Bailiff help

Cherry_Bomb

Had a visit today from a bailiff regarding unpaid council tax. I wasn't in so he left a letter.

This was all news to me as as far as I was concerned I didn't owe any money to the council! Anyway phoned him saying there was a mistake. Naturally he didn't believe me and started banging on about giving me 24 hours to pay up or else he was coming back. Phoned the council to sort it out.

In 2010 I did owe money to the council. I moved to another address. The debt from the previous address went to court and Bailiffs were instructed to recover the money. I didn't know any of this. I didn't receive any letters from the court at my new address.

I'm not trying to pass blame I was idiot for ignoring it. End of 2011 I did eventually pay what I owed. I paid direct to the council and they were happy with that. Nothing was mentioned about bailiffs or court.

I thought that was that. Until today.

After speaking with the council I spoke to the Bailiff again who accepted I don't owe the money. But he is still trying to charge me a £25 call out charge which I don't think I should have to pay considering it was all a mistake.

He said he's giving me till Monday otherwise he'll be back and I'll incur another £25 charge.

What do I do??

adi_clarke85

I'm assuming the bailiffs were instructed before you made the payment and therefore the bailiff would be able to charge his first visit fee of £24.50.

If it was paid before it was passed to the bailiff company was your money sat in a suspense account?

I work for a local authority collecting unpaid council tax and if we were alerted to the payment we would notify the bailiff company. If this cleared the debt before the bailiff visited then fine, however if after a visit the bailiff would be entitled to collect his fees from the charge payer

CIS

I'd echo the above comments as a possibility as to what has happened but the only way to determine what exactly has happened and when is to ask the local authority in question.

You need to call then first thing tomorrow to find out.

HappyMJ

The bailiff is not entitled to collect his fees incurred after the debt has been paid directly to council. They would also need to go to court to enforce the fees by taking the matter to County court and getting a CCJ.

My advice ignore the bailiff. They will give up. You cannot go to prison for not paying the bailiff fees if you have paid the council tax. Normally when someone pays the bailiff the fees are paid first then the council tax second so the council tax is still outstanding but as you have no council tax outstanding then nothing will happen.

vax2002

Ask the bailiff to produce what ever order he claims to have.
Not a letter written by either the council or bailiff firm, the actual order signed by a magistrate with a legible and identified signature .
Ask from an upstairs window.

Cherry_Bomb

I think after court it eventually went back to the council seeing as no contact was made between the bailiff and me.

It was passed again to the bailiff November 13th. and I by coincidence paid the council in full on November 14th. As I said in my OP the council accepted the payment and no mention was made of court or the bailiffs. That was the end of the matter.

For whatever reason the council did not notify the bailiff or whoever he works for that the debt was now settled which is why I had a visit today.

Cherry_Bomb

Sorry just read the further posts. So as the debt is now settled with the council I should just ignore him? The guy's an arrogant idiot (or sounded like one anyway) who I imagine is going to keep at it in the hope I'll pay up.

HappyMJ

Cherry_Bomb wrote: »

Sorry just read the further posts. So as the debt is now settled with the council I should just ignore him? The guy's an arrogant idiot (or sounded like one anyway) who I imagine is going to keep at it in the hope I'll pay up.

You have confirmed the debt is settled with the council so no further enforcement action can be taken against you for non payment of council tax. Nothing at all. He's just trying it on.

adi_clarke85

Cherry_Bomb, HappyMJ and vax2002 will tell you what you want to hear - they come out with the same rubbish on every thread about Council Tax. CIS and I work in Council Tax Recovery, we may not tell you what you want to hear but we will tell you how it is at the local authorities we have worked for.

I personally have worked for 13 local authorities and each one has a similar take on this situation, however it is best to contact the council concerned to check their stance

Cherry_Bomb

Debt has been settled since Nov 2011 yet the bailiff is now trying to chase me for a call out charge I shouldn't have to pay seeing as there was no need for a call out.

The councils stance on it is there is no debt. The balance on my old CT account is £0.

Are you saying that even with a £0 balance I may still have to pay the bailiff?

HappyMJ

adi_clarke85 wrote: »

Cherry_Bomb, HappyMJ and vax2002 will tell you what you want to hear - they come out with the same rubbish on every thread about Council Tax. CIS and I work in Council Tax Recovery, we may not tell you what you want to hear but we will tell you how it is at the local authorities we have worked for.

I personally have worked for 13 local authorities and each one has a similar take on this situation, however it is best to contact the council concerned to check their stance

There is no council tax to recover. It's all been paid. It's up to the bailiffs now to try and get their fees.