council tax equita

sofi3353

i have outstanding council tax debt which has now been passed on to the bailliffs.
the value of liability is £850.00 but the bailliffs want £1120 and they want this amount by tomorrow otherwise they will levy on the car. they have already levied on our car but the car is on hire purchase. i have emailed them today via their email site regarding the hp.
i am scared of what might happen tomorrow if they ring and i cant pay them. please someone help

RAS

Good

Well done.

It may be a good idea to move the car, so that the bailiff cannot get at it.

Make sure that you have a photocopy of the HP agreement in the car at all time, so you can show any bailiff this.

Stop being scared. The bailiff can do nothing becuase hte levy is invalid.

What you have to do is

1. Stop talking to the bailiff.

2. I will copy you an e-mail to send to equita re the illegal fess they have added to your bill. (even with a valid levy, this is over the top. They routinely add attendence gfees etc that are illegal.

3. What money you can pay need to be paid direct to the COuncil using their on-line payments until the fees are sorted out.

Do not talk to the bailiff, do not let them int he house, all windows and doors locked and do not let them bully you.

You may want to ring NDL or CCCS if you need human support.

RAS

Ok

This is hallowitch's message for bailiff

send this to your council and Equita by recorded delivery letter or e-mail to [EMAIL="info@equita.com"]info@equita.com[/EMAIL]

make sure you include the Council in your message.


Name
Address
Bailiff Ref: Account No: 123456
Council Ref No: 435672
Date
Dear Sir,
With reference to the above account please provide me with a breakdown of all fees charged and payments made for the above account
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"




I would add to the message:

Please note that your bailiff tried to levy on a car that is subject to a Hire purchase agreement and I have already informed you that this levy is invalid.

sofi3353

thanks again.
i will get that letter sent first thing in the morning via recorded delivery.

sofi3353

not heard from the bailliff today even though she said they wanted the payment by today.
sent a recorded delivery to equita today askinf for a breakdown of fees.
is there anything else i can do in the meantime??????

RAS

sofi

Now the debt is in dispute, you need to start trying to work out a way to start paying the Council Tax.

It is important that you pay the Council direct until the issue of the levy and the unfair fees is settled, because the bailiff will take the money for their fees before passing anything to the Council.

We have not discussed how this situation arose but you do need to sort it if you owe it (it is not fun sitting inside with all the windows and door locked in a heatwave). Can we check whether you are in receipt of any benefits?

have you got anything you can sell on e-bay, amazon or at a car boot sale?
On a very basic note, go over to the Moneysaving old style forum and do a store cupboard challenge?

sofi3353

this situation arose because of my husbands self employment and lack of income coming in. i cant afford much at present but am going to try and pay £20 £30 per week for time being until i can start paying more. at least this way it shows i am willing to pay.
i think i am entitled to council tax benefit but bacause we get working tax and child tax that might effect the council tax benefit.
had my phone was switched of all day today because of the bailliff but she must have called and bailliff left a voicemail on my phone saying to ring her up and make payment. what should i do regarding that now???? should i contact her or just ignore the message. if i ignore her then what if she comes and clamps the car!!!

RAS

Ignore the bailiff. You do not want to talk to her.

if she does get you on the phone, make sure that you tell her the car is HP and that you have raised a dispute with equita.

I suggest you do a full benefits check on www.turn2us.org.uk.

Any way you can get a few hours work - I know it is hard but you need to do something to get this orted.

sofi3353

sent a recorded delivery to equita last friday but still had no reply regarding that. got a letter in the post today saying they were gonna re attend the house. also got a call from the bailliff today at 7pm but didn't answer it.
not sure what else to do now........
am worried about what will happen......
is there anything else i should do??????
help please

sofi3353

i have had a reply from equita regading the breakdown of fees:

liability order date: 05/10/2011

debt:£885.00
statutory visit fees: £42.50
levy fees: £51.00

total: £978.50

i dont understand why there is a levy fee as i have not sighned no walking possession. the bailliff posted a walking possession through the door on 20/02/12 and they levied on a car which is on hire purchase but i was told they can't levy on that as it is not mine so how can they charge me a fee foe that????

please can someone advise me on what i should do next regarding the bailliff.

National_Debtline

Hi there sofi

Bailiffs will commonly charge "in advance" for actions they have yet to carry out - this does not make those fees valid, they just hope that debtors will assume they are liable to pay them. In this case as you rightly say there has been no valid levy so far so you should disregard the fee. Whether the bailiffs knew the car was on HP or not is irrelevant, they can't charge a levy fee for it.

Continue to negotiate as advised above and as you do so, continue to query the levy fees, making it clear you will only pay what you see as the valid element of the bill. If they stand their ground long enough you should consider a complaint, which you could then escalate to the council itself and/or the bailiff's trade association (CIVEA) if necessary.