advice re rossendales and council tax

hallowitch

I would also be eclined to worite to the council asking under FOI for their collections procedure.


job done yesterday

vanessa45192

Thank you for your help and advise , I didn't think it would of been all above board, I have asked for payments made and any charges also for the levy, still intrigued to what I shall be presented with , shall I just sit tight now until they get back to me

vanessa45192

I received a letter this morning from the complaints manager about the complaint I made against the bailiff taking full payment ,letter says , we acknowledge receipt of your complaint and will conduct an investigation into your concerns.
We endeavour to respond to complaints within 10 working days . However if this is not possible we will write to you and advise you accordingly.
Whilst we take complaints very seriously and investigate them thoroughly we will apply for costs in any case of a vexatious complaint involving court action.

Still waiting for the levy and breakdown of payments and charges , hopefully they will be sent soon

vanessa45192

HI I have received a letter this morning from rossendales I'll copy it down.

As you are aware, our first call bailiff mr xxxxx attended your property on the 26th october 2010 and after completing levies in respect of our references xxxx and xxxxx you signed the walking possession agreement.
You comment that our bailiff should not have included the same items on two levies and I confirm that unless the value of the item is sufficient to discharge both accounts it is not our normal practise to do this.
I note that a table and two chairs appear on both levies therefore I will remove these items from the levy on reference xxxxxx. However, providing there are suitable alternatives to items such as table and chairs and two sofas to which you refer we are not prevented from levying on them as they would not be considered to be essential.
With regards to the levies being of inadequate value, in practise a first call bailiff will not do a diligent search of a property in order to complete a levy and will normally limit his search to one or two rooms within the property, which is consistent with the goods which were levied on. If enforcement of the liability orders becomes necessary a diligent search will be undertaken by an enforcement bailiff. It is not until such a search is completed will rossendales consider whether goods at the property are sufficient to discharge the debt.
I am therefore satisfied that the levies are valid.
(This next bit is about the bailiff that took full payment with out my consent )


As you are aware, a further case was received from wakefield council ( our reference number xxxxxxx) and as there was no arrangement in place for payment of this account our enforcement bailiff Mr xxxxxxxx attended your property on 1st march 2011.
I note that you stated you contacted Mr xxxxxx and an arrangement for payment was made.
I have interviewed our bailiff with regards to this and he states he re attended your peoperty as agreed on 4th march 2011 in order to collect a cash payment of the full amount, and although he waited whilst you attempted to raise the necessary funds you were unable to do so. ( I wasn't even in at the time was at asda)
He subsequently receieved a phone call in which you authorised him to take the full amount of 445.57 which was subjected to a transaction fee of 0.80.
Our bailiff is adamant that you aurthorised this amount which he also confirmed with your mother (she wasn't even here at the time) and payment was taken from your mothers debit card as agreed. Our bailiff recalls your mother subsequently telephoned him at which time he gave her the reciept number for the payment ( she rang him and played hell for taking all the money out of her account , nothing to what he's stating, he actually rung me back after took details and gave me the reciept number, my mum made a further call after this when she had been to the bank).
Whilst she made reference to not being aware what amount was taken from her account our bailiff states he reiterated that full payment was authorised prior to the transaction.
Further our bailiff states he made no reference to contacting our accounts department in order to arrange and refund of the payment as you now suggest.
You then make reference to paperwork confirming an arrangement of 24 pound per week. This arrangement was set due to an administrative error on the 7th march 2011 when although full payment had been made to our bailiff it had not been received in our offices and it was mistakenly thought the account was outstanding.
Please accept our apologies for this confusion.
Whilst in your email and telephone converstation to our offices on the 9th march 2011 you are adamant that full payment was not authorised, our bailiff is equally adament it was.
As I was not party to the conversation mith Mr xxxxxxxx I am unable to uphold your complaint.
I note you state as a single parent you have a limited income however your proposed payment date of 14 march 2011 has now passed therefore it is not appropriate to consider any refund.

I confirm our reference xxxxxx is paid in full and that a stacked arrangement is in place for payment of references xxxxx and xxxxx to continue at the rate of 5.00 per week
Yours faithfully
Xxxxxxx
For the company

vanessa45192

Any one? Lol

king100

vanessa45192 wrote: »

As you are aware, our first call bailiff mr xxxxx attended your property on the 26th october 2010 and after completing levies in respect of our references xxxx and xxxxx you signed the walking possession agreement.
You comment that our bailiff should not have included the same items on two levies and I confirm that unless the value of the item is sufficient to discharge both accounts it is not our normal practise to do this.
I note that a table and two chairs appear on both levies therefore I will remove these items from the levy on reference xxxxxx. However, providing there are suitable alternatives to items such as table and chairs and two sofas to which you refer we are not prevented from levying on them as they would not be considered to be essential.
With regards to the levies being of inadequate value, in practise a first call bailiff will not do a diligent search of a property in order to complete a levy and will normally limit his search to one or two rooms within the property, which is consistent with the goods which were levied on. If enforcement of the liability orders becomes necessary a diligent search will be undertaken by an enforcement bailiff. It is not until such a search is completed will rossendales consider whether goods at the property are sufficient to discharge the debt.
I am therefore satisfied that the levies are valid.

