council tax, please help!

stephaniesays

Hi,

hopefully someone can shed some light on my situation- we missed out on a few council tax installments and now our case has been reffered to a bailiff (Rossendales). When the "gentleman" visited the house, we were not in so he posted the notice of attendance through the door. I rang back on the same day several times and he did not get back to us. Eventually I managed to get through to him after several days of attempting to do so and predictably he was rude, uncooperative and intimidating.

I said we could arrange a payment system and he told me that he would come round and discuss this with us- thereby charging us another attendance fee and gaining entry to the house. Therefore I said this would not be possible- he then said he would just turn up with a policeman and a locksmith in that case. Obviously he can't do that.

Therefore, we have managed to scrape together the full amount (£600) but I'm very concerned about paying this over the phone to someone who doesn't seem particulary trustworthy- is this a safe method and will my balance be immediately cleared? I just want to get rid of them to be honest. How do I know how much they will take out of my account? Tried to get the council to take it back over to them and they said they couldn't but if I just go online and pay using the councils online payment service will that work?

Sorry for going on- basically can I just pay using the council's online service even though they said it was down to the bailiffs or, if i have to pay Rossendales, how secure is my payment directly to a bailiff?

Cheers!

king100

Pay the council direct online, then send chq to bailiff for £24.50 for 1st visit.

You dont really need to pay bailiff if you dont want to. There is no law that states that you must deal with the bailiff.

However you are liable for his fee of 1 visit. Depends on how you want to play it.

All done.

king100

The council must accept your payment online.

Just quickly do you know how much the liability order was for and how much is the bailiff charging you in fees?

£24.50 for 1st visit and £18 second visit. If no levy made.

stephaniesays

liability order was for £604 and then the £24.50 for the bailiff visit. Just worried that if I pay council online, the bailiffs won't recognise it for ages and keep coming....

hallowitch

before you pay anything find out(today) exactly how much the liability order is from your council
the date of the liability order
the date it was passed to the bailiffs

when you phoned the bailiff did it connect (will the phone calls be recorded on your bill)
I take it the £600 demand is not broken down as in
debt £xx
fees to date £xxx

king100

stephaniesays wrote: »

liability order was for £604 and then the £24.50 for the bailiff visit. Just worried that if I pay council online, the bailiffs won't recognise it for ages and keep coming....

Not your problem

Pay council now send chq to bailiff stating payment was made to council on this date, here is your fee for 1st visit.

A bailiff cannot use the liability order to persue you for his fees.

Print a receipt as well just in case.

If he turns up in the meantime, just advise him that you had paid the council direct and you have posted his cheque for his fees to his office.

stephaniesays

The last letter we recieved off the council was dated the 4th February, warning of a bailiff visit. It states the full amount as £604.00 (plus any additional bailiff fees). It also says that the magistrates court granted a liability order on the 2nd December.

The date of the bailiff letter is the 7th March- this is the letter the bailiff posted with the £604 stated again. It is not broken down other than to say "£604 plus costs" (which the bailiff stated on the phone as the £24.50).

I checked my phone bill online and three of the calls connected; my housemate rang another few times so they should appear on her bill also.

king100

stephaniesays wrote: »

The last letter we recieved off the council was dated the 4th February, warning of a bailiff visit. It states the full amount as £604.00 (plus any additional bailiff fees). It also says that the magistrates court granted a liability order on the 2nd December.

The date of the bailiff letter is the 7th March- this is the letter the bailiff posted with the £604 stated again. It is not broken down other than to say "£604 plus costs" (which the bailiff stated on the phone as the £24.50).

I checked my phone bill online and three of the calls connected; my housemate rang another few times so they should appear on her bill also.

Ok no worries pay online and send chq to bailiff for 1st visit and its done. After this time any other charges arnt allowed.

What do you think halowitch? Pay bailiff or not.

hallowitch

pay the council on-line £628.50

send an e-mail to the revenues department

Dear sir
I have today made a payment of £628.50 on line for the above council tax account this being £604 council tax arrears and £24.50 enforcement fees the fees being the amount the bailiff can charge under current legislation
bailiff Mr xxx left a hand delivered letter on 7th march informing me he had called and my debt was £604 plus costs however there was no amount to say what these cost were
between the 7th and the (date) approximately 5/6 calls were made to Mr xxx (telephone records confirm this) Mr xx eventually returned my calls on the (date) and informed me that costs were £24.50 however further visits would be necessary to set up a payment plan incurring further charges

I have no wish to set up a payment plan and payment should have been taken at that time to keep the bailiffs fees to a minimum therefore payment + bailiff fees have been paid to yourselves
Please instruct your contractors that this debt + fees have been paid in full therefore no further action is necessary on this account
please confirm in writing that this debt +costs has been paid in full and the account is now closed