Rossendales CB

[jimbo45]

Hi all

Rossies as I've posted before are my Nr 1 target this year -- I'm COLLATING EVERY POSSIBLE ILLEGAL CHARGE being levied by them and then going to HARASS EVERY COUNCIL that uses them --hopefully into getting their contracts terminated.

 

Please note I am NOT advocating avoiding Council Tax -- it's of course an unfair tax - but we have an election coming up if we want to change the system.

 

Until the law is changed we either have to pay the tax, or get relief.

 

What I HATE however is the use of THUGS, BULLIES and LOW LIFE **** into threatening all sorts of people with unfair charges etc.

 

I've posted enough on these Forums about what you should do so I'm not going to repeat other than NEVER EVER let the bailiff's in, hide your car and offer to pay the council something.

 

And why can't we get the Financial directors of these Councils sacked -- yes SACKED - not resignations when they LOST millions of OUR money by playing Casino with Icelandic Banks.

 

If we make mistkes with our jobs or our money we get sacked and threatened with Bailiff's -- the worst the council executives get is being allowed to resign and STILL keeping a MASSIVE Pension --MANY MANY times over what WE actually earn in a year - if we are still lucky enough to have a job.

 

Cheers

jimbo

Edited January 20, 2010 by jimbo45

[disgusted2010]

ok here i go, apologees for ranting if i get to ranting mode

I owed 270 and 600 in council tax back payments. This was due to Cornwall County Council making an error as they forgot to take my council tax out of my wages. Yes I should have noticed but I don't open my wage slip I just file them. They sent me a demand and when I phoned they said they would rectify it and take it out of my wages. Low and behold a few months later a weasel of a man arrives at my door saying he works for the council and needed to talk to me about a private matter ( we were talking to the local council about a neighbour who it was) You guessed it I let him in, he sat down and said I am here about your council tax you need to pay us £1750 now or we will take everything ( his words) I asked him to leave. He said I let him in and if I do not sign a walking agreement he would take everything now. Stupidly I had no idea what he was talking about and signed to stop him from taking all of the things we had worked very hard for. He kept saying that if i do not sign he will stay and call his team in. I must say that at this point I was very upset and agitated, all i wanted to do was get him out of my house. He looked around my house jotting down all we own , got up and said 'Pay up or we take the lot' and opened the door. Turning as he left he said 'If I have to pay my taxes people like you should as well'. I asked him to repeat what he said as I couldn't quite believe it and he shouted, not said shouted ' Oh shut up and pay your bills'.

We contacted Rossendales directly who were highly unhelpful but we eventually got them to agree to send us a statement of means. This arrived and we filled it out and sent it back. A little while later we recieved a letter back saying that they had looked over our statement and calculate we could afford £579 within 14 days, after filling out the form the form worked out that we could afford around £50 so theey didn't take any notice of the form. The £579 was coincidently the first amount owed to the council pluss £200+ costs. The main thing is that the form did not say what the secind payment was to be at all. We didn't feel we had any choice after phoning Rossendales stating that we couldn't afford that amount and why they didn't take any notice of the statement, they said they had and we had to pay or they would send someone in. At the end of the month we didn't pay the mortgage and paid the £579.

14 days later a man appears on the door and said where is your wifes car I am repossessing it. Confused again I asked why and he said because you have not kept to your agreement, what agreement I said and he said I had defaulted on our agreement. The letter we were sent saying to pay £579 had no information about what we had to pay next at all. This man treated me like ****, one choice one was 'people like you are why the country is in the state its in' (lovely). I told him I didn't understand what he was talking about and refused to tell him where my wife was. He kept on saying give me the car and then said '£1200 or the car, i'd prefer the car I like Vectras' I told him I wanted to get in contact with the CAB and he said and this is word for word 'CAB they're a joke, we don't pay any notice of them anyway' I told him I wanted him off my property and, not touching him, ushered him off. He just kept shouting 'I'll wait'.

