first time poster : bailiff/council tax help please

JennB223

Hello
I had a visit from a Rossendale's bailiff about a month ago, but I wasnt able to come to the door so she put something through my door with her number on it. I called her and we arranged for her to ''visit and fill in some paperwork''. Well , to make a long story short, after postponing the original appointment a couple of times due to my daughter being sick and having to attend doctor's appointments, I basically got clued up on my rights and her's in the past couple of weeks. I knew I wasn't going to let her step foot in my house. She told me she was going to come over between 12-2pm on Tuesday. I made sure I was out of the house all morning and timed my return perfectly, because as I was turning the corner into my cul-de-sac at 12:35 ( pushing my 1 yr old twins along) she was just walking up to my door. Which was excellent because it meant I didnt have to sit in the park across the street to wait for her. The first thing I said to her was ''Hello, so what paperwork do we need to fill out?'' she said we couldnt fill any out unless I let her into my house. I flat out refused it, telling her we need to come to some sort of an agreement outside of the property as I know my rights. She then said she wasnt able to accept an offer of payment unless I let her in the house. ( that's pretty much a lie isnt it?)
I then said, ''oh well i am not prepared to do that at all, but i can give you £100 cash right now. ''
she gladly accepted THAT ( I literally saw £££ signs in her eyes!) and gave me a receipt and some paperwork and then said goodbye.... one of the papers she gave me seems to be a request for a payment plan to mail directly to Rossendales?

does anyone know what happens next? not sure what to do now that i paid them some cash.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

king100

Ok

The council has got a liabilty order I assume.

Do you know what amount the liability order is for? You should have some paperwork for this. We can xreference this to how much bailiff is asking to see if they have asked for too much in fees, as they normally do.

No mention whatsoever on your post on how much is involved.

For their 1st visit they can charge £24.50, for their second visit they can £18.

Do you have a car? If so park it at least 5 mins walk away.

Obviously you know not to let them and take any of their bull****.

Jesthar

JennB223 wrote: »

Hello
I had a visit from a Rossendale's bailiff about a month ago, but I wasnt able to come to the door so she put something through my door with her number on it. I called her and we arranged for her to ''visit and fill in some paperwork''. Well , to make a long story short, after postponing the original appointment a couple of times due to my daughter being sick and having to attend doctor's appointments, I basically got clued up on my rights and her's in the past couple of weeks. I knew I wasn't going to let her step foot in my house. She told me she was going to come over between 12-2pm on Tuesday. I made sure I was out of the house all morning and timed my return perfectly, because as I was turning the corner into my cul-de-sac at 12:35 ( pushing my 1 yr old twins along) she was just walking up to my door. Which was excellent because it meant I didnt have to sit in the park across the street to wait for her. The first thing I said to her was ''Hello, so what paperwork do we need to fill out?'' she said we couldnt fill any out unless I let her into my house. I flat out refused it, telling her we need to come to some sort of an agreement outside of the property as I know my rights. She then said she wasnt able to accept an offer of payment unless I let her in the house. ( that's pretty much a lie isnt it?)
I then said, ''oh well i am not prepared to do that at all, but i can give you £100 cash right now. ''
she gladly accepted THAT ( I literally saw £££ signs in her eyes!) and gave me a receipt and some paperwork and then said goodbye.... one of the papers she gave me seems to be a request for a payment plan to mail directly to Rossendales?

does anyone know what happens next? not sure what to do now that i paid them some cash.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho - that is SO much a lie you really need to be putting in a formal complaint reporting these illicit statements to both to Rossendales, and to the council who assigned the debt to them. They do it because (as you are thankfully now aware - well done you!) once they get in they can charge you a LOT more money AND force entrance in the future. They're usually a bit more subtle, though - asking to use the loo or the phone, as opposed to this blatant misrepresentation of their rights!

Anyway, hopefully some of the more expert posters on baliffs will spot this - this isn't my specialist subject, but I couldn't let that part slide!

~Jes

JennB223

sorry king100, i meant to put more info in there, but i've got demanding 1 yr old twins...it took me 2 hrs to type that one paragraph haha...i had to keep leaving the computer and goin back to it, so my collective thought process was broken.

we did get liability order through. i'm from America and have no idea about council tax,etc.
the liability order was for £1207.89
after the £100 i paid her, it says the amount i owe is £1150.39

she has given me a paper with the amounts outlined on it and on the top it says

''To Mr blah blah and Mrs blah blahdy blah

Take notice that by virtue of an authority given to me by Selby Magistrates Court in a liability order dated 8th June 2010, i have this day re-attended with a view to seizing goods for debt and costs owing to Selby District Council as stated in said liability order.

AND TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that unless the said sum be paid, together with the expenses of this attendance, within 5 days of the date hereof, we will re-attend with a view to seizure, removala and sale of the goods, according to law.''

she didnt even sign and date it. so therefore it shouldnt even be valid?

its probably good that i recorded our whole conversation on my phone too. so i have absolute proof of her blatant fibbing!

we don't own a car but my husband has a white work van which is owned by Coors Brewery. so i assume they can't touch that?

Thanks for replying!

king100

Ok she has charged you 2 visits.

1st visit is £24.50 followed by 2nd visit of £18.

As she hasent set foot in your house so she cannot break in get locksmiths or the police.

JUST MAKE SURE ALL DOORS WINDOWS ARE LOCKED AND CLOSED.

If you have the whole conversation recorded this opens ups all avenues of what you can do.

