Swirling in and out of debt

tealady

Hi If you have any problems with bailiffs just PM Herbie 21.
Keep paying the Council Tax no matter what happens and if you ever have a pound or two to spare pay that in as well.
Get receipts for EVERY payment.
I would also sign up for online banking, it is so easy to keep tabs on your money, I'm a recent convert and love it.

debttornado

Hi Tealady,

Thanks for that. I have tried to PM but the inbox is full at the moment.

We are going to try to pay the full amount tomorrow, but direct to the council. I will do it online so it will give me an automatic receipt.

The bailiff said they would take their fees first if we pay them (they also said I wasn't allowed to pay the council and that I was a liar!!!). Their fees are well over the odds, so I'm certainly not paying anything to them until I have a full, accurate breakdown of what the fees are.

RobertoMoir

Speak to the council about the illegal fees being added to the debt and ask them to take the debt back on those grounds. The bailiffs absolutely cannot charge a van fee without a levy having previously been made.

See if you can complain to the court that issued the liability order, and if you have the name of the bailiff, to the court where their bailiff's general certificate was issued.

debttornado

Thanks, I had a feeling that the van fee was illegal, as the guy on the phone also mentioned fees for letters which I know are not allowed.

I am planning to send a copy of the letter to the council and will call them next week when we have made a payment. When I spoke to them in the past they were very unhelpful, so I think they may be more amenable when I have paid at least part of the debt.

Is the letter ok?

debttornado

Phew, I've been busy.

Sent letter to bailiffs recorded delivery.

Spoke to old council about bailiff and tax. They won't recall it until we have been through the bailiffs' complaints proceedure. They have made a note of my concerns and confirmed that the rest that we owe is only at the demand stage :j , so it looks like we can avoid another Liability Order. Sent a letter and copy of bailiff letter to them.

Sent a letter with payment proposal to current council.

Listed £100 of books on Amazon.

OH negotiated missing loan payments with our loan co so we can pay more to the CTax.

Looking forward to tomorrow so I can update my sig to show what we have started to clear already!

Now I'm having a nice coffee and a biscuit :coffee: while I plan my next move.

RobertoMoir

debttornado wrote: »

Spoke to old council about bailiff and tax. They won't recall it until we have been through the bailiffs' complaints proceedure.

Phone them back and ask them which court issued the liability order, as you wish to complain to the court about the bailiff attempting to charge illegal fees and the council's failure to ensure that their contractors behave in an appropriate manner. I know you probably know the court concerned already, but getting the information from them and explaining why makes a point to them about how unhappy you are about being pushed around. Also ask for the council's own complaints procedure and use it to complain about the council's contractors attempting to charge you illegal fees and also about the council's total indifference to its contractors breaking the law. I'd also contact your local councillor to ask them about this too. Don't dither... do it. We'll soon have them begging you to let them take the debt back from the bailiffs and drop your complaints.

Definitely try and find out if the bailiff whose name is on any paperwork you have is in fact entitled to enforce council tax LOs. Herbie can help with this last one.

Herbie21

RobertoMoir wrote: »

Phone them back and ask them which court issued the liability order, as you wish to complain to the court about the bailiff attempting to charge illegal fees and the council's failure to ensure that their contractors behave in an appropriate manner. I know you probably know the court concerned already, but getting the information from them and explaining why makes a point to them about how unhappy you are about being pushed around. Also ask for the council's own complaints procedure and use it to complain about the council's contractors attempting to charge you illegal fees and also about the council's total indifference to its contractors breaking the law. I'd also contact your local councillor to ask them about this too. Don't dither... do it. We'll soon have them begging you to let them take the debt back from the bailiffs and drop your complaints.

Definitely try and find out if the bailiff whose name is on any paperwork you have is in fact entitled to enforce council tax LOs. Herbie can help with this last one.

Robert, any complaint about a bailiff needs to be to the court that certificated the bailiff and NOT the Magistrates Court that issued the Liability Order. MY mail box has now once again been emptied !! so could you please send me the name of the bailiff.

With every query we receive, we always ask the debtor to call the council to confirm the amount of the Liability Order and the vast majority reveal that the bailff company are LYING. At the least the amount has been exaggerated by £42.50 for 2 "phantom visits" of £24.50 and £18.00 but sadly with debts over £1,000 it is commonplace to find an additional £150 added.

For this reason I cannot understand WHY the Magistrates Court do not send the debtor a copy of the Liability Order!!

DEBTORNADO.

The bailiff co are correct in that they are legally entitled to receive their fees FIRST. For this reason if you paid the full amount to the council then the council will be duty bound to pass over to the bailiff their fees. This will mean that bailiff action will continue because the Liability Order has not been paid!!!

For this reason, the local authority are under an obligation to investigate as they are "wholly responsible for the actions and omissions of agents under their control" and in addition they are "responsible for the charges made by their agents".

If you do not get an adequate response from the council...then threaten them with a formal complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman......
.

tealady

Thanks Herbie, you are an angel as ever.

debttornado

Hi all,

Thanks Herbie. I don't know the name of the actual bailiff as he has never called at our house or left any information. All we have received are letters from Newlyn's office in Northampton. One of the things I tried to do when I spoke to them on the phone was to tell them that their bailiff was visiting the wrong property. They thought I was denying my actual address and called me a liar. So I don't think they will actually turn up.

Weirdly, they phoned my OH last night but when he answered they had obviously read their notes, said 'oh you're making a complaint, sorry' and hung up!

The council were helpful, they said to try the bailiff's complaint proceedure first and if we got no joy to get back to them and they would investigate.

Anyway, paid £500 to the council - if they choose to pass it on it's their choice, at least they have a record of what we have paid.

debttornado

Hi Herbie PM sent.

I have decided to update my signature to include our HP payments, and one debt I had missed :mad: . That way I can see exactly where we are and where we are going.

OH seems to have embraced the idea of DFW. We talked about what we owed (without an argument for once:rolleyes: ) and I explained that if we were careful and snowballed payments as we cleared one, we could be in a position where we owe nothing at all by (drumroll please....) July 2011. He really liked this idea :T .

We have had some form of debt since we first got together more than 10 years ago, so being debt free seems like a dream.

Taking more steps to sort things out. Sent off the first letter to our old bank to begin reclaiming charges today. We will get this all sorted.