I got in touch with my wife and she parked else where. When I phoned Rossendales they said they can't talk to me and I had to talk to the bailiff. I told them what happened and they said that that was unlikely. I tried the bailiff but no answer, I contacted the council and they said they would not return it to them and I had to talk to head office Rossendales. They again said to talk to the bailiff. I said I could pay £100 per month to pay it off, and the person laughed. I phoned the council and explained that if they took the car we would have no means of transport for my daughter who has severe SEN and is in receipt of Disabilty living allowance. They said they would stop the bailiff from repossessing the car but not anything else. As you all know they deem a £1200 debt( I still cannot believe they can put that much fees on a debt) worth £12,000 in goods to be taken. I asked the council if theyfelt £100 a reasonable amount and they said yes but Rossendales have only a certain amount of time to recover the debt hence they want the whole amount. They did say that I should contact the CAB and Rossendales would have to put it on hold until we had the chance to talk to CAB (Has anyone ever tried to contact the CAB and talk to anyone .... impossible). Today I phoned Rossendales to keep them informed, I again tried to come to an agreement to pay £100 per month, he said no as we had not kept to the agreement. I stressed that they had sent us a request to pay £579 by a certain date but there was nowhere on the letter that told us what to pay after that' He just repeated that we had broken the agreement made. I asked him if he had the letter that stated what we should pay that they sent to us. He said he did not. I asked him if there was one, he said he did not know. I then asked don't the company keep any correspondance ( isn't this a legal requirement) and he just laughed at me saying just pay. I asked him for a copy of our converstaion (They say they always record calls) and he burst out laughing and continued to do so

Sorry this has been so long. Isn't it crazywe want to pay, if we pay more then we don't pay this years council tax and that would then get sent to these thieves and low lifes. Vicious circle

Rossendales, and any of these private companies, need to be put out of business. I have no beef with court bailiffs, in fact they are usually helpful and the one that works in our area is positively lovely.

Rossendales if you are reading this I hope you and your ilk go into liquidation and you get bailiffs calling on you, but no that will not happen as the vultures never go hungry as they pick away

Any advice gladly accepted

Thanks

[Vicki202]

If he told you he was from the council then he has done wrong i would firsty contact the police as he has impersonated someone else they are not allowed to do that also there is set charges they can place when collecting on council tax debt

[SOAS1961]

I have just come home to a Notice of Bailiffs Attendance for unpaid Council Tax at a property that was repossessed back in 2001 (thanks to a bastard of a now ex husband). It was from Rossendales.

They say I owe £798.97 and I thought this had all been paid.

I do not own a property as I rent as I lost everything - hence why I eventually got divorced.

Can they still try and claim this money off of me after 9 years? I have not heard anything from the council about this debt prior to this letter being put through my door.

[fork-it]

The liability is not valid and you dont have a legal obligation to pay Rossendales anything because the council did not follow regulations when it applied for a liability order and instructed bailiffs. Councils cannot instruct bailiffs without a liability order.

 

The law: Section 33(1) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/613/regulation/33/made

 

The law requires a council to apply for a liability order and while doing so, they must send you a "final notice" at your current address before instructing a bailiff. The council must therefore, roll the case back to pre-liability order stage. However, your debt is a nullity, because the council is now unable to get a new liability order as the debt is now more than six years old and is statute barred under Section 2 of the Limitation Act 1980 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58

 

If you are on benefits then you may be classed a vulnerable person for the purposes of civil enforcement. http://www.dca.gov.uk/enforcement/agents02.htm#part10

Edited October 21, 2010 by fork-it

[SOAS1961]

Thank you thank you thank you. I shall write to them quoting these Acts and fingers crossed I will hear no more

[SOAS1961]

Guess what they've been round again today but didn't leave any notice this time. I've bought a padlock for my garage and my shed. Told my kids not to answer the door and check all doors are locked and windows are shut. Guessed they were around because when I was driving home from work saw two guys with clipboards wandering around the street. Looks like they are targetting this area.

I am drafting a letter to them because on their very unprofessional piece of paper they left behind there is no e-mail so will post it to them.

It's horrible though because I feel like a prisoner in my own home.

[hallowitch]

I have just come home to a Notice of Bailiffs Attendance for unpaid Council Tax at a property that was repossessed back in 2001 (thanks to a bastard of a now ex husband). It was from Rossendales.

They say I owe £798.97 and I thought this had all been paid.

