bailiffs and coucil tax help please

ewabuz

i woke up on saturday to find a hand delivered letter from a bailif concerning my council tax. originally including the court costs i owe£473.80. included with this letter was a notice of distress(not signed) detailing my car registretion number and a bailif charge of £187.50 making atotal of £661.30. i have worked out that this is a40% charge. this is the first contact i have had from the bailif on this matter.is this right? also the order is for my partner as well. although my name is correct on the letter, my partners is completely wrong(forename). is this court order enforceable if the details arent correct? anybody who can help please do! ps the car is a banger and worth prob £100 max. everything at home apaert from tv is inventoried. how do we stand on them taking stuff away?

Sue-UU

Hi ewabuz. I can't help you too much I'm afraid as I don't know that much about the bailiff side of things, so I'm bumping your thread so that others with more knowledge can hopefully help you asap.

All the very best.

Sue

Merlinexcalibur

Right, some perspective. It would seem from your post that you have potentially moved without telling your previous council your new address. This is a VITAL piece of information you need to say for anyone to help you on MSE. Because if you have done that the situation is a lot messier and not quite a simply sorted out. But, between the lines of your post, it would seem so. You mention court costs. It seems odd that you'd receive a bailifs letter without actually going to court. Ergo, there is something missing here. Which is why I am merely surmising the address thing. Because, on the face of it, you have been traced to your current address and have had a CCJ issued - which the council can do if they cannot trace your whereabouts and it has reached the point of no return ie court action - if that is so and this is the resultant process.

So, for your own sake, so people can help you properly because you obviously need help to sort this out I'd put as much information as you can. That includes naming the bailifs concerned because it can give others the chance to help you deal with them and what to expect. Has the letter they have left you got a court crest on it? By that a properly watermarked court paper, not a scrap of paper with a photocopied headed court emblem on it. Have you contacted the court on the paper left to verify IF this is genuine.

So, you really need to post whatever you aren't saying for whatever reasons because you won't get the correct help if you don't. Because, logically, something is missing in this process.

So, either you've moved away, not given a forwarding address or fallen behind with your payments. Either way, seems a little strange you've only just been contacted because if you were living at the current address this CTX debt applies to then you WOULD have been contacted by your council to say this was a final default notice - it's 3 strikes and you are out with CTX wherever you live in the UK - and fined a default fee in that letter. Failure to pay that or acknowledge then leads logically to court. So, as this is missing from your post I must assume it is the former.

So, what I am trying to point out to you for your own sake, to get the correct help is give more information and give the truth. Whether or not you are embarassed by it. Because people can't help you without the full facts.

If anything I have just said sounds harsh it is nothing to what could happen in a court situation if you didn't give everything upfront. There is a process that has to be gone through before bailifs are involved. This is missing from your post. Please clarify it so people can properly help you. Not harsh, just putting it plainly. And that is nothing to how harsh a judge would be if the full facts weren't presented. So I am also trying to help you.

mopsey123

ewabuz wrote: »

i woke up on saturday to find a hand delivered letter from a bailif concerning my council tax. originally including the court costs i owe£473.80. included with this letter was a notice of distress(not signed) detailing my car registretion number and a bailif charge of £187.50 making atotal of £661.30. i have worked out that this is a40% charge. this is the first contact i have had from the bailif on this matter.is this right? also the order is for my partner as well. although my name is correct on the letter, my partners is completely wrong(forename). is this court order enforceable if the details arent correct? anybody who can help please do! ps the car is a banger and worth prob £100 max. everything at home apaert from tv is inventoried. how do we stand on them taking stuff away?

First off, The baliffs can not break into your property and also do not let them in, I am going through the same problem as you are. The fee they are charging you is illegal, The first visit should be £24.50 and second £14.00, Do not let them bully you into paying. I spoke to the debt advice line 08088084000 they were very helpful and sent me out a info pack. By law they have got to let you pay in stallments, If not they debt will go back to the council.

RAS

ewubuz

The bailiff has attempted to levy on your car - the big advantage of this from his point of view being that he can charge you an extra fee and can take the car away if you do not cough up.

The following website is from one of our regular posters, Herbie21. Although it is a company website, you will find some excellent advice:

http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk

This lists the fees that can be charged for first and second visits..

Please note that a lot of the so called bailiffs who have been visiting people recently are not registered and if this is the case, you do not have to pay the fees.

if you PM Herbie21 with the names of the people who have posted these threats to Herbie21 and the company name, she can check if they are allowed to charge the fees.

If the car is on HP or it is needed for work, he cannt levy on it.

Herbie21

ewabuz wrote: »

i woke up on saturday to find a hand delivered letter from a bailif concerning my council tax. originally including the court costs i owe£473.80. included with this letter was a notice of distress(not signed) detailing my car registretion number and a bailif charge of £187.50 making atotal of £661.30. i have worked out that this is a40% charge. this is the first contact i have had from the bailif on this matter.is this right?

Wrong fees. The purpose of the visit is to levy on goods and that is what has been done. In that case only a levy fee may be applied which would bee approx £30. This bailiff has instead attempted to charge an "attending to remove fee"

The bailiff should have left you a Notice of Seizure which he should have signed.


also the order is for my partner as well. although my name is correct on the letter, my partners is completely wrong(forename). is this court order enforceable if the details arent correct? anybody who can help please do!

This is not sufficient to rule the order unenforceable.


ps the car is a banger and worth prob £100 max. everything at home apaert from tv is inventoried. how do we stand on them taking stuff away?

This is vitally important because the regulations provide that a bailiff may levy on goods but that the levy MUST cover the outstanding debt AND bailiff fees.


I wlll try to put together a template letter for you.

.

ewabuz

they have promised 2 come back this week. how is the best way 2 proceed with them. i have recently become unemployed and doesnt look good 2 b back in employment any time soon. how much can they accept as a repayment say weekly? i am still worried about their charge. i can understand if they had been chasing me but this is their 1st contact with me. court order was from late december. can this charge be reduced or am i wasting my breath?