Spurious charges from C/Tax bailiffs.

Rail_Staff

I have posted before on this issue but my girlfriend is continuing to have difficulty with Ross & Roberts.

After contacting Ross & Roberts head office we obtained a complete breakdown of the money that was owed and it turned out to be more than £150 less than the figure being asked for by the bailiff, the account was then placed with a new bailiff.

This morning she had a another visit while she was out, the letter from the new bailiff is as follows.

FIRST NOTICE

We have attended today in respect of your debt. Unless you contact me immediately I will return to your property with a view to levy distress (listing your goods) as a security against this debt which will incur further costs. Further statutory costs under the Council Tax Regulations 1992 will become payable.


On contacting the bailiff he quoted the debt as being £782.45, despite Ross & Roberts H/O confirming the debt as only £364.90 just a few weeks ago. He claimed the increase was due to C/T debt from 2010/2011 having been added (even though my girlfriend is paying this in instalments direct to the council). He also claimed that if he comes to the property and makes a levy distress order it will add about £200 to the debt.

He is unwilling to discuss any payment plan until she makes a payment of £182.45 (coincidentally exactly half the debt she was quoted in February) within two weeks, she made it clear that this would be impossible as she only gets £130 per fortnight in benefits and is paying rent and C/T out of that money.

Is it worth emailing Ross & Roberts H/O again to verify the debt and query the vague figures being quoted by their agent (who titles himself 'Bailiff In Charge'.

She has contacted the council this morning and is awaiting a reply on what is happening with the 2010/2011 C/T account.

timbstoke

He won't. Bailiffs in respect of council tax can only add very specific charges - I believe it's £18 for the first visit and £25 for the second or something like that. Either way, if the previous bailiff already added these, they can't be added again. The only other charge they can levy is a van attendance fee, which they can only apply if they already have a walking possession order (i.e. you've already let them in).

That being the case, don't panic. Write to them explaining that the sums don't add up, and insist on a written breakdown of the costs. Remember, if the first bailiff already added 2 attendance fees, the second isn't allowed to add them again. Don't let them bully you. Copy the council directly into all correspondence too - sometimes, they'll take steps to reign in their bailiffs if they're clearly overstepping the mark.

ratandrew

You're in quite dangerous territory here. Bailiffs have virtually no power under the law apart from when they're collecting Council Tax, Revenue or (in some cases only) CCJ debts. They interpret their powers rather liberally eg don't leave a window open to allow them access!

You should endeavor to get the debt returned to the council. I wouldn't waste your time talking to the bailiffs.

Please, please phone National Debtline 0808 808 4000 - google them; this site won't let me post a link. They have reams and reams of info on Bailiff's powers and they love championing the rights of ordinary people like us aginst debt-collectors.

The debt-collection industry is woefully under-regulated and populated by people who you wouldn't be surprised to see in a Guy Ritchie film, don't give them an inch.

Best of luck, Andrew K.

Rail_Staff

What do you mean by 'dangerous territory', dangerous for who?

Btw she is on DLA due to suffering from long term depression, does that have any effect on the situation?

RAS

Hi

Andrew is talking garbage.

Unless your girl friend allows the bailiff into the house, or has a car on which he can levy (and she does not sort that out ASAP), the bailiff can do NOTHING.

GF needs to ring the COuncil and demand to know the value of all liability orders that have been issued against her.

NOTE: if they have issued a liability order for two years, the bailiffs can only charge one lot of fees if they attend at the same time for the same debt.

If GF thinks it unfair that the Council has issed a liability order against a debt she was already paying, she needs to get hold of her local councillor and ask them to sort out the Revenue Office.

Oh and a vulnerable person, they probably should not be using bailiffs at all.

And why is she not get CT benefit? wwwturn2us.org.uk

Culex

At least the bailiff has not (yet) threatened to rape her. :eek:

Rail_Staff

She does get all the CT benefits due to her, unfortunately her financial management is poor which is why I am involved. I want to help her but I simply don't have the means at the moment.

Rail_Staff

There has been no progress on this yet, Ross & Roberts have failed to reply to any communication, the bailiff has made no contact and the council keep saying they'll call back but never do.

In the meantime is it worth making affordable payments on a weekly basis (say £10 a week for example) direct to the council? As things stand nothing is being paid and I wouldn't want it to look as if she is making no attempt to repay the debt.