Hi, Just had a visit from a debt collector from Chandlers pursuing a council tax or rent debt for my eldest daughter who stays here with me as my carer. I told him that my daughter was out at work, that she could not be contacted at work due to it being a care home and he told me he would be back with a warrant of entry and the police. I explained to him that this was a ministry of justice protected property due to my mental and physical disabilites as I am a prescribed vulnerable person and he said that did not matter, I explained that my daughter had no tenure at this property and that a written address on a form did not constitute proof of residence and was told this did not matter. My poor angina is really playing up and I am in pieces and don't know what to do, I rang up daughters work and they said they would not entertain a phone call whilst she was on duty unless it was a medical emergency so am clueless what to do next. Apart from PTSD, clinical depression I also have a bad heart, angina, progressive peripheral arterial disease, severe frozen shoulder, high blood pressure, diabetes and a fair bit more wrong with me. Can they force their way in and take stuff that isn't theirs? Most of the stuff I have is ages old and god knows where the receipt for such is and I can't find my qualification certificates as my computer is prob worth quite a bit of money to them and it is "tools of the trade" I am sure. Any help really appreciated Ian

Hi We have let our friend stay here on the couch for a few weeks. He has somehow been traced by chandlers enforcement agents. He has called them and offered payment and explained situation but they were quite aggressive and said they would break in etc etc and list down what he owns and take it away and also that we would have to prove that whats in the house doesn't belong to him! Firstly how can we do this? I dont keep receipts etc for all our stuff tv etc? Also what can he do? They are refusing any offer of arrangement. They didn't even give him a chance to say how much he can offer. Original debt £552. With the fees it is over £800! Our friend was going to offer £50 a month for now until he is back on his feet. Where do we stand ? He is thinking he will go to court and explain to the judge his situation and that they refused any offer (is this a good idea?) The letter gives a court date for next tuesday. Sorry for being so long winded! Just want to get it sorted! Thank you

My step daughter has received a Notice of Enforcement from Chandlers, Bromley. This is for non payment of council tax when her and her husband were together in 2014. She has not had any letter from her Council regarding this non-payment (though, on phoning the Council they said they sent them). She is now a single non-working mother and the claimed debt is now in the £1k mark. The letter was delivered at 8.15 this morning. As she has a young baby she was up at 7 a.m. The bailiff did not knock at the door. She has phoned the council who refuse to accept payment as they say it's in the hands of chandlers. Any advice would be most welcome. thank you

I'm hoping someone can give me some solid advice/help here. We had a magistrates court summons for unpaid council tax, and as a previous years was on an attachment of earnings already, wrongly assumed that when the liability order was granted, this would be collected that way too. Around 1 week ago, we received a letter from Chandlers advising they were going to visit. At this stage I tried to speak to the local council who have refused to queue it as an attachment and wouldn't consider my payment plan or recall from bailiffs and allow me to deal direct with them. Next thing I know we were woken up at 8 today with knocking on the door, and as we didn't answer a Notice of Enforcement was put through the letterbox. I spoke to the council again as well as bailiff and the bailiff told me that no it was too late to make a payment arrangement and he would be back in hour and a half to seize goods. I went to speak to the CAB who phoned both bailiff and council, and got told much the same, bailiff went on to say he was coming back tomorrow morning and if we didn't let him in next step was apply to courts again for a locksmith. CAB arranged an appointment to come back in tomorrow and do a money plan/budget thing with them which they say will go in my favour and help in trying to sort this. I thought, but admit this could be wrong, that bailiffs couldn't just come and take your goods they had to levy them first. So am I falling for scare tactics from Chandlers or can they if they were to be let in, just up and seize stuff? Any advice on what my next steps should be, as it is a minefield when neither Council not Chandlers are prepared to talk to you and let you arrange a repayment plan.

Hi, Today enforcment agents came to my home asking for a person that dosent live here for a year now. I made a mistake by letting them in. They said they had the right to take any goods to disharge the debt the person has. I explained to them that he dosent live here, show all my documents including tennancy contract, bills, etc. They still said they are going to take the goods and then i need to send the documents to the council to get my items back or i can pay the sum and they are going to leave. They send i can get refund from the council as soon as i provide the documents. I paid the 400 pound debt and they left. Is their action legall? Can they charge diffrent person for fine he dosent own? They took the money from my debit card. Thank you for any help or advice!

