Bloody equita bailiffs! advice please

N3WLIFE

Hi everyone, I was struggling to pay arrears on my temporary accommodation from lambeth because my housing benefit was messed up. I had to pay back just over 4 grand! which should not have happened, but they have said they are not willing to backtrack and reassess their decision.

Anyway I somehow managed to pay that off, but because I was paying that off due to eviction threats and going to court, I ignored the council tax for a while.

So they transfer the debt to equita, and I agree with them to pay 100 a month, which I do.
I april I had 42.94 left to pay, and I had a standing order set up. I cancelled the standing order, and meant to pay the remaining balance.

However that didnt happen. I moved into a perm. council flat and at the time I signed the contract, they made me do a change of address form so I would get the housing benefit for my new place. That was on 2nd of April. Till this date I am still waiting for them to make a decision because for some reason (they dont know) my change of address form wasnt processed! :mad:

So I have been trying to pay the full rent every week and now I am in arrears about £200 because I cant afford it! I didnt pay the council tax yet because I couldnt afford it.

Then I get a letter by hand from equita, with just a mobile number saying I need to pay the full balance immediately. It doesnt say how much, so I call them and they tell me I owe about £213! I call lambeth and they tell me what I already know £42.94!

I want to pay my balance online, but I call equita to see if thats ok and the guy is like no you have to call the bailiff directly. I say I cant afford to call mobile from my phone and he says its cheaper than calling the number im calling now.

I say to him 01 numbers are free from BT, and he says no this is a 084....number! I know I called 01604! but he says oh well you still need to call the bailiff! What the heck is going on!

I am only going to pay the 42.94, I am a single mother working part-time and im struggling!

Should I txt him and tell him to give me the court date if he tries to go to court because im not paying all that money, for what! they couldnt even tell me how they came up with the extra money! They tried to say £70 was a charge from lambeth, however when I called lambeth they say thats not true and if I pay the 42.94 that should clear the debt!

What do I do???

BTW. because they didnt bother to do my change of address from, I have not yet received a council tax bill for this year-so have no idea how much I owe and how much im gonna have to pay per month!
:mad:

MrsTUS

If you qualify for housing benefit, do you also qualify for council tax benefit? At the very least 25% singles person discount. Something to bare in mind..

First thing is first, ring the council directly and do a change of address over the phone - it's no good saying 'they didn't process my change of address form' i.e. that it's their fault and thats why you haven't paid. You KNOW you have to pay, everyone has to pay and I feel you maybe could have been a little bit more proactive on getting that sorted - make that your priority on Monday morning - and also explain your current financial circumstances and see if there's anything they can do. If you can't afford to call, then you need to go to the council office directly and wait until someone can see you in person.

It is NEVER a good idea to skip paying council in favour of other debts - even if it's paying back housing benefit overpayment - it doesn't take priority over your current council tax and you should have offered them an amount that didn't put you in financial direstraits - something is always better than nothing.

You do need to definitely speak to someone who is handling your debt - if you have the £42 odd and you can pay it, tell them you can pay that over the phone, but don't go into discussion about paying anything above that for the moment.. Ask them to send you a breakdown of why they think you owe £213 odd in writing.

Do you have anybody who's a bit more knowledgeable and confident in dealing with debts and local authorities? A family member or a friend? Perhaps it might be easier if you give them permission to deal with this on your behalf, becuase you sound very stressed out about this all and that's no good, you need to be calm and relaxed about this for your child as a stressed mummy is no good to anyone.

Just relax, it's not a matter of life and death and you will get this sorted... just take a deep breath, you've definitely come to the right place.

If what I've suggested so far isn't correct, then somebody more knowledgeable will be along in just a moment to correct me and give you even better advice.

N3WLIFE

Hi there, thanks very much for the advice, I appreciate it.

I have handed in a second change of address form at the office again-I actually brought in the photocopy of the previous one I did to show them it was done.

They said by 7th of July I should hear something.

I cant even pay the council tax for this year yet because they haven't sent me the bill yet, they said they need to process my change of address first.

Im just annoyed at the fact that I had to do the change of address form at the same time as signing the contract for my flat! If they did the job properly and just processed it-it wouldnt be so bad!

MrsTUS

Yes, I can sympathise, most local authorities are never quick to do anything helpful, generally stalling to the detriment of other people.

Have you been putting money aside, allocating it for the council when you DO receive the bill though?

If this was me, I'd be in the frame of mind that I KNEW I had to pay council tax and I'd have been setting aside money for when the bill eventually did come through - and it will. So have you being doing this at all - as it might save you some worry if you have.. :]

MrsTUS

If you can post a SOA - you incomings including from any jobs and benefits and your outgoings as they stand, we can see how we can help you further. There's a sticky at the top of this forum with a link where you can find..

N3WLIFE

Thanks for the advice, I will start working on that SOA..........

dancingfairy

Right you need to find out exactly what you owe for council tax for last year first.
You will owe (or likely owe) -
1) the actual concouncil tax concerned - this sounds like it is 42 pounds.
2) possibly a liability order fee on top of this of 70 odd pounds - check this with the council.
This will be the total that has been passed on to the bailiffs.
3) the bailiffs are allowed to charge for 2 visit fees - about 42.50 I think to come and knock on your door and deliver a letter (yes really!).
4) This is very important have the bailiffs ever levied on a car or anything or ever been inside your house? If so then it is likely they will have added levy fees as well

National Debtline has a factsheet of what bailiffs for council tax can and can't charge. Make sure you get a breakdown from equita of EXACTLY what they are charging for as some bailiffs have been know to add extra charges or charge for things they aren't allowed to. I suggest writing to Equita (if you have their address) and demanding a breakdown of charges, you may also want to copy the council in on this as the bailiffs work for the council (in a round about way) so the council are responsible for the conduct of the bailiffs.
If you don't have their address then email them in the first instance and ask for their address and send it by email and post (they can't pretend they haven't had it then).
df
When you've got the charges you can investigate further. Oh and bailiffs will sometimes try and charge several charges at once even if they are not allowed to so double, triple check all their charges.

dancingfairy

You should also see about contesting your housing benefit mess up - 4,000 is a lot of money. No doubt others can help with that. In the meantime you also need to get them to hurry up with the new housing benefit.
df