Bailiff advise please

RobertoMoir

the_chauffer wrote: »

The thing is yesterday a bailiff came round and posted a letter saying we owed them the money. He must hardly knocked, as I didnt hear it and I was in when he called. My partner deals with all the financial related stuff and was working, so didnt have time to call.

I guess they do that for two reasons - one they might have a lot of calls to do, secondly they can put that down as a first visit and charge a fee for it, with the potential for additional fees on top when they call back.

the_chauffer wrote: »

So today he called again, once again I didnt hear him knock and again I was in. So Im not even sure he did knock.

That comes under "bit naughty but good luck with proving that" in my book. Got to be practical here.

the_chauffer wrote: »

So again he put a letter through the door. But this time he has put on the normal extra charges, PLUS charged a 'walk in fee', and put my car down on the Inventory.

Can they even do this I mean with out me singing for the walk in or without me knowing he has been?.

No they bloody well can't.

Is the car yours free and clear? Is there hire purchase on it, or anything like that?

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING, DO NOT RETURN ANYTHING TO THE BAILIFFS.

Contact the council, and inform them of exactly what has happened, and that you believe the levy to therefore be invalid. You have to agree to a walking possession at the time the levy is made, if I remember rightly, and they clearly can't charge a fee for this if they don't have your agreement to it.

If the person you speak to at the council is unhelpful, don't accept their answer. Go higher, go to your local councillor if you have to. As RAS says, given your unfortunate family circumstances, the council should hopefully look at this with some measure of sympathy - they are required to be quite hard hearted about recovering these types of debts but there is still room for them to make allowances for genuine problems like that.

As such, suggest to them that you _are_ obviously willing to deal with the council over any outstanding money, but not the bailiffs due to their behaviour.

RobertoMoir

rog2 wrote: »

He should not charge a levy fee as you did not agree to, or sign, any agreement.

If the car is needed for your work, or if it is the subject of an HP agreement, then he should NOT take the car.

You should have received a letter giving you 14 days notice of his intended visit.

Actually you can charge the levy fee for levying with or without the agreement of the debtor to do so. Remember the point of debt recovery via bailiffs is to enforce a court order, not polite discussion.

The walking possession fee, however, is well naughty when the debtor hasn't agreed to and signed the WP at the time. IIRC that should invalidate the whole levy.

rog2

iwanttosave wrote: »

I'm actually shaking while I'm typing this, bailiffs and just the thought of them bring out my anxiety, I can't even normally read threads on here about them because they cause me to panic so as you can imagine I'm quite disressed about this. I don't mind paying it, its our debt, however I do not want him coming into my house and preferablly I would prefer my local council to be dealing with it.

Hi wanty - I know it is easy for me to say, but please don't worry too much. You have been given some good advice and you need to follow it:

Talk to your Council - don't let them say that the matter is out of their hands and that you must deal, only, with the Bailiff. Threaten to go, indeed go, to your councillor if you meet any resistance.

Do NOT, please, allow the Bailiff in, under any circumstances - they will often try to gain entry by asking to use the phone/loo or by convincing you that it is better to 'discuss the matter in the privacy of your house, rather than in front of the neighbours'.

IF the Bailiff calls again - repeat your offer. To be honest, most bailiffs are very rarely interested in'siezing' your goods if there is a 'cash' alternative. Goods, when siezed, fetch only a fraction of their true value at auction, plus there is the cost of removal, storage etc.

You really do need to get some professional advice regarding the lack of a Magistrate's Court summons and to check on the situation regarding your car, as, if it is the subject of a hire purchase agreement, then it can not be siezed.

Hopefully, as the woman at his office said, if he can not gain peaceful entry on his next 'visit' he will pass the matter back to the Council.

And, please PM Herbie.

iwanttosave_2

Hi, I have PMed Herbie and still waiting to hear back, I expect she is pretty busy.

