Equidebt pursuant re: Council Tax

b4dg3r_2

The story goes I received a letter from Equidebt around July probing for a debt from the local council,, their opening letter was the usual they send out "If you don't respond we'll assume you are this person".

My first response was 2-fold; firstly I visited the council and spoke to them and they confirm that there is an outstanding balance, to which I replied that i would deal with council and them only (after reading about all the stuff that Equidebt do) and the council said i had no choice but to deal with Equidebt, which brings me to the second part: I sent Equidebt a Prove-It letter on 5th August and got a "We will respond in 5 days" reply, It is now 31st August and no reply, in the mail today i received a letter from Equidebt dated 29th August threatening doorstep action to which a letter revoking permission under common law has been sent.

My question is, what else can I do, what should my next step be? and should I remind them I haven't got a reply from the prove-it letter?

CIS

Its not Equidebt who need to prove the debt, anything of that nature would be down to the local authority to do so. Equidebt are employed to collect a balance for the council, they have pretty much no information on how the debt came about.

The council have an outstanding balance with your name on it. What you need to do is go back to the council and discuss the matter with them and demonstrate that you don't owe the money.

HeadInTheSand

The council are very pushy with regards to making you deal with their debt collectors.

we had a similar problem with Equita. They were being very intimidating with regards to our arrears would not accept any sort of payment plan.. I didnt want to deal with Equita so went back to the council and told them I wish to deal with them directly.

They refused and said YOU HAVE TO deal with Equita.

I went back to the council with a witness (my partner) and a prewritten letter.

I told the council I am here to pay some of my arrears. They said NO, you have to deal with Equita.
I said OK, im here to pay YOU my arrears in full, they still said NO, you have to deal with Equita.


So i asked the Council employee to sign my document stating that the COUNCIL are refusing to accept payment from me to settle my arrears. Naturally he refused, so I signed it and my witness signed it in front of him and we sent that letter to the LGO (local Governement Osbusdman)

surprise surprise, 5 days later, the council called and said the debt collection has been revoked and they would like to discuss repayment with me.

^^ not entirely relevant to your issue, but it may help you get around the "NO, YOU MUST DEAL WITH OUT DEBT COLLECORS"

CIS

They refused and said YOU HAVE TO deal with Equita

Equita are bailiffs acting under a court order whereas Equidebt are acting only as debt collectors.

surprise surprise, 5 days later, the council called and said the debt collection has been revoked and they would like to discuss repayment with me.

Its highly unlikely that the LGO contacted the council within 5 days, they take weeks to do so. Its a lot more likely the council made the decision for other reasons.

The LGO has no powers to force a council to act in any way regarding the use of bailiffs, they can make a recommendation but the council doesn't have to accept it (although most do).

DVardysShadow

CIS wrote: »

.... Its highly unlikely that the LGO contacted the council within 5 days, they take weeks to do so. Its a lot more likely the council made the decision for other reasons.

The LGO has no powers to force a council to act in any way regarding the use of bailiffs, they can make a recommendation but the council doesn't have to accept it (although most do).

You reckon? The timing looks equally likely to be a coincidence or a phone call between chums.

hallowitch

could this be the reason

The Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996
Notices

4.

(c)where the notice requires the person on whom the notice is served to make a payment, to accept any amount paid in compliance with the notice.

CIS

The Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996

That's certainly the regs which allow the council to authorise a company to administer council tax accounts on their behalf , to collect payment as thought they were the council and any to take any action to recover this money as though they were the council - this would include making payments to that company instead of the council.

CIS

You reckon? The timing looks equally likely to be a coincidence or a phone call between chums.

Within 5 days of sending it it wouldn't even have been looked at by the LGO.

DVardysShadow

CIS wrote: »

Within 5 days of sending it it wouldn't even have been looked at by the LGO.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Oh, any outfit with a public profile like theirs will definitely look at its incoming mail just to make sure that they don't get caught with their pants down. Regardless of when they actually formally start to process the complaint.

And if the situation is that the council really should have taken the payment, a quick phone call in the right ear would be a very quick way of getting the matter out of the in tray.