Council Tax & Equita

Midge82

Hi I'm new to this forum so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I have today received a hand delivered letter from an Equita bailiff stating payment is due in full with 24 hours & "please note - no further arrangements are acceptable and payment is now required in full by clear funds only". It also says he'll re-attend with immediate effect & may remove goods even in my absence. If I wish to avoid this I need to call & arrange prompt payment.

I know I got myself in to this mess by skipping payments but I had just moved out of home & halfway across the country for a job that didn't have the greatest salary & I guess I cut corners so I could eat. I massively regret it now!

I have since moved & now live in my boyfriends house. Everything here is his (my previous place was a furnished flat so all I had was clothes). I don't even have a car. They can't take his stuff can they? I don't have anything to prove its not mine though. Can he get in even if I don't let him in?

I intend to call him to find out how much I owe but I doubt ill be able to clear it. I left a job 5 weeks ago for another job that fell through due to funding & am about to start another job in 2 weeks but i won't get a pay day now until the end of November & I doubt he'll wait that long. I don't want to tell my boyfriend as I don't want him judging me or thinking badly of me.

I'm pretty scared so any advice would be great. Thank you!

FireWyrm

First off, this is quite a serious situation you are in, so its best NOT to ignore this any longer.

1) They cannot take goods which do not belong to the debtor. Your boyfriend will have to become involved sooner or later because he needs to attest to the fact that nothing at his house is eligable for removal. My advice is to inform him of the situation and sit down to discuss it rationally.

2) You need to know exactly how much is outstanding

3) It sounds like they have tried on numerous occassions to contact you and now you are in a fair bit of trouble for dodging them. At the same time, they cant get blood out of a stone and it is possible that the debt will be returned to the Council should it become apparent that it is not you are unwilling, but that you are incapable of paying.

If Hallowitch offers advice here, do as she says.

Hopefully, this will bump your post again.

RAS

Hi

Has the bailiff ever been in your old house or your new house?

Has he ever levied on goods in the old house or your car?

If not this is all bluster.

Please ring the Council and find out how much the liability order was set at and whether there is one order or more, then report back.

Midge82

Hi!

Thank you both for your replies.

Firewyrm - I know. It's serious :-( I called him and he said its £509.56. I checked my bank & I have £457. I'm going to have to speak to my boyfriend & ask if he can lend me the rest. NOT what I want to do but I guess once it's paid off that's it - no more sitting in my house scared in case someone knocks at the door.

RAS - no no one's been in here or my old place. I don't have a car at the moment. Nothing has been levied on. In all honesty I'd rather be broke for a month & pay it off now & not deal with the stress.

At least I've learnt my lesson. Burrying my head in sand does NOT work.

FireWyrm

Midge82 wrote: »

Hi!

Thank you both for your replies.

Firewyrm - I know. It's serious :-( I called him and he said its £509.56. I checked my bank & I have £457. I'm going to have to speak to my boyfriend & ask if he can lend me the rest. NOT what I want to do but I guess once it's paid off that's it - no more sitting in my house scared in case someone knocks at the door.

RAS - no no one's been in here or my old place. I don't have a car at the moment. Nothing has been levied on. In all honesty I'd rather be broke for a month & pay it off now & not deal with the stress.

At least I've learnt my lesson. Burrying my head in sand does NOT work.

A very mature response and one I think many more on here would do well to copy.

Best course of action is to pay this immediately without argument and make your way for a month with a tighter belt. In the long run, its the best option rather than fighting this. If it were thousands, I might have suggested alternative action, but for a few hundred....its best to take the pain for a little while.

Learn the lesson and reduce or get rid of all forms of credit outstanding. If I were you, I'd take this as a wake up call. Best of luck there.

RAS

FireWyrm wrote: »

A very mature response and one I think many more on here would do well to copy.

Best course of action is to pay this immediately without argument and make your way for a month with a tighter belt. In the long run, its the best option rather than fighting this. If it were thousands, I might have suggested alternative action, but for a few hundred....its best to take the pain for a little while.

Learn the lesson and reduce or get rid of all forms of credit outstanding. If I were you, I'd take this as a wake up call. Best of luck there.

Err no.

Midge

Before you do anything else you need to ring the COuncil tomorrow and ask them for the value of the liability order.

Why

Because bailiff routinely charge illegal fees. We have helped peopel reclaim up to £250 in fees that the bailiff took when they were not entiutled to them.

At one stage last year I was post an e-mail for people to send to equita on here every week or fortnight because equita bailiffs were adding illegal fees.

Midge82

RAS wrote: »

Err no.

Midge

Before you do anything else you need to ring the COuncil tomorrow and ask them for the value of the liability order.

Why

Because bailiff routinely charge illegal fees. We have helped peopel reclaim up to £250 in fees that the bailiff took when they were not entiutled to them.

At one stage last year I was post an e-mail for people to send to equita on here every week or fortnight because equita bailiffs were adding illegal fees.

Thank you RAS but I think I'd like to just pay it & get it out of my hair. When I called him earlier he said that they were going to come back with a bigger van tomorrow for my belongings (or my boyfriends?) & he'll put a hold on it now as long as I call & pay by 10am tomorrow.

It's not ideal but it's my own mess & the sooner I'm out of it the sooner I can relax & enjoy being in my own home & not stressing all the time.

If it weren't so late in the game I might fight it but I think I've left it too late now.

Thank you for your advice though :-D

Heffi1

They cannot take away your belongings if they have not done a levy on them, to do this they will need to come into your house.

Under no circumstances let them in, keep windows and doors locked as if they are unlocked they can just walk in.

You do need to speak to the council and find out from them exactly how much the liability order is, and then if you want to, make an online payment to the council that day if you can, this will make the bailiffs go away, they are only allowed to charge for visits, and there is a set amount they can charge, but they have been known to add on fees and expenses that they are not entitled to.

Do as RAS said and phone the council and arrange to pay them direct, they may say you have to pay the bailiff, but you do not. Go to their online payment facility and pay the money there, adding your details as a reference, then call the council and tell them that you have done this.

Do not pay the bailiffs as you will never see the money again.

Midge82

Would there really be much of difference between paying the council directly & paying the bailiffs? What if he says that because I've not paid him he has no proof of payment & comes to my house again tomorrow? I'm not going to let him in (they scare me) but I want to pay to get it sorted.

Heffi1

There could be hundreds of pounds difference this is why you need to speak to the council, they will tell you exactly how much they need to pay the bill off.

Once you pay the council the bailiffs will disappear, as they will have no debt to collect.

Don't be intimidated by them this is what they want, tell them you are going to pay the council directly and not them and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it.

I would call the council first thing as soon as they open and arrange a payment to them and then call the bailiff and say the bill is paid and they can now get lost.

Midge82

Wow I had no idea! Thank you! I'll give them a call first thing to get it sorted. Thanks so much.

Also on another note - can bailiffs call at gone 8pm? Two men knocked on my door about 20 minutes ago. I didn't answer as its dark out & I'm home on my own right now but they had a massive black car & I think they went & spoke to our neighbours before driving off (i had a sneak out of one of the windows). It was very odd.