot]

Thanks for the advice chaps, my wife phoned the council and told them, they asked for a letter to be sent to the finance dept explaining that the person has never live here and they would then deal with it, i'll keep you informed if things change

[The Golden Shot]

well we got a letter from the Council saying they were sorry and that Equita have been told aswell so all sorted now

[lilclare26]

hi i really hope someone can help me i have had several letters from equita mainly formal notices but yesterday i recieved a removal order and a final notification (a warrant of commitment to prison) up until now i hadn't made contact with them but then i made the stupid mistake of phoning them only to be told that they wouldn't arrange a payment plan as i had already had sevral with them (which i haven't) i am a single mum of 2 boys and work the minimum of 16hrs per week not a greart income i am terrified of the bailiffs coming out and removing my goods which there is hardly anything worth taking but most of all i am terrfied that they will send me to prison with no one to look after my boys this whole situation is really starting to take its toll on me could somebody please please please help me!!!!

[42man]

Lilclare welcome to the CAG forums.....is it possible you can start a new thread here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bailiffs-sheriff-officers/ - if you can post up your predicament there - use the button 'New Thread' you will get some help and advice....

[angiepitt]

hiya

first time on here so i hope you can help i have equita baliffs on my back to i missed a payment and was told another baliff was coming round to remove my stuff. i rang them and asked if i could pay by 1st dec and was told it was ok. then i recieved letter saying a baliff was coming round i rang again and was told try to pay by the 28th, i rang on 27th to be told the case had been given to a baliff and they have to take the case.i got through to him that night he told me he hadnt even looked at my case and i would have to wait. given that equita are the most rudes people i wrote a letter of complaint and receved 1 back the next day saying i did indeed have till monday 1st to pay in full which i have done only to be told i have charges of £160. the baliff didnt have the case for 24hrs and hadnt even come to my door i told them to go swivel for it im not paying the charges but i have now paid my debt in full.

am i right

Edited December 1, 2008 by angiepitt

[JustANormalBod]

I hope somebody can help us. We have unpaid council tax with liability order. This was then passed to Equita. We have been receiving threatening letters re. a bailiff calling and today received the below....

 

We are to attend your property shortly to remove goods in connection to your unpaid council tax debt due to ................................

 

We are in your area throughout the coming week and will enfource the liability order without any further notice which includes goods (including motor vehicles) which may be removed if you are not in attendance.

 

To avoid this action you must contact us immediately and make immediate arrangements to pay this debt now.

 

I've called them again today, like I have the last few times and they will refuse to make a payment plan. They said they can not stop the bailiffs from calling but any payments I make will look better on the file when the bailiff does call?

 

I take from reading other posts that if I don't let them in that they have no right to enter my home??? even with a liability order is this correct? Also if I don't park my car on my drive but away from my house what can they do about finding out if a car is mine and removing it? If we don't have a car we can't get to work and can't earn the money to pay the debts.

 

Any help I would be grateful for.

 

As no one as actually responded to the opener (quoted above) - I will. I had exactly the same as the opener (the council 'lost' my application for CT Benefit - which I got later - still working on backdating!). All I did was phoned Equita, got through to the guy dealing with my case, and made an arrangement to pay (£40/month on a - at the time - £2,300 debt [band F] - now reduced due to CT Benefits). I pay each month online at their web site and no further problems at all. I know people are all for saying don't contact or speak to the baliffs etc, and I agree with the "don't let them in - ever - or leave doors/windows open" stuff, but not communicating does little but make things worse (and the debt bigger - with each letter/visit). If your council is anything like mine, they do not want to know once its handed to the baliffs, so not talking is burying your head in the sand - nothing is going to resolve itself!

the £40 a month was my initial offer (actually I said a tenner a week and the guy said call it £40 a month its easier than variable amounts based on month length) - I have been payng this method for 4 months now (and even been a few days late a couple of times) and not had one letter or call from them since.

I'm sure my opinion will be flamed down, but its worked for me and hopefully you - just make sure to offer no more than you can achieve.

 

PS: Equita seem to ignore letters, so phone call seems to work best.

 

Good luck.

[JustANormalBod]

hi i really hope someone can help me i have had several letters from equita mainly formal notices but yesterday i recieved a removal order and a final notification (a warrant of commitment to prison) up until now i hadn't made contact with them but then i made the stupid mistake of phoning them only to be told that they wouldn't arrange a payment plan as i had already had sevral with them (which i haven't) i am a single mum of 2 boys and work the minimum of 16hrs per week not a greart income i am terrified of the bailiffs coming out and removing my goods which there is hardly anything worth taking but most of all i am terrfied that they will send me to prison with no one to look after my boys this whole situation is really starting to take its toll on me could somebody please please please help me!!!!

