Baliff Help

deejay2412

I've just had a visit from a baliff today was just looking for a bit of help or advice.

Basically me and my girlfriend rented a flat from last june till january. It was a new build so it hadnt been banded by the council then - therefore we didnt pay any council tax. We made numerous calls to them just to keep getting told that wed be contacted about it when it was banded and how much we needed to pay - we werent.

Anyway, just before we moved out we received a letter from the courts & council saying it was going to court as we hadnt paid anything. We accepted this and waited for response - i think it was something along the lines of if we didnt pay or setup payment plans baliffs could take our posessions. This was back in January.

Since moving back to my mams ive heard nothing from the council - even though ive contacted them 3 or 4 times asking to set up a payment plan and giving my new address. All ive been told is that they will send a payment book. They have sent nothing.

To cut a long story short its been a bad year and this was at the back of my mind until today when i got a visit from a baliff demanding payment in full or he could remove my possessions.

I live at my mams and really have none of my possessions here apart from my clothes. I told him i was on the sick at the moment but offered to make some sort of payment, which he refused and said he needs the payment in full by Monday.

Im just looking for a bit of advice or guidence on what to do next and if anyone had been in a similar position?

Thanks.

PNPSUKNET

why did you ignore the court summons. somethings a miss here

DarkConvict

I would get back in touch with the council ASAP, who you owe the council tax too, state you have contacted them very frequently and have been told to hold on, until the point a bailiff has visited the property

You were issued with a court summons which by the sounds of it, you didnt turn up to defend so they sent a bailiff. You should have attended and told the courts you had made numerous attempts to pay but they failed to give an amount and/or payment details.

The bailiff should give you the option to pay in instalments, as the court action would have landed you with a CCJ and an amount and place to pay. What paperwork have you received from the courts.

What you must do is set aside the CCJ to a local court (contact your local court / CAB if your unsure what to do) and defend the case, regardless of how many times you have requested it to be sorted they refused to allow you to pay it or give an amount to pay. If you don't get the CCJ overturned it will dent yoru credit file for 6 years. In addition you will be landed with bailiff fees. I also strongly advise you do not open the door to the bailiffs as once he is in your property the charges will start mounting and then they can take the goods if you fail to pay.

deejay2412

We didnt ignore the summons, we couldnt get time off work to attend

DarkConvict wrote: »

I would get back in touch with the council ASAP, who you owe the council tax too, state you have contacted them very frequently and have been told to hold on, until the point a bailiff has visited the property

You were issued with a court summons which by the sounds of it, you didnt turn up to defend so they sent a bailiff. You should have attended and told the courts you had made numerous attempts to pay but they failed to give an amount and/or payment details.

The bailiff should give you the option to pay in instalments, as the court action would have landed you with a CCJ and an amount and place to pay. What paperwork have you received from the courts.

What you must do is set aside the CCJ to a local court (contact your local court / CAB if your unsure what to do) and defend the case, regardless of how many times you have requested it to be sorted they refused to allow you to pay it or give an amount to pay. If you don't get the CCJ overturned it will dent yoru credit file for 6 years. In addition you will be landed with bailiff fees. I also strongly advise you do not open the door to the bailiffs as once he is in your property the charges will start mounting and then they can take the goods if you fail to pay.

We were sent the summons back in January, and i offered to pay installments various months after this, the baliff just called today.

The last peice of info or paperwork from the court was in January i think. Sure i could have a look see if i can hunt it out. The amount of council tax we owed for a year was around £700 i think, but we only lived there for around 7 months. I paid the council £150 aswell as soon as we moved out and offered to make monthly installments, to which i was told that they would just send a payment book and some paperwork with the amount we owed - which they didnt or i have never recieved.

The baliff said theres no possibility of installments aswell, and is demanding £769 - even though we didnt owe that?

DarkConvict

By not attending, you lose by default and then a bailiff can be instructed to visit and collect the amount + court & bailiff costs. If you could not attend you should have got in touch and made them aware as the date could be changed or at least your argument put forward.

I advise you get in touch with 10past6 as he knows about CCJs, and as to bailiffs Herbie21 is best but is rarely on here, She runs a website http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ (0906 802 0273) and CT area http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/counciltax.htm

If you have received notification that bailiffs are intending to visit your home and you do not own the goods in the house, it is advisable that a letter is immediately sent to the bailiffs to inform them of this. You will see in our Letters section of the Downloads area that we have provided a letter that can be adapted by you for this purpose.

And also speak to national debtline, and CAB for more professional advice, in the morning.

MrsTinks

deejay2412 wrote: »

The baliff said theres no possibility of installments aswell, and is demanding £769 - even though we didnt owe that?

Add court fee and bailiff cost and I would have expected it to be a LOT higher to be fair...

Unfortunately by not attending the court date you have made it very hard for yourself - you definitely need 10past6 for the CCJ advice ASAP and read Herbies site for some advice on bailiff advice.

CIS

Advice on CCJ's wont help as a Liability Order isn't a CCJ - Council Tax Liability Orders are issued by a Magistrates Court and not a County Court.

Again, unlike CCJ's, council tax liability orders do not go on your credit file and do not affect your credit rating. As to the 6 years stated, once the liability order is granted it can stay open as long as the debt stands (even if its 20 yrs later).

Providing you were aware of the debt and received the Summons then you have no legal dispute against the Liability Order that the magistrate could have used to stop it being issued -there are few defences that can stop one and the magistrate has to issue one if their is not an allowed legal defence which is proved.

You need to speak to the local authority as soon as possible to discuss the situation and they 'may' recall it or struct the bailiff to accept an arrangement but its at the council's discretion.

Once the Council Tax became due in full then they do not have to accept anything other than the full balance in one go so the fact they wouldn't accept an arrnagement is quite legal and wouldn't allow the Liability Order to be revoked.

RAS

deejay

CIS is right, this is a liablity order, not a CCJ. But the council will have got it because you did not take action before the court date.

In this situation, you might be best advised to get hold of the councillor for he area where you lived and see if they can help, because the the council did not provide you with the required information whilst you lived at the address.

Have you let the bailiff into the house.

deejay2412

thanks for the advice. im going to give the council a ring where i used to live today. like i say ive alredy made numerous calls earlier in the year about the issue but heard nothing from them until this baliff visit so hopefully well be able to sort somnething out.

the baliff did come into my house, but was only in the kitchen - he didnt go anywhere else or make a list of posessions.

DarkConvict

Makes no difference, once he has gained peaceful entry once he is allowed in, in future. The levy of goods can be done a second time.

If he does return, or maybe he left an address send a letter detailing that the debt has never been in dispute but that the council never provided a figure or payment details, as several attempts to contact them. The only problem here is the [strike]CCJ[/strike] Liability Order that was granted is why he has come round. You need to dispute this with the council if not return to the courts.

deejay2412

so because he has been in once "peacefully" he can force his way in again to make a levy? Im going send a letter tomorrow and call the council tonight if i get home from work in time, hopefully get this sorted.