Council tax benefit and bailiffs- Help!

Faye449

OMG help.
Apologies if this comes out in garbled splurge but I am freaking out.

I lost my job over the summer last year, went to the job centre and signed on and was informed that I would be entitled to council tax benefit and that they would, and I quote "contact the my local council and sort it all out" I naively assumed this was all fine and that they had done it as I didn't hear anything and yesterday I opened a Final Notice from a Bailiff for £751!

This is the first thing I heard from them even though, when I called the council in a flap this morning they insisted they had tried to contact me in November last year.

Council are sending me benefit form to complete today but are saying they may not be able to back date anything as its nearly the end of the council tax year- is this right?! They also said they couldn't request the debt back from the bailiff??

I called the bailiff and explained what had happened and he said that basically it was tough I had to pay him and then try and claim the money back from the council but I don't have £751 to give him.

I am FINALLY starting a new job on monday so will be able to start paying properly but am just in such a state about this I can't think straight.

Does anyone know what is going to happen to me??

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read my splurge.

missmontana

If anything, you should be able to arrange a payment plan.

Go back to the job centre and see if you can find out if they did contact the council. Usually tho, its up to you to sort things like that out as you would have had to fill a form in. Then you would have received a letter telling you what CTB you were entitled to.

And I would have thought they'd send more than one letter, a friend of mine constantly got letters until she rang up to sort it out.

bestpud

I agree, they don't just send out bailiffs - you will have received numerous letters from them before it got to this point.

Did you ignore them because you thought it was all being paid, or for another reason?

catmiaow

In my experience the job centre told me that I needed to contact the council myself and they send you a form to fill out and post, then you receive confirmation of the benefit. You should never assume things, you should have contacted the council when a confirmation letter was not received.

I am sure if you call the council now, they will be happy to arrange a payment plan.

Faye449

missmontana wrote: »

If anything, you should be able to arrange a payment plan.

Go back to the job centre and see if you can find out if they did contact the council. Usually tho, its up to you to sort things like that out as you would have had to fill a form in. Then you would have received a letter telling you what CTB you were entitled to.

And I would have thought they'd send more than one letter, a friend of mine constantly got letters until she rang up to sort it out.

God I do hope so. I'm worried that the council have said its up to the bailiff to give the debt back and he has said he can't give it back?

I must say I suprised that the JC said they would deal with everything but I was assured this wad the case. If I had any inkling that they wouldn't I would have dealt with it myself but as that was the first time I have ever had to claim benefits of any kind so had no idea what the process was.

Yes I have def only had one letter or I would have been having kittens about this alot sooner.

Faye449

While I am trying to sort this out with the council (fill in their form etc) and find out whats how do I deal with the bailiff?

I told him on the phone I was doing this and he didn't sound happy, he said it would take too long- is that just because he wont be getting his fees or whatever they get if I deal with the council?

missmontana

lol, more than likely Faye!

Mupette

I had the local housing office tell me they would sort it all out for me..

I got a nasty letter off of the ct

who i rang and told them what i was told.. they told me 'rubbish' it was down to me to organise.

It is you that needs to organise the ct/hb forms, never trust anyone in these offices who say they will do it for you. If you do it, you know it's done.

I was fortunate that i got the ct backdated. But i think time has gone on far to long for you.

Good luck, this is going to be a tough battle, but keep going back to ct and tell them you will deal with them, and if necessary to add this to your new bill and you will pay.

As for the bailiff well he's going to be ringing you and hammering on your door until ct take this debt back or you pay him and his charges are going to keep rising.

septemberblues

Faye449 wrote: »

While I am trying to sort this out with the council (fill in their form etc) and find out whats how do I deal with the bailiff?

I told him on the phone I was doing this and he didn't sound happy, he said it would take too long- is that just because he wont be getting his fees or whatever they get if I deal with the council?

You won't be able to just deal with the council over this, the bailiffs will want their money whatever, and the longer you leave it the more costs they will include, and it gets more and more expensive..................................(this happened to my daughter, she had to pay £600 to the bailiffs on her credit card and £300 arrears to the council' and she wasn't even living at the address, but she forgot to cancell her ct when she moved, and the next tenants weren't paying either)

nottslass_2

Faye449 wrote: »

While I am trying to sort this out with the council (fill in their form etc) and find out whats how do I deal with the bailiff?

I told him on the phone I was doing this and he didn't sound happy, he said it would take too long- is that just because he wont be getting his fees or whatever they get if I deal with the council?

HI faye,

IGNORE HIM !!!

Remember,pretend that you are out & DO NOT answer the door if the bailiff arrives at your house - They CANNOT break in (unless you've previously let them in to levy your goods) Keep all your windows & doors locked as they can legally enter through them if they are open.

You Do not have to speak to him - so don't even bother phoning him.

Bailiffs can only (legally) charge for 2 visits in respect of C/T Debt,so you'll probably find that he'll refer the debt back to the council when he gets no response !!!!

Good luck

Faye449

Mupette wrote: »

I had the local housing office tell me they would sort it all out for me..

I got a nasty letter off of the ct

who i rang and told them what i was told.. they told me 'rubbish' it was down to me to organise.

It is you that needs to organise the ct/hb forms, never trust anyone in these offices who say they will do it for you. If you do it, you know it's done.

I was fortunate that i got the ct backdated. But i think time has gone on far to long for you.

Good luck, this is going to be a tough battle, but keep going back to ct and tell them you will deal with them, and if necessary to add this to your new bill and you will pay.

As for the bailiff well he's going to be ringing you and hammering on your door until ct take this debt back or you pay him and his charges are going to keep rising.

I thought he (Bailiff from Equita) could only visit me twice and charge me £42.50 for that if I refuse to let him in?