The car isn't subject to HP, however, can they really seize it even if the levy hasn't been signed or agreed to? I'm going to give my council tax office a call later and if I get nowhere I'll have to contact my MP, I am going to be short on time though with it going over the weekend. I really don't want to contact the bailif, just the thought of it fills me with dread.

rog2

iwanttosave wrote: »

I really don't want to contact the bailif, just the thought of it fills me with dread.

I am sure Herbie will get back to you very soon.

In the meantime - don't contact the bailiff. If he reappears don't allow him in to your house.

RobertoMoir

iwanttosave wrote: »

Hi, I have PMed Herbie and still waiting to hear back, I expect she is pretty busy.

The car isn't subject to HP, however, can they really seize it even if the levy hasn't been signed or agreed to?

Of course they can seize goods without the debtor's permission. The whole initial point of bailiffs was / is to recover debt when the person owing the debt might not be able or want to pay by normal means.

As I've already said, however, the problem isn't with the levy itself, if they'd stopped there they would actually be fine. However, the walking possession... you know what, I've already written about that, I won't repeat what I said.

iwanttosave wrote: »

I'm going to give my council tax office a call later and if I get nowhere I'll have to contact my MP, I am going to be short on time though with it going over the weekend. I really don't want to contact the bailif, just the thought of it fills me with dread.

Then don't contact the bailiff.

Speak to the council tax office - point out to them that the levy is invalid due to problems with the walking possession, as I've already said. Tell them of the personal circumstances that caused your initial problems, and ask them to take the debt back from the bailiff, as the levy is unenforceable and the bailiffs have tried to add illegal fees to the debt.

If they give you problems still, assuming you want something useful to happen, don't contact your MP, contact your local councillor. I know they're "all politicians" but they deal with different things, much like the police, coastguard, ambulances and the fire brigade might be "all emergency services" but you don't phone for the coastguard when your kitchen is on fire.

iwanttosave_2

Ok so I legged it home thinking my council offices would be open till half 5 and they're not. I had myself all psyched up as well. :rolleyes:

So (sorry, I know I'm repeating everything but I just need to get it straight in my head because I know I will crumble on the phone) I will need to use my first break at work to somehow phone the offices on Monday and request that the debt be brought back to them, I didn't contact them in time due to extenuating circumstances and fully acknowledge the debt however would like them to deal with it, also mentioning the levy is invalid because we hadn't agreed to it and offer a payment plan. Would it be worth mentioning my anxiety? Previous trouble with a bad bailiff ended up adding to stress and having to see a therapist, not sure if this would look like I'm after a sympathy vote though.

If I don't get anywhere with them go to councillor and outline all of the above. I don't have a clue who my local councillor is, apparently we have 51 in our area according to my council website, not sure what ward I'm under, nor which "party" I should go to. I only mentioned my MP because my friend had trouble with a bailiff trying to bully her into paying £50 a week when she was on income support and they phoned them up and dealt with it completely, although I suppose that was dealing with the bailiff rather than the coucil themselves.

You've all been fab help though so thank you so much for it, its made it a little easier, I've hardly been able to sleep or eat and just feel like I'm going to be sick all the time, I suppose it sounds stupid but from a past experiance it has really made me fear bailiffs.

RAS

Hi

Is your local library open on Saturday? They will know who the local councillor is (are as some have three per area), their contact details and probably if they have a surgery tomorrow and where. Get in first thing tomorrow or ring the library.

iwanttosave_2

I work over the weekend as well, I work till 6.30 tommorrow.

I've just been going through all the maps and stuff on my council website and I've found my ward and they're all conservative. There is actually one based at the town hall so he might be a good one to try.


Edit:
OMG!!!!, according one of the guys pages he has a surgery tonight about 5 minutes from my house till 6:45pm, I'm going to phone up and double check but do you think it would be ok to go over the councils head and go straight to him now?

RAS

Just turn up there if you cannot get a call. Absolutely you need to go NOW.

At least he might get a halt on action until the matter is considered further.