I do not own a property as I rent as I lost everything - hence why I eventually got divorced.

Can they still try and claim this money off of me after 9 years? I have not heard anything from the council about this debt prior to this letter being put through my door.

 

why do think you had paid the debt

do you know the dates the liability order relates to for the financial year they are collecting

 

when you move out of a property during the financial tax year and the council are not informed they gain a liability order for the full year

 

have you thought about sending the council a subject access request

[SOAS1961]

I have not been informed of or indeed received any liability order. I have always paid my Council Tax and all I can think is that my ex who was meant to be paying it at that property didn't pay it.

I didn't even know bailiffs had been called. This is totally out of the blue after 9+ years.

[hallowitch]

I have not been informed of or indeed received any liability order. I have always paid my Council Tax and all I can think is that my ex who was meant to be paying it at that property didn't pay it.

I didn't even know bailiffs had been called. This is totally out of the blue after 9+ years.

 

send the council an e-mail followed up by recorded delivery letter inform them that you are disputing the debt because as far as you are aware council tax was paid up to date when you left the property ask them to provide all informing relating the debt ask them to put the bailiffs on hold till you receive the information request so that you can confirm that the debt is due (sending you a PM)

 

the date payment of the last

[SOAS1961]

Hi

 

Well I sent a letter to their Head Office quoting the Limitation Act 1980 Section 5 and also quoted that the debt was statute barred and this was harrassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970. I also left a copy of this letter for the bailiffs on my doorstep.

 

They called round again today, opened the letter, pushed it back through my letterbox having written on it 'Liability Order in place so det still stands' - yes they did put det not debt, along with a letter from the saying that they were collecting under a Liability Order dated Sep6, 2002. Of course they once again charged anoth fee for this visit to increase the debt. They also left a Notice of Second Attendance (obviously can't count as this was the third time!) but didn't bother completing it. They also left a Request to pay by instalments form and Payment Methods notice, Instructions on Payments and Bank Giro Credits.

 

Does the Liability Order still stand from Sep 6, 2002 after I haven't heard anything from the Council and what can I do now to stop them harrassing me. They say I need to pay within 5 days.

[ploddertom]

Does the Liability Order still stand from Sep 6, 2002 after I haven't heard anything from the Council and what can I do now to stop them harrassing me. They say I need to pay within 5 days.

 

Unfortunately it still stands there is no limitation on CT providing the Liability Order was obtained within the inital 6 year period. They can still get bailiffs to enforce it.

 

PT

[ploddertom]

You will need to contact the Council and ask how much the original Liability Order was for, how much is still outstanding, what period of time it covered and when they passed it to the Bailiff.

 

PT

[SOAS1961]

So you're saying there's nothing I can do? I haven't heard from the Council at all to discuss this and didn't know anything about a Liability Order. I thought they were meant to give you 14 days notice of a Baliff visit? This truly is the last straw for me. So far this year I've had my Father die in July, I've been under threat of redundancy and my 29 year old nephew/Godson has terminal cancer and has 2-5 days left. I've had enough

[SOAS1961]

Sorry just seen your 2nd post. Getting replies from Councils can take some time. How can I delay the Bailiffs in the meantime? As you can tell I'm at my wits end. All this stems from a lying, cheating ex husband who hasn't paid any debts off and I got lumbered with everything.

[ploddertom]

Don't despair with this as all can still be sorted. It does mean you will have to do some letter writing etc but with help from here it can be overcome. From what you have said already it may well be you come under the "vulnerable" category which means you may be able to put any Bailiff action into abeyance. Unfortunately it is late Friday so you cannot check much out until Monday now, but it does give the chance to build your war chest up for a full frontal assault. Stick with us, most of us have been in similar positions or worse and come out the other side triumphant.

 

PT

[ploddertom]

Sorry just seen your 2nd post. Getting replies from Councils can take some time. How can I delay the Bailiffs in the meantime? As you can tell I'm at my wits end. All this stems from a lying, cheating ex husband who hasn't paid any debts off and I got lumbered with everything.

