Council tax benefit and bailiffs- Help!

nottslass_2

septemberblues wrote: »

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)

Bailiffs can only charge £24.50 for the 1st visit and £19.50 for the 2nd !!!! (in respect of C/T debt)

I suggest your daughter complains to a) the council and b) the court that certified the Bailiff - by charging your daughter £600 the bailiff was acting illegally !!!!!

chesky369

Do not ignore things - it strikes me that you've ignored matters quite enough already. Go to your local citizens' advice bureau and they will negotiate on your behalf with the bailiffs. Seems to get a better result than trying to do it yourself.

But do for heavens sake learn from this - when it comes to your own interests, never leave things to other people - always follow up stuff yourself.

RobertoMoir

Faye449 wrote: »

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?

For council tax, if they are unable to complete a levy of distress then they can only charge for first and second visits, a total of £42.50.

That doesn't mean they can only visit twice, simply that they can only charge for two visits without a levy.

RobertoMoir

nottslass wrote: »

Bailiffs can only charge £24.50 for the 1st visit and £19.50 for the 2nd !!!! (in respect of C/T debt)

Only if they are unable to complete a levy.

nottslass wrote: »

I suggest your daughter complains to a) the council and b) the court that certified the Bailiff - by charging your daughter £600 the bailiff was acting illegally !!!!!

"the bailiff was acting illegally" - It's impossible to say that for sure without precise knowledge of what happened and a breakdown of the LO and charges. It's always best to be really careful about making such firm statements about something like this when you don't have the full schedule of facts to hand.

Don't get me wrong, I've helped quite a few people challenge incorrect bailiff fees here and we've succeeded most of the time too, but you need to be very careful and precise about what has gone on before you can say for sure what fees are correct.

It's entirely possible that the person you replied to's daughter paid the bailiff £600, which was a mixture of (correct) bailiff fees, court fees and the actual debt itself. And yes it's also possible some git of a bailiff charged horrendous fees too. But we can't say for sure.

viktory

Let's not forget that people can be and are imprisoned for non payment of council tax - although this will be a while down the line. This is not a credit card debt, it is a priority debt.

Dibbothe3rd

Sorry jumping in late, but why the hell should they have to deal with the bailiff? this isnt there fault and as a result of them being given incorrect information from government departments they are not is a very nasty position.

it should never had go to any stage whereby they have to owe money. This is typical with every council I have had the displeasure of dealing with. they say they try to contact you but you never get letters or phone calls. its a load of tosh and is just a way for them to cover their backs. In the end its us that have to deal with all the stress of dealing with and end up out of pocket because someone didnt do their job right. their the experts not us so how the hell are we supposed to know what to do and when to do it?

this is so easy to correct but no one wants to help these poor people. All the council have to do is realise that the job centre made a mistake and complete the relevant paperwork accordingly to put it in the same position from day one and jobs a good un. problem solved...

sorry rant over. just winds me up when council / job centre have no idea what their doing.

sunnyone

Dibbothe3rd wrote: »

Sorry jumping in late, but why the hell should they have to deal with the bailiff? this isnt there fault and as a result of them being given incorrect information from government departments they are not is a very nasty position.

it should never had go to any stage whereby they have to owe money. This is typical with every council I have had the displeasure of dealing with. they say they try to contact you but you never get letters or phone calls. its a load of tosh and is just a way for them to cover their backs. In the end its us that have to deal with all the stress of dealing with and end up out of pocket because someone didnt do their job right. their the experts not us so how the hell are we supposed to know what to do and when to do it?

this is so easy to correct but no one wants to help these poor people. All the council have to do is realise that the job centre made a mistake and complete the relevant paperwork accordingly to put it in the same position from day one and jobs a good un. problem solved...

sorry rant over. just winds me up when council / job centre have no idea what their doing.

Your ranting at the wrong people, no normal person would expect it sorted out without recieveing any paperwork and if you think the balliffs arrived without warning you dont have a clue of the system!

If you bury your head up your a!se and expect everything to be done for you, you deserve everything you get.

RobertoMoir

Dibbo, I agree that it sounds like the OP is hard-done-by here, but from the council's perspective, they don't take recovery proceedings to the point of sending bailiffs round just for the lols.

They will have sent countless reminders and, well, threats, before taking the case to court to get the liability order granted, then would have sent another letter after taht warning what was going to happen.

If the OP hasn't received any of these then there is a serious breakdown of communications somewhere that needs to be addressed, but it isn't like the DHSS lost her paperwork on monday and the council phoned the bailiff on Wednesday morning and ordered them to be there by that afternoon or anything.

alwaysonthego_2

As someone has suggested go to your local CAB who will have a good working relationship with the officer in the LA that deals with baliffs. I have negotiated with the council a payment plan for many clients, but you do need to provide a financial statement. Remember if you do come up with a payment plan to keep to it otherwise they will refuse to negotiate and it will go to court.

chesky369

......but no one wants to help these poor people......

that is absolutely not true - besides the CAB, there are people on these boards who are willing to give advice.