Bailiffs charged me £200 to post a letter

flipflopfox

Have been unreasonable charged £200 for a bailiff ( Equita ) who showed up while I was at work - this is from a council tax debt that has been paid off since November 2011 - £1600 paid so far, however they are adding £200 every month because I have reduced payments from £400 a month to £100 a month, this however was never agreed it was demanded by Equita - I have contacted them and there enforcement team who say there is nothing they can do? other than remove good?

arcon5

Tell them where to shove their demands.

Are they actually baliffs or just debt collectors? Do they have a court order? Although even with a court order they cannot force their way in to your property so just tell them to leave.

Keep records of every letter and every visit they make - if they turn up at your work again call the police and consider reporting them for harassment.

£200 is not reasonable.

Personally I would stop making ANY form of payment, telephone them up and tell them if they are not going to act reasonably and remove the ridiculous charges you are not paying any more money towards the debt.
After a while they'll soon start re-negotiating and you'll be in the driving seat.

A doubt a judge would ever award £200 per month fees to them.


The problem with these people is you give them an inch, they take a mile (or whatever the saying is). If you allow them to bully you then they will just push and push to get more.

Seek advise from the CAB also. Ask them to contact the agency to discuss it on your behalf - they will probably get a better response from them.

paddyrg

What Arcon says. Remember you are dealing with professional bullies, the bottom of the barrel, sh*ts in suits. Get that timeline clear and on paper, get all the payments you made clearly on paper, get the things like them coming to your work clearly on paper, go to the CAB and get some real advice.

£200 for a letter/fees is usury and deeply unfair. Personally I would invite them to renegotiate or take me to court to let a judge see if their collection methods and fees are fair or even legal.

Forwandert

As it's council tax some of the advice above is a little shaky. Have you been summonsed to court over the debt? Council's tend not to send in the bailiffs until they have completed the court process. If you have been to court have you let anyone from the company into your home to discuss the payment at any point? If you have they already have a right of entry. If they have been to court provided they follow the correct procedures they can also force entry and take goods for council tax debts.

Just get yourself CAB urgently.

fluffnutter

AFAIK, court appointed bailiffs, i.e. the type who deal with council tax debt are a different kettle of fish to debt collection agency 'bailiffs' (who have no power at all, just really small penises). They can, and will, enter your property and seize goods. You can't just ignore their demands.

I'd seek some legal advice. Why is the bailiff company trying to adjust the agreed figure? Surely this was court mandated? Get thee to CAB and get in touch with the council to try to find out what's going on.

wild666

I am surprised the council didn't write to you and ask why the size of the payments had reduced.

CIS

As it's council tax some of the advice above is a little shaky. Have you been summonsed to court over the debt? Council's tend not to send in the bailiffs until they have completed the court process.

Its not that they 'tend to', they can't. Until a Liability Order has been granted they cannot instruct a bailiff.

Have been unreasonable charged £200 for a bailiff ( Equita ) who showed up while I was at work

The fee will have most likely been a charge for an attendance to remove goods (once its added they cannot add it a second time). To charge an attendance fee to remove goods they should have previously made a levy of goods against the debt.

I am surprised the council didn't write to you and ask why the size of the payments had reduced.

When the bailiff are collecting it council's very rarely review the payments coming from bailiffs , they will leave it to the bailiff to deal with any payment arrangements.

hallowitch

flipflopfox wrote: »

Have been unreasonable charged £200 for a bailiff ( Equita ) who showed up while I was at work - this is from a council tax debt that has been paid off since November 2011 - £1600 paid so far, however they are adding £200 every month because I have reduced payments from £400 a month to £100 a month, this however was never agreed it was demanded by Equita - I have contacted them and there enforcement team who say there is nothing they can do? other than remove good?

Does your council use Capita to administrate there council tax ?

Its often the case when Equita are the bailiffs of choice Capita administrate the council tax for the local authority
Equita are part of the Capita group of company's therefore every letter or conversation you have with the council is being dealt with by a capita employee

you may think your council tax debt has been paid in full however bailiff fees are paid first before the council tax
for example If the liability order is for £1600 and bailiff fees are £200 and you only pay the £1600 this would leave a balance of £200 against the liability order

Equita/the bailiff cant add £200(or any other amount) every month to this debt because you have reduced payments regardless of whether you have a agreement or not with them

Bailiffs fees are set by legislation (not by the council or the bailiff/firm)

the amount of the liability order and if there is a valid levy on your goods will determine what fees can be charged

to work out there fees wee need to know
the amount of the liability order ?
If there has been a levy on your goods ?

If there is a levy on your goods can you tell us what goods were levied

arcon5

Op has said they are adding £200 per month, this doesn't suggest to me baliffs have attended the property, merely that they are penalising him.

Ops also said he spoke to them and they are not willing to take less than £400, so he's not ignoring it at all.

The problem is they are pushing him around and acting unreasonably. I would hazard a guess ops been co-operative with them so they now see him as an easy target.

Op needs to establish some boundaries with them because turning up at his place of work is out of order, and could affect his employment!!

Get yourself to CAB op. Also turn to some of the free government backed debt advise organisations - they can act on your behalf and I very much doubt they would act like vultures with them.

CIS

Op has said they are adding £200 per month, this doesn't suggest to me baliffs have attended the property, merely that they are penalising him.

The bailiff cannot add fees at that rate - the fee structure for Council Tax collection is set in law.

RobertoMoir

arcon5 wrote: »

Op has said they are adding £200 per month, this doesn't suggest to me baliffs have attended the property, merely that they are penalising him.

Well they can't legally do this. So either they're acting illegally or they're trying to intimidate the OP.

Op needs to establish some boundaries with them because turning up at his place of work is out of order, and could affect his employment!!

I suspect that the OP meant they attended their house (and spoke to someone else?) while the OP was at work. Perhaps they could clarify that, because yes, harassing the OP at work is unreasonable.

Get yourself to CAB op. Also turn to some of the free government backed debt advise organisations - they can act on your behalf and I very much doubt they would act like vultures with them.

The CAB have no 'powers' to halt bailiff enforcement, and the same applies to people like CCCS, etc. The bailiffs can and will ignore them.

If the OP feels that the bailiffs have been unreasonable, they should complain to their local council member.