Council Tax and Baliffs

footrot

I finally got a reply from the bailiffs (Newlyn). The dates are all wrong (when they said they attended). They came twice, and on each of these occassions knocked on my door, I opened and they handed me a letter, without speaking to me. The first was basic, the second was the Notice of distress.

Now, according to the reply that Newlyns sent me the breakdown of the bailiffs fees are -

visit 1 fee £24.50 28.10.11
visit 2 fee £18.00 11.11.11 (incorrect date, they attended 23.11.11 WITH the Notice of Distress
Levy fee £49.00 25.11.11 (incorrect date, see visit 2 above)
Attendance to remove fee £160.00 25.11.11 (did not come at any time with a van to tow away our vehicle (now safe elsewhere)

The letter goes no to say “once a levy has been performed, no more visits are peformed. Any further attendances to the property are considered attendances with a van and as such you are charged accordingly to the fee structure.”

They also state, “I can confirm that all our bailiffs are certificated at court and employed to work for Newlyn plc and they work only under ur instructions and upon work that we give them.
WE ARE UNWILLING TO PROVIDE THE BAILIFFS NAME AND COURT DETAILS at this time as we believe this request to be vexatious and unnecessary, and his actions are based on instructions given by this office and form part of our standard operating procedures.
We believe that by taking our bailiffs certificate details you would be looking to issue a Formal complaint against him as an individual. If you have reason to believe that the bailiff as an individual has acted incorrectly and not upon our instruction, please advise us of this further so that further investigation can be carried out.”

Now, as I understand it, but may be wrong, I didn’t think they could add a levy fee AND charge a second visit fee. As I said before, the second “visit”, was a knock at the door, and I was handed the Notice of Distress, no-one spoke to me.
I also know that no van or tow truck came at anytime. It would have to be a tow truck to take away our vehicle (as I said, now safe elsewhere).

Are Newlyns legally obliged to provide me with the name of the bailiff/s that attended?
Also, what do I do about all the incorrect dates provided by Newlyn?

jayjay2910

Its a new year, same old bailiffs, i made a payment as per the agreement made with the bailiff on my doorstep on the argeed date and the agreed amount, low and behold last night when i got home from work i had a letter stating i had broken the argeement and would need to clear the outstanding liabilty orders within 48hr or they will turn up and do the usual remove goods, call the police etc. rang them 1st thing this morning and they said because i had used the wrong ref on my payment, considering i have 3 liabilty orders (wasnt sure which ref corrosponded to what order, just picked the 1st one i saw) i had broken the broken the argeement and bascially tough. my mistake and they will be calling shortly to collect goods.

is there anything i can do, they have argeed that the payment was made, but under the wrong ref. any help or advice would be grateful

hallowitch

so what ref number have you used for other payments

personally i would be sending a formal complaint to the CEO of your council you have made the payment as agreed this is an excuse to add a van attendance fee

jayjay2910

the ref number i used was for one of the other libaity orders i have with them, their payment site looks like this

Name:Mr James Jones
Address:BS48 1RHTelephone xxxxxx
Client:South Gloucestershire Council
Debt:654.50Type:Domestic Rates Ref:42133657X
Paid:0.00VRM:
Balance:654.50The above balance may not include fees incurred in the last few days
Pay This


We also hold the following cases for you:
Name:xxxxxx:xxxxxxx
outh Gloucestershire Council
Debt:854.50Type:Domestic Rates Ref:42133657XPaid:0.00VRM:

Balance:854.50

The above balance may not include fees incurred in the last few days
Pay This


Name:Mr xxxxxxx Address:

Telephone:Client:South Gloucestershire Council
Debt:569.81Type:Domestic Rates Ref:42133657X
Paid:51.00VRM:
Balance:518.81
The above balance may not include fees incurred in the last few days

each order has a difference ref attached but they are all listed on my account.

