Advice Equita and CTAX LO

[mizzbabyjess]

The Plan was agreed on 30/07/14.

I have the enforcement notice detailing the debt and charges

Debt £1,520.53

Compliance Fee £75.00

Enforcement Fee £237.00

Total Due £ 1,832.53

I have so far paid £1200

I have just received a text from him stating that he added a further £110 for control of goods, I do not know what this is for as no control of goods was ever given to me.

Can someone advise please?

[brassnecked]

The Plan was agreed on 30/07/14.

I have the enforcement notice detailing the debt and charges

Debt £1,520.53

Compliance Fee £75.00

Enforcement Fee £237.00

Total Due £ 1,832.53

I have so far paid £1200

I have just received a text from him stating that he added a further £110 for control of goods, I do not know what this is for as no control of goods was ever given to me. he should have given you a list of goods he has taken into control, and you need to have signed it alsoCan someone advise please?

 

Send in that complaint, he can only charge £110 when he removes goods and her has overcharged by £2 on the Enforcement Fee Has the bailiff ever been inside your home? Have you a car parked outside?

[mizzbabyjess]

Thank you for your reply.

He has never been inside my home.

When he came my car wasn't parked outside my home.

He never gave me a list of goods, I have never signed anything.

I sent the text message to him stating that I had proof of all payments on my statements and that I had the enforcement notice detailing the charges.

He replied back saying he had spoke to Equita and the balance outstanding is £742.53 and must be paid to Equita direct.

Then i had another text from him saying that I was right balance £632.53 but that I missed the £110 for control of goods.

He has just text again saying call to pay.

This is absolutely disgusting he has made so many errors, he was telling me late last night on text that I still owed £943.00, When it is £632.53

How are they allowed to get away with this and then adding £110 for something that doesn't exist or hasn't been carried out.

Any advice as to my next move appreciated.

[lookinforinfo]

Missbabyjess, it doesn't appear that you have complained or written to the Council, Equita, your local Councillor nor your MP. Equita are among the worst of the

bailiff companies and this bailiff obviously thinks he can rip you off. Partly to prevent this one racking up more fees, fictitious or otherwise, you do need to enlist

the help of the people I mentioned above especially if you are not going to be able to pay the amount you have already agreed upon.

 

Your local Councillor should be your first port of call-telephone them today. Explain that the bailiff is out of control by takiing money from your husbands account without authorisation,

adding on fictitious fees [ the £110 when he hasn't taking any goods into control] plus refusing to give you a breakdown of the fees incurred until very recently.

Add any further things he has done or lied about [eg you have texts where he is adding on more fees than entitled] .Explain that you have paid £1200 since September but he is still threatening to come round and remove goods from your house despite not having been in your house. Tell him how frightened you are and so is your 15 year old daughter who is often in the property alone as you are a single parent.

 

You must also write to the CEO of the Council about this behaviour confirming what you have told the Councillor. When the bailiff contacts you, tell them you have

complained to the Council and your local Councillor about him and while they are looking into it, the matter is on hold so you won't be paying until your complaint

is resolved. [in the meantime, when you write to the Council, include a cheque for this month's payment and say that without the bailiff's involvement you would

only owe the Council a couple of hundred pounds or whatever it is].

But you must do these things today to stop the bailiff adding more fees.

 

You should be able to get your local Councillors number from the Council. Do not say too much to the council employee on the phone when asking for the number

of the Councillor since some Councils use Capita for example to run their office, and Equita are part of the Capita group.

[mizzbabyjess]

Thank you so much for your advice.

I am going to take this matter further today.

I just have one worry you said to tell the bailiff that I have complained to the council and local Councillor, and while they are looking into it the matter is on hold, can he still come after me if the matter is on hold.

Interestingly when i confronted him this morning on text about the amounts, he then got back and said that it was the lower amount and to pay Equita Direct.

[lookinforinfo]

As this bailiff does not seem to adhere to the Laws relating to Enforcement, I would not be surprised if he had also ignored the Law with regard to the 7 days notice

prior to his visit.

