problems with equita and council tax!

tun

i was directed here from "screw the bailiff" and have read through a couple of other threads about equita here and was hoping you could help me out?

i didnt pay my council tax for a long time due to being poor and eventually the debt went to equita.
i ended up getting a very slightly higher paid job, which meant i could start to pay them in instalments and get them off my back.
i owed them £1,270.76 to start with and have paid a total of £740 so far.
i missed one of my monthly payments and when i called them to pay the next one i was told i had to deal with the bailiff. the person on the other end of the phone was very nasty with me and so was the bailiff when i called him.
the bailiff said i now had to pay over £700 (i cant remember the exact amount) by 5pm the next day or they would come to levy my goods. my maths says that i now owe them £530.76 so obviously they have added fees, but for what i am not sure!
he would not accept that i couldnt pay that and would not allow me to continue paying my monthly instalments. in the end he hung up on me.

i have received a letter now saying they will be in the area to seize my goods and will be adding fees for bailiff and porter, removal vehicle and auctioneer expenses.

i read that the council could take the debt back so i arranged a meeting to try to get them to do this, but they refused.

im very worried about this! i just want to get rid of my debts and try to level out a bit, but theyre making it impossible!
i know they cant take tools for work, but the only things in my house of valid value are tools for work which i know they will not consider to be tools for work (speakers, keyboards e.t.c. i work on the side in music, but it is not my primary job).

i have nothing as it is, i have worked very hard to build up to the small possessions that i have, i dont think i can deal with them taking it all away!

thanks in advance for any advice you have for me, sorry for my little panic there

HappyMJ

Just ignore them when they turn up. They'll knock and ring many times and as long as you continue to ignore them they will return the debt to the council as uncollectable. Once it's back with council then you can negotiate repayment but the repayments they ask for may be higher than what you have been paying to the bailiff. If you refuse to pay them then they can take further action. If they were to get an attachment of earnings order then they can take up to 17% of your take home pay if your weekly take home pay is between £355 and £505 a week so it is best to offer that amount without having them get the order in the first place. What is your take home pay?

tun

thanks for the response happyMJ!

you mean take home as in after tax and national insurance? if so, my weekly take home is about £266 (estimated by dividing my monthly take home by 4.3), but i also get £120 a week child tax credits and working tax credits, would this be included?
also would the total amount after returning to the council be including the bailiffs charges? and/or would the council add their own charges?

what is the risk with doing this? i also owe the council money for last tax years tax, which they told me i had to wait for it to go to court before they could arrange a payment plan!

thanks a lot for your reply, i appreciate the help.

sgtbush

if you have missed or were late in a payment to the council you have broken the arrangement and they have put it in the hands of the bailiffs-- this is correct, no matter what you do now you pay the bailiffs, not the council.
all your income will be taken into considerartion including benefits

any fees added for visits you are liable for even if it gets passed back as un-enforcable to the council. bailiffs will be paid no matter what.
eg you owe council 500-- you default-- bailiffs visit-- for arguments sake you now owe 700.
700 owing gets passed back to the council as far as im aware.
the council, if its passed back to them, get a liabilty order on you, you get a summons to appear to court, you must appear or judgment will go against you. the judge will decide how much you pay, if you cant, he will jail you for time.
this is happening more often now-a-days
i know of 42 people jailed already this month from 3 councils in the north west already this month- its only the 9th may
council tax is a priorty debt and is the only civil debt you can be jailed for non-payment

vax2002

sgtbush wrote: »

if you have missed or were late in a payment to the council you have broken the arrangement and they have put it in the hands of the bailiffs-- this is correct, no matter what you do now you pay the bailiffs, not the council.
all your income will be taken into considerartion including benefits

any fees added for visits you are liable for even if it gets passed back as un-enforcable to the council. bailiffs will be paid no matter what.
eg you owe council 500-- you default-- bailiffs visit-- for arguments sake you now owe 700.
700 owing gets passed back to the council as far as im aware.
the council, if its passed back to them, get a liabilty order on you, you get a summons to appear to court, you must appear or judgment will go against you. the judge will decide how much you pay, if you cant, he will jail you for time.
this is happening more often now-a-days
i know of 42 people jailed already this month from 3 councils in the north west already this month- its only the 9th may
council tax is a priorty debt and is the only civil debt you can be jailed for non-payment

I take it you have never dealt with council tax debts, you really should not repeat what you have heard down the pub on here as gospel from your judgement chair.

HappyMJ

tun wrote: »

thanks for the response happyMJ!

you mean take home as in after tax and national insurance? if so, my weekly take home is about £266 (estimated by dividing my monthly take home by 4.3), but i also get £120 a week child tax credits and working tax credits, would this be included?
also would the total amount after returning to the council be including the bailiffs charges? and/or would the council add their own charges?

what is the risk with doing this? i also owe the council money for last tax years tax, which they told me i had to wait for it to go to court before they could arrange a payment plan!

thanks a lot for your reply, i appreciate the help.