Hi there I am posting on behalf of my daughter who is a student in London "I am a student living in London - in wandsworth council - with two other students. Therefore we are exempt from paying council tax. When we first got our council tax bill we sent off our exemption forms. Never heard anything so assumed was all sorted. Months later, we received a reminder, I tried to call the council to say we had sent off forms, could not speak to an actual human being no matter what options i pressed. Gave up as read on a forum that they sometimes send a bill anyway (stupid mistake of mine in hindsight). We then got a final notice letter, I again tried to ring up, couldn't speak to anyone, sent an email. Never heard back. A few days later we got a letter from chandlers debt collectors - all escalated very quickly. If I am honest I think my flatmate, who is foreign and doesn't speak a lot of english therefore we rarely communicate with her, might of being opening the letters and not understanding them and therefore disregarding them, as we have recently discovered she also did it with the electricity bill!!. Chandlers were due to come and collect on the 27/3/15 according to the letter, last wednesday, 18/3/15, i rang the council again, could not get through, scoured their website, they said their calling functions weren't working and to email, emailed and got an automated response saying someone would get back to me in 10 working days. All i want to do is speak to someone to explain that we are students and sent our expemption forms off and what we need to do to make sure they get to the right place next time. Then today i came home to a letter from the bailiffs, they had been around to collect, nobody was in, stated that they would return again and if we ignore the notice they would get a magistrates court order to collect in our absence. I immdiately rang chandlers, they were unhelpful and said there was nothing they could do as it is just an order they get. I then rang citizens advice and they said to pay the debt and they try and claim the money back off the council by proving we are exempt. Which seems ridiculous as we don't owe it in the first place. We are all hard working students and don't even have anything of value apart from my laptop for them to collect, we don't have a TV, car or anything! Fridge etc belongs to the landlords. My plan is to go into the actual council on wednesday (earliest i can do it due to work) and try and explain, but not sure what else to do as chandlers said they would be calling again tomorrow and we are all very worried!!! any help or advice I would be so grateful for!! thank you!

please do any body no how to deal wiTH chandlers enforcement agent.l miss my payment with 3day and the company transfer the traffic debt to another enforcement agent and jack up the debt from £200+ TO £500 .

Hey forum users, I have a question about whats happened as of recent. I have a plan set up with chandlers to repay the amount owed on council tax, I was a SINGLE day late of a payment and now they are saying that they are coming to take my stuff, the reason the payment was a day late were due to losing my job not only have I lost my job there is also a high chance of losing my flat too. I've had to sign on to job seekers allowance and claim housing benefit until I get back into work. The guy on the phone said I have to now pay a extra £125 for them to come seize my possessions, what can I do in this situation I wont lie, i'm scared and I don't even know where I stand in this situation. Please help me, I just don't know what to do!

Hi all, This doesnt seem right to me: I had an LO for £1095. Chandlers dropped of a letter without knocking and left a mobile number. I tried numerous times and left messages and even managed to speak to the Bailiff who said he was with a client and would call me back. He never did. Then on a saturday morning at 06:30 i was up getting ready to go fishing when i noticed someone walking away from my house down the path, he hadnt knocked as the 2 dogs would have woken the street!! I opened the door and asked him what he was doing? He said who he was from and said he had put a letter in the box (I have an outside one due to the dogs) I told him to go away and i'll call him when i'm ready. As it was Bank hol weekend he said he'll be back Tuesday from 6am! I said good luck and shut the door! I opened the letter to find a letter of distress. The fees he had listed were as follows: Amount due: £1095.56 Levy fee: £57.00 Attendance £292.50 Total: £1445.06 He had scribbled a description of my car and number plate in the box on the back. Is this all correct as it sounds excessive? Thanks

Good morning! I need some urgent help re: chandlers bailiffs. I had council tax arrears for 2012/13 for £266.88. Few weeks ago I have received a letter from chandlers telling me that they will be visiting property in order to recover this debt. For that I have been charged £24. I have spoken to them and arrange a visit. After reading your forums, I have sent a text message that they will not be allowed into my property. They turned up anyway, and put a levy on a car that does not belong to us. For that privilege I was charged £33 for levy, £18.50 attendance fee, and £110 van removal fee. I have spoken to local council, but got usual reply, that I need to deal with bailiff. However, I am making weekly payments to council directly and my debt is now just under £200. Yesterday, I have received letter saying: Time has expired and your Court Order for Non-Payment of Council Tax has been selected next week for Enforcemenet Action by Removal of Goods as Law Directs. The amount outstanding still reflects the illegal levy that was made and van fees, that I was told are not allowed. I am really worried that they actually will turn up with the vans between hours of 6am - 10pm as stated on their letter and sit outside my house. I have 3 children that I need to get to school every day. I don't want them to experience this. What is the best action to take, can someone advise please. Are they allowed to send threatening letters like this? How can I get the fees removed? After reading your threads its only £42.50 that they are allowed to charge or am I missing something? I am sorry to ask so many questions at once, but I am really worried right now. Thank you for all your help.

