Council tax bailiff advice

[nowayjoseb]

Just need some advice please. 12 months ago we had a bailiff visit the house for council tax that my partner owed from 2004. He let him into the house and he took down a list of items that he could remove. We organised a payment plan for 12 weeks which was then increased by my partner for the past 9 months. I then had a visit last week from the bailiff again saying he had come to take said items from the house even though we had still been paying there hadn't been any agreement for this. £500 has been paid off the debt yet nothing has gone to the council. I told the man that the house was fully furnished so he couldnt take anything. I would like to know if I can pay the council directly now and what letters need to be sent so that we no longer have to deal with the bailiffs and their charges.

 

Many thanks for any advice.

[matt v atos]

By paying bailiffs they take there bite of the money before any goes to the council they would taken off there payment processing fee Someone will be along soon to advise you in the mean time please don't have any more contact with the bailiff.

[nowayjoseb]

ok thank you x

[cerberusalert]

Moved into the bailiffs forum.

[i hate bailiffs]

Ask the council

How many liability orders they have/had for you

How much was each one for

When were they obtained

When were they passed to bailiffs for enforcement.

 

Then send this to the bailiffs

 

"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"

[i hate bailiffs]

you can pay any money direct to the council

 

As the bailiffs have been into your property to do a levy they CAN NOT at this point force entry use locksmiths or anything they come out with

The bailiff will spit his dummy out

 

Bailiff will say i have a court order warrant or what ever he wants to call it it is a liability order nothing else

Can you list the items they have a levy on

[nowayjoseb]

thanks for that, once I have done that what is the next step? do we continue to pay the council or wait for a reply? they left a phone message with the breakdown on but should get it in writing? also am I correct in thinking that they can only charge for two van visits if they actually remove items on the second visit? thanks again to everyone helping - nearly stopping me from having a breakdown! x

[nowayjoseb]

sorry - just read your text properly - they have levy on microwave, small tv, 2 x sofas, and 2 bedside tables, they also have left us with a memo of amounts due plus letters from the council dated 2011 stating that there was a liability order 2006 however I have no record of these although that's not to say my partner didn't receive them and then just placed his head in the sand

[i hate bailiffs]

Pay the council from now on

 

If i was to bet the breakdown of fees will show they have overcharged you if it is the case a formal complaint would go to council as it is there agents

 

If you have paid bailiffs £500 and nothing has gone off the debt something is wrong

What bailiff company is it(don't name the bailiff but company is ok)

 

There will be no removal of items as you wont let them in

there is no right of entry for them

 

They want cash not your items.

What items do they have a levy on and what was the outstanding debt

[i hate bailiffs]

sorry - just read your text properly - they have levy on microwave, small tv, 2 x sofas, and 2 bedside tables, they also have left us with a memo of amounts due plus letters from the council dated 2011 stating that there was a liability order 2006 however I have no record of these although that's not to say my partner didn't receive them and then just placed his head in the sand

 

Do you have alternative seating for the family do they have the fire safety tags attached

 

Small tv worth nothing

microwave not worth much

 

I would say levy would not cover the debt and can be challenged as invalid as been done for a financial gain to the bailiffs

[nowayjoseb]

only alternative seating are the kitchen chairs - the original debt is £1883.81, however with their charges went up to over 2k and is just under 2k now with added charges - company are Bristow & Sutor, is there a template letter I can send to the council, I am really not very good at constructing letters x

[nowayjoseb]

also only one of the sofas has the tag still attached - the other we inherited from our old house and have no idea how old it is

[i hate bailiffs]

sent the breakdown off to bailiffs depending on what comes back from them will be the basis of a formal complaint to the council

 

The levy can be argued as can the associated fees with it

[nowayjoseb]

ok shall do that - do I need to send a copy to the council as well - or just a letter stating that we are paying them directly now as no money has come off the debt only the bailiff charges - sorry - need it explained to me as if I was my 16 month old!

[matt v atos]

ok shall do that - do I need to send a copy to the council as well - or just a letter stating that we are paying them directly now as no money has come off the debt only the bailiff charges - sorry - need it explained to me as if I was my 16 month old!

 

Please read post #5

[nowayjoseb]

sorry - of course, shall do that right away - thank you again especially for such prompt help and advice x

[matt v atos]

From what I can see most of the money paid has gone on bailiffs fees ect and it just don't sound right but you wont know for sure until you see the breakdown.

I understand they are leaving messages on your phone this will probably continue this is the tactics they use remember you don't have to talk to them.paying the council direct council may try and fob you off saying you have to deal with bailiff.

 

3.3.1 The collection and reporting of Council Tax income is straightforward when a tax payer pays their annual charge within that year. Complexities arise when a Council Tax Payer falls into arrears and owes the council money for past years as well as the current year. There is significant case law (for example, Peter v Anderson (1814)) however, put simply, if a person specifies which years debt the payment should be assigned it should be assigned to that years debt.

 

3.3.2 The council tax system has built in allocation rules to ensure that the law with respect to specified payments is met. For instance, if a customer has a payment plan for any year of debt and the payment they make matches the planned instalment then the money will be allocated to that year (this is known as “hard” allocation on the council tax system). If the system is unable to “hard allocate” then it will instead “soft” allocate and the debt will be used against the oldest debt unless manually adjusted.

[nowayjoseb]

ok thanks, am going to send the letters and await replies. There is just the one ref # for the outstanding amounts so will just pay that one online in regular instalments and keep you updated incase need more help (likely!) thanks again

[brassnecked]

Good advice so far, follow what I hate bailiffs has indicated in post# 5, and pay an amount in to the council direct using thweir online facility, peint off receipts, you can post up what Bristols & Stupor reply to the Acme letter in post 5, and start a Formal complaint regarding the levy which was done solely to garner fees for the bailiff.

[tomtubby]

It is very important that you first obtain the PRECISE amount ofthe Liability Orders from the COUNCIL.

 

Then you will need to find out the exact amount of the fees that have been charged to your account by Bristow & Sutor.

 

Does the council know that you have paid approx £500 to the bailiffs?

[nowayjoseb]

NO, the council don't know that we have been paying anything.

[nowayjoseb]

no council doesn't know we have paid any money

[brassnecked]

no council doesn't know we have paid any money

If you have reciepts send copies of them to the council with a Formal Complaint that you are beingfkleeced for fees by their bailiffs for who they are 100% responsible, and indicate that you cannot trust Bosted and Stupid to deal fairly with you so you will pay £xx every week/fortnight direct to the council.

[nowayjoseb]

I wanted to send the letter recorded delivery to the council however it is only a po box so unable to - is it wiser to send email with attachments?

[matt v atos]

Send email to council use template post #5 include letters from bailiff