Advice needed : Bristow and sutor - council tax debt

hanm666

Im looking for some advice for a relative who owes around £2000 council tax from a couple of years ago, in this time he has moved once and ended up homeless and now has somewhere to live and a job.
He works all hours god send him and often goes without food as he just cannot afford it after rent, bills, debts. Im really worried about him so id like to give him some advice as he is stressed and does not know what to do and does not have the internet so can only come online when at mine which is rare because work.

As far as im aware he recived letter about the bill a fortnight ago not too sure, Bayliff (Bristow and Sutor) came round and he let them in (dont know why but hes not very savvy on these sort of things and was most likely half asleep) bayliff makes list of items couple of pieces of furniture, small tv, a pc, microwave, fridge, freezer, couple of other things maybe, I think he would have been intimidated as he knows he cannot afford to pay it off in full, hes been looking into trying to get a loan to pay it off and is worried sick about being sent to prison etc.
Bayliff came last week but he was not in as was at work.
To be honest he does not have a lot and what he does have would no way cover this debt and cannot afford to pay them in full.

What should he do? as im not sure what he can do now they have made the list etc. I know he should not let them and can pay in installments is this possible after the list has been made?, how should he go about this? .
I will update when i have spoken to him if i have missed anything out, He does want to pay this he just cannot afford to in full.
I have advised him to go to citizens advice but dont have alot of advice to offer him.

Any advice is really appreciated
Thanks in advance

RAS

We need to deal with two things here

1. Your relative has background debts which need to be dealt with so that he can afford to eat pay the rent etc. Please can you get him to talk to one of he debt charities listed here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help If he is not very savvy, he may find CAP the best option because they do home visits.

2. Unfortunately your relative has allowed a bailiff into the house which means the bailiff can charge much higher fees. Please tell him if this ever happens again, he has to keep the bailiff out, but having done it this time, there is not a lot he can do except......

The bailiff has levied on items that cannot meet the value of the Liability Order, so he actually need to refer the debt back to the Council and I suspect that he is not actually allowed to list some of those items.

You are going to need some ore specialist advice, so hopefully hallowitch will be around soon. In the mean-time refresh this page and I will post you some links.

Can you get your relative to go through www.turn2us.org.uk in case he can get any help from working tax credits, local housing allowance etc?

immoral_angeluk

B&S are our local council bailiffs and 95% of the time they're generally reasonable to deal with ONCE the debtor has sought debt advice. They usually have specific instructions from the council so really the debtor needs to go to his local advice agency for assistance in dealing with this in conjunction with the council as from experience without having an agency involved B&S generally want it all and now.
One thing to note is that often their levies are insufficient, so he may be able to have the levy written off by a complaint being sent..

hanm666

RAS wrote: »

We need to deal with two things here

1. Your relative has background debts which need to be dealt with so that he can afford to eat pay the rent etc. Please can you get him to talk to one of he debt charities listed here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help If he is not very savvy, he may find CAP the best option because they do home visits.

2. Unfortunately your relative has allowed a bailiff into the house which means the bailiff can charge much higher fees. Please tell him if this ever happens again, he has to keep the bailiff out, but having done it this time, there is not a lot he can do except......

The bailiff has levied on items that cannot meet the value of the Liability Order, so he actually need to refer the debt back to the Council and I suspect that he is not actually allowed to list some of those items.

You are going to need some ore specialist advice, so hopefully hallowitch will be around soon. In the mean-time refresh this page and I will post you some links.

Can you get your relative to go through www.turn2us.org.uk in case he can get any help from working tax credits, local housing allowance etc?

Thankyou for the reply and the links, i have copied the info and numbers and put them on a memory stick for him to print off and told him to ring the number for cap now if they are open. He does recieve working tax credits which does help but he needs to reasses his finances and work out a proper budgeting plan which im hoping the charity orginisation willl help him do. Its not like he splashes the cash on things he doesnt need its just that the bills are mounting and hes not paying one bill to pay another etc and there all catching up with him. He said he had buried his head in the sand for a while as he was depressed but then rang the companies etc but just cannot afford to pay them. Im hoping the cap can give him some professiona advice and support as he doesnt really have anyone but me that he can talk to about it.I find its much easier to sort finances out when its down on paper in a plan so you know what to pay when and how much who to etc. Thanks again for the advice

hanm666

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

B&S are our local council bailiffs and 95% of the time they're generally reasonable to deal with ONCE the debtor has sought debt advice. They usually have specific instructions from the council so really the debtor needs to go to his local advice agency for assistance in dealing with this in conjunction with the council as from experience without having an agency involved B&S generally want it all and now.
One thing to note is that often their levies are insufficient, so he may be able to have the levy written off by a complaint being sent..

Thanks for the reply, I have just sent him the phone number to contact the debt advice agency, to get the ball rolling and sent him some advice off there website.
He really does not have any 'high value' items in his flat, all furniture second hand etc or given to him by me and one 20' tv, bedroom just has a bed, living room has small settee, small coffee, table corner display unit which i gave him and a drawing desk, and a wall unit, none of which have much value to them except the tv which isnt even worth much.
the kitchen he has chest fridge chest freezer our old cooker(which isnt fully working as it was for when he had just moved in and had nothing until he could afford another one) and a microwave and kettle.
I have asked him to photocopy the levy list for my partner to bring me when he comes back from there to show me to get a better idea of the situation.