 

You need to avoid the bailiff for the rest of this evening and tomorrow. You can do this by only answering the door to those you know or you can go out - most Bailiff hours can be 6am - 9pm and they can't work Sundays. What paperwork if any have you had from the Bailiff as yet? Has he ever been in your home? If you have a vehicle then I strongly advise you move it well away from your home, the same goes for anything you may have outside.

 

You should get instant replies from the Council as this can be done over the phone. I would also suggest you contact your local Councillor between now and Monday morning - they can acheive direct access to the info required.

 

Just fire the questions you want answers to and I'm sure we can help point you in the right direction.

 

PT

[SOAS1961]

Thank you. I'm not sure what the 'vulnerable' category is but if there is any advice you can give on building up my war chest as you phrase it then any help will be very gratefully received. I've been paying my Council Tax to the same Council for years and haven't been in arrears so don't know why they haven't contacted me about this. I have no problem with letter writing and would it help if I e-mailed the Council now regarding this situation as they would get the e-mail first thing on Monday?

[SOAS1961]

I've advised my family to keep the front door locked at all times and all windows shut. I've put a padlock on my garage and garden shed. My garage is separate to my house and doesn't have a number on it but I've been avoiding parking my car on the driveway to it just in case.

 

I've had a First Notice of Attendance, a Second Notice of Attendance, a headed letter quoting the Liability Order and their fees, Payment Methods notice, Instructions on Walking Possession Agreement, Request to pay by instalments to sign on which I need to list my outgoings and how much I'm offering to pay and lastly bank giro credits.

 

They have never been in my house as we are not answering the door. The letter I sent to their Head Office I copied and put on my doorstepfor them and they just posted it back through my letterbox with the statement 'Liability Order in place so det still stands'. Its a shame that a Bailiff can't spell debt.

 

Questions I guess are:-

# Should I have received notification from the Council prior to the Bailiffs visit?

# I've only got 5 days to pay according to the Bailiff so how can I get a response from Council that quickly?

# Can I put Bailiffs off my leaving letter for them stating that I've approached the Council?

 

I'm sure there must be loads of other questions but mind in a whirl at the moment

[ploddertom]

As said previously you need to ask the Council the following:

1 - how much the Liability Order was for

2 - how much is still outstanding

3 - what period of time it covers - Councils have been known to lose records of people moving and charge for the rest of the Financial Year at the property they vacated.

4 - when the LO was passed to the Bailff.

Yes you can certainly do this by email but you MUST chase it up first thing Monday.

 

For the Bailff - send them a letter asking for a Breakdown of their charges to date - here's a sample use and adapt for your own needs - this may be sent by email this evening although you must send a copy in the post tomorrow using Signed For:

 

"From:

My Name

My Address

 

To:

Acme Bailiff Co

Bailiff House

 

Ref: Account No: 123456

 

Dear Sir

 

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

 

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - the reason for the fee.

c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.

e - the date of the Certification.

 

This is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

 

I require this information within 14 days.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Ripped off customer"

 

If the bailiff has visited already he should have left some paperwork with his list of charges to date on it - makes a cross check with the above when received. If he has gained entry to your home he should have left a Notice of Seizure dealing what goods if any he has levied on. If this has happened could you list what is on it as many of them list exempt goods. If he hasn't gained access then keep him out at all costs. If he has visited and not been able to gain a levy or seize any goods then the most you can be charged is £24-50 for a 1st Visit & £18-00 for a 2nd Visit - doesn't matter how many times he calls these are the maximum they can charge. However if a Levy has been carried out then the game changes substantially.

 

As for your vulnerable status have a read of this:

 

http://www.dca.gov.uk/enforcement/agents02.htm#part10

 

You can argue your relative being near to the end puts you in this category.

 

Be back after dinner.

 

PT

[hallowitch]

The National Guidelines for Enforcement Agents state:

 

...those who might be considered vulnerable include the following:

the elderly;

people with disability

the seriously ill;

the recently bereaved;

single parent families;

pregnant women;

unemployed people; and,

those who have obvious difficulty in understanding, speaking or reading English.

[MarkAH]

My letter to every member of the board at Rossendales,and their client...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sirs,

 

I act on behalf of my wife with regards to the above debt reference, and write to dispute the manner in which your company's so-called 'professionals' have so far handled the case.

