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

Hi I don't think the council are being very honest nor helpful. Yes you are right that they will take any money you pay towards the current years liability. So time to box clever,now I am guessing your council tax monthly payments are not 200 per month? If I was you I'd pay 100 towards each, BUT writing to both the council and the bailiff saying as a token gesture, whilst your request for clarification on the fees, is being investigated, you will pay 100 towards each. They may not go for this but hey ho!. I'd pay one via standing order and the other (07arrears) via cheque and I would write a letter stating this is for the 07 liability, If you can hand deliver it to the council and obtain a receipt. I know you are thinking this is all hard work but the problem is I think in future you will be labelled as a WON'T PAYER and not a can't payer. If you can show that you are taking this very seriously then it might save you some hassle in the future. The only letter I would write to the bailiffs is the one to say you dispute their fees, want clarification and in between times you will be paying the council. Remember the main thing is to remember is that you ARE paying Cas

So who did you offer this money to? I would write to the bailiff marking the letter " account in dispute" and say that I feel their charges are unfair and I request a breakdown of these charges. Then I would copy a letter to the council saying that until this matter is resolved I would be paying the council direct. This should stall all actions from the bailiffs. They do not like this but thats how I have done mine only the bailiffs will not provide me with the information, so now I have to decide if I want to report the bailiff to the court and request having his license revoked. I have read on the internet that a judge can order a bailiff to pay compensation ( they have to put up a 10,000 bond when they apply for license) I know its getting late but I hope you have managed to sort something best wishes Cas

Brummie Firstly well done for standing up for yourself. Now, tonight I want you to get the letters from the bailiff and read them a few times, and see how many times the words MAY,CAN and COULD appear. The bailiffs threaten you with allsorts that may happen and thats how they frighten people. Now then you say he has never been in your home nor have you signed anything? so there is very little he can do. But what is more worrying to me is the councils attitude, they ahve told you they cannot accept payments from you? naughty, naughty people. I believe they are not allowed to refuse payments, WARNING THIS IS NOT FOR THE FEINT HEARTED but someone on here has posted a link to what is called "magicians choice" basically what it is a is a document, whereby you try to make a payment,IF the council refused you ahve someone witness the document that you had tried to make payment but the council refused it ( I bet my last penny NO council will refuse) I will try and find the link. my personal choice is to pay the council by standing order ( and boy! does it have the council spitting feathers) But be warned if you go this route, then make sure that it commences in MARCH so the first payment is there waiting in April. cas

Lindy. First of all take a very deep breath, as you partners son has been placed with you, then I would ring his social worker and ask them to ring the council and ask the council to put a hold on any action until you can get it sorted. I'd be sneaky and say as they ( the bailiffs) have not acknowledged payments I have made, I will pay directly to the council. Ring your council and ask them for contact details of your local borough councillor ( this has met with mixed reactions on here, some councillors have been brilliant whereas others have been no help at all but its worth a couple of phone calls). I would emphasise the reason your partners son is with you, I'm wondering if this will put you in some kind of "at risk" catagory, some one with more knowledge may be able to answer that. I would then use the social worker to organise some kind of school placement for your partners son ,( I wonder why they felt the need to remove him from the home but not the area?) in your area, NOW its half term, so should be able to. I would do an income and expenditure sheet, show this to the council,social worker and bailiffs, BUT SEND IT TO THE BAILLIFF BY RECORDED DELIVERY. I would get receipts for the fuel and keep them safe, you may be able to claim them back. If the bailiifs turn up and you are not there, I'm not sure they can act in your absence but thats something I'd need to check out further. I believe they like to threaten you with "coming with a van to take your goods etc" because they have to take goods that could satisfy as much of the debt as possible, i.e if you owe 250 and they list a 30 dvd player, its not going to resolve the problem is it, so they'd much rather have hard cash. I would explain to the council the circumstances and ask them to give you some breathing space, but carry on paying the 20 per week. I think your guardian angel is the social worker,so I would get him/her on side. Let us know how you get on Best wishes Cas

