Need help - Bailiffs and Council Tax Arrears

hallowitch · 31 January 2012 at 1:21PM

Distillerdude wrote: »

Here's a turn up!

Had a phone call from someone at Phoenix apologising for any distress and telling me that they've just sent me an email with their payment proposals. They also said that there should not have been a £200 "attending fee" and that only the standard £42.50 fees should have been added.

I checked my email and found the following from Phoenix:

[FONT=&quot]Good Morning,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Please find attached letters detailing a breakdown of your account. We are able to offer you a 10 month arrangement on the account, the payments will be £102.87 per month. Please contact us by return to set this arrangement up. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Once the arrangement is set up on the account no further recovery action will be taken unless the arrangement is broken.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Regards[/FONT]

They've also included an attachment breakdown of the total amount made up as follows:
Debt: £1436.25
Court Fees: £0.00
Bailiff Charges: £42.50
Payments received: £450.00

TOTAL DUE: £1,028.75

Sounds like an excellent result to me! I feel like I want to accept their offer and then accelerate payments to them as I already planned to. Let me know what you guys think!

well well well ever had the feeling this thread is being read by PNX or they have had there fingers well and truly rapped by the council :rotfl::rotfl:

Never have i ever in the 4 years i have been doing this have i seen of a bailiff firm/local authority accepting less than they were offered almost £150 a month less now thats a result :T:T:T

For your wifes sake i think you should agree on the understanding that payment will be made by standing order only and no payment fees will be be incurred for payment (as per regulations the distress for rent rules 1988 )
Fees, Charges and Expenses
10. No person shall be entitled to charge, or recover from, a tenant any fees, charges or expenses for levying a distress

, or for doing any act or thing in relation thereto, other than those authorised by the tables in Appendix 1 to these Rules.

you make dam sure you write to reach your account by (date of each month)

If you are going to pay the £250 every month remember that if you cant pay £102 one month they wont take previous overpayment into account
Get everything in writing

RAS · 31 January 2012 at 3:53PM

Hi

great news

They are not really entitled to the £42.50 since the bailiff is not even registered to them but get the SO set up and argue that out later.

Herbie21 · 7 February 2012 at 9:49AM

I have read this thread with interest and once again...excellent advice from Hallowitch and RAS.
What never ceases to amaze me is that local authorities are forgetting that THEY are wholly responsible for the levy and fees charged by THEIR agents and they cannot walk away from their responsibility.

Furthermore, when challenged, the bailiff company appear to "claim" that the fee charged was an "error"

IT WAS NOT AN ERROR AT ALL!!!!

The bailiff knows that under section 10 of the Distress for Rent Rules 1988 it specifically states that he MUST NOT charge ANY FEES OTHER than those provided for under the statutory regulations and he would know that the "fees" are those relating to the enforcement of unpaid council tax and this clearly provides that he can charge a fee of £24.50 for "attending to levy" (where no levy was made.

He will know that he can charge a 2nd visit fee for "attending to levy" of £18.00 but most importantly, HE KNOWS that UNLESS he has been able to "levy" upon goods, that he cannot charge any more fees to this particular account.

Therefore, HE KNOWS that he should not be charging an "enforcement fee" of £200 and to do so, in my opinion is to DECEIVE THE DEBTOR and to attempt to obtain money by sheer and utter deception.

When challenged, the bailiff company will claim that an "error" was made (which is nonsense) and debtors almost routinely accept that this was an "error" and take no further action.

HappyMJ · 11 May 2012 at 6:22PM

You really should start a new thread...easy enough to do just copy and paste your post in a new thread and come back here and delete this post.

lostdreamz · 28 September 2012 at 10:01AM

Wow, this forum helped me alot, thank you all so much.
I had exactly the same problem and I sent the drafted letter on here to my council who accepted my payment offer direct and have asked to see a copy of the letter left by my bailiff showing £200 fee when there was no levy of goods.

I have another issue though.... The bailiff that visited my property (Mr Sean Murphy) is not on the bailiff register. Can I do anything with regards to Phoenix breaking Data Protection??
It is about time they had somebody take things seriously with them to stop this happening to others.

Any help would be gratefull.

hallowitch · 28 September 2012 at 11:22AM

lostdreamz wrote: »

Wow, this forum helped me alot, thank you all so much.
I had exactly the same problem and I sent the drafted letter on here to my council who accepted my payment offer direct and have asked to see a copy of the letter left by my bailiff showing £200 fee when there was no levy of goods.

I have another issue though.... The bailiff that visited my property (Mr Sean Murphy) is not on the bailiff register. Can I do anything with regards to Phoenix breaking Data Protection??
It is about time they had somebody take things seriously with them to stop this happening to others.