 

It appears that although my wife's financial affairs per se are handled by Payplan, Rossendales saw fit to pretend not to be aware of that situation earlier this year and, claimed that payments were not being made - which in point of fact they were; directly to the creditor - and having not notified Payplan of the change of details (very unprofessional when you consider that as legal appointees for the creditors one would expect due diligence on your part with regards to accurate data collection and storage in order to have the facts straight) embarked upon a series of harassing telephone calls made up of a series of stories and half-hearted threats from your employees, no two of which matched. I therefore ensured that I myself notified Payplan and copied your company into each e-mail.

 

Then on 11th October instant, a letter arrived stating that your company were not accepting the offer of payment, and further stating that you had set the amount at £30 per month. I of course objected and was told that this was due to the unreasonable costs assigned to medical expenses on my wife's financial statement.

 

My wife is disabled, and therefore, she by deign of her condition requires a large number of medications each month, simply to continue to function. Perhaps were she to refrain from that medication for 14 days and then speak to the press, explaining that this was due to Rossendales opinion that her medication expenditure was unreasonable it may graphically illustrate her reliance on such. What are your thoughts? Should we go ahead?

 

On the 3rd of November a letter was sent notifying my wife of a visit. Strange that this should come when only 2 weeks or so previous, you had made it clear that you were increasing the payment.

 

I dutifully telephoned to find out exactly what was going on and gain some clarification of the situation. I was promised a call back on the 7th and finally received it today, the 11th.

 

Today, Rossendales took their virtuosity to new heights. In the first instance I was told that they could not find the financial statement. When I pointed out that this was a somewhat cavalier approach to data protection I was asked to get a replacement. When I asked whether the original had been lost, I was told it was not to hand, to which I responded that I was quite happy to wait until it was located. The response was that the caller felt that it would be faster for me to request a replacement than for them to retrieve the original from whence it rested. Even someone with water on the brain could work out that this is in no way true. Therefore I made it clear that they would be in possession of the facts much sooner by simply going the file and retrieving the statement from there. I asked again if it had been lost, and got a mumbled excuse of the standard calibre for your employees. It also transpires that although you purport to be acting for the creditor you have no previous case files, preferring a crystal ball for confirming the salient details...

 

In closing I asked for the name of the data protection officer, twice and on both times was told that their name was 'the date protection officer'. How fortuitous that Rossendales should be able to recruit a DPO who was actually named just that!

 

So, I am writing to air the above grievances. Forgive me, but I forgot to add, that despite inviting Rossendales to take the matter before the Magistrates and allow my wife and I our day in court, you have stated that you will not do so, preferring to employ someone to make a visit to my house (note the 'my' house and my opinions that uninvited guests are known in coloquial terms as trespassers) whilst simultaneously refusing to make an appointment to do so.

 

 

 

Yours

 

 

Mark *****

Edited November 10, 2011 by MarkAH
update options for notification

[ploddertom]

You should start a new thread for this http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=168 , is it also possible you can tell us what this is in relation to.

 

PT

[monkeyboy79]

I've had issues with this company.

been reading post and the fact they act high and mighty and acctually proud of the job they do is laughable, i'd rather hit unemployment than lower myself to such employment, i've been on a payment plan for 6 months only due to legal advice and persistance but even though they constantly change payment due dates and threaten to take me off pp for defaulting agreement. so all my payments are made every month and now i recieved a letter requesting my commital to prison for the debt which is now little over £400. i've about given up and just let them get on with it i have my bank statements with payment proof and ref no's.

[ploddertom]

I've had issues with this company.

been reading post and the fact they act high and mighty and acctually proud of the job they do is laughable, i'd rather hit unemployment than lower myself to such employment, i've been on a payment plan for 6 months only due to legal advice and persistance but even though they constantly change payment due dates and threaten to take me off pp for defaulting agreement. so all my payments are made every month and now i recieved a letter requesting my commital to prison for the debt which is now little over £400. i've about given up and just let them get on with it i have my bank statements with payment proof and ref no's.

 

If you start your own thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=168 and give us all the relevant details it may turn out - although very unlikely knowing the honesty of the Bailiffs - that you could be due a refund on what you have paid or you may actually owe no more.

 

PT