Council Tax debt & Nasty Equita

mrs1978

Hi just after some advice for my next step...

Had a debt of £745 with council....i was makin payments, which i thought were right....but obviously were not. So debt passed to Equita...
Arranged to pay £96 a month to clear it.
Paid £96 to council....not equita...but they acknowledged
then paid Equita December £96 & January £96....forgot to pay bloody february...now i have a guy on my door this morning demanding to come in and attach money to property....
I told him to !!!! off politely...
Since, I have called him back and offered to make a payment today, and then again on 30th of this month, he's rambled on and on about default default and that its now incurring charges as he has to come back . Again, asked to make a payment...he said he was driving and hung up on me!!! How rude.
I get my balance to £455....he tells me its £617?! He also said i didn't pay december...which i did and have a reference...then he said..well whatever..you've defaulted...

What do i do?! I now have my new annual bill come in from the council of £988 starting 1st April... how the hell do i get on top?

My baby is due in 4 days too! Help!!!

RAS

The expert on bailiffs is Herbie21. She provided this advice to a previous OP.

You need to WRITE to Equita or better still send an e-mail to:

[EMAIL="info@equita.co.uk"]info@equita.co.uk[/EMAIL]

You need to say something along the following lines.

I refer to the above account in relation to unpaid council tax due to xxxx

As you will be aware from your files this account has been assed to your bailiff Mr xxx to enforce.

The query that I have is concerning the amount that your bailiff is now stating is due. You will be aware that your bailiff visited my premises on xxx and for this visit I am advised that Mr xxx may only charge a fee of £24.50 for "attending to levy where no levy was made".

As a matter of urgency can you please provide a full and detailed breakdown of the charges made by your bailiff.




They may well recognise the e-mail but that will not harm.

Unless they have a levy (you have let them in thehouse or they levied on a car, the most they can charge in fees is £42.50.

Britwife

Deleted, Ras gave a great reply

Best wishes on your new baby!

Tixy

Hi

It sounds like the council have a court liability order for this debt.

So there could be some additional fees added. Also the baliff will have added his own fees - you need to insist he sends you a written breakdown of how much you owe and what fees have been added. If they have been to visit then they are allowed to charge a set fee for that, but baliffs sometimes charge more.

Did you let him in the house? did you sign any paperwork when he visited?

mrs1978

Thats great thanku RAS....no didn't let him in or sign or state anything.

I just called him offering to pay and he said he would have to return to the address and i would incur more fees.

When i originally called in November to sort it all out, the lady was very amicable and told me the total debt owing was £745

which 3 x payments of £96 brings it to £457..

so somewhere in the last 20 days with 1 visit this morning £160 has been added...he was very vague on it and couldn't explain or tell me what charges have been or are goin to be added.


I will email them now and see what i get back! Many thanx .....ooo the stress, maybe this will all kick start labour

DarkConvict

The most they can charge if £42.50 for 1 visit and 2 letters.

They can only charge more if they have gained access to your property and placed a levy. A Levy can be placed on your car if not required for work so keep it on another road a good distance away from the house.
Make sure they do not get inside the house. Once they are in they can force entry later and make more charges.

RobertoMoir

If they haven't levied then I'd be complaining to the council about illegal fees being added by their agents.

There's no way £160 of fees can be added without a levy in place - that would be about right for 1st +2nd visit plus levy plus maybe van fee.

None of these charges can be incurred at the same time as another charge on the list e.g. :

• 1st and 2nd visit with the intention of making a levy where no levy was made - obviously can't happen at the same time as each other.
• If they levied on a visit then they can't charge 1st or 2nd visit fee for the same visit, because those 1st & 2nd visits are as mentioned previously visits to take a levy which then doesn't happen for some reason.
• And they can't charge van fee until they've levied on a previous visit. It's a fee for returning to remove goods after goods were previously levied and then left behind pending an arrangement to pay.

CIS

[QUOTE
It sounds like the council have a court liability order for this debt.
[/QUOTE]

A bailiff cannot be instructed unless the Liability Order has been granted (or a County Court Judgement (which would be an unusal way but possible) )

mrs1978

Had no reply from my email.... I really wanna get ontop of this as soon as this baby appears next week my head will be gone lol

So....what do i do to make a payment?? I can't afford it all in one go, have £50 available now and more end of month.. do i write and send a cheque? Saying what and committing to what.

Also the complaint to the council, do i call them and explain or put in writing?

Nothin seems to be a quick fix at the moment . Thanx all for you very helpful input x

RAS

Send equita another e-mail explaining that you are about to give birth and need to sort this uregently.

Then check the local authority web-site for your area, find out who your local councillors are and where they are doing their next surgery. Chances are there will be one this weekend. Go and talk to them and tell them equita are adding illegal fees to your debt and refusing to take payments.

mrs1978

Ok, had an email back from Equita...just says, your request will be dealt with within 14 days.

Looked up the councillors..available last saturday of the month for an hours clinic. Will email them for advice? If thats what they can give me?!