We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
Mental Health and Bailiffs. Advice urgently needed please.
Booie_2
Posts: 35 Forumite
Hello everyone, firstly let me apologise if any of this has already been covered, i've read so much, my mind is a whirl, and I can't think straight. I am desperate for advice, I literally do not know which way to turn.
Secondly a little bit bout me, I had a breakdown 5 years ago, I was very bad, I was a manager at the time and had a good lifestyle, i lost it all, and also 8 months of my life which i have no recollection of.
In that time i accrued council tax debt, I moved shortly after my 'illness' started to improve, into the neighbouring council area, I was unaware of any debt, until last year, whereby they'd found me and was demanding just under a thousand. The bailiffs were so forceful toward me, that it had a terrible affect on me, and the permitted work I'd taken on, became too much, so i had to leave, since then, I've become agrophobic, and i fight this daily, I'm on high doses of anti depressants, beta blockers and additional tranquilisers.
I truly believed that the money i earned from permitted work was mine, and not in anyway going to affect my benefits, however, I mentioned on a home visit review that i tried permitted work, and instantly my benefits were stopped, while i was investigated, again, too much stress for me, and unfortunately i isolated myself....again.
It turned out, i owed money to housing benefit, which they are taking from housing benefit, which leads to problem 1) my benefit is short, and despite being worse now than ever been day to day, disability have reassessed me, and decided to cut my benefit in half, and some fraudelent use on my card, which resulted in my bank account being overdrawn, and £140 in bank charges, I'm now a month behind in my rent. My land lord is hassling me, and rightly so, I can understand that he rents to make his money too, but the other morning, at 7.50am, he rang and rang my doorbell, knocked door, and basically acted like a bailiff, I didn't know who it was, and so didnt answer it, and he unlocked the door, and demanded a chat, I'm aware he isn't allowed to do this, and despite me telling him my rights as a tennant, he replied, his house, he'll do as he likes. So now, the only place that was my sanctuary, has gone, and i'm back to being on tenterhooks 24/7.
problem 2) I have a mental health support worker, who is aware of all the problems my illness has incurred with finances, she came 5 weeks ago, and we opened all the unopened mail together, and she took it away to contact them all to tell them that we are getting it sorted, many people wouldn't talk to her, due to not having a written authority from me to say its ok. She has been trying to find someone that can visit me in the home, however, apparently i seem to be living in an area that no one covers, Citizens Advice wont come to where i am either. So any advice there of people that do home visits would also be appreciated.
problem 3) When the council investigated me, as well as being overpaid housing beneift, i had also underpaid council tax by £250. I told support worker about this, and she left here and said she'd contact them, however, I've just recieved a letter thru my door, from Civil Enforcement agents, which i assume is a posh name for bailiffs, saying they called today, its got so many added fee's its now £657 they want, and to make matters worse, I only rent the house, and the garage with the property is rented to someone else, whos got an untaxed vehicle on the drive and they bailiff has stipulated this as goods to be removed. Although i think i've found out who it has belonged to and I think they are moving it tonight.
Please can someone tell me how i can resolve this, as i've not made any contact with anyone in 5 weeks as my psychiatrist feels that this is not helping my recovery, hence why he gave me a support worker, and the support worker hasn't had contact with anyone, and only me once, but by not sorting it myself, things are going from bad to worse.
Secondly a little bit bout me, I had a breakdown 5 years ago, I was very bad, I was a manager at the time and had a good lifestyle, i lost it all, and also 8 months of my life which i have no recollection of.
In that time i accrued council tax debt, I moved shortly after my 'illness' started to improve, into the neighbouring council area, I was unaware of any debt, until last year, whereby they'd found me and was demanding just under a thousand. The bailiffs were so forceful toward me, that it had a terrible affect on me, and the permitted work I'd taken on, became too much, so i had to leave, since then, I've become agrophobic, and i fight this daily, I'm on high doses of anti depressants, beta blockers and additional tranquilisers.
I truly believed that the money i earned from permitted work was mine, and not in anyway going to affect my benefits, however, I mentioned on a home visit review that i tried permitted work, and instantly my benefits were stopped, while i was investigated, again, too much stress for me, and unfortunately i isolated myself....again.