The van is not yours its a company van so no levy can be placed on it. I assume that it has writting all over it, adverts etc for coors?

I will PM a friend who knows all about issues with bailiffs and council tax.

In the meantime you might want to pop over to "Consumer Action Group" there they have a really good section under bailiffs where there are alot of very good people that deal with bailiff issues.

JennB223

the van is just a plain white van but evidence can easily be provided that Coors own it.

i will pop over to there to see what they say, thank you.

i am in no way unwilling to pay, the council just dont want anything to do with the debt now. they've sorted out my council tax benefit, and handed it right back over to Rossendales.

king100

JennB223 wrote: »

the van is just a plain white van but evidence can easily be provided that Coors own it.

i will pop over to there to see what they say, thank you.

i am in no way unwilling to pay, the council just dont want anything to do with the debt now. they've sorted out my council tax benefit, and handed it right back over to Rossendales.

Under law the council cannot refuse payment, as long as you hold the advancing bailiff out of your house, you can pay the council direct online.

You might have to pay the bailiff fees.

Can you pay the full outstanding balance of CT at all?

king100

JennB223 wrote: »

the van is just a plain white van but evidence can easily be provided that Coors own it.

i will pop over to there to see what they say, thank you.

i am in no way unwilling to pay, the council just dont want anything to do with the debt now. they've sorted out my council tax benefit, and handed it right back over to Rossendales.

Get the information together and send a letter to bailiff company stating that the van is a company van and as such does not belong to you. Thus no levy can be made upon said van. Also send same letter to council informing them as well.

Sit back and wait for them to levy the van then we can get complaining.

We also have the recording which can be used to issue a complaint to bailiff but I have PMd a friend to come and see thread.

hallowitch

WELL DONE nice to see you know your rights keep your door locked if you have a garden don't Leave anything in it that she can levy (having said that the goods levied must cover all bailiff fees removal fees storage fees auction fees and a substantial portion of the debt)

she cant get you arrested (you can go to jail for wilfully refusing to pay your council tax not going to happen so nothing to worry about but wanted you to be aware of this so the bailiff cant frighten you if she mentions jail )
she cant get a locksmith to break in even if your not at home
she cant get the police
She can do nothing without a levy on goods except send your debt back to the council as Nulla bona (no goods)
I wish you hadn't gave her that £100 but never mind thats your bailiffs fees paid £42.50 give it a week and phone your council to see if Rossendales have paid the remainder to the council
Bailiffs fees are paid first before any council tax debt it paid but they are very very good at adding unlawful fees

I will post up a letter for you to send to rossendales for a breakdown of your fees

I will do you you a letter to send to the council and rossendales so they don't levy/clamp your hubby's works van

Have a look to see if she is cerificated (can you PM her name)
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/CertificatedBailiffs/

hallowitch

send this by e-mail /recorded delivery letter
Name
Address
Rossendales Ref: Account No: 123456
Council Ref No: 435672
Date
Dear Sir,
With reference to the above accounts, please provide me with a breakdown of all fees, charges and payments made for the above account
This includes:
a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.
b - The reason for the fee.
c - The name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.
d - The name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were certificated at.
e - The date of the Certification.
National Standards for Enforcement Agents state that if a written request is made an itemised account of fees will be provided.
Please provide the information requested within 7 days of this E-mail /recorded delivery letter
Yours faithfully
Ripped off customer"

its probably good that i recorded our whole conversation on my phone too. so i have absolute proof of her blatant fibbing!


I would love to hear that all local authority's believe there bailiffs all bailiff company's believe there bailiff's


http://www.dca.gov.uk/enforcement/agents02.htm#top
Professionalism and conduct of the enforcement agent

• Enforcement agents should always produce relevant identification on request, such as a badge or ID card, together with a written authorisation to act on behalf of the creditor.
• Enforcement agents must act within the law at all times, including all defined legislation and observe all health and safety requirements in carrying out enforcement. They must maintain strict client confidentiality and comply with Data Protection legislation and, where appropriate the Freedom of Information Act.
• Enforcement agents, for the purpose of distress or execution shall, without the use of unlawful force, gain access to the goods. The enforcement agent will produce an inventory of the goods seized and leave it with the debtor, or at the premises, with any other documents that are required by regulations or statute.
• Enforcement agents must carry out their duties in a professional, calm and dignified manner. They must dress appropriately and act with discretion and fairness.
• Enforcement agents must not misrepresent their powers, qualifications, capacities, experience or abilities.
• Enforcement agents must not discriminate unfairly on any grounds including those of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation.
• In circumstances where the enforcement agency requires it, and always where there have been previous acts of, or threats of violence by a debtor, a risk assessment should be undertaken prior to the enforcement agent attending a debtor's premises.

dancingfairy

Hi - has the council now correctly calculated the amount you owe including the benefits you were entitled to? It doesn't appear the bailiffs have added too many fees right now but you do need to keep on top of them and make sure they don't try anything funny again with trying to come in to the house etc.
Don't forget from April you wil have new council tax to pay (minus of course any benefits) so that will be your fist priority and this council tax bill will have to have whatever you can spare. This is because otherwise you will end up in arreas with the 11/12 council tax year and you will end up with more costs etc so this should be your first priority and if all you can afford towards the arrears is tiny well that's tough.
Don't forget though that council tax is a priority debt along with rent arrears, gas, electric arrears etc so if you have any unsecured debt - credit cards, unsecured loans etc they may have to take a back seat for a while whilst you get the council tax sorted.
df