Bailiffs & Bankruptcy

beckymc

Hi, I hope someone can help with some advice.
Myself and my husband are both self employed and like many, over the past few years have struggled to keep on top of our finances. This resulted in my husband having to go bankrupt last year. On of the debts incurred before this was Council Tax, in hindsight we would have informed them of our financial position a long time before and probably have had Council Tax benefits then like we do now, but trying to keep on top of things we didn't and they had passed the debt onto the bailiffs. As my husband went bankrupt they put the debt into my name.
Since then we've had ongoing issues with the bailiff company Rossendales. Resulting in a very upsetting time at the beginning of the year when they came to remove our posessions. Myself at the time was pregnant and after only months before suffering an ectopic doctors had ordered I stay as stress free as possible. We eventually managed to keep hold of our posessions after speaking to the council who had passed on the debt as bailiff was doing things unlawfully such as clamping our car which is in my husbands name and his tool for work, when the debt is mine and other issues etc. I also told them at the time I was pregnant and had my 5 year old son with me and I didn't want them coming to the house, he told me he "couldn't care less my love" Sadly I did lose my baby at 23 weeks and have been on anti depressants, seeing counsellors and doctors on a weekly basis, I'm not in a good place. I'm not blaming the bailiffs for this at all but I'm very very concerned and don't need anymore stress at the moment. We came home to find a letter hand delivered from the bailiff stating he'll be coming round within 24 hours to take possesion of our goods.
I just spoke to him on the phone asking him why this is the case. (I've been making regular payments every month without fail on or before the date due) I really didn't want to risk the same thing happening again. Bailiff informed me that Rossendales did a review where my payment plan has been upped from £20 a month to £150!!! I asked them when this review took place and he said months ago. If we'd had recieved a letter from them we would have got in touch with them to ask for them to take the payments back down and have offered our situation to them. It's not only our address they have, they have my email, landline and mobile telephone numbers so it's not like we're non contactable. I've not had any correspondance from this company whatsoever and can't work out how the payment jumped up so much. My problem is that our income actually got worse after we set up the payment plan as after losing the baby myself and husband took a few months off work to deal with my health etc. Both being self employed and being a week before baby was classed as a "actual baby" we weren't entitled to any maternity allowance or anything, we couldn't pay each other sick pay so financially we were so much worse off and are only just starting to get back on track.
I really don't know where we stand with this, I feel totally intimidated by these people and it doesn't matter what i say to them, if i explain my circumstances they will palm it off as a sob story and take away everything we have including christmas presents we've bought. It feels like they've picked this time knowing full well we'd be having chrsitmas presents in the house and I think it's sickening the way they go about their business. I don't know what to do or where \i stand, can anybody give me any advice at all?

CIS

I really don't know where we stand with this, I feel totally intimidated by these people and it doesn't matter what i say to them, if i explain my circumstances they will palm it off as a sob story and take away everything we have including christmas presents we've bought. l?

The only goods that can be taken are ones which have been levied on already.

tigerfeet2006

Have they been in the house and made a list of goods at all?

debt_doctor

Hi,

Did they actually get inside your house and make a list of goods they might seize? Or did the negotiations about your goods take place on the doorstep? - SNAP! with Tigerfeet!:D

DD

beckymc

Hi,

They came in over a year ago and listed the goods they wanted, though in all honesty it wouldn't even amount to the debt owed. Plus everytime they put the debt to the bailiff they add their extra fees on top so the debt will be taking longer to pay off. Does this mean, because they've had access before that they can force entry? As I'm home alone and theyu're due to turn up today, they were very intimidating to me the last time.

A_Fresh_Start_3

Don't answer the door to them.

hallowitch

DO NOT speak to rossendales the bailiff or the council unless you can record the call (if you can record the call then go for it )

everything must be done by e-mail or recorded delivery letter

you are going to have to send a letter /e-mail addressed to the head of revenues copied to rossendales

the bailiff wont be breaking into your house to remove goods listed even with a Walking possession agreement on your goods

The law is very clear on this the bailiff/local authority must send you a letter informing you of the date and time re-entry is to be made to remove goods (and i don't mean the bailiff putting a note through your door saying we are coming tomorrow to remove goods )

Forcing re-entry
The law upon the rights of bailiffs to force re-entry to premises in order to remove
goods previously seized has recently been clarified. In Khazanchi v Faircharm
Investments; McLeod v Butterwick [1998] 2 All ER 901 the Court of Appeal held that
bailiffs may only force re-entry where they are being deliberately excluded from
premises. It will thus be necessary in most cases for the bailiff to notify the debtor in
advance of the date and time of the visit in order to remove. If the debtor is then
absent from home, or refuses entry, force may be employed.