 

If they say they will not make an arrangement with you, then get the CAB to call them (they will make a record of it for you too). The law is pretty hard on people that ignore tax debts, but they are also quite hard on companies that refuse to make agreements (its a waste of the court's time) - and Equita know this, so make sure you record your contacts (recorded delivery letters - keep the slips and staple to copies of the letters). You may also want to copy correspondence to your Council with their rejections of your offers and a covering note explaining what you have said above.

 

Lilclare, if you are on a low income is the council not paying your Council Tax (I assume Council Tax as Equita is mostly involved with CT and the threat of prison - only CT/Tax/TV Licenese carries this threat).

I refer you to my last comment - this was with Equita, so if not (and not CT) then I guess you have to give more info.

 

Thing to remember is that they have NO right of access UNLESS you leave a way open to them (i.e. you leave the door open or a ground floor window - grey area this one!) OR you have invited them in before - the CAB told me that if they have been invited in previously they can actually break and enter to regain access (some quirk/twist of the law they said) - not sure how true it is, but do not let them in! If they knock and will not go away, either ignore them, call them from the upstairs window (telling them you will not give them access regardless of their threats) or tell them to phone you - but DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR TO TALK TO THEM PERIOD.

 

Don't ignore it though - assuming you are a home owner - as they can apply for attachment orders and sell your home from under you!

 

Good luck

Edited January 7, 2009 by JustANormalBod

[JustANormalBod]

hiya

first time on here so i hope you can help i have equita baliffs on my back to i missed a payment and was told another baliff was coming round to remove my stuff. i rang them and asked if i could pay by 1st dec and was told it was ok. then i recieved letter saying a baliff was coming round i rang again and was told try to pay by the 28th, i rang on 27th to be told the case had been given to a baliff and they have to take the case.i got through to him that night he told me he hadnt even looked at my case and i would have to wait. given that equita are the most rudes people i wrote a letter of complaint and receved 1 back the next day saying i did indeed have till monday 1st to pay in full which i have done only to be told i have charges of £160. the baliff didnt have the case for 24hrs and hadnt even come to my door i told them to go swivel for it im not paying the charges but i have now paid my debt in full.

am i right

 

Angie, you missed a payment to Equita (agreed amount?) or you missed your Council Tax and the council passed you to Equita?

If the former, then Equita IS the baliff - and they just assigned it to an agent/collector within their company, so what were the charges for? A visit is less then £25 max (law) and interest is linked to base rate (a few points above) - which is pretty low right now So what's the £160 new charges for?

If the latter, then they do charge their supposed costs (and 160 is light from what I've seen, believe me!).

 

Careful the £160 doesn't mount up with interest and further charges - get the CAB to question these costs for you - I assume you have already asked for a breakdown and been ignored

 

Good luck

[failureisnotanoption]

I have been religiously making payments to Equita since august last year after having a liability order taken out against me. I made an arrangement with Equita to pay on a weekly basis and all was fine until just before christmas when I started having problems getting through to their office to make my payments. I would get so far on their automated system only to be told there was a fault, call back later and then the line went dead. to add to this my bank put security measures in place against my debit card over christmas because they thought there was some unusual activity on my account so I couldn't use my card to pay Equita over the phone.the last time I payed was the 18 December. Today I have got home from work to find a hand delivered letter from Equita saying that I have 24 hours to pay the remaining debt. I rang the bailiffs number on the letter and he has given me time to get the money but £200 has been added to it for what he says are enforcement costs. I know this isn't right but what do I do now?

[JustANormalBod]

I would say, first off pay the normal amount, but also ask them for a formal breakdown of whst these costs/charges are. There are legal limits to what they can charge for and how much - an 200 is a lot. Report it to your council (they will probably ignore you) - in writing and Equita (also in writing) and go see the CAB about it. They may make a nice little threat for you that will get Equita to backdown.

 

As for the online thing, it breaks down all the time - its really flakey - I have found if you leave it until late at night it seems to work better - during the day it takes half a dozen attempts.

 

...but get that breakdown of charges.

[failureisnotanoption]

Hi Justanormalbod,

 

thanks for your advice, I shall be getting in touch with the CAB and writing a letter to the bailiffs. I am so totally hacked off that after paying over £900 to Equita they can slap on another £200 to the debt seemingly for the heck of it and it's money I really can't afford to part with. Apart from one other letter last August when I made the payment arrangement I have heard nothing from Equita until now and all the bailiff did was put a letter through my door which hardly seems to warrant the amount of money he is asking for.

[SAZZLE0411]

To ohdearwhatshallido. I have council tax arrears with the crappy Equita and i asked them to take my car and they wouldn't as it would cost me a further £300 to get a tow truck etc... i've have been issued with a warrant of execution and i have researched this and have found out that i can fill a form in for the courts to suspend this warrant (N245 is the form) but Equite wont give me the warrant information to fill in on the form. i have wrote to my council to see if they will take this debt back (as aparantly you can ask this - u dont get told anything unless u look - god bless the world wide web) so if it goes any further at least you know you can try to do something about it.

Keep smiling!!!!