Hi Steve Sry its been a bit of time for anyone to answer your query, but I guess we're all busy! Anyway the little bit I know I will try and help you with. 1St the car......... park it away from your house, just to be safe, I think this is a dodgy ground as its not down to them to prove you have to have the car for work purposes, else we'd all be claiming that, so I believe it is up to you to prove this. 2nd Who to pay? generally when the bailiffs have a WPO or have levied, then they have earnt their fees, BUT you can ask the council to have your file returned to them, as a rule they don't like doing this BUT they cannot refuse to accept your money. Now if you chose to pay the council direct, you'll make very unhappy bunnies of the bailiffs!!! Aw bless!!! I'm not on their christmas list but hey ho! You can pay the bailiffs, and heres the murky bit, I believe they will tell you they have to come out and fill in some forms...................wham!! they got you. This is why we say you don't have to open the door to a bailiff. This information is on the national debtline website National Debtline, for FREE CONFIDENTIAL and INDEPENDENT ADVICE call 0808 808 4000. The future with the bailiffs is not going to be pleasant but only you can make that decision, I think of them as legal bullies but thats my personal opinion. And finally, If they gain entry to your home they SHOULD only give the documents to the person named on it, but since when have they played by the rules. Can you do something for me now???? give the 2 yr old a big kiss, cos I suspect that bailiff went away from your door thinking he was having a bad day and with any luck it just got worse Hope this helps Cas

Lizzie sounds like we are talking about the same council. I do not believe they are allowed to hang on to my money, and even if its just a paper exercise i'm going to demand it back. with interest if I can. Anyway, I'm going to ring the NDL and see what they say. And I'm going to make an official complaint about lady muck at the council.

Hi Just to chip in..............Linzie are you in the south east? I have a long on going battle with newlyns, they have charged me for visits,levies and "enforcement fees" and the strange thing is, the levy and enforcement dates are the same day. I have queried this but have been given the brush off, but I gritted my teeth and hung on in there,only to receive a letter last week telling me I had overpaid and the local council and bailiff has decided that money would go towards this years liability, that I am paying via a standing order and am not behind with. The letter offered to discuss this over the 'phone.Like I'm that stupid. I have asked for a breakdown of fees,received a statement ( thats how I know the dates) The guy has never knocked my door, I've never seen him, yet he claims he has levied against my possessions yet when I have asked for a copy of the list of goods he has levied, it falls on deaf ears and I am fobbed off. They even levied against a car that belonged to a neighbour, promising that when they have confirmation of ownership they will be in touch, I'm still waiting!!!! and that was February 08. So, basically do you think they have the right to spend my money for me? I am extremely wary of the local council as they seem to be the one calling the shots, and the senior revenues collector even told me the bailiffs can charge whatever they want, when I pointed out they couldn't she told me my information was out of date!!!!!!!!!!!! Like to nail her too

Hi Everybody Just wanted to give you a quick update. For the newbies heres' a brief history,each year my counciil take me to court for the current council tac liability, at no point have they had reason to take me for a full years liability. This has happened for the last 5 years, and I have had to pay bailiffs. Then I discovered this site and decided to kick butt. I have cleared the debts accordingly but discovered the bailiffs do not pay the council as I pay the bailiffs, hence the councils haste. So I decided to fight back, the first thing I did was set up a standing order, now this had a sting in the tail, the council was ok with this IF I commence in march ( so that aprils payment is there in full,by its due date, thats fair enough just a shame they told me this in the court room). I had regular friday night calls from the bailiff telling me they were going to have me committed to prison etc. I said see you there!!!! Anyway the council kept telling me I had previous years outstanding and any money I was paying was being allocated to those years, yet I had proof from the bailiffs these years were cleared. seems the council don't trust the bailiffs either, so they would not believe the bailiffs. Anyway, SAR'd the bailiffs, who wouldn't give me a straight answer, they did tell me of charges for levys that were made, I asked for copies of these levys ( about 580 pounds) they could not provide me with these. Sent them a LBA requesting the info, 6 weeks later get a letter saying that: "I can confirm that after discussions with our client, the decision has been made to refund fees on your files of 121.50 "It has been agreed with our client that the monies will be allocated current to your current arrears that you have with our client as per there request" The spelling mistakes are theirs not mine. They sign off saying should I require any more info to phone them on the above number. Yea!!! Right!!! stupid I aint!!! So after almost NINE months of getting this info I think I should see what the Judge says. And will be requesting my money back pronto

