anyone know anything about balieff fees please!!?? *UPDATED -LETTER RECIEVED BACK*

Gnomie25

*please read my update in post below*


hi everyone, having a few problems and wondered if anyone knows anything about balieff fees and could possibly give me a little advice...

basically i owe some council tax (2 seperate bills - one for £190 and one for £472 - £662 in total...)
i atually wrote to the council to tell them my new address - so that i could make a payment plan etc etc anyway a few weeks after we move in i get a letter from 'Equita' saying that i owe this money and to the council and they are going to send a balieff out etc etc...well with everything going on i thought they could wait a week or so before i called to make a payment plan - although i was a little shocked at the council getting the balieffs onto it so quickly - id even given them my new address (like like i was running away!!)

next thing i have this balieff on the doorstep - hes telling me that i owe over £1000 including fees and that hes come to get the money or my stuff.... i told him there was no way in a million years i had anywhere near £1000 even in the next 2weeks and he goes off telling me i got 10days to get together £500....( i signed nothing, he did not come in and come to think of it i never saw his ID - but he gave me a letter by hand!)

i decided to speak to the council directly and they were really great - they told me i can start a payment plan directly through them and they would suspend the balieff warrent - but i would need to pay their fees.
so i call Equita - and get told i cant talk to anyone but the balieff that came to my door... so i call him and he sounds really peed off, he was rude and tried to tell me ''they cant do that''... i told him ''they just did!'' after 10min of him ''working out my fees'' he told me that because there was 2 debts - i owed £42.50 on one and £229.50 - £272 in total and he said i need to pay it by friday... i told him that really wasent going to be easy and he ended the convo by basically telling me to ''call him friday with the payment'' and hung up!

do i really need to pay all these balieff fees in one go - or can i make a payment plan.... and is £272 the going rate for 1 hand delievered letter...
thanks in advance guys

RAS

Hi

One hand delivered letter is £24.50 and he can only charge for one visit even though it covered two liability orders. Equita are famous here for charging illegal fees.

RAS

Unless they made a levy (do you have a car) or you signed a walking possession order, it is on letter fee.

Got 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 deliver the first letter".

He sates it will be...

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

Herbie21 runs this web-site http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ - 0906 802 0273 (60p a min)

try sending her a PM and she may well answer it here for free. Otherwise, try tomorrow and ask her to read her pms.

Gnomie25

thank you very much!!
i will send the email now and then find herbie!
thanks for your help!!

Daddy-Spendless

ive found in the past that if you dodge the bailifs long enough they pass the debt back to the council and you can then make an arrangment to pay for the original debt without paying balifs fees.

having said that though my council have always refused to deal with me or make an agreement as long as the bailifs are trying to collect for them. so it looks like tings must work different in your area.

fatbelly

£42.50 would be the maximum charge for two visits - they can't charge for any more visits or for anything else unless they made a valid levy.

There's a scale here:

Factsheet | Bailiffs and Council Tax

Gnomie25

thanks to both of you for your usefull info and links

SouthCoast

And more information about fees can be found here:

http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/media/25F/25/AN06.pdf

Gnomie25

UPDATE -
balieff has just called to see if i had the £272...
i told him that i had requested a detailed breakdown of the charges and until Equita get back to me with that im not going to be making any payments,
suprisingly he was not rude as he was last time and told me that i was intitled to do that and that once i had heard back to call him directly and arrange payment.

no email back from Equita yet though, although they might write to me instead - i'll update as soon as i have one!

RAS

Gnomie25 wrote: »

UPDATE -
balieff has just called to see if i had the £272...
i told him that i had requested a detailed breakdown of the charges and until Equita get back to me with that im not going to be making any payments,
suprisingly he was not rude as he was last time and told me that i was intitled to do that and that once i had heard back to call him directly and arrange payment.

no email back from Equita yet though, although they might write to me instead - i'll update as soon as i have one!

The reason he is not rude, is that he now knows that you understand the law and he is on very dodgy ground. It is also possible that Equita were not aware of the fees he was asking.

In the basis of previous threads here, Equita will send a holding response advising that they will respond within 14 days.

They will then send a full response close to the deadline.

That e-mail has saved people hundreds of pounds and I reckon I post it for people on average once a week.

What would be really good is for you to get hold of your local councilor when you get the response from Equita and go and explain that the bailiffs are charging illegal fees. The councillor will have a local surgery most weeks. The information will be on the Council web-site.

Gnomie25

thanks RAS - you have been fab, and it seems there are so many of us having these crazy amount of ''fees added!'' at least once a week - wow - you must help so many people! im so very gratefull for your advice.

i will keep updating and as soon as i get a response from them and shall then get in touch with the counciller - from the sites some of the others advised i read - it seems that i should be expecting a description of ''levy and van hire and fake visit fees'' etc etc...
in response to the question you asked me yesterday - i dont have a car (i dont even have a license!) but my other halfs van was on the drive the day the balieff came, and i definatly did not sign anything! so will be really intresting to see what the fees are attually for...

thanks again RAS