advice needed quick please

nextyeartina

hi

in need of some urgent help please. bailiffs called on saturday out of the blue for ct arrears. i was upstairs, hubby answered the door. he was asked did i live there to which hubby replied yes. he was then handed a letter and the bailiff walked off.

he called again today and i told him he was getting nothing until ct had looked into my complaint... long story. was advised by ct today to pay the bailiff. i spoke to the bailiff office and explained i'm not paying the first visit charge because as far as i'm concerned he didn't even attempt to talk to me. the lady said he did ask to speak to me so she believed him!! i phoned the bailiff and told him the same, i'm prepared to pay apart from that first visit. we had an argument and he hung up.

i've now put a complaint in to ct who are dealing with the complaint. i'm just worried about the bailiffs turning up while i'm at work and my son is babysitting. can they come in if i'm not there and the front door is open?? kids in and out all day long. the company is rossendales and they are so a**y to deal with :mad:

thanx in advance

Sunnylooloo

Hi

Try this for some help/advice


The best source of advice is Herbie21 on http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ - 0906 802 0273 (60p a min)

Geebee

Hi Nextyeartina,

There is also RobertoMoir who can maybe give you a bit of advice. He used to be a Bailiff and is very helpful.

GB

RobertoMoir

nextyeartina wrote: »

can they come in if i'm not there and the front door is open??

Not legally, no, assuming the son who is there is NOT an adult and there are no other adults present. They can't do anything without an adult present.

I'd still be a little worried if you're not prepared to trust them to follow the rules.. some companies can be funny as you say.

mandz1

i dealt with rossendales before i lost my council house (due to ex) and the bloke i had was actually quite nice he made a list of things he would take but told me to try and find half of what i owed then set up a payment plan for the rest. but then i lost my house and i have heard nothing since. i think it depends who you get as some can be very nice and take ur situation into considaration and others can be right b******s. they cannot come in your house really without you present as it is your debt and they cant take anything that is not your property as it may be your husbands etc.

RobertoMoir

Mandz, the person who you say was quite nice was quite nice because they were in your house making a list of things to take and knew they had already won at that point. The bailiff you were dealing with was just one of the smarter ones who have worked out that if you are nice to people, maybe put up a front of 'I know this is silly and horrible but they're making me do it to you', and so-on that most people are more inclined to co-operate that way. It is the exact same approach I was trained to use, nothing new here.

If you hadn't made the payments they wanted you to make then you would have seen another side of the coin.

The only time the bailiff is on your side is when they are trying to recover money someone else owes you. If they are collecting money off you for someone else then never ever let them in the house or anything like that.

mandz1

RobertoMoir wrote: »

If you hadn't made the payments they wanted you to make then you would have seen another side of the coin.

I never paid him a penny actually because he knew i was being evicted so he gave me more time which means i won because i lost my house and so he cant get the money or my stuff cos i dont live there no more. thats the way i see it anyway.

girlracer

they cannot come in your house really without you present as it is your debt and they cant take anything that is not your property as it may be your husbands etc.[/QUOTE]

you would have to prove it doesnt belong to you though
not they have to prove it doesnt

nextyeartina

thanx for all the replies

ct phoned the bailiffs & it was decided i'd only pay for the second visit (£18) if i paid in full before close of business yesterday. i phoned the bailiff to pay but they wanted an extra £20 to pay via credit card!! i told them not a chance!! phoned ct back and arranged to pay ct bill to them direct using cc, no charged. i then paid the bailiff's fee, 50p extra, using my debit card. the woman answering the phone for the bailiffs was so :mad:, it was worth the £18... lol.

thanx again

lightisfading

I have been dealing with Rossendales myself (currently making repayments, so thankfully don't have them 'requesting to come in for a chat') ... but anyway, from all my research, *as far as I know*

I don't want to scare you but...
- if they can get in without breaking anything (ie through an open window), they are legally allowed to.
- And once they've been in once and levied on your goods (ie written a list of stuff that they would take if you didn't pay them), they can re-enter *and break in if necessary* at any point.
- you have to prove that any item they levy on is not yours, generally after they've tried to take it
- they can levy on a car parked outside, and clamp it (so don't park it in your drive, lock it up if you have a garage, or park it in another street).

Basically, if they haven't been in the house yet, don't let them in, even if they just want to come in for 'a nice chat' or 'to use the loo'. Write letters and send them recorded delivery, don't phone them (you want everything in writing). They have an email address [EMAIL="enquiries@rossendales.com"]enquiries@rossendales.com[/EMAIL] , which they respond to quite quickly. Oh, and copy any letters you send them in to your council tax department - you can also ask them for a list of the charges the bailiffs are allowed to make, though their idea of what constitutes a 'reasonable fee for attendance with vehicle' differs from mine :mad:

I would send them a recorded delivery letter with an offer of repayment (ie. £10 a week, £50 a week, whatever you can afford), and a list of your current income/outgoings to prove you can't afford more. We bumped up costs wherever possible to give ourselves some slack (as we want to pay it ASAP, but at the same time if say the car broke down and we couldn't fix it OH couldn't get to work) - ie we listed 'groceries' as a reasonable amount but more than we would actually pay. They accepted our offer and we make weekly payments and haven't heard from them since, luckily

Some useful links:

http://www.consumerwiki.co.uk/index.php/Bailiffs:_Useful_Template_Letters

http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/

http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/debt_basics/bailiff-guide.php

Good luck! They're not nice people to deal with :mad:


EDIT: didn't read your last post properly, it seems the council have taken the debt back off you (they wouldn't with us ) ... nevermind, maybe this post will be useful to someone else

RAS

lightisfading wrote: »

I don't want to scare you but...
- if they can get in without breaking anything (ie through an open window), they are legally allowed to.

They are allowed peaceful entry including through and unlock door or window.

lightisfading wrote: »

- And once they've been in once and levied on your goods (ie written a list of stuff that they would take if you didn't pay them), they can re-enter *and break in if necessary* at any point.

Not that they really want to do this; they want the money.

lightisfading wrote: »

- you have to prove that any item they levy on is not yours, generally after they've tried to take it

Not true. They can only levy or take the belongings of the person owing the money. You can organise a statuatory declaration with a solicitor confirming that the contents belong to someone else before a levy; just sell everything to someone you trust for £1 - you really do have to trust them.

lightisfading wrote: »

- they can levy on a car parked outside, and clamp it (so don't park it in your drive, lock it up if you have a garage, or park it in another street).

Since any have number plate recognition, parking your car on the street anywhere near is a very bad idea. It needs to be off the road and away from the house. Ideally sell it as above. You need a receipt.