you did not agree to a change of payment from £20 to £150 rossendales chose to increase the amount without consulting you (i very much doubt you were sent a letter asking for an increase of payment )
ask the council to provide you with a copy of this this letter that was allegedly sent



you are attending the doctor due to mental health issues (you may /should be classed as vulnerable )

ask the council to return this debt back to local authority control due to your vulnerable situation provide proof (letter form your doctor )
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.dca.gov.uk/enforcement/agents02.htm
Vulnerable situations

Those who might be potentially vulnerable include:

• the elderly;
• people with a disability;
• the seriously ill;
• the recently bereaved;
• single parent families;
• pregnant women;
• unemployed people; and,
• those who have obvious difficulty in understanding, speaking or reading English

Can you please tell us the number of liability orders rossendales are collecting
the date each liability order was passed to rossendales
the amount of each liability order
the fees charged to date against each liability order
the date of each fee
the reason for the fee

if you don't know the answer to this ask your council (in writing)

how many notice of seizures/ distress does the bailiff holds against your goods
can you list the goods on each notice of seizure and fees charged goods seized must cover all bailiff fees to include removal fees storage fees auction fees and a portion of the principle debt there is also a list of goods that the bailiff cant seize

Bailiff fees are set by legislation they cant just keep adding fees Willy nilly once you find out the fees we can advice you if they are correct

All bailiffs collecting council tax must be certificated check the register to confirm the bailiff is certificated to rossendales
the list is not always 100% accurate so if you cant find him or he is certificated to another firm of bailiffs you may need phone the Ministry of Justice Public Register of bailiffs on 020 3334 6355

www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/CertificatedBailiffs/

beckymc

Thank you for that advice, i will follow on from that. Since my last post we had spoken to the council (though wish I'd seen your post now and recorded it). They didn't seem like they wanted to help but once we got them to see the email we sent and they probably saw all the other people it was going to they seemed more obliged to help. We got them off our backs for now by paying Rossendales £100 as a "goodwill" gesture, shame they have no ounce of "goodwill" in their bodies, and the payment plan has been reduced back down to £20 a month. It sounds like they're contradicting themselves though as we were told by bailiff that the payment went up because of the review wheras the council informed me it was because i was late in making a payment. (this was a few days late and I had just lost my baby so my priorities were not bills) I did inform her that i did make a double payment that time and that they've had 6 months worth of payments and opportunities to inform us of this. the lasy seemed to not be interested and said "to be honest we've done more than enough to help you, it's your problem now". As much as i appreciatte the fact I've not had the bailiffs banging on the door I feel that they do have a vendetta against me as we've managed to get them off our backs before, and that they're out to trip us up? Is that me just being paranoid? I read somewhere that the Council CAN take back any council tax debt it's just a case of them choosing not to. If that's the case I want to fight to get them to take it back, I want no further dealings with Rossendales, no matter how much i try to play ball, they always find away to get me very distressed and scared. I hate to think myself as "vunerable" and really did not want to use losing my baby as an excuse, but it is fact and it has had a knock on effect with us financially and my health ever since.
Thank you again for your response and guidance on what to do next, it's very appreciated and wasn't expected, but it was a Sunday, with no way of us getting in touch with any of these people and i was panicing, thanks. If there's anymore updates i'll be sure to let you know. Merry Christmas

hallowitch

Name
Address
Bailiff Ref: Account No: 123456
Council Ref No: 435672
Date
Dear Sir,
With reference to the above account(s) rossendales have been instructed to collect the above debts on behalf of xxxxxx council

please provide me with the following information
Date of each liability order
Amount of each liability order
Date each liability order was passed to rossendales for collection

a breakdown of all fees charged and payments made
This includes:
a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.
b - The reason for the fee.
c - The name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.
d - The name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were certificated at.
e - The date of the Certification.
This is not a Subject access request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10.
The National Standards for Enforcement Agents state that if a written request is made an itemised account of fees will be provided.
Please provide the information requested within 14 days of this E-mail /recorded delivery letter
Yours faithfully
Ripped off customer"

beckymc

Brilliant!!! thank you once again

hallowitch

was this new payment agreement made over the phone ?
are you paying by card every month or by standing order ?

what date has the payment to reach your rossendales account by (clear funds )?

don't forget its coming up to Christmas and new the year payments may not reach your account in time allow for this do not pay x2 months then miss a payment