Council tax bailiff-Urgent Updated Please help!

RAS

You can pay on-line. Others will advise how to do this so the right year get paid off.

The £224 charges are largely illegal. They may be entitled to £18.

So if the bailiff gets in touch again tell him that and that you have asked for e breakdown of charges.

The big risk is the car - can you "sell" it to a family member who you trust.

You MUST tell you DMP provider that you have a priority debt, as the CT bill must be paid before the other debts,. The others need £1 token monthly payment until this is sorted out.

dancingfairy

Of course the council can take the debt back, they are just choosing not to. Of course having appointed bailiffs, they now need to give the bailiffs a chance to do there job (and frankly the bailiffis are probably better at getting money out of people).
The bailiffs have, as I suspected have attempted to charge illegal fees already.
You WILL get a payment plan accepted and the council WILL accept a payment or they will attach your benefits.
Glad to hear you have had some fantastic advice this afternoon and Hallowitch has added the letter to send to the bailiffs.
You need to draw up a proper budget and work out how you are going to pay this years council tax and try and work out what you have spare to pay towards the arrears. Do check what dates are on the liability order as well - is it for this years council tax or last years or a combination?
There is an SOA at makesenseofcards website and I suggest you start by filling that in as accurately as you can and posting it on here for suggestions. You will need to make sure you have a sensible /realistic budget when you approach the council.
df
P.S and I would stop trying to communicate with the bailiff by text. It a) allows them to potentially bully you/harrass you and b) makes them think you are running scared (we know you are but don't give them any more ammunition). Keep everything in writing (email if you have to but always follow up with a copy in writing, keep copies of everything and don't be afraid to cc the council in as well). Somehow knowing the council are watching seems to make the bailiffs tend to play by the rules a little more.

moneysavingmumofone

RAS wrote: »

You can pay on-line. Others will advise how to do this so the right year get paid off.

The £224 charges are largely illegal. They may be entitled to £18.

So if the bailiff gets in touch again tell him that and that you have asked for e breakdown of charges.

The big risk is the car - can you "sell" it to a family member who you trust.

You MUST tell you DMP provider that you have a priority debt, as the CT bill must be paid before the other debts,. The others need £1 token monthly payment until this is sorted out.

I have a few people I could 'sell' the car to, would I have to send the form to DVLA/inform insurance?

dancingfairy wrote: »

Of course the council can take the debt back, they are just choosing not to. Of course having appointed bailiffs, they now need to give the bailiffs a chance to do there job (and frankly the bailiffis are probably better at getting money out of people).
The bailiffs have, as I suspected have attempted to charge illegal fees already.
You WILL get a payment plan accepted and the council WILL accept a payment or they will attach your benefits.
Glad to hear you have had some fantastic advice this afternoon and Hallowitch has added the letter to send to the bailiffs.
You need to draw up a proper budget and work out how you are going to pay this years council tax and try and work out what you have spare to pay towards the arrears. Do check what dates are on the liability order as well - is it for this years council tax or last years or a combination?
There is an SOA at makesenseofcards website and I suggest you start by filling that in as accurately as you can and posting it on here for suggestions. You will need to make sure you have a sensible /realistic budget when you approach the council.
df
P.S and I would stop trying to communicate with the bailiff by text. It a) allows them to potentially bully you/harrass you and b) makes them think you are running scared (we know you are but don't give them any more ammunition). Keep everything in writing (email if you have to but always follow up with a copy in writing, keep copies of everything and don't be afraid to cc the council in as well). Somehow knowing the council are watching seems to make the bailiffs tend to play by the rules a little more.

I am very grateful for all advice today, its been so helpful. I always have a budget and know exactly how much each bill is. Everything is the minimum it can be, we dont go out at all or smoke/drink.Only luxury is Sky. My problem is I have fallen off the wagon somewhat with scrimping, I am always on a food budget/use codes/only buy non food items reduced usually (gifts for example) but the past year or so have fallen back into 'nipping' into places like Family bargains, pound shops and Asda and spending too much on silly bits and pieces. I have issues that need sorting basically which will happen now as Ive had enough.
This debt is from 2010, we missed a few payments and then OH was made redundant. We already have an attachment of earnings for 2011s council tax. My heads been buried for a long time! Ive written the letters which I will send recorded tomorrow plus will photo copy them so I have copies and also send a copy to the council. Many thanks to all. (sorry if this doesnt make sense, am really drained atm)

hallowitch

OK am i correct in thinking you are paying this years council tax as normal yr 20012/13

you are paying previous arrears through an attachment of earnings yr
2011/20012
this debt is for 2010/11

HeadInTheSand

We had exactly the same issue 3 months ago. arrears of £1300 from last year (2011/2012), passed to Equita Bailiffs who tried to add unfair charges on.

We didnt want to deal with the aggressive, intimidating Bailiff.

Council were uninterested in accepting payments from us, and said YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE BAILIFF. end of.

I went to the council house with my partner (witness) and said
"Im here to pay some off my arrears"
was told "Sorry, you have to deal with the bailiff"
I said:
"OK, im here to pay ALL my arrears in full"
Again: "You have to deal with the bailiff"

I then asked the council rep to sign a document I had wrote.