The Control of Goods Act states quite clearly that when a Notice of Enforcement is sent, [which is when the £75 charge is added] you must have 7 clear days

notice before the EA can visit. If you do contact the bailiff within that period they can then call round with a view to take goods on your property into control so

that if you cannot pay over time, then those goods can be sold at auction to repay the outstanding Council Tax.

 

If the bailiff called before the 7 days has elapsed then any subsequent action is cancelled. To work out the 7 clear days notice, you calculate from the day you receive the letter [not the date on the letter] a further 7 days not including Sunday. For example if the letter arrived on a Tuesday then 7 days from then would

mean that bailiff could not call round til the following Thursday. I know it might be difficult to remember now but it could be worth it.

Also did you contact the bailiff during that period and if you did, why did he call round to see you as that incurred an extra fee of £235.

[mizzbabyjess]

Hi as far as I can see that was actually adhered to. I was staying away from home when the letters were sent, so missed them and only saw them when I returned.

Could I ask if there is a template letter of some kind to send to the council and Equita.

He has just left a voice message on my phone saying that full payment needs to be paid immediately or they will remove goods. Even though he said in an earlier text to pay Equita direct.

[lookinforinfo]

As you weren't there, did you not get back until after the 7 days were up, or did you have time to call the bailiff?

There isn't a template letter but you wouldn't need one to call your local Councillor on the phone.

[mizzbabyjess]

H, the enforcement notice that I have was actually given to me by the bailiff, on it he wrote the breakdown of charges he included the £75 compliance fee, and £237.00 enforcement fee and he also wrote on it £324 repayment, also in small writing he has put + 110 next to the £237.

Total due he wrote £1,832.53

The enforcement notice says delivered by hand

I am trying to contact my local Councillor.

If you can further advise that would be of great help

[mizzbabyjess]

Hi could someone advise please.

As I am still trying to contact my Councillor.

I have text the bailiff in the meantime as he kept calling, informing him that a payment will be made but direct to Equita, he said thats great have a nice christmas and i have just received a text from him asking for the payment ref no.

[lookinforinfo]

You can find your local councillor by googling-"local councillors" followed by your council name.

 

You do need to get in touch with the councillor asap to sort this bailiff out. He has charged you £110 which is the fee for selling your goods-goods which he

still hasn't taken into control! So that should not be on the bill at all. You can add that to your list of complaints.

[ploddertom]

https://www.writetothem.com/ will tell you the info you need, initial contact by phone is the best way with your Councillor(s) and in my view they should be contactable 7 days per week up until 9pm.

[mizzbabyjess]

Hi, I have spoken to my local Councillor who has asked that I put all details in an email to him, he said that he will then add to it and forward to a cabinet member.

I am just concerned that while this is going on, the bailiff can still try to enforce, The bailiff has called about 4 times today and the last time he called he left a message saying that he has scheduled removals for tomorrow between 10-11am, and to avoid this he needs the ref number of the payment.

I am also going to send the emails to Equita and the council.

If I inform the bailiff that the matter is on hold while it is being looked into, should he adhere to that?

Just very worried.

Would someone be able to help me draft an email as I'm not very good at this.

[ploddertom]

Until such time as the Council step in or the Enforcement Co do then he is quite at liberty to carry on with enforcement. It certainly wouldn't harm to inform him of what you are doing as that way he is then aware he should be doing things correctly. Usually if they give a time they are going to turn up then you can guarantee they won't.

[mizzbabyjess]

Thank you,

I have made a small payment via their online payment, and later I will send him the payment ref no.

I was hoping someone here could help me with drafting an email to the Councillor and equita?

[ploddertom]

He is going to find it excessively difficult to remove any goods if he has not gained peaceful entry to your home & I assume there is nothing of value outside he could take either. If he does call it would certainly be a bad idea to let him in. Regardsless of anything he says he has no automatic right of entry.

[mizzbabyjess]

He has never been in my home and there was never a control of goods, I haven't signed anything at all.

