If a bailiff sees something from your window

Jerryjerryjerry

I'm home now. T.v. etc. all still here. Relief.

I'm looking at the second notice that he pushed through the letterbox on thurs am. Its dated 8/9/11, the day after he gave us that previous notice of seizure.

It has the same bailiff ref, the same bailiff number and the total amount if paid today: 1414.35. - The same as the first notice, the day before. He's put the make of my car and colour. Then all keys and documents. And he's signed it as before. Again, he has not ticked any of the three boxes, ie council tax.

RobertoMoir

Jerryjerryjerry wrote: »

Hi there.

We've had numerous letters from the council and others. I think we've even had bailiffs letters before, but I can't remember now. We bought the house in Nov 2009. Therefore, one of the liability orders is for that year, the second is for 2010 and so on.

I will check tonight as soon as I get home from work what it says on the other Seizure order.

I don't want to sound overly critical or worry you but... Council tax is a debt that people seem to be quick to push to one side and all and be very vague about much as you are here.

It is in fact a "priority debt". It's one of the most important bills you need to pay each month, right up there with the roof over your head really. I'm astonished that the council have 3 LOs for council tax and haven't taken any further enforcement action; the only way that makes sense to me is if the LOs have only just all been granted (this can happen if there was a backlog in figuring out who they think should be liable for the council tax on a property).

Council tax is one of the few debts where it is theoretically possible to go to jail for non-payment. Please don't worry about this happening to you, I'm not trying to scare you and its highly unlikely to happen unless you refuse to pay or the courts decide you have been negligent in the handling of the debt (e.g. you could have paid but chose to spend the money on magic beans). But I want to try and get across to you how important this debt is.

RobertoMoir

Jerryjerryjerry wrote: »

I'm home now. T.v. etc. all still here. Relief.

I'm looking at the second notice that he pushed through the letterbox on thurs am. Its dated 8/9/11, the day after he gave us that previous notice of seizure.

It has the same bailiff ref, the same bailiff number and the total amount if paid today: 1414.35. - The same as the first notice, the day before. He's put the make of my car and colour. Then all keys and documents. And he's signed it as before. Again, he has not ticked any of the three boxes, ie council tax.

Did you mention earlier in the thread that you'd been talking to bailiff advice online through the website or phone? If so, I'd suggest emailing them once again to let them know that the bailiff has apparently produced two levies for the same debt.

This is more than a little bit naughty on the part of the bailiff and something you may well be able to use as a lever to get the debts taken away from the bailiff and put back to the council for a payment arrangement. Getting the council to take the debt back should be a reasonable objective, especially if it turns out that you don't actually owe all or some of the bills due to residency.

hallowitch

The law should be chaned to take the council tax from the wage.

legislation allows council tax to be recovered by attachment of earnings

Jerryjerryjerry

thegoodman wrote: »

Are you sure you are not making this up?
You have a painter 5k car and still not willing to pay the tax.
The law should be chaned to take the council tax from the wage.
People like you cause council tax to go up.

You know what? you are absolutely right. I've got painters painting my hallway and a 5k car in the driveway. I'm actually really ashamed.

However,in my defence, I did put it to my husband, strongly, almost two years ago that we should sell the car . Whenever I suggest something there is an argument. The arguments lead to silence.. i get the silent treatment.

I have also time and time again argued that we can't afford a painter. We should do it ourselves. Again, i'm met with the same response.

My part in this is that I dont stick to my instincts and I dont stick wiht the argument. I tend to back down for a quiet life. I'm absolutely stupid and maybe its fear. Always trying to make others happy. I dont know.

All I can say is that, in the 42 years i've lived on this planet, i've only ever been in debt for #1,000. And i've always cleared it off. Then I get MARRIED. And then I get into debt for 9.5 k. All together, with the credit card and council tax, we now owe 9.5k. I'm sick of it.

Every time I suggest the right thing to do, i'm put down and told i'm being silly. It will get sorted babe. It will get sorted. I wouldn't mind, but the credit card is in MY NAME!

Something has to change. I'm going to go and sell the car.

I'm not the sort of person who shows off, oh look what i've got. I'm humble. I dont care if i'm in an old banger. I'm passed all that. BUT, his mother and him will always worry about WHAT OTHER PEOPLE WILL SAY. Well, they can go and take a running jump. excuse the typing. I've only got a notebook at home which I bought second hand off ebay.

RobertoMoir

Jerryjerryjerry wrote: »

You know what? you are absolutely right. I've got painters painting my hallway and a 5k car in the driveway. I'm actually really ashamed.

However,in my defence, I did put it to my husband, strongly, almost two years ago that we should sell the car . Whenever I suggest something there is an argument. The arguments lead to silence.. i get the silent treatment.

I have also time and time again argued that we can't afford a painter. We should do it ourselves. Again, i'm met with the same response.

