Rossendales and Lincolnshire Council

[struggler52]

I wonder if you can advise - I am writing as I am extremely anxious. We have recently lost our home after 32 years and our businesses. Although back in work, my husband still has outstanding debts which he was unaware of one being with Lincolnshire CC for unpaid rates. We have made payment arrangements with most of the debtors. We did not receive any correspondence from Lincolnshire to say that this was being taken to Court as it was sent to the business address and not forwarded to us, so we were unaware of what was happening. At the time we were living with my parents until we found work and we are now in rented accommodation. We have recently received letters from Rossendales demanding £700. My husband tried on several occasions to call them to no avail. So we have now correspondend by recorded delivery to them with a Statement of Income and Expenditure, which I have since found out that we didn't need to send them this as it can only be obtained by a Judge. Rossendales will not accept our offer of £20 per month until we can afford more and insistent that we pay this amount. We have sent cheques to them for the £20 per month (£5 per week), which they have encashed but are now wanting £39 every 7 days. We are standing our ground even though they state "This is the minimum we can accept and payment must be maintained at the set rate to avoid us proceeding with execution of a liability order". Please can you advise us as to what letter we can send to the Council asking them to take the debt back. I am at my wits end. I am terrified of coming home. I am currently leaving the house at 6.00 in the morning and not getting home until gone 7.30 in the evening. We are contemplating bankruptcy as we have debts relating to our home being repossessed and other debts relating to the business, but at the moment, unfortunately, this costs money which we do not have as we ploughed everything we had into the businesses to keep them afloat and paid all the staff. Please help.

[ploddertom]

Welcome to our world and hopefully we will be able to offer you some constructive help.

 

There is no law that says you have to deal with or speak to a Bailiff - basically believe nothing they say, invariably they are incapable of telling the truth. If your I & E had stated you only received £1 a month they would demand £10. You can pay the Council direct via their website or automated phone line. The Bailiff won't be a happy chappy but so what. If you go this route please remember that there may be some Bailiff fees you will be responsible for and pay a regular amount on a regular basis. Have you checked with the Council to see exactly how much is on the Liability Order?

 

PT

[struggler52]

Many thanks for getting back to me. We have not received notification of the Liability Order nor did we have sight of the Court hearing; or a notification of the result of the hearing with demand for payment, and a time allowance to pay before it went to the bailiff as all our correspondence from the business was not re-directed to us. We are not refusing to pay the amount, indeed my husbankd has been paying the £20 per month, by cheque, which they have encashed. Is there a letter on this site to send to the Council so that we can ask them to take the debt back?

[ploddertom]

The response from the Council will be along the lines of - they can't and you have to now deal with the Bailiff. They can take it back but choose not to, it will do no harm trying and as long as you keep up with payments there is not a lot they can do.

 

The Bailiff on the other hand will tell you he coming to force entry, come with a locksmith and/or the Police, have you arrested and imprisoned and many other things. He can do none of this on his own. He is full of hot air and bull. As long as you prevent him gaining entry or otherwise seizing/levying on goods outside - most notably a motor vehicle - there is nothing he can do. Don't phone him, speak to him through the letterbox if you have to.

 

PT

[struggler52]

Thank you for your response which is very much what we thought. I think with most of their letters they are trying to be intimidating, which in our case is not going to work. We have lost our home, so everything that could horribly happen has happened to us. They cannot take our hands from us and the house was just bricks a mortar, although I would be in a different frame of mind if our family were living at home. We are possibly on the verge of bankruptcy, which I might add may bring us piece of mind after all the correspondence we have received and the threats. I honestly don't know how they can sleep at night. Anyway, if possible if there is a letter to the Council "correctly worded", please could someone point me in the right direction.