council tax bailiff

[alymac]

my girlfriend who is a third party to this was approached by a council tax bailiff last November, and was only left alone when she proved who she was and had no involvement.

 

this was regarding a unpaid council tax bill of £700 which my ex girlfriend.

 

i had to write to the council concerned to verify that i did in fact owe this money.

 

the bailiffs came back yesterday when i was at work and spoke with my gf who did not ask him him but came in on his own accord.

 

after my gf saying she had nothing to do with it, he still carried on talking to her about my debt with i believe to be in breach of the dpa.

 

he made inventory of the good which is incorrect.

 

i paid the full amount of yesterday on line direct to the council, minus the bailiff fee.

 

i did phone the information commissioners office today, regarding the breach in my dpa who did say that they should have not done this, then spoke to the bailiffs office who say they can sec 29 (3), then went back to the ico who told me the same again.

 

what i need now to know is.

 

1. was this a breach of my data?

2. what powers do the bailiffs have now there is no outstanding council tax, only there fees?

[Bailiffchaser]

If the council tax has been paid then the bailiffs have no authority coming around. get a written letter of the council confirming that the liability order has been returned and also did your gf sign anything ?

[alymac]

only just got this out of my gf, bailiff took her work details and her mobile phone number. this has made me more mad than before. she said only signed this form with her details on it, which she is a third party.

[Bailiffchaser]

she has signed a walking posession. Did she actually see what she signed ?

[alymac]

can anyone clarify if the bailiff can speak to a third party who is not named in the debt?

 

can the bailiff take a third party's work details and her phone number?

 

the debt is now paid ed minus the bailiff's fees what powers does the bailiff have to collect his fees, payment made on line direct to the council.

 

does the bailiff have to leave a copy off the enforcement regulations and there fees?

[xiona]

bump???????

[xiona]

bump???????????????

[xiona]

I'm in a similar situation to Alymac, where 3rd party has knowledge, despite searching allrelevant sites on data Pro. and the bailiffs I cannot find whether they have breached the law. IMO they have, a party who is not involved in the debt should have not have had their particulars taken. Local authorities seem to be above the Law? Anyone know????

[falcon185]

Hi alymac, Bailiffs have a code of conduct regulated by the OFT I believe, try reading through this thread, it may make it clearer what breaches they have made or improper conduct they have used.

Examples of codes of conduct

 

 

Hope it helps!

[Guest MizzPiggy]

Dear Alymac,

 

To answer your first question, the Bailiff fees must be paid. Unfortunately the system is that they are usually paid first before the money is paid to the council so in this matter, yes the fees still need to be paid to the Bailiff Company/Bailiff. The Council if you have paid the money, may well reject the payment as it is minus the Bailiff fees.

 

I urge you to check as I am sure you do not want the issue to return.

 

Secondly...Bailiffs, despite all that is stated are able to question neighbors etc to whether you still live there and ask questions in relation to this to establish whether the debt is collectable or not. However.......

 

1) The Bailiff had no right to enter the premises and levy on an inventory as the debt from what I understand is not yours but your ex's.

2) The Bailiff had no right to enter if the warrant was not in your name.

3) The Bailiff has no right to discuss the matter with anyone but you.

 

Unfortunately, the OFT rules around this are to cover civil debts not in fact the Bailiff Industry and their behaviours. This is more so for their own regulating bodies, ESA and the ACEA.( Don't hold you breath in waiting for action or help though from the above...).

 

Where to go and what to do?

 

1) Call the Council and find out whose name the warrant was in.

 

If the warrant was not in your name and only your ex's, you would have a claim against the Bailiff and their Company for trespass and the Council for instruction.

 

If the warrant did have your name on it, don't give up hope, the behaviours were still not ok!

 

2) Council Tax Bailiffs must be certificated to collect and a formal complaint about his actions can be made by making a complaint to the court that he is certificated at. To do this you will first need to check if he is certificated. This can be done by phoning 0207 210 0516 and giving the Bailiffs name and Company he works for.

Once you know that he is Certificated, then you can download the Complaints form at http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/form4_0606.pdf

 

fill it in and send it to the court.

 

If he is not certificated, then please ask for more information!

 

If you need help, please feel free to ask or contact me.

 

Alison

[funbint]

Which company dont tell me Rossendales..........

[alymac]

this is were I'm at, the council tax has been paid in full direct to the council, who are not going to sent the payment back.

 

i do have issues with the conduct of the bailiffs in which the way they have gone about serving this debt.

 

i have complain to the council who has forwarded my complaint to the bailiffs company, i received they response today which never answered any of my concerns saying they acted properly.

 

1, they turned one day as my new non liable girlfriend was leaving to go to work, he addressed her with my ex gf's name, which new gf replied no, he carried on accusing her of being my ex, and told her that he was there to collect unpaid ct, he did not let off until new gf showed him her id.

 

2, he left with out serving any documents about this debt or company details,

 

3, second visit, different bailiff but did address gf with here correct name, asked to complete paper work and has she turned to get pen he followed her in,

 

4, this time did a levy on goods in the house, which must belong to new gf anyway,

 

5, can he do a levy on goods when there is no person on the warrant present,no signatures on the levy.

 

6, also this is what i find disturbing, he took my new gf's work details down and her phone number on a matter she has no liability.

 

7, they charge 4% on all card transactions.

 

8, still writing to me with both mine and ex gf name,

 

9, are their fees still enforceable with the same virgor as there is no council tax outstanding.

 

10. can they write to you stating that they have now instructed a auctioneers ti advertise you goods, clearly this is only intended to scare you into paying,

 

11,is this levy still enforceable as is dated 4/1/2007 and there is no outstanding tax.

 

12, can they add more fees to this if i hold payment

[welly_59]

i'm not sure how they enforce council tax arrears but i do know that i had a case with the baillifs and their extortionate fees.

 

I had magistrates fine which i forgot to pay as i had a lot of others debts to pay at the same time. bailiffs sent me a letter and charged me £50 for the privilige. They then came to my house at 5am in the morning and posted a letter through the door saying that they had called but i was not there so they charged me £60 'visiting fees'. i know they knocked the door that time in the morning as i was getting up for work!

 

i phoned up the bailiffs office and said i would pay the fine but will not pay their fee's. after a bit of a conversation with the lady on the phone she said 'hang on a sec...' and turned the recorder off and started speaking to me again. basically she said to send a cheque in as payment of the fine minus the bailiffs fee's and include a letter stating 'this payment is for ONLY THE FINE not the bailiff fee's'. she went on to say that they do not chase up payment of fee's.

 

i dont know if your bailiff company will work the same though