Any help would be gratefull.

there are 5 certificated bailiffs with the name Murphy no Sean and none working with Phoenix

the bailiff register can be a bit hit and miss as its not always up to date
send him a text and ask what court he is certificated at on what date and to which bailiff firm if any (he may be self employed) if he has nothing to hide he should be happy to provide this information and/ or phone the MOJ on 020 3334 6355

when you find out for sure whether he is certificated or not we will be able to help you take the next step

lostdreamz · 29 September 2012 at 7:29AM

hallowitch wrote: »

there are 5 certificated bailiffs with the name Murphy no Sean and none working with Phoenix

the bailiff register can be a bit hit and miss as its not always up to date
send him a text and ask what court he is certificated at on what date and to which bailiff firm if any (he may be self employed) if he has nothing to hide he should be happy to provide this information and/ or phone the MOJ on 020 3334 6355

when you find out for sure whether he is certificated or not we will be able to help you take the next step

Thank you Hallowitch, I will give them a call Monday and let you know.

lostdreamz · 8 October 2012 at 8:06PM

hallowitch wrote: »

there are 5 certificated bailiffs with the name Murphy no Sean and none working with Phoenix

the bailiff register can be a bit hit and miss as its not always up to date
send him a text and ask what court he is certificated at on what date and to which bailiff firm if any (he may be self employed) if he has nothing to hide he should be happy to provide this information and/ or phone the MOJ on 020 3334 6355

when you find out for sure whether he is certificated or not we will be able to help you take the next step

Sorry for the delay.
I spoke to the MOJ on the Monday and the lady agreed that Mr Sean Murphy was not on the register. She also asked me to send an email to the MOJ requesting they confirm this. I sent the email straight away, as it is nearly a week since sending the email and not hearing anything back, I do not know what to do. I can only assume that ater checking myself again that he is certainly not registered.

As I said before the issue wit the council is resolved as they accepted my payment direct to them themselves however, I do not see why Phoenix should get away with this constantly, and I want to try and hit them hard.

cashmir86 · 3 November 2012 at 8:21PM

Hi everyone,

I really need some help. So here's the deal. The lady I stayed with in London received a letter from the bailiffs regarding some outstanding council tax worth 460 quid.
After trying to remember what this what relating to as this dates back to 2010(!!!!!) I realized that is with reference to a flat I used to live in. We were 4 tenants with our names on the council tax bill but we all moved out at different times. I believe that the last flat mate did not take our names of the council tax bill or didn't notify them that we are moving out. We paid all our bill until we moved out. Problem is that obviously our names were on it. All tenants now live abroad. Im a german citizen and currently residing in the US. But I have contact to the lady in the flat who got the letter. She called the bailiffs and informed them that I visited her but do not live there anymore.
Now they told her that they would have come in and inspect the flat which I quite frankly don't think they have the authority to just walk into a flat just because I had mail sent to that flat.

She is freaking out as am I. Im worried that this will have legal implications and that my visa for the us will be jeopardized. Please help me.

I only have an email confirming that I rented out a different property from 2 months after I moved out but we never bothered to change the names for the council tax bill and I have absolutely no documents anymore on me. I threw everything out.

Please help me! I have no idea what to do

liltdiddylilt · 3 November 2012 at 8:46PM

Hi

I really feel for you. I was in a very similar situation to this. I thought my council tax was on DD but it turned out it had not set up properly & because of this, didn't ever open the letters from the council as I assumed they were the same as the gas & electric, just statements. It was only when I had a letter from a bailiff that I went back through my neatly filed envelopes & realised I had been taken to court & had £160 charged for that privilege. I couldn't even begin to pay the £1200 they were requesting, so contacted the council in complete and utter panic. I didn't even bother engaging the bailiffs.

The council accepted a payment plan from me and THEY ARE ABLE to take the case back from the bailiffs. You need to contact them again & if they do not do anything on the phone, you need it escalating, and do not accept no for an answer. Go into the council in person if you can, as that is what I did.

In the meantime, lock all doors and windows, make sure if you have a back gate or anything, it is locked, and tell your wife not to answer the door under any circumstances. If it is someone she knows, they can call in advance! She is under no obligation to answer the door. It may cause her some distress to have them repeatedly banging on the door and shouting, but they will go away. Better that, than having them barge through the door next time.

Also make sure that if she has to go out, or goes for a walk with your son etc, then she makes sure everything is locked up tight. They could be watching and waiting.

They sound like rogues to me. Maybe call the local police station (not 999, search for the landline number of your local) and ask to speak to someone about harassment from these people. Hopefully they can help or give advice, and at least acknowledge the complaint! Let them know of the wrongful charges and that you cannot find the mans license issued under this company.

Most of all, good luck & try not to worry. The council want their money back at the end of the day, not to cause you trouble. Keep paying!

Lily

Need help - Bailiffs and Council Tax Arrears

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