Disagree Bailiff Charges - What to do?

[notherbailiffvictim!]

Hi everyone, i am new to this. Never posted anywhere before. Been reading some posts and impreesed with site. You seem like a friendly bunch who can offer some real help. So here goes.......In a nutshell, i owed £880 council tax. Foolishly allowed situation to go as far as bailiff knocking on door (did not answer). He put through door a removal of goods notice - which stated that i owed £1,072 and he had called that day with intention to remove possessions and that he would be re-attending on 26 March and may remove goods even in my absence. I am not sure if he has ever called before when i may have genuinly been out.

I called my local coucil and paid them the £880 by card (i borrowed the money off my parents). They say the remaining £192 is the bailiffs charges and Newlyns will still hound me for that. I said i dont think the charges are correct and they said i need to take that up with Newlyns. (during the conversation the man i spoke to mentioned he had records on his screen saying that bailiffs had called 13 feb. Again 26 feb and left a levy notice on our car..quoted registration number.....which was incorrect. On this date they were chasing £967. ...£87 charges. Then they called on 22 march..this is the only one i am aware of...and left the removal of goods notice aforementioned above and are now chasing £1,072 ...£105 more added charges.

Phew...sorry this is hard to put into words. Hope it is making sense.

4th April i have received a letter from Newlyns informing me of a balance adjustment and that i still owe their client £192.

 

Where to go from here?

 

All i think of is writing to Newlyns and requesting a full breakdown of these charges. Which i have told them i am going to do...they have put a hold on the account for 10 days. But because of what the man at the council said i am obviously concerned that they are going to charge me for things that havent actually occured...ie the levy on the unknown car. I dont think i'll be able to sort all this out in 10 days. When the 10 days is up what if they come round and again and get the correct number plate of our car? I suppose what i am concerned about is what more they can do while i try and sort this out....more visits, more charges, taking stuff from my easily accessible garden....or taking my car??

 

I have no problem paying them what i owe as long as it is fair.

I am so stressed out by this situation. I am a worrier by nature and suffer with anxiety under normal circumstances. I am keeping curtains shut, afraid to answer the door, afraid to leave the kids at home in case they call when im out (aged 13-14) and they take advantage of them...

 

Anyway the great thing about this site is that i dont feel alone....so many people are suffering at the hands of these awful people!

 

Any comments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated and i thank you in advance for your support.

 

Oh and i notice that several times i have read in other posts that there are templates available for writing letters...i could really use one of those as you can probably tell by now i am not very good at wording things well!!!

[KJD]

Hi NBV,

 

You are right in requesting full breakdown of their charges. Someone will advise whether this has to be in the form of a Subject Access Request and needs to be accompanied by £10.00. The template can be found in the bank charges section of this site - just tailor it to show your / bailiffs details.

 

Years ago I had bailiffs turn up for less than £30 council tax which seriously rose due to their fees. This site wasn't around then The day it came to a head was when I was sat in my lounge, saw a bloke loitering outside my house, and then later a letter was put through my door. It was a walking possession order for the contents of my house! First I'd heard of them! Even the CAB couldn't get the bailiff to admit he was wrong - his reply was "your window was open, I could have just climbed in!"

 

Someone with more sound advice will be along later. In the meantime, try to relax. (Closed curtains, not answering the door.. been there for quite a long time. As have so many others on this site. Small comfort I know, but just shows you're not on your own now!)

[falcon185]

Hiya,

you dont have to send the Bailiffs an SAR or £10. If you request a breakdown of their charges they are obliged to provide it to you free of charge.

The Fees should be no more than £39 in total. £22.50 for the first visit, £16.50 for the second, they cannot charge for any more visits unless a levy is made, to do that they have to gain entry to your home, you are within your rights to refuse entry. As for the car, they cannot charge you for the levy as the vehicle they levied against is NOT yours. Their mistake not yours but I would park elsewhere for the foreseeable future in case they return until this is sorted out. For a bill of approx £200, levying against a car would be seen as excessive IMHO especially if the car is worth a few K.

Hope this helps

[notherbailiffvictim!]

Thankyou so much for your replies. Have sent letter off today recorded delivery requesting breakdown, and sent copy to council. Spoke to someone at Newlyns today, they said they've put a hold on the account for 10 days so i hope they reply quickly. Will post again when they do.

[Spandavia]

Thankyou so much for your replies. Have sent letter off today recorded delivery requesting breakdown, and sent copy to council. Spoke to someone at Newlyns today, they said they've put a hold on the account for 10 days so i hope they reply quickly. Will post again when they do.

 

Hi,

 

We may be able to help as we have experienced a similar situation with the same company and the local council. We have proved they acted illegaly with regard to charges and that this was endorsed by the council. We also have evidence that the system they operate to record details in support of their charges and visits is fundamentally flawed and open to mis-use - which is a criminal offence.

 

If you PM me with contact details we'll see if we can help.

 

best wishes

 

Span.

 

p.s. if you click o my name and then read my first entry you'll see that I understand exactly how you feel!