Had a baliff letter

simonts

Got home yesterday to find a bayliff letter from chandlers for unpaid council tax.

to be fair its totally my fault and ive had my head in the sand over it.

I owe the council about £500 from last year which I should be able to muster up but through not opening council looking letters I missed a court summons in Feb.

I really dont like the idea of a letter through the door and someone with a mobile taking my card details...Am i entitled to go to the council and pay them cutting out the bayliff?

I did try and ring the council but after 25 minutes on hold I gave up

CCCS_Sarah

Hello,

The council may not accept the payment as the debt has been passed over to the bailiffs however it’s worth a try.

It’s really important you get this sorted as soon as possible.

Good Luck

Sarah

fatbelly

My Council accepts online payment by credit card. Don't they all?

I can't see that your payments would be refused.

There will be some costs to pay and you should really talk to someone to establish exactly how much you owe now

dancingfairy

Council tax is a different animal. It ranks up there with rent and mortgage,water and electric I think. You really need to get in touch with the council. If that doesn't help you will need to get in touch with CCCS or Payplan or CAB as you may have to suspend or reduce payments to some of your creditors to pay the council tax due to the seriousness of ignoring it.

simonts

Thanks guys and girls.

I spoke to the council this morning and have paid £200 of the £248 outstanding for this year..will pay the £48 outstanding next week. they have agreed to allow me to continue by direct debit and have extended the payments into march to reduce the amount a bit.

That just leaves the bayliff Chandlers? The council have forwarded the debt of £473 and there is a statutory fee of £24.50

Do I have to go through this person and mobile number? I dont like the idea of handing card details over to some random person!

dancingfairy

I'm not sure but you are doing the right thing tackling it head on. Hope someone can help with regards to the baiiff payments.

Are the council prepared to take the debt 'back in house'? If so and you could just pay the £24.50 and then just deal with the council... I also would not like to hand my card details over.

Good Luck with getting it sorted.

**Amy**

Hiya

Re: the payments, would it be feasable to send a cheque, or even ask them for giro slips? Im not sure if they do this, but would be better then giving them your card details.

x

simonts

No the council said I would have to deal with the Bailiff, Its because otherwise if they pull the debt back the bailiff would expect the council to pay fees.

I'm just gonna try and get the amount paid today and move on...its very stressful but i am more than happy to leave my German Shepherd in the hallway if they fancy knocking again before I have paid.

And the house is locked up tighter than fort knox

Glitterari

If you do have to deal with the bailiffs, when it comes to the bailiff's fees, make sure you ask for a breakdown of all the fees before you pay them - council tax bailiffs MUST follow statutory fees and cannot add whatever they feel like. This is very important - my mum had not paid her council tax and it was passed onto bailiffs. The bailiffs wanted to charge a ridiculous amount in fees (once the council tax debt had been paid off); turns out they were trying to add fees that were not in line with the statutory fees. They cannot do this. When I wrote to them on mum's behalf refusing to pay up until we had a break down of fees and the bailiffs licence number (therefore indicating that we knew what they were up to) surprise surprise mum suddenly did not owe them a penny. This was about 2 years ago, so my memory is a little hazy about it but if you want more info about it PM me and i can maybe help out about it.

simonts

Well I have paid up the full amount, the only charge was £25.40 which seems standard...just rathered it over and done with than worrying about where my car was parked etc!

thanks for the advice everyone!

Glitterari

Is there not an address you can send a cheque to for the £25.40? then the matter would be closed? Does the letter specify you must deal direct with the bailiff? I'm sure my mums bailiff you could call the company direct or the bailiff.