Council Tax £50 Charges for writing a Letter

[Tinkerbelle]

Hi,

 

I am 3 months away from clearing 3 years worth of back Council Tax. Over this time, the account has been passed back and forth to Bailiffs and the Council, and charges have been applied to the account from the Bailiffs AND the Council.

 

The Bailiffs charges were the ususal "visit" fees and the Council would add an additional £50 to the debt everytime they wrote backto me refusing my offers of payment.

 

Can I get any of this back? Either fromthe Council or the Bailiffs? I am more inclined to go after the Council as they have been absolute ba#t*&ds and preferred to pass my account on that discuss any arangement with me. (Incidentally I refused to deal with the Bailiffs so they ended up passing the case back tot he Council who I ended up making an agreement with anyway!)

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[HD]

As you have not entered into a contract with the council I don't think you can use the penalty charge argument:(

 

There would probably be different legislation covering this. What amounts are involved?

[Tinkerbelle]

Do you mean in terms of how much they have added to the account? I have no idea, but at a guess probably about an extra £400 or so. I have been paying them £150 per month (It was previously £198.00), and I only have another 3 payments to go.

 

I think in this case I'll just leave it..I'm just glad to see the back of this to be honest. It's a shame that they can do this though. But hey...only 3 more months to go!

[Seminole]

I'm not aware of any basis on which the Council can add to the Council Tax except for its legal costs and this is usually in accordance with a prescribed scale. Similarly, no matter how much bailiffs may bleat, their maximum costs are also prescribed although most of them try to ignore these rules.

[Seminole]

Here is a link for the maximum bailiff charges... they're at the bottom of the page.

 

http://www.multikulti.org.uk/en/debt/bailiffs-council-tax/

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

 

Sorry to read about your problem with the Council.

 

There are severeal issues here:

 

1.As you have been told there should be a capped amount for bailiff fees etc so look into this to detemine if you have been overcharged.

 

2.If the Council has not acted reasonably or in an "abuse of power"/excessive manner with you,complain to the Big Wig within your local council and then in the event of no joy - go to the Local Authority Ombudsman.This service is totally free.

 

The web address is:

 

http://www.lgo.org.uk/

 

As you can see it depends on which part of the country you reside in.

 

I would have thought it would come under the fact that the council treated you in an unjust manner - please refer to the 12 page booklet online in Adobe Acrobat Format - page no 4.

 

3.Failing this,you should be able to get redress in the courts through the following Act of Parliament:

 

The 1998 European Convention on Human Rights(ECHR) - because the Council is considered a quasi-governmental body within that region of the country.

 

For the latter,it is good idea to see a lawyer who is specialised in this field as I would have thought that you would be in a position to obtain Legal Aid funded by the European "taxpayers" coffers as it would be classed in contrary to the principles of fairness and equity to fight a quasi-govermental department with an individual's own means.This would probably depend on the level of injustice you received from the council and you must exhaust all the national channels to gain redress i.e. you cannot walk into a solicitor's office after the easter holiday and seek justice through the ECHR accords.You must allow the council to respond - personally if the council fobbed me off I would threaten with ECHR action.I am sure the Council would "wake up" to its duties and obligations by treating the community it serves in a fair and equitable manner.

 

I hope you find this information useful.

 

If you need any more help,just ask!

 

Keep us posted.

 

All the best!

[buzz]

I have had similar problems with Manchester Council.

 

It cost me a fortune in bailiff bills and yet I didn't owe them a penny.

The problem is they are so inept.

 

I have spent over three years trying to get them to see sense.

 

I even paid installments to the bailiffs just to stop them calling, hoping that they would eventually see I didnt owe anything and claim it all back. Even though I kept to my payments, they still called and added more charges, thus cancelling out any payments made.

 

Got to the stage now that I am moving away from Manchester just to get them off my back.

 

Manchester City Council Sucks.

 

Buzz.

[Janet-M]

I hear the words council tax and just see red . There is not one person you speak to in Liverpool who has not had problems with there SHAMBLES of an office.I was summonsed and went to court armed with all my evidence that I didn't owe the money and could not even get past the court usher.Was told it was a block summons and the judge will not see individuals .That was before I found this site .Seen as it's every year they mess up then can't wait for the next time.Some of the excuses they have had for charging people are unbelievable and how they have got away with it for so long god only knows.

[Seminole]

I hear the words council tax and just see red . There is not one person you speak to in Liverpool who has not had problems with there SHAMBLES of an office.I was summonsed and went to court armed with all my evidence that I didn't owe the money and could not even get past the court usher.Was told it was a block summons and the judge will not see individuals .That was before I found this site .Seen as it's every year they mess up then can't wait for the next time.Some of the excuses they have had for charging people are unbelievable and how they have got away with it for so long god only knows.

 

Because they are the all seeing, all knowing infallible state and we mere members of the public are here to serve.

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

 

Now,buzz there is clearly something wrong here.

 

You should see to get some guidance as to the charges - as you have probably been overcharged.

 

You say about moving away,but believe me if they feel you owe them money they will track you down and you will be in a worse position.

 

Beware that failure to pay the Council Tax could land you in prison in the worst case scenario .

 

You should get a clear breakdown on what you owe from the Council and the bailiff.If you have overpaid to get it refunded.

 

Also why did you paid the bailiff if you do not owe anything or if you are up to date?

 

This seems to me to borderline on being blackmail.

 

You should not pay any amount you do not owe whther to The Council and/or the bailiff.Equally you should not fall behind with your Council Tax payments because as I said before you could end up in prison in the worst case scenario.

 

Personally as long as your problem is ongoing,follow my previous posting on this thread and complain to the Council Big Wig then if no joy - The Ombudsman.

 

Send it by Recorded Delivery and as I said before if you get no joy,inform the Council that you are going to seek redress under the ECHR.

 

I hope you find this information useful.

 

If you have any questions or need any more help,please feel free to ask giving more specifics to your particular problem.

 

All the best!

[buzz]

Thanks for that.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to post the worst of my dealings with MCC. It is something I dont want to write for all to see.

 

I will possibly PM you to tell you what I mean.

 

Buzz.

[Nightmare4banks]

Buzz,that is fine.

 

 

I will do my very best to assist you.

 

Cheers,

 

Nightmare4banks

[Tinkerbelle]

Here is a link for the maximum bailiff charges... they're at the bottom of the page.

 

http://www.multikulti.org.uk/en/debt/bailiffs-council-tax/

 

Thank you for this link!

 

I can tell you that I have never acknowledged the bailiffs when they came to my address or let any of them in. They used to come during the day when I was at work and leave their letters through a shared letterbox. Either in an unsealed envelope or no envelope at all! Sometimes they would come twice in one week and add extra charges. On the odd occasion when they would turn up at 7:30 am to "try and catch me" before I went to work I didn't answer the door then either.

 

I did write and ask the Bailiffs before to tell me how much it is they are demanding as every letter was requesting a different amount. On at least 2 occasions they were asking for less than they had in their previous letter including their "charges". They also ignored my offers to pay and continued to send Bailiffs and in the end they passed the debt back to the Council - which is the best thing they could have done really. No more harassment from them.

 

I did write to the council and requested under the "Freedom of Information Act" exactly how much it was they had asked the Bailiffs to collect. The Council didn't bother to respond. I think I'll write to them again for full details of what it is they claim I owe and how they came to that figure.

 

Like I said there are only 3 installments left until it's all clear, but I would still like to know.

[Tinkerbelle]

This topic was closed on 2019-03-08.

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