Bunch of jokers.

Afer reading a couple of post I will throw a couple of things at you.

They cant levy on the same goods, basically they are levying on their own goods as they own them from 1st levy.

You have to remember that the Consumer Protection Act 1987 covers most second hand goods that are sold in the way of business and this include auction houses - it covers electrical safety & labelling of furniture and I think I'm right in saying it is actually unlawful to sell furnishings without the correct labels even if they have been cut off. Quoted from another site.

Maybe your safety labels have been cut off, I dont know.

They cant just take off the items and expect to be able to charge a fee for them.

Ok the levy is unlawful as they cannot place items such as sofa and chairs on them and they know this full well, but they will tell you that if they come for possession of the levied goods they wont take them, bit pointless of the levy really. Ive argued with these people before about putting the same items on two separate levies and technically they cannot do this and they are well aware of this fact also. Once items have been levied they become the property of the authority so listing the same items on a second levy is levying on items that no longer belong to you so the levy is invalid. Two invalid levies no levy fee's.
Start paying the council via their online payment facility making sure you make two separate payments one for each debt with the correct account numbers on them. I would then write to the council stating that the bailiffs have unlawfully levied on items and you no longer wish to deal with them and that you are now going to pay the council direct. They will throw a hissy fit as will the bailiffs but as you are paying there is not much they can do. Only pay the bailiff his two visit fee's as thats all he is entitled too. For a bailiff to force entry they would have to have an order to do so and have to give you a time and date when this will happen, but as you are paying why would the council need to do this and seeming that they cannot take said items what will they be there collecting? Another post from another site

Can be viewed here.

hallowitch

hallowitch wrote: »

the breakdown of your account should have included payments made charges for making these payments (usually 80p per payment with Jacobs however regulations do not allow for this) amounts outstanding against each account

send your council an e-mail and ask them to provide you with
the date of each liability order
the amount of each liability order
the date/time each liability order was sent to Jacobs for collection
A copy of all screenshots regarding these accounts to include any external records they hold from Jacobs

have you had a reply from your council regarding this information requested


As you are aware, our first call bailiff mr xxxxx attended your property on the 26th October 2010 and after completing levies in respect of our references xxxx and xxxxx you signed the walking possession agreement.
You comment that our bailiff should not have included the same items on two levies and I confirm that unless the value of the item is sufficient to discharge both accounts it is not our normal practise to do this.
I note that a table and two chairs appear on both levies therefore I will remove these items from the levy on reference xxxxxx. However, providing there are suitable alternatives to items such as table and chairs and two sofas to which you refer we are not prevented from levying on them as they would not be considered to be essential.
With regards to the levies being of inadequate value, in practise a first call bailiff will not do a diligent search of a property in order to complete a levy and will normally limit his search to one or two rooms within the property, which is consistent with the goods which were levied on. If enforcement of the liability orders becomes necessary a diligent search will be undertaken by an enforcement bailiff. It is not until such a search is completed will rossendales consider whether goods at the property are sufficient to discharge the debt.
I am therefore satisfied that the levies are valid.
(This next bit is about the bailiff that took full payment with out my consent )


What a load of crap that is

there is no such thing as a first call bailiff

the bailiff is there to levy distress against the amount outstanding against the liability order if there is not enough goods the debt should be returned to the council as Nulla bona (no goods to levy)

can you PM me all e-mails you have sent to rossendales and your council and all replies received

vanessa45192

Hi I've had no reply as yet about payment and fees charged from rossendales and no reply from the council, the email I sent to rossendales that I got a reply from in the form of that letter I copied on here is slightly strange that they replied about everything else I sent in my email but nothing about the copy of the levy I asked for which I know doesn't exist, I shall go on laptop tonight and send you all correspondence

struggling2011

Ring the council - they can give you information about the fees charged. I rang mine yesterday regarding Rossendales.

I have been charged a levy fee of £50 and a van fee of £130. No levy made and therefore no van fee can be charged.

So now I need to get some money back from them.

I rang the bailiff advice online helpline and they were very helpful.

If you do contact them, have as much information to hand as possible - especially the amount of the original liability orders.

Good luck

hallowitch

struggling2011 wrote: »

Ring the council - they can give you information about the fees charged. I rang mine yesterday regarding Rossendales.

I have been charged a levy fee of £50 and a van fee of £130. No levy made and therefore no van fee can be charged.

So now I need to get some money back from them.

I rang the bailiff advice online helpline and they were very helpful.

If you do contact them, have as much information to hand as possible - especially the amount of the original liability orders.

Good luck

Well done nice to hear yes Baillifs advice on line is very good
unfortunatly most local authoritys dont care and tell you to take it up with the baillif firm