It turned out, i owed money to housing benefit, which they are taking from housing benefit, which leads to problem 1) my benefit is short, and despite being worse now than ever been day to day, disability have reassessed me, and decided to cut my benefit in half, and some fraudelent use on my card, which resulted in my bank account being overdrawn, and £140 in bank charges, I'm now a month behind in my rent. My land lord is hassling me, and rightly so, I can understand that he rents to make his money too, but the other morning, at 7.50am, he rang and rang my doorbell, knocked door, and basically acted like a bailiff, I didn't know who it was, and so didnt answer it, and he unlocked the door, and demanded a chat, I'm aware he isn't allowed to do this, and despite me telling him my rights as a tennant, he replied, his house, he'll do as he likes. So now, the only place that was my sanctuary, has gone, and i'm back to being on tenterhooks 24/7.
problem 2) I have a mental health support worker, who is aware of all the problems my illness has incurred with finances, she came 5 weeks ago, and we opened all the unopened mail together, and she took it away to contact them all to tell them that we are getting it sorted, many people wouldn't talk to her, due to not having a written authority from me to say its ok. She has been trying to find someone that can visit me in the home, however, apparently i seem to be living in an area that no one covers, Citizens Advice wont come to where i am either. So any advice there of people that do home visits would also be appreciated.
problem 3) When the council investigated me, as well as being overpaid housing beneift, i had also underpaid council tax by £250. I told support worker about this, and she left here and said she'd contact them, however, I've just recieved a letter thru my door, from Civil Enforcement agents, which i assume is a posh name for bailiffs, saying they called today, its got so many added fee's its now £657 they want, and to make matters worse, I only rent the house, and the garage with the property is rented to someone else, whos got an untaxed vehicle on the drive and they bailiff has stipulated this as goods to be removed. Although i think i've found out who it has belonged to and I think they are moving it tonight.
Please can someone tell me how i can resolve this, as i've not made any contact with anyone in 5 weeks as my psychiatrist feels that this is not helping my recovery, hence why he gave me a support worker, and the support worker hasn't had contact with anyone, and only me once, but by not sorting it myself, things are going from bad to worse.
0
Comments
-
Just send a letter to the bailiffs informing them you are a vulnerable person under the "National Standards For Enforcement may 2002".
The bailiffs will return it to the councils and as such the councils will be more likely to listen to payment offers.0 -
The land lord is not legally allowed to enter the property unless he has a court order. I dont know the legal wording for this, or how to get that resolved but someone will be along shortly i am sure who will be able to help you.0
-
OK.
The car - the bailiff can't list it, he knows that and he's just trying it on.
Contact Shelter about your landlord, it might be his house but you have rights. He can't just walk in, and the eviction process is a long one, I'm appalled at how he treated you. Does he know about your problems? I think you need to be on the list for a council house, are you already? The stability and extra protection is really good, it's a huge weight off your mind (for me anyway!).
Contact your councillor about the council tax, explain how vulnerable you are. Copy this to the council tax people.
Give your support worker written permission to deal with your creditors, if s/he's happy to do that.
Speak to CAB/DIAL/Mind, they can sort out the benefits. When did you get your benefits cut, I'm assuming you mean DLA? If it's less than a month you need to get the forms in asap, if it's longer then you need to reapply. You should also apply for ESA.
I've got mental health problems (some say bipolar, some say anxiety and affective syndromes) and I know just how hard it is to deal with all this. Take each thing you need to do and cut it down into baby steps - get the phone number/email address, work out what you need to say - write notes if you think you'll forget it.
There are people out there to help you, feel free to pm me if you want.Unless I say otherwise 'you' means the general you not you specifically.0 -
Just send a letter to the bailiffs informing them you are a vulnerable person under the "National Standards For Enforcement may 2002".
The bailiffs will return it to the councils and as such the councils will be more likely to listen to payment offers.
Thankyou, I will do that thursday, as that is when my neighbour will go to the post office for me.0 -
The land lord is not legally allowed to enter the property unless he has a court order. I dont know the legal wording for this, or how to get that resolved but someone will be along shortly i am sure who will be able to help you.
What i told you was only half of it, I live in a first floor flat, and the front door is ground floor, he'd got half way up the stairs when i confronted him, and sat on the top of the stairs refusing him entrance.
He was shouting, and telling me that he saw the bathroom light on, and knew i was ignoring him, I said i dont have to answer my door to anyone, and he just can't come in, that is when he went off telling me how it was his house, and if i dint have the courtesy to let him know i'd changed my phone numbers, then he had no other option, I wanted to argue back, that i had given him new number coz he'd said, its the same as the man who lived there before, (I left BT to go to Virgin, previous tennant was on virgin) but i felt incredible vulnerable, and so i just said nothing, He then asked what the matter with me was, I said, i had agrophobia, and my mental health had been bad, he asked what agrophobia, i explained the dummed down version, I said, i dont often answer door, unless appointments have been made, i said, i'm not afraid to leave the house, I feel vulnerable around lots of people and lots of space, or even enclosed in some spaces, so my home is my safe place.