My part in this is that I dont stick to my instincts and I dont stick wiht the argument. I tend to back down for a quiet life. I'm absolutely stupid and maybe its fear. Always trying to make others happy. I dont know.

All I can say is that, in the 42 years i've lived on this planet, i've only ever been in debt for #1,000. And i've always cleared it off. Then I get MARRIED. And then I get into debt for 9.5 k. All together, with the credit card and council tax, we now owe 9.5k. I'm sick of it.

Every time I suggest the right thing to do, i'm put down and told i'm being silly. It will get sorted babe. It will get sorted. I wouldn't mind, but the credit card is in MY NAME!

Something has to change. I'm going to go and sell the car.

I'm not the sort of person who shows off, oh look what i've got. I'm humble. I dont care if i'm in an old banger. I'm passed all that. BUT, his mother and him will always worry about WHAT OTHER PEOPLE WILL SAY. Well, they can go and take a running jump. excuse the typing. I've only got a notebook at home which I bought second hand off ebay.

It sounds like you're determined to get to grips with things. Whatever you might feel or others might say about mistakes in the past, you sound like you're dealing with things now and thats something to be proud of.

Don't let the situation, or people who (however true they might be) are not being terribly constructive about how they point things out get to you.

Deal with the current 'crisis' then plan your next move.

One point to make to your husband, possibly, if he's worried about "what will other people think" is the one I pointed out about council tax debt being one you can go to jail over (and hiring a painter rather than paying the debt does tend to take my earlier comments about 'in theory' out of theory and closer to happening, I'm afraid!). I have actually had to arrest people as part of committal proceedings for non payment in my old job.

If he's worried about what the neighbours would think if you painted your own house or drove a £1k car instead of a £5k one, then surely they'd think even less of someone who got himself sent to jail for non-payment of council tax?

Jerryjerryjerry

Just to add, husband now thinks im being over dramatic. He says we should wait till the new year, if things are still bad, we will sell the car then. His head is buried in the sand.

Tonight, he said we ought to buy two more new doors for upstairs as then they will all match. I reminded him of our debt. He said, they're only 24 pounds each. I said, there that's 50 pounds right there. THIS IS WHY we are in DEPT. He spends money like we are on good salaries!

I'm a receptionist who works from 8.30 am till 6.00 pm monday to friday and for that, I get paid #17k.

He is a civil servent who gets 19k! We have two mortgages. His mother's and ours. We only bought this house because I couldn't bear to live with her any longer. I feel like everythnig has gone wrong. I wish i'd never married. All the debts are in my name.

When you look at my credit card bill, its just Asda, and B&Q and Wickes and all the other DIY places. The other day, he bought outside plugs. I dont know if they are expenseive, but its things like this that really get to me. He has bought lights for the outside, for when people appraoch your house. excuse the mistakes, i'm typing on a miniscule ckey board.

and the back space doesn't work so its hard to correct.

He keeps on and on, and on, adding to stuff WE NEED to do to the house. I mean. New coving. What was wrong with the old stuff? New wood for the bottom of walls, don't know what its called, but it all adds up, thats it skirting.. for the WHOLE house. Lets get new skirting... yea, we earn loads. No WE DONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This iswhy we are in debt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i've reached the end of my tether tonight. I* feel like jumping off a tall building.

I an't get through to anybody. His mum thinks its ME.. but its not.. its HIM. I am happy with anythingl. I dont h need k new skirting boards to make me happy. I'm so angry and upset. its never ending.

He thinks spending 9on the creidit credit card is is like free money.. we dont spend at all. W HOW can I get it through to him?

pure_dead_dopey

let him read this thread Jerry

MrsTinks

Don't give him your credit card, Monday call the council and ask them if they would take the debt back if you were to pay half/all of it which you intend on doing by selling your car. As others have said - your council tax is SERIOUS... No other bill apart from your mortgage should ever come before your council tax. You are fortunate to have the means to pay this by selling your car and you should have enough to still buy a small runaround.
Then the hard bit will come... you will need to get your relationship sorted... if he's got a spending problem and won't admit it then it's going to be up to you if you can live with that and the ensuing debt, or not... Not saying it's an easy thing to decide and only you can make that choice... but you need to decide either way because otherwise you will just get more and more bitter about the situation (and probably rightly so...)

chappers

one thing that has been mentioned is to get on to your local councillor, and explain that you have bailiffs threatening you .
They do carry sway with the council and can be very good at getting the debt back to the council.
You need to be forceful the council will almost certainly tell you that they cannot take the debt back, but this is a lie, they are the ones who instructed the bailiffs they can un-instruct them. the reason they don't like doing this is that they will have to pay the bailiffs fees.
Do as Robert says and get on to bailiff advice, the most urgent thing here is to try and properly establish the validity of either of the levies, my suspicion is that the second levy is invalid and possibly that may even invalidate the first one.