Bailiffs came today please help

Ames

CIS, but they can still only arrest the debtor, not her relatives!

kaya

if you fill in the statuatory declaration and give it to the bailiffs then they will return your daughters case to the issuing court, they wont waste there time visiting again once they know there is nothing there for them, when they return the case to the court all the bailiffs fees will have dissapeared, they only get paid if they are successfull, with regards to a warrant, the bailiffs cannot get a warrant, once the debt is returned to the court it is possible that the court could get an arrest warrant issued but only in the event that your daughter REFUSES to pay, they cannot lock her up if she is unable to pay, only if she REFUSES to do so, bailiffs are like dogs with no teeth if you know the law

RobertoMoir

kaya wrote: »

if you fill in the statuatory declaration and give it to the bailiffs then they will return your daughters case to the issuing court, they wont waste there time visiting again once they know there is nothing there for them, when they return the case to the court all the bailiffs fees will have dissapeared, they only get paid if they are successfull, with regards to a warrant, the bailiffs cannot get a warrant, once the debt is returned to the court it is possible that the court could get an arrest warrant issued but only in the event that your daughter REFUSES to pay, they cannot lock her up if she is unable to pay, only if she REFUSES to do so, bailiffs are like dogs with no teeth if you know the law

You're absolutely right that it isn't the bailiff's place to apply for an arrest warrant, but you've confused arrest with imprisonment when it comes to circumstances where a warrant for someone's arrest for non payment of council tax might be issued.

You can be arrested simply to ensure you attend court, which has nothing to do with being imprisoned as punishment for something after being found guilty.

As I recall it from my bailiffing days (so this may be a little out of date)
If the LO is returned by the bailiff, the council will typically apply to the court for committal proceedings.

If this is granted then a warrant for the arrest of the debtor will be issued. They are then typically arrested and immediately bailed to appear at the court at a certain time, and if they do not turn up then the court can instruct that they are arrested again without bail being granted.

Once they are in front of the magistrate, the magistrate has a number of sanctions they can apply to solve the problem, which can include jail in the event of wilful refusal to pay or culpable neglect.

Culpable neglect is more likely to occur - the sort of thing that might result in a prison sentence might be paying for a new tv or a holiday with your money instead of paying the council tax bill, but technically they can say that prioritising pretty much anything over your council tax might count as culpable neglect.

grumbleweed2

Ok thanks. They havent returned as yet and Ive been away so havent yet managed to do the letter thing. My daughter has got an appt with CAP but 3 weeks away, in the meantime they are gathering all their debt info together, I think its just the feeling helpless in the meatime. Anything else we can be doing? They havent sent letters to anyone yet as hopefully CAP will help them with that.

grumbleweed2

O update advice please.
Thining it not relevant I didnt mention that the original letters from the bailiffs were 7 in total, each for an amount of council tax. Quite why so many I have no idea, the counci are refusing to speak to them about how the debts were broken down ie which dates they cover etc.
Now the bailiffs have sent further bills adding their 42.50 to each of the letters.yet they visited once and once only...are they able to do this? Obvioulsy if they are, then their bills will indeed add up to quite a lot. If they are not allowed to do this then what do we do next? Is there any way to stop these charges being added whilst m diaghter is awaiting the advice appts she needs?

RAS

grumbleweed2 wrote: »

Now the bailiffs have sent further bills adding their 42.50 to each of the letters.yet they visited once and once only...are they able to do this?

Send Herbie21 a pm but I think they can only add £42.50 in total for two visits, not for each account. The first one is £24.50.

Herbie21 will confirm.

dancingfairy

It is likely that the different bills refer to different tax years as each year is treated seperately. Whether they can charge an enforcement fee for each year that is sent to them I'm not sure - I would have thought so as the council can choose different methods for each years bill as it becomes due so they could in theory send one to bailiffs, one to an attachment of earnings etc but obviously you need to check.
The other thing is maybe the liability changed? ie at one time one person was liable for the c/tax - with the other one exempt or not there? and then it changed to them both being liable or something like that - each change of who'se responisble would mean a new bill for that situation.
It's not helpful the council won't tell you how it's all been calculated etc.
df

grumbleweed2

im sorry I cnat find a herbie21 the message didnt go?

Hannah_10

I only read the first post so forgive me if I am out of touch but I couldn't help feeling it is this sort of dominant overbearing approach debt collectors of all ilks have that causes people real ruin.

Five years of council tax is a lot of money yes indeed, but if the debt collectors were a bit more humane I expect your daughter and her chap would start making some small repayments. What happens when debt collectors are so aggressive is that famillies end up throwing the daughter out (perhaps you wouldn't but many do) in order to safeguard thier own property and then you don't have a debt, you have an out and out human crisis with a homeless baby and true dire straits!

A bit of humanity wouldn't go amiss, I bet in the middle of the intimidation no one pointed out that hey- any repayment plan at all (even £1 a month) could get this off your back did they.

So so heartbreaking. I will be back later to read properly and maybe post something sensible.