Council Tax, bailiffs etc (long story)

king100

funkyxmooover wrote: »

I was also led to believe we were to have 14 days notice from the local authority before the bailiffs came to the house - We never had that. We contacted the recovery company who demanded £100 a month from us, we cannot do that and offered £50 but they wouldn't take it. I am beginning to believe they sent somebody just so they could slp some more charges on there

Time line from my council after FOI

The timetable for enforcement of liability orders will be as follows:-
• The first visit to the debtor to be made within 5 – 7 days of the issue of the
order by the Council to the contractors.
• Second visit to be made to the debtor within the following 10 days.
• The Council do not make any stipulation as to the target, length of time to
receive a debt, as it is considered this approach works against both the
efficiency and quality of the service. The Contractor will however, be
expected to advise the Local Taxation Manager or Revenues Manager of cases
where no constructive progress has been made after 30 working days.

Culex

dancingfairy wrote: »

If they have been in and done a levy then they are allowed to break in to take the goods - otherwise they are not and you should not let them in.

In this respect, they are worse than vampires - not even garlic, crucifixes or holy water will keep them from entering a second time.

funkyxmooover

@king100, Thank you for your reply, it's been very useful. To try and answer some questions for you; I don't know if moderate to severe anxiety and panic disorder qualifies as disabled or seriously ill (even though it has me feeling seriously ill). Just the one liability order, £434 (which remains outstanding).

I personally don't drive, my partner does. The car is parked on a public road outside somebody elses house, surely they can't take it until they know who it belongs to! Mind you, I now have visions of them harassing my neighbours to find out.

I definitely wont be letting them in and I can record video if (when) they drop by again.

I have a question, can anybody call the company on my behalf? I get in a real state when talking to these people and I have somebody coming over today who I can get some support from. Can he speak to them for me?

RAS

funkyxmooover wrote: »

I personally don't drive, my partner does. The car is parked on a public road outside somebody elses house, surely they can't take it until they know who it belongs to! Mind you, I now have visions of them harassing my neighbours to find out.

Hi

Bailiff have number plate recogntion, so if they drive past the car, they may identify it. Seriuosluy, Herbie21's advice is that you sell any car on which a levy has not bee made for £1 to someone you trust your life with, so that the bailiff cannot take it.

funkyxmooover wrote: »

I have a question, can anybody call the company on my behalf? I get in a real state when talking to these people and I have somebody coming over today who I can get some support from. Can he speak to them for me?

Certainly your friend can speak to them bailif but bailiff are usually extremely rude and unpleasant. They will almost cetainly tell you that they have to come in the house, they will be taking the car and that they will not accept staged payments. We usually that you write or e-mail the bailiff company

funkyxmooover

i like the selling the car for a pound idea. So obvious too, why didn't it occur to me!? haha

They are rude and unpleasant which is why I find it difficult to deal with them. My friend wont take their rubbish though, he is a much stronger person than I!

king100

funkyxmooover wrote: »

@king100, Thank you for your reply, it's been very useful. To try and answer some questions for you; I don't know if moderate to severe anxiety and panic disorder qualifies as disabled or seriously ill (even though it has me feeling seriously ill). Just the one liability order, £434 (which remains outstanding).

I personally don't drive, my partner does. The car is parked on a public road outside somebody elses house, surely they can't take it until they know who it belongs to! Mind you, I now have visions of them harassing my neighbours to find out.

I definitely wont be letting them in and I can record video if (when) they drop by again.

I have a question, can anybody call the company on my behalf? I get in a real state when talking to these people and I have somebody coming over today who I can get some support from. Can he speak to them for me?

Personally I wouldent call the company at all.

You can call the council but some of the back room staff are actually associated to the bailiff company.

when bailiff turns up just dont let him in. There is no law that suggests you need to talk to pay the bailiff, but and I say but you will be liable for his fee of £42.50.

You did say that you had paid and all that was owed was £350.

Now is £434, what is this made up of?

LO cost no more than £11 max. There are no court fees.

funkyxmooover

I di speak to the council this morning, the woman I spoke to said it's out of their hands now i have to make arrangements with the bailiffs. I'm happy to do that but I can't afford what they're asking. I also understand I will be liable for the fees.

We got the bill way down so I assumed the fact it has gone up again would have been court costs. Confused now. I will do the template letter you supplied earlier and find out what it's all made up of.

dancingfairy

I would have thought if you are there to speak to the council and say to them can x speak on my behalf they should be o.k with it. I'm don't think there is any point phoning the bailiffs - from how you've described them so far they are highly unlikely to accept any payment plan - they might say they will but only after you've let them in which as you know will result in 100 - 200 pounds extra fees so you will be getting nowhere with them as you know under no circumstances to let them in.
The council can take the debt back if they so choose - although having got the bailiffs in they are likely to want to get them to do the hard work and the bailiffs are likely to be more effective at squezing money out of you.
You need to get the councillor involved. Keep paying the council what you can afford. Write to the bailiffs - point out they aren't coming in and that you are paying the coucil directly. Frankly there is nothing the baiiffs can then do - they can't break in - if you've got rid of the car then they can't take that etc. They will eventually get bored and refer the debt back to the council.
df

funkyxmooover

dancingfairy wrote: »

I would have thought if you are there to speak to the council and say to them can x speak on my behalf they should be o.k with it. I'm don't think there is any point phoning the bailiffs - from how you've described them so far they are highly unlikely to accept any payment plan - they might say they will but only after you've let them in which as you know will result in 100 - 200 pounds extra fees so you will be getting nowhere with them as you know under no circumstances to let them in.
The council can take the debt back if they so choose - although having got the bailiffs in they are likely to want to get them to do the hard work and the bailiffs are likely to be more effective at squezing money out of you.
You need to get the councillor involved. Keep paying the council what you can afford. Write to the bailiffs - point out they aren't coming in and that you are paying the coucil directly. Frankly there is nothing the baiiffs can then do - they can't break in - if you've got rid of the car then they can't take that etc. They will eventually get bored and refer the debt back to the council.
df

Thank you so much for all your posts and to everyone else too, sitting here alone I've been driving myself in to all kinds of panic. I am reassured now that they can't take my things unless they gain peaceful entry which isn't ging to happen. My dad is coming over this afternoon to take me shopping and has offered to call on my behalf to try and negotiate a £50 p/month repayment plan which is stretching it a bit but I shall cut back to allow it. Otherwise it'll just go back to court or the council, I presume.

I feel like some complaint to the council is in order though, they lady I spoke to this morning said the debt could have been added to this tax year's payments but as it's in the bailiffs hands now it couldn't!!!!! Why didn't they do that before it went to court?! :-/

Culex

funkyxmooover wrote: »

I di speak to the council this morning, the woman I spoke to said it's out of their hands now i have to make arrangements with the bailiffs. I'm happy to do that but I can't afford what they're asking. I also understand I will be liable for the fees.

Get onto your local councillor and get him/her to do something useful for once.