RAS

hanm666 wrote: »

He really does not have any 'high value' items in his flat, all furniture second hand etc or given to him by me and one 20' tv, bedroom just has a bed, living room has small settee, small coffee, table corner display unit which i gave him and a drawing desk, and a wall unit, none of which have much value to them except the tv which isnt even worth much.
the kitchen he has chest fridge chest freezer our old cooker(which isnt fully working as it was for when he had just moved in and had nothing until he could afford another one) and a microwave and kettle.

Hi just based on the list you have given, it is plain that the levy is insufficent.

Bailiffs are not allowed to take basic household furniture or white goods, so most of the above should not be on a levy.

And the goods that they are allowed to levy must have sufficient value pay off the debt if seized and sold at auction. It has been suggested that they need to be valued about 10 times the value of the debt.

Now plainly, even with every item in the flat listed, your relatives possessions are insufficient, unless he has a secret stash of high value jewelry the bailiff spotted or a few masterpieces on the walls?

So he needs help getting the levy written off.

I would suggest he also needs help checking whether he might have been eligible for any help towards the CT at the time the debt accrued?

hanm666

RAS wrote: »

Hi just based on the list you have given, it is plain that the levy is insufficent.

Bailiffs are not allowed to take basic household furniture or white goods, so most of the above should not be on a levy.

And the goods that they are allowed to levy must have sufficient value pay off the debt if seized and sold at auction. It has been suggested that they need to be valued about 10 times the value of the debt.

Now plainly, even with every item in the flat listed, your relatives possessions are insufficient, unless he has a secret stash of high value jewelry the bailiff spotted or a few masterpieces on the walls?

So he needs help getting the levy written off.

I would suggest he also needs help checking whether he might have been eligible for any help towards the CT at the time the debt accrued?

I have just had the copy of the inventory.
Living room :
1 . 32' crt tv and stand (second hand family friend gave him)
2. xbox and one controller (my partner gave him)
3. lightwood coffee table (from charity furniture shop)
4. darkwood hifi cabinet (we gave him)
5. darkwood corner cabinet (from charity furniture shop)
6. pc tower keyboard and mouse and tft monitor
Kitchen:
7. microwave (given to him from family friend)
8. unbranded electric toaster (was £4)
9. small chest freezer (second hand)

He has not signed the inventory though if that makes any difference?

To me these things would not reach the amount owed as they are not in great condition and he doesnt own jewellery, he has his own drawing on the wall from when he was at university.

Im not sure if he was elligble for help with CT as he was a student and moved in there just before he finished uni (as he became homeless just before finishing uni due to another family member he was living with) and then got a job so he could pay rent etc and gradually took on as many hours as he could as he was told he wasnt eligble for any financial help due to him having been a student within the past however many months.This debt is from then until now that it is owed as far as im aware.

I have told him to contact the CAP asap for an appointment as to help him and seek advice and help on what steps to take, as i know he is in debt with electric company too as hes charged quarterly but he isnt there alot due to work so doesnt use that much electric i dont think.

RAS

hanm666 wrote: »

Im not sure if he was elligble for help with CT as he was a student and moved in there just before he finished uni (as he became homeless just before finishing uni due to another family member he was living with) and then got a job so he could pay rent etc and gradually took on as many hours as he could as he was told he wasnt eligble for any financial help due to him having been a student within the past however many months.This debt is from then until now that it is owed as far as im aware.

If he was a student, he needed a student exemption letter and he would then have been entitled to full student exemption until the official end of the course. This meant he owed no CT during that period, which is why he could not claim any CT benefit.

he needs to go back to his uni and see if they will issue him with the CT benefit letter for the year (or years) he lived there and was a student, retrospectively.

Otherwise the Council is entitled to assume that he owes the money.

The levy should state which period the Liability order covers?

And can you work out what time period exactly he was at Uni? Usually the year ends around the end of June or beginning of July.

RAS

hamn

Ignore and hit the report button - that it what it is for.

Do not feed the trolls.

hanm666

RAS wrote: »

If he was a student, he needed a student exemption letter and he would then have been entitled to full student exemption until the official end of the course. This meant he owed no CT during that period, which is why he could not claim any CT benefit.

he needs to go back to his uni and see if they will issue him with the CT benefit letter for the year (or years) he lived there and was a student, retrospectively.

Otherwise the Council is entitled to assume that he owes the money.

The levy should state which period the Liability order covers?

And can you work out what time period exactly he was at Uni? Usually the year ends around the end of June or beginning of July.

All it says is 'Inventory of goods seized/removed' name referance address date, and the list of items ' i request they be held for a minimum period of 5 days and until a suitable sale date can be arranged' signed: print name:
There is another letter that he needs to copy to show me too so not sure of what that says.

I will ask him for the time frames of uni and living there and tell him about asking for a exemption certificate for time was student
Thanks for the reply

RAS

There should be a letter from the bailiff stating which dates the debt relates to?

If not, ask him to ring on Monday and get the Council to tell him the dates and the amounts of each liability order.

And did he claim single person's discount for the periods he lived alone after he left uni?