just got a letter through the door for council tax arrears adding up to £970 including the £25 fee they have put on. I want to set up a payment plan, who do i need to speak to and who do I need to pay. Is it the council, or the bailiffs?

I opened the door this morning to find a bailiff on my doorstep. This was over Council Tax from 2011/2012 I think. He gave me a copy of the liability orders when I spoke with him.I was surprised as had forgotten I owed this, especially as I thought my husband had put it all in his name now and had been handling it. I do know at one point deductions were being taken from his wages, but they stopped when he lost his job. He is now back at work and I'm thinking he hadn't expected this to happen either. As I can hardly talk at the mo due to laryngitis, the bailiff asked me to get my hubby to call him to make an arrangement. Hubby phoned him and the guy will be coming round tomorrow to do paperwork and make an arrangement. Seems we have to pay £50 straight off which we won't have until hubby gets paid. I don't work due to health issues and hubby is on a very low wage so is concerned we might struggle if they expect big repayments every month. Am I right in thinking we shouldn't let the bailiff into the house as that gives him access another time, or is that old thinking these days? Any advice on how we should handle this as I'm dreading losing our belongings. Thanks.

I am writing this for a friend of mine who is absolutely panicking about the current situation. He had 2 outstanding council tax bills for £177.86 and £406.27 for a previous address. Chandlers now have the warrent for these debts and are looking for (as of Friday) £859. There are 2 main issues with this the first, they are going to his parents house for the money (he moved out months ago) and his poor mum is scared to death and the second is the sum of money they say is owing. We issued them a letter requesting details of the charges etc that I found on here and the response is this:- Thank you for your email Please see below a breakdown of both of your accounts: Account Number ******* On the 27/03/12 Chandlers Limited received the Liability Order directly from Swindon Borough Council with an outstanding balance of £406.27. On the 02/07/12 we sent you a Final Notice Letter. On the 31/07/12 the Certificated Bailiff Mr Gresty attended your premises with the intention to levy distress. For this visit you incurred a charge of £24.50. On the 17/08/12 the Certificated Bailiff Mr Smith attended your premises with the intention to levy distress. For this visit you incurred a charge of £18.00. Account Number ******* On the 26/06/12 Chandlers Limited received the Liability Order directly from Swindon Borough Council with an outstanding balance of £177.83. On the 31/07/12 the Certificated Bailiff Mr Gresty attended your premises with the intention to levy distress. For this visit you incurred a charge of £24.50. On the 17/08/12 the Certificated Bailiff Mr Smith attended your premises with the intention to levy distress. For this visit you incurred a charge of £18.00. All our fees are applied as per Schedule 3,5 Regulations 14/39/45 Charges Connected with Distress. All of our Bailiffs are certificated at Bromley County Court. As you can see this amounts to £669.10 so where has the other £190 come from and what do we do now? Please if anyone can help, my friends job is on the line as he is taking time out from work to deal with it and our boss (we work for the same place) has told him he needs to sort this out in his own time which is easier said than done when you work from 10 until 8!!!!

Hi all. I owe £350 for council tax. I came home today to find a notice of bailiff attendance. The notice was not sealed with my name just laying in the open on the floor for everyone to see! The breakdown of costs are Council tax £358.06 Levy Fee £37.00 Attendance costs 132.50 I called the bailiff to excatly what was levyd and he said the car on the drive. I do not actually own the car so I stated I would not need to pay a levy fee. He said as it was on your drive I assumed it was yours so you will have to pay it. I asked for a breakdown of the attendance costs and he said im being charged £42.50 for two visits and a £90 attendance fee. This is the first visit so I questioned why Im being charged for two. He said another bailiff has visited once in march and once in april. Today is the first time Ive received a notice of bailiff letter. What excatly can be charged here> Thanks everyone!