No only your earned PAYE income is taken into account. On your wage the percentage would be 12% so £32 a week. I doubt there is any risk with doing this but you will get others posters posting things such as if you don't pay you will go to prison but that is extremely unlikely. I am many years in arrears and they can't and won't do anything.

In my experience when the debt returns to council the bailiff charges are not sent back with it. So the only long term debt is the actual council tax and the cost of the liability order. Your council may be different but if the bailiff has only visited then the maximum charges are only a first visit and second visit fee. About £42.50.

sgtbush wrote: »

if you have missed or were late in a payment to the council you have broken the arrangement and they have put it in the hands of the bailiffs-- this is correct, no matter what you do now you pay the bailiffs, not the council.
all your income will be taken into considerartion including benefits

any fees added for visits you are liable for even if it gets passed back as un-enforcable to the council. bailiffs will be paid no matter what.
eg you owe council 500-- you default-- bailiffs visit-- for arguments sake you now owe 700.
700 owing gets passed back to the council as far as im aware.
the council, if its passed back to them, get a liabilty order on you, you get a summons to appear to court, you must appear or judgment will go against you. the judge will decide how much you pay, if you cant, he will jail you for time.
this is happening more often now-a-days
i know of 42 people jailed already this month from 3 councils in the north west already this month- its only the 9th may
council tax is a priorty debt and is the only civil debt you can be jailed for non-payment

Benefits are not taken into account. You could get hundreds of pounds in benefits but if one of those benefits is an income based benefit then the maximum they can take from income based jobseekers allowance or income support for example then it is £3.55 a week. If the income is like mine and mostly unearnt income like housing benefit and tax credits with minimal earnt income then they can take nothing.

The threat of prison is for those who have the money and refuse to pay. It is extremely unlikely they will imprison someone for being broke.

Do you know the circumstances of these 42 people or is it propaganda printed by the council to scare everyone else into paying that you have read in the newspaper?

vax2002

Right you say "allow" you to pay, do you have any kind of payment slips, .
payment card or such as, if so keep paying on this what you can afford.

As for the Bailiffs do not open the door or leave it unlocked, they will trick you in to letting them in if you enter a dialogue.
Just Ignore them and continue paying on the payment card or slips.

sgtbush

HappyMJ wrote: »

Do you know the circumstances of these 42 people or is it propaganda printed by the council to scare everyone else into paying that you have read in the newspaper?

yea i know all the cases from start to finish, i cant say how i know and i wouldnt say how i know but its nothing to do with statements from councils the councils are skint, this is why they want paying for arrears or they want the most severve action they can obtain.
you are right with they only really jail wont payers rather than cant payers but the lines between the two are blurry and it depends on your day in court what happens

sgtbush

sgtbush wrote: »

if you have missed or were late in a payment to the council you have broken the arrangement and they have put it in the hands of the bailiffs-- this is correct, no matter what you do now you pay the bailiffs, not the council.
all your income will be taken into considerartion including benefits

sorry for not being clear-- this is from the bailiffs point of view


but even at the £266/week not including benefits, £20/week would not be unreasonable as seen as you get more with your benefits

tun

HappyMJ wrote: »

No only your earned PAYE income is taken into account. On your wage the percentage would be 12% so £32 a week. I doubt there is any risk with doing this but you will get others posters posting things such as if you don't pay you will go to prison but that is extremely unlikely. I am many years in arrears and they can't and won't do anything.

In my experience when the debt returns to council the bailiff charges are not sent back with it. So the only long term debt is the actual council tax and the cost of the liability order. Your council may be different but if the bailiff has only visited then the maximum charges are only a first visit and second visit fee. About £42.50.

looks like my best bet is to ignore them and let this go back to the council then. i dont mind paying the little extra to the council (would work out about £30 a month more) to get them off my back. i wouldnt have minded paying them but they spoke to me like crap!

the £42.50 fee is far less than they have added on, and they havent even visited yet. i have read about asking for a breakdown of their charges, so if by some chance their fees do go back to the council i will ask for this.

thanks for the help!

tun

vax2002 wrote: »

Right you say "allow" you to pay, do you have any kind of payment slips, .
payment card or such as, if so keep paying on this what you can afford.

you mean the council? its not that they wont allow me to pay, its that they wont allow me to set up a payment plan. i think i was sent something with the letter which i can pay with. i will keep paying what i can with it and keep the receipts.

if you mean the bailiffs then i wasnt given anything like that, i used to call them and pay with my card once a month.

vax2002 wrote: »

As for the Bailiffs do not open the door or leave it unlocked, they will trick you in to letting them in if you enter a dialogue.
Just Ignore them and continue paying on the payment card or slips.

the bailiffs will not get into my house. i have read that you are not legally obliged to let them in, so i certainly wont be, and once they are in they are entitled to your goods, is that right?
although i will not allow them to trick me into letting them in its easier just to ignore them anyway.

thanks for the help