Council Tax arrears & Bailiffs

Daniel182

Hello

Not sure if i have posted in right place. Sorry mods if i have?


I'm writing on behalf of someone.

From what I can gather, the person in question was in council tax arrears with the council.

It was passed over to Equita Ltd bailiffs who sorted out repay payments.

Anyway the person in question missed 3 payments so Equita Ltd bailiffs sent a letter demanding the full payment. Equita was contacted the same day has the letter was received and the person in question was told by a Equita Ltd employee the £76.00 arrears that was stated in the letter they sent. Had now gone up to £276.00.

How can Equita Ltd send a letter demanding £76.00 arrears, and on the same day of receiving letter when contacting Equita Ltd by phone to be told that they have now passed it over to their bailiffs dept and it's now
gone up £200.00 without them giving you time to respond to their letter?

Can someone please advise? Are Equita Ltd within their rights to do this?


Thanks

[Deleted User]

Has this been to court?
debts will increase if ignored as they add charges,but unless a ccj/summons has been issued by a court then it can only be debt collectors and not bailiffs.
If they have the £76 they should try offering that as payment see whats said

RAS

Hi

We have a lot of qwueries on here aBOUT FEES CHARGED BY EQUIta.

We need to know a few things first and your friened needs some careful advice.

Most important of all, has your friend let equita into the house at any time?

RAS

I have to go but 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.

They can only charge the fee if the letter was delivered by the bailiff by the way.

DarkConvict

Council tax is collected by liability orders, not CCJs.

Therefore it is the council that applies to the court for a liability order, this is usually about £50.

The council before making the application should give the resident notice before getting the order.

Once the order has been granted, you are unlikely to hear when the court hearing takes place or has been granted. But once the council have it they can instruct private bailiffs, the bailiffs are NOT appointed by the courts.

The most bailiffs can charge is £42.50 for 2 visits, the condition of this is that no levys or peaceful entry has taken place. As such, keep any cars owned parked elsewhere. And do not let them into the house, so keep doors and windows locked.

Bailiffs fees are often wrong because they know the people don't usually have a clue what is right. You need to ask Equita for a breakdown of the charges they have applied to the account.

Daniel182

Thank you for your replies?

I may of rushed the first posting. This is how it reads.

The debt was passed over to Equita Ltd who sorted out their own repay payment scheme in which the person in question had to pay them the outstanding payment of £76.00 in installments of £7.50 per week.

But the person in question missed 3 payments and because of this Equita Ltd sent a letter demanding the full outstanding payment of £76.00 and would no longer take the payment in installments of £7.50 per week.

On the day of receiving the letter the person in question contacted Equita Ltd and told a Equita Ltd employee that she would send them the payment of £76.00 in full. But the Equita Ltd employee told the person in question the outstanding payment of £76.00 that was stated in the letter had now gone up to £276.00 due to them passing it over to a bailiff.

Daniel182

The letter was sent by post. (First letter Equita Ltd have sent)

No bailiffs or collectors have been. Not got to that stage yet. Even though it' was said over telephone it's been passed over. It's not been in writing.

DarkConvict

That doesn't make any sense, Equita is the bailiff, so i do not see why they say it has been passed to a bailiff, as it is already with one.

Equita cannot charge fees for passing it to a bailiff, a bailiff must actually take actions that can be charged, such as visits and/or levies.

I would send a recorded delivery letter, to them stating you have already made an offer to repay the £76 in full as requested by there letter, but this was refused without legitimate cause.
As such you are placing the offer in writing to repay the debt owed, totalling £76 in full.

Since no actions have been undertaken by a bailiff no fees can be added. And now this offer to repay in full has been made no actions should be taken in an attempt to increase the balance due on the account.

The other option is to refer it back to the council, or if that fails a local county councillor or local MP, writing to them the bailiff company is being unfair. They asked for payment in full and it was offered, but rejected. Now they are seeking to add additional charges for actions that have not been taken, nor lawfully chargeable.

NorthernLas

I would suggest that your friend should pay the £76 as requested in the letter and ask them to confirm that this clears their debt.

Unless they have anything in writing about the additional charges, I would assume that the information given by the operative is incorrect. As others have said there are rules as to what can and cant be charged (in fact they are on the Equita website). Should any further demands appear, the person should request a full breakdown of the costs.

As far as I am aware, Equita are bailiffs acting on behalf of the council. Therefore, they should be able to complain to Equita and the council if charges are not clear.

Daniel182

Thanks again for your replies. Your help is very much appreciated!

nicolajane1

Hi not sure whare to post this but need some advise, Been dealing with equita for sometime re council tax i have several accounts 3 of which are paid and 3 remaining my problem is i queryed the charges as i have not have a levy made on anything and have definately not had a balliff in my home i have had a arrangement with them a one that they made not me and have been struggling to pay. they have made several charges on my account for levy charges, card charges (i pay by debit card) and enforcement charges these total approx £400 on the paid account and £150 on the current. I have contacted the council and they have got involved as i sent equita 7 emails over 8 weeks and they didnt respond with an answer and that was just for a breakdown. After council got involved they responded with the breakdown within a day!! i am now having the same problem re the query of the levy and enforcement charges (can they charge £1 for paying by card?). saying they havn't received the emails, where can i go from here do you think, they want another payment of £278 soon and feel i am being messed around.
Phone the council but they say the person they need to access the information is off till Monday.

Do you think i will be able to get the overpaid money back on the paid accounts?

Any advise appreciated.