I would never let him in.

The thing is I have never refused to pay i have paid £1200 since September, but he keeps adding fictitious fees, especially the £110 for controlled goods.

He was the one that said in a text to pay Equita direct.

[mizzbabyjess]

So a quick update.

I received a text this morning from the bailiff saying "need ref now otherwise today is the day nothing else can be done"

I am very tempted to pay the last payment direct to the council.

I have now paid £1300 to Equita.

[lookinforinfo]

The trouble with paying Equita is that they retain their fees [including the dodgy ones] before sending on the balance to the Council. So it is the council who don't get what they are entitled to and so they will keep sending the bailiff to get what is outstanding. You do have to resolve how much you actually owe to the Council and that does mean that you are going to have to get your local Councillor and the CEO of the Council involved.

 

The bailiff is trying to scare you. He has no right of entry into your house to take your goods so do not let him in if he calls. You have alread paid £1300 so he

cannot claim you are refusing to pay. But you do now need to start complaining and stop him in his tracks.

The advice you have been given here has constantly said that you must let the Council know that he is trying to overcharge you. And had you done that it may well be that the bailiff would no longer be in contact with you.

[mizzbabyjess]

Hi thank you for your reply.

I got my local councillor involved yesterday, and sent emails to all concerned.

I have just got a voice message from the bailiff saying that he hasn't cancelled the removal of goods as I only paid £50 yesterday, he will be coming at 5 pm with locksmiths, if I want to cancel this I have to pay the who,e outstanding balance by 12.30pm.

Can anyone advise as to what to text back as it is urgent.

Thank you

[ploddertom]

Personally I wouldn't answer = I think you will find he knows that you know he cannot do anything, but if you keep responding he will answer as if he can.

[mizzbabyjess]

Sorry I have sent him a text, before I saw your reply, I have said that my local councillor is involved and taking the matter up with EQUITA and the council, and that it has been suggested that I pay the rest of this months instalment, and pay the final instalment on the 8/12/14 minus the £110 as he has never removed any goods from my property.

[lookinforinfo]

If you really feel that you have to reply to the bailiff then text him saying that his threat to send round a locksmith requires a warrant from the Court and that

would only be carried out if goods had been taken into control and you had paid nothing. As you have almost completed the payments and no goods are under his control it would be a waste of time coming and a strong complaint would be sent to the Council and the Local Government Ombudsman about his conduct and about his company for failing to stop the bailiff from carrying out empty threats. Copy the text to the local Councillor [well done for getting in touch] and the Head of the Council.

[brassnecked]

If you really feel that you have to reply to the bailiff then text him saying that his threat to send round a locksmith requires a warrant from the Court and that

would only be carried out if goods had been taken into control and you had paid nothing. As you have almost completed the payments and no goods are under his control it would be a waste of time coming and a strong complaint would be sent to the Council and the Local Government Ombudsman about his conduct and about his company for failing to stop the bailiff from carrying out empty threats. Copy the text to the local Councillor [well done for getting in touch] and the Head of the Council.

Copy the correspondence to your MP also, it does them good to see how the laws they pass can be ignored misinterpreted and twisted by bailiffs which they tried to make into fluffy bunnies rather than the thugs some of them are by rebranding them as Enforcement Agents..

[mizzbabyjess]

Thank you for all your replies and help.

 

I had already sent a text to the bailiff, before i saw your comments.

i said to the bailiff on text that he had advised in a previous text to pay equita direct, which is what my friend done. I informed him that I had spoken to my local Councillor who is taking this matter up with equita and the council, I told him that my Councillor said that at no time have I ever refused to pay, and the fact that I had already paid £1250 proves that, I said that the Councillor has said that I don't pay the £110 as at no time have goods been removed from my house and no control order.

The bailiff tried to say that i kept breaking arrangements.

I replied and stated again that I have never refused to pay, but that he had in previous texts sent me all different amounts to pay, so I had no choice but to have this looked into.

His reply was ok.

I still have £500 left to pay.