Hi PT I appreciate what you have said but this all started in august 07 and from there they have gone from a CCJ to attachment to property and I now think they are going for sale. The judge at the hearings have all told me to pursue this, the first one adjourned to decide which track it should be allocated to, then at the next hearing it was a different judge and he found in favour of the claimant, the third judge ( attachment hearing) could only make a decision as to whether to grant attachment. but she advised me to pursue this as it has gone so fast and there were questions to be answered. Unfortuneately because this was a business I am not entitled to apply for legal aid although I have now discovered I may have legal cover on my insurance. And since then I have discovered that they have applied certain conditions that were on the contract and ignored others ( that were in my favour of course). If they do go for sale what happens when I am only a joint owner and this debt has nothing to do with the other joint owner? Cas

so if the amount INCLUDING their fees comes to 4,700 can I insist it go through small claims? this is getting seriously hard. I went to court on november 07 judge adjourned cos claimant sols hadn't sent me documents. went back in feb in front of different judge who found in favour of claimant. but the amount included court fees and solicitors costs..............can i get this overturned?

tick small claims as long as the claim is below 5000 ITS THE CLAIM NOT INCLUDING THEIR COSTS, SO IF THE CLAIM IS UNDER 5K THEN ITS SMALLCLAIMS PT this is a quote form one of your other postings in Re: County Court Summons - can i defend it? Is this correct??? if the amount of their claim is under 5k then it should be small clams track?????

The info I require is clause 5.............is this a penalty? they have used a single formulae to calculate the amount payable. And 11d they say they will give a 4% discount on all outstanding payments, cos its on the contract do they HAVE to give this discount? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/152256-unenforcable-liquid-damages.html This is the link to my own thread on this cas

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh55/casbah_02/bathgatecontract.jpg I hope I have done this right PT cas

ok thank you you little super star, just have to work out the photobucket thingy cas

please

would you look at it for me???

oooooooooooooooooh! I like you pt. Now for the next bit..................if on the agreement they have imposed a two per cent monthly interest rate should the account fall into arrears and or default/judgement is this a penalty??? cas

Ok Jumping on the bandwagon but I need some advice. I only understand laymans terms so any fancy words will go whoosh!!! straight over my head, so please be patient with me. First question; why would a hire agreement be covered by the CCA1974?

Also I think they only way you can get the money back is by the link I showed you. I have claimed back payments from my bank, twice in fact I just explained to them that they took money that I had not ok'd and again its only your brother that can do this, its his credit card. cas

Sorry nas when I said complain like hell I meant to the bailiffs, not the council, BUT copy a letter to the council, so they are aware of what happened. Now with regards to the payment, I doubt it went straight to the council, the bailiffs will want their cut before they part with your money. They are not very good at making the payments themselves, I believe that they let all the money they have collected sit in their bank account for a few months, amassing a nice tidy interest on your money. I would 'phone the council NOW and ask them if they have received the payment. A pint says they haven't (a pint of milk that is) cas

Hi Nas Firstly, that bailiff was a *&^%*& she played on your ignorance, there are numerous things you can do, most are quite easy but one takes enormous bravery and to be honest I have never heard of anyone actually doing it......... GETTING YOUR DEBT PAID OFF AT THE BAILIFFS EXPENSE - HOW TO SCREW A BAILIFF! Now because your brother paid on his credit card i assume he paid a 2% surcharge? well the last I heard they can't do this, basically you ring the credit card company and tell them you want to do a 'chargeback" anyway its all there on the link BUT it is for the brave. I don't think you need to go to the extreme of getting a crime number IF she has not done what is listed below. Now with regards to the car, bailiffs can only take things they have "levied" against, so if she has been in the past and levied you then there is not much more you can do, if she hasn't then you can lodge a complaint. Always copy a letter to your council and the bailiffs. IF SHE HAS LEVIED AGAINST YOU YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN A COPY OF THE THINGS SHE LISTED ON THE LEVY, sorry to shout but this bit is important. Did she levy? if she didn't then complain like hell, I would insist on my money back NOW, complain to the top guy at the council. Send a SAR and find out exactly what their fees are. Now for the bad news, have you had council tax problems in the past? if so any outstanding? The reason I ask is I owed CT from years back and guess what??? although cleared within 5 months of going to the bailiff, the bailiff have not forwarded on to the council, so the council still insist I have outstanding CT from 4 yrs ago. Don't get mad get even best wishes cas

Hi Nass Right first things first..............do you feel ok with how this debt has been paid?

Thanks Hopeful casbah

Thans for your best wishes I have asked for this to be moved so i'll let you know the thread. They won't win, cos as I said sleep didn't come!!! but I worked out that I'll have to work 60hrs per week for the next 200 weeks to pay my bills and this debt, I'm hoping the FSA will act for me, if not I have legal cover on my household insurance and they have said they will look at it for me. Casbah