hallowitch

send the formal complaint
you have not missed a payment regardless of what account number you used inform him that this is just an excuse to add more fees

you cant make full payment of the debts as you don't have £xxx your on line account with the bailiff firm has been closed (try making a £1 payment to your account to confirm this ) therefore you will now be paying the council direct using there on-line payment facility

jayjay2910

thank hallowitch as usual you are a star and give execellent advise, just fired off the complaint via email to mrs deek at south glos. so watch this space. maybe i should invite the bailiff to am meeting in a dark alley and get some of my lovely biker friends to have a quiet word in his ear lol see how he likes to be threaten and bullied lol :-) (not that i would ever do such a things or condone it in anyway)

jayjay2910

well surpsie surpise, its an on going saga that george lucas would be proud of - repsonse on saturday from the complaints officer at south glos stating 1) as mr cohen is a certificed bailiiff he is able to work for any company as a cert bailiff - i was under the impression that he had to be certified for the specific company? maybe wrong but looking back at this thread that was my impression and secondly and most importantly they state according mr cohen he attended my property on the 01/12/11 @ 16:12pm and gain access via me letting into the hallway and i wouldnt let him any further. which is a balant lie he turned up at 6.20 am and never even got past the front door, he states that he lieved on 4 black and cream chair and a pine dresser - these are both easliy seen from the front door by looking over my shoulder - and they belong to my fiancee anyways ( its 4 patio chairs and its a pine effect wardrode not a dresser)

so yet again i need some pointers as i going to fire a letter back to the complaints team rasing these querys.

hallowitch

I'm losing the will to live here thats 3 times Ive lost the post

going to do it in office then copy paste

jayjay2910

dont give up just yet hallowitch you can master the technogoly lol

hallowitch

Bailiffs are governed by the distress for rent rules 1988

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2050/contents/made
A bailiff can only be employed by one bailiff firm (unless he is self-employed)
When a bailiff applies for a certificate he pays a bond of 10k to the court this bond is paid by HIS EMPLOYER usually by way of insurance (in other words he is boned to his employer )


Security
6.—(1) The applicant shall be required to

(a)lodge in court by way of bond or deposit, or .
(b)satisfy the Judge or Registrar that there is subsisting by way of bond or deposit, .
Security totalling £10,000 in the case of a general certificate or £750 in the case of a special certificate.

(2) The security referred to in paragraph (1) above shall be for the due performance of the bailiff’s duties and for any reasonable costs, fees and expenses incurred in the investigation of any complaint lodged against the bailiff, or in the cancellation of his certificate, and shall be applied in accordance with rules 8 and 9.

(3) Where a deposit is lodged in court under paragraph (1) above, the provisions of the Court Funds Rules shall apply.


As your man is certificated to xxxx his bond does not cover him to work for any other firm of bailiffs


4 chairs and a dresses does not make a levy on a debt of over £1000

Goods levied must cover all bailiff fees including removal fees, storage fees, auction fees, and a portion of the principle debt (goods are levied to secure the debt) this would make this an irregular levy

Ask them to send you a copy of the notice of seizure listing the goods Bailiff Mr xxx levied on behalf of xxxx council ( before you send the e-mail did he leave this notice at the time of the levy )


When you send your reply to the council ask them to confirm that they will /will not be removing the levy fee and all associated fees ask them to confirm that they believe under The distress for rent rules 1988 the bailiff is authorised to levy Distress for rundle & co knowing that he is certificated to xxxx xxxx LTD ask then to confirm that there contract or service level agreement with rundle & co allows them to outsource work on behalf of xxxxx council to bailiffs that are employed by a xxxxx LTD or any other bailiff firm

(At the bottom of the letter put)

Please confirm that the response to the matters raised in this on-going formal complaint is a final response leaving the way open for myself to make a complaint to the local government ombudsman and issue a Form 4 complaint to the bailiffs issuing court regarding his fitness to hold a certificate
As this formal complaint has now been on-going for xxxx Months a reply within 7 would be appreciated If no reply is received within the above time scale I will escalate my complain to the local government ombudsman