It basically , had my reference number on it, and some lines of text basically stating:

I [name here] on [date here] attempted to pay X AMOUNT of council tax arrears with regards to [ref number]

The [city] council have refused to accept my payment towards my due council tax.

then a section:

I _____________, representative of {city} council, have refused to accept payment from [your name here]

print________________________
sign_________________________



Naturally, he refused to sign it, so we had a further section on the document, that both me and my witness signed in front of him to say he had refused ourt payment.

We then sent this letter recorded delivery to the LGO (local Government Osbusdman)

Surprise surprise, not long after we had a call from the council to say they have revoked the bailiff order and will accept payment of £150 per month to settle the arrears in 9 months )MORE THAN RESONABLE OFFER)

so if you arrears is almost a third of mine, and you can settle it in say 6 - 8 months, then I would do what I have described above.

Gets the bailiff out the picture, and forces the council to stop being morons and protecting their debt collectors.

hope this helps.

But like people have mentioned above, BAILIFFS HAVE NO POWERS AT ALL!
You can make arrangements with them, they just prefer not too and will lie to & decieve you purely to get as much money form you as quickly as possible.

hallowitch

:(:(:(:(:(:(:(

hallowitch

:(:(:(:(:(:(

moneysavingmumofone

hallowitch wrote: »

OK am i correct in thinking you are paying this years council tax as normal yr 20012/13

you are paying previous arrears through an attachment of earnings yr
2011/20012
this debt is for 2010/11

We have a problem with this years as the council didnt process our new council tax benefit claim when OH started his job Sept 2011 and we only found out a few months ago but we are in contact with the council so should be sorted hopefully. You are correct about the rest. Ive sent all letters recorded yesterday along with an initial payment of £10 and kept copies so am hopeful of a reply soon. Thanks.

HeadInTheSand wrote: »

We had exactly the same issue 3 months ago. arrears of £1300 from last year (2011/2012), passed to Equita Bailiffs who tried to add unfair charges on.

We didnt want to deal with the aggressive, intimidating Bailiff.

Council were uninterested in accepting payments from us, and said YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE BAILIFF. end of.

I went to the council house with my partner (witness) and said
"Im here to pay some off my arrears"
was told "Sorry, you have to deal with the bailiff"
I said:
"OK, im here to pay ALL my arrears in full"
Again: "You have to deal with the bailiff"

I then asked the council rep to sign a document I had wrote.

It basically , had my reference number on it, and some lines of text basically stating:

I [name here] on [date here] attempted to pay X AMOUNT of council tax arrears with regards to [ref number]

The [city] council have refused to accept my payment towards my due council tax.

then a section:

I _____________, representative of {city} council, have refused to accept payment from [your name here]

print________________________
sign_________________________



Naturally, he refused to sign it, so we had a further section on the document, that both me and my witness signed in front of him to say he had refused ourt payment.

We then sent this letter recorded delivery to the LGO (local Government Osbusdman)

Surprise surprise, not long after we had a call from the council to say they have revoked the bailiff order and will accept payment of £150 per month to settle the arrears in 9 months )MORE THAN RESONABLE OFFER)

so if you arrears is almost a third of mine, and you can settle it in say 6 - 8 months, then I would do what I have described above.

Gets the bailiff out the picture, and forces the council to stop being morons and protecting their debt collectors.

hope this helps.

But like people have mentioned above, BAILIFFS HAVE NO POWERS AT ALL!
You can make arrangements with them, they just prefer not too and will lie to & decieve you purely to get as much money form you as quickly as possible.

Thanks for your advice.

hallowitch wrote: »

:(:(:(:(:(:(

Are you ok? X

Thanks for everyones advice, I would have hugely panicked without you! Will hopefully hear back soon from bailiffs. x

dancingfairy

Without knowing I assume Hallowitch is annoyed that another poster is posting and offering a freephone number for you to phone on. It is against the rules of the site to promote things like this (unless they are approved by Martin and the team). Not sure if Hallowitch complained?
df

dancingfairy

The council can't refuse payment and they are going to make themselves look pretty stupid if they try (as in the above case by Headinthe Sand). I asusme you've sent the letter in post 17 by Hallowitch? You'll find probably that the fees either dramatically reduce or they'll come up with some rubbish about levying (possibly even on someonelse's car or some other such rubbish) or they may be stupid enough to admit to frontloading their fees. It'll all work out in the end it might just involve writing a few letters.
With regards to sending letters signed for, i'm personally not sure if that is the best idea. All that can happen then is the bailiffs (or whoever) can dcide not to sign for something and it will get refused. Normally on the house renting board they suggest sending a letter from 2 different postoffices and keeping a proof of posting (I believe this is free?) in case you need it in court. I'm not sure you need to bother with quite this degree of effort and I'd personally just send one (with proof of posting) and then give them the benefit of the doubt once and send another (again with proof of posting). Perhaps even email them and send a copy in the post but I'd probably not pay out again to send recorded delivery. Just my opnion and it doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things as it will all get sorted out in the end.
df