The weather had been bad day before, and grass had been cut, my young grandchildren had been round on the sunday, and i'd not cleaned the entrance, he looked at it, and said, well maybe you should get these stairs cleaned up, may make you feel better and then you can get out and get a job. That was his passing remark before leaving.:mad:
I actually sent him a text few days, was too afraid to call, to tell him i'd managed to sell some gold, and paid in half of what i owed him and the rest would follow, and explained again how altho he'd made it perfectly clear that it was his house, it was my home, and my sanctuary, and how his impromptu visit and entrance had affected me, and in future could he please make an appointment, either in writing, or by phone call.
He replied with a demand to when the rest would be paid, and a schedule, and that if i'd had the courtesy to open door, or come to window, then he'd not have felt need to enter.
I realised today, when a plug socket flashed before blowing the circuit, in the 18 months i've lived here, he is in violation of safety checks, and the labels on all fitted electrical appliances are from 2005. But i dont want trouble, i just want to get better, so i can get back to real living and working.
Maybe my psychiatrist has it all wrong and my recovery lays in hoovering the blooming stairs!!!!:mad:0 -
Ah yes, the pull yourself together attitude. As if we choose to be mentally ill.
I get all that too - if you did xyz you wouldn't have a problem. As if things are reasons for illness, not symptoms of them. And usually xyz is impossible for me to do anyway.Unless I say otherwise 'you' means the general you not you specifically.0 -
OK.
The car - the bailiff can't list it, he knows that and he's just trying it on.
Contact Shelter about your landlord, it might be his house but you have rights. He can't just walk in, and the eviction process is a long one, I'm appalled at how he treated you. Does he know about your problems? I think you need to be on the list for a council house, are you already? The stability and extra protection is really good, it's a huge weight off your mind (for me anyway!).
Contact your councillor about the council tax, explain how vulnerable you are. Copy this to the council tax people.
Give your support worker written permission to deal with your creditors, if s/he's happy to do that.
Speak to CAB/DIAL/Mind, they can sort out the benefits. When did you get your benefits cut, I'm assuming you mean DLA? If it's less than a month you need to get the forms in asap, if it's longer then you need to reapply. You should also apply for ESA.
I've got mental health problems (some say bipolar, some say anxiety and affective syndromes) and I know just how hard it is to deal with all this. Take each thing you need to do and cut it down into baby steps - get the phone number/email address, work out what you need to say - write notes if you think you'll forget it.
There are people out there to help you, feel free to pm me if you want.
The owner of the car has just moved it, however, to remove his untaxed car, he has had to take his 'posh car' out of his home garage, to store the taxed one, he has now parked posh car, with a notice in window to state that the car is not regisitered to the address to where car is parked and his phone number in window, I feel terribly embarrassed.
I am high priority on housing list, but in the council area i live, there is only 2 houses listed, one is for over 60's and the other over 40's, which i qualify, but there are people with a higher need, and at the moment, my network of friends and family, who i rely on strongly are here around me, and i think if i was to be 6 miles down the road, i fear my isolation would be worse, i live alone, my children are within half a mile of me here,
I phoned council after he entered the hosue and the housing people said, that i need to come for a chat, so i need to sort some of this stuff out, so i'm better in myself, so i'm not going down there tranqulised out me nogging, but the he did say that they can help, even with renting me a property that is suitable for my needs around my network of friends and family.
And yes it is DLA that has been cut, and i did dispute their first decision, waiting 19 weeks for it to be reassessed and it came back that they stick to their original decision. And what is ESA please.0 -
When did you get the DLA reassessment decision? If it's less than a month as for a formal appeal, otherwise reapply.
ESA is the new out of work due to sickness benefit, it's replaced incapacity benefit for new claimants, are you on either IB or income support? You really should be on one of the three.
Your housing department might have a section for helping vulnerable people, you could ask for a home visit.Unless I say otherwise 'you' means the general you not you specifically.0 -
I work in Mental Health and feel pretty certain that your psychiatrist can issue a letter that effectively puts your debts on hold. I am sure the same has happened with one of my in patients. Might be worth double checking. Hope you get things sorted. x0
-
Can't really add anything here, but hope you are able to get it sorted.
Ames will keep you right (was going to PM her when i started reading your first post). I don't think you'll be able to send any PM's for a while though Booie - there is a limit of posts that you need to reach before that is activated. Can't remember how many posts are required though.
Keep posting here though and we'll try to give as much help and support as we can.After falling off the gambling wagon (twice): £33,600 (24,000+ 9,600) - Original CC Debt: £7,885.91
Dad Gift 6k ¦ Savings & Inv Tst: £2,500
Loan 10k: £0 ¦ Dad 5.5k: £2,270 ¦ LTSB: £0 ¦ RBS: £0 ¦ Virgin £0 ¦ Egg £0
Total Owed: £2,270 (+6k) 11/08/20110
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 349.7K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 452.9K Spending & Discounts
- 242.6K Work, Benefits & Business
- 619.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.3K Life & Family
- 255.5K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards