Unsigned walking possession agreement

TRX-girl

Hi, this is my first post and I need some advice please. I've had a bit of a search for information regarding bailiffs and their rights but there's a lot of heresay around.

Our situation-

We (me and my boyfriend) owe £1203.62 for unpaid council tax and we know we owe this amount, we're not trying to get out of paying it. We've had letters from bailiffs and we've dealt directly with the council and paid what we could, when we could. I know this isn't ideal.

Yesterday, I was working in the shed (I work from home making motorcycle parts) and a bailiff appeared at the gate. She explained who she was and I opened the gate to her. I refused her access to the house.

She saw our motorcycles in the shed and placed levy on them without actually touching them or sticking anything on them, and all the walking possession agreement has on it are the registration numbers of our bikes, no makes, models, chassis numbers or colours are noted. The bikes value around £5000 or so for the pair.

There is an amount 'due today' of £1,451.62, of which £1,203.62 is debt, the rest is charges made by the bailiff (£152.59 attendance fees, £59.00 levy fee, £12.00 walking possession fee, £24.00 ATR/VAN/portorage)

I'm not disputing we owe the council tax to the council. I do not want to deal with bailiffs or pay their fees. Where do we stand in ignoring the bailiffs/WPA and dealing direct with the council?

As I say, I'm self employed, working from home and I use the motorcycles to test-fit and prototype parts on, so I need them for business use. We own a car, a 1969 Morris 1000.

We have '5 days' to pay an initial £250, she said. I didn't sign anything and I didn't give any personal information out.

Any suggestions please?

Thank you

Michaela

RAS

A levy does not need to be signed. She can do this on anything outside the house and you do not need to be there.

Regarding the tools of the trade rules, you need specialist advice from Herbie21, will post her web-site in a mo. Given the situation it may be worth ringing them even though it is a premium rate line (60p per min, I think).

http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/admin.php?c_id=2

happycamel_2

Hi, it does depend a bit who owns the bikes. Are you running as a limited company or sole trader? If as a limited company and the bikes are assets of the company then the bailiffs can't use them as they're owned by a separate legal entity. If you're a sole trader then they can put a charge against them. You may want to consider setting up a limited company and transferring the things you need for your business to that so that it's protected. Speak to an accountant or Business Link.

Regarding the bailiffs, the council have to recover the cost of chasing unpaid debt so I guess its fair enough. Otherwise even people who pay their bills on time would be paying for the chasing of other people's debts and then everyone pays more tax. Having said that, when you're struggling to find the money for just the tax, the extra charing must be frustrating.

Is there anything you can do to raise the cash? Can you get a job (even part time) in a local mechanic or bike shop? Sell more parts? Ebay some clothes, stuff in the house you don't need. Cut back a bit - go veggie for a month etc to just pay it off and move on. You don't really want to wreck your credit rating over this.

Good luck and if you want some help finding where you can cut back try posing a SOA on here.

TRX-girl

happycamel wrote: »

Hi, it does depend a bit who owns the bikes. Are you running as a limited company or sole trader?


Good luck and if you want some help finding where you can cut back try posing a SOA on here.

Thanks for your replies

I'm a Sole Trader but I need the bikes to physically test the parts I make for fit and functionality, otherwise I cannot trade.

I appreciate that there must be hundreds of posts on here regarding unpaid council tax and as I said, we're not trying to dodge paying- we acknowledge the debt- we just don't want to deal with bailiffs.

If we paid the council a sum, say the £250 the bailiff requested for example, and paid it in respect of the owed amount and got a receipt from the council saying as much, would the debt then be back in the hands of the council?

Oh, what's an SOA?

RAS

Hi

You need to understand that right now the bailiff effectively "owns" your bikes. if you start mucking her/him around, they will just take them and add a loaD OF extra fees.

If you need them to work, you need to wrtite and to use the very precise words that allow you to claim exemption. This is not something that peoiple on a forum are goign to have at their finger tips, or even burried somewhere. You need spwecialsit advice. Please get it.

kaya

depends in who's name the bikes are, if you can prove that the bikes are not owned by the person named on the bailiff papers then they cannot touch them despite the levy, as im sure you are aware the registered keeper is not nessecarily the owner, so if you have reciepts to prove somebody else owns the bikes then the levy is null and void, the only way to remove the bailiff charges is if they fail to do there job, you are self employed and have £5k of bikes in the back garden, sounds like your easiest way out is to pay up though, if it were me i would provide the bailiff company with the bill of sale for the motorbikes that proved they are not owned by the named debtor dated before the levy (wink wink) , search this forum for a stat declaration of ownership affadavit, go and get the signing of the affadavit (filled in by somebody who's name is not on the debt) witnessed by a solicitor/comissioner for oaths(costs a fiver), so in effect you are proving that you dont own the bikes(so if they take them its theft), then with the stat dec you are proving that you have no other assets for them to levy on, as they cannot succeed in there job(you have no assets in law now), they will have to return the debt to the council as unsatisfied, you can then pay the council without and bailiff fees

RAS

kaya

Your aDVICE IS DEEPLY DODGY AND IF THE OP followed it up she could end up with a criminal record as well as a bailiff bill.