Baliffs say I'm in breach of contract

Druidofthehill

Can anyone advise please, I hope I'm posting in the right section.

I got into a lot of debt problems, due to a number of reasons, including poor health (I had a nervous breakdown) and a mess up at the council tax benefits office (they told me that I would be entitled to council tax benefit but turned out I wasn't!!)

Anyway long and short of it, I ended up with 8 council tax accounts going to the bailiff. I made arrangements and have paid regularly, in fact have paid more than my monthly agreements most months, and have cleared all but 3 of them, despite me now being on disability, after developing a heart condition, a form of cardiomyopathy that is genetic and develops later in life. I have never denied owing the money and have tried extremely hard to sort out my life and clear the debts.

The last bailiff that visited, in May 2009, (10 days after my 3rd heart op in 9 weeks lol), said that the payments were due on the 12th of each month. So I have religiously paid at least a week in advance ever since... until this month when the payment was made on the 11th.

This morning I got another visit, they now claim the payments are due on the 5th of each month, and that I am in breach of contract. They are threatening to come back tomorrow morning and remove goods. I explained that the bailiff told me the payments were due on the 12th, to which the reply was 'well its not in writing so you ain't got a leg to stand on have yer?'

I am in such a state, I have paid well over the agreed amounts to clear the debts, and STILL they harass me.

I have spoken to the council who are going to see if they can help by talking to the bailiff company, but if they can't can anyone advise if I have any legal way to stop the removal of goods?

Just seems so unfair to me, that I have tried so hard and still lose my belongings

My husband cannot work as he carer to both myself and our daughter who is also disabled.

Thank you for reading and I hope that someone may be able to offer some advice.

Em

dancingfairy

You need to get hold of someone reasonably senior within the council tax department at the council and point out how things are breaking down with the bailiff. You are clearly a vulnerable person so ask them (the council) for their policy on dealing with vulnerable people - they should take the debt back in house and deal with it.
DO you have proof that you have been paying regularly for all this time that you can show to the council? The bailiffs sound like they are playing silly games by constantly chaging the payment dates and are obviously out to try and get more fees and charges from you by making you pay late (by changing the dates).
IF you can't get any sense out of the council then I suggest you get in touch with your local councillor and get them to help you out - they often have a lot more power with the council than you. They know they are elected by the people so are keen to be seen to be doing the right thing and when the councillor says jump the council should do so immeadiately
Have you ever let the bailiff into your house? If no don't start letting them in now. If you have let them in before then they can come back and take goods they have listed (provided they have done it legally)- let us know what the situation is on that one as it may make the situation slightly more urgent.
df

dancingfairy

Oh and the council can jolly well recall the debt from the bailiffs and stop them taking your stuff but it might not actually have come to that with the bailiffs yet anyway. The baliffs have to have followed the correct procedure so don't panic just yet as they may not have done that.
National Debtline have a really good factsheet on dealing with bailiffs and council tax debts but at the end of the day the council are the ones that need to sort it. Keep going higher up until you get some sense out of them - if you have to go to head of council tax recovery, then head of council tax, then head of revenues etc.
Best of Luck
df

Druidofthehill

Thank you df, yes unfortunately I did let them in, I was not well the first time they called and believed them when they said that if I didn't let them in they couldn't make an agreement with me and I would have to go to court and be sent to prison. yes now I know it was all lies, but then I didn't Thank you for the advice, if the council say they cannot help I will ring my Councillor, have her number as have helped her with a community event recently!

I have all the paperwork proving I have paid regularly so can show that to the council if need be. I wonder if the bailiffs are miffed because I'm paying off quicker than planned so they will lose out on their phone fees, they use an automated payment line, which cost about 4.00 in phone charges a month to ring when I had all 8 debts, now its down to 3 its costing me about 1.50

dancingfairy

I'd ring first and try and get some help and then send copies of what's been said via post so they can't forget what was agreed - not that the council are likely to forget in the same way bailiffs are but it just means everybody knows what's what.
I'm not sure where you stand on them taking your goods as I suspect that the levy is invalid -just from the way they lied to gain entry, when you were vulnerable, probably doesn't cover the amounts required, probably got invalid things on there etc etc but you really need specialist advice on that one. Your best bet is really to get the bailiffs withdrawn by the council.
df