Rossendale Bailiff Removal Notice Help!!!!

HulaHoop90

Hi was just wondering if anyone could advise me here. I received 2 letters today delivered by hand from a bailiff working for Rossendales regarding unpaid council tax. I believe this is to do with unpaid council tax from a flat I lived in about a year ago but I have not received any warnings or notices prior to this bailiff turning up today!
Also the bailiff turned up at my parents house and I don't live there anyway! He is threatening to take their possessions to pay for my debt even though nothing in that house belongs to me!!
At the moment I don't have a fixed address but surely some notices or warnings regarding this debt should have gone to my parents house if that was where the baliff was going to turn up??
I am going to send a cease and desist letter to the bailiffs for my parents address and then send another letter to the bailiff stating that I did not know I owed any money, I hadn't received any letters before this and I don't live at the address he visited.
I can't afford to pay the full amount straight away but have asked if I could set up a payment plan.
I have just started a dmp with stepchange so I would have just included this debt on that if I had known about it!!
Can anyone advise me if I am doing the right thing with the letters? Also should I phone the bailiff to discuss this?
Is there anything else I can do?
Thank you and sorry for the long winded explanation! Hope it makes sense!!

heartbreak_star

I'm not sure you can include Council Tax on a DMP as it's a priority debt. If you currently have no fixed address they will go to your last known addresses, and a "cease and desist" letter will do precisely nothing sadly, unless accompanied by PROOF that you do not live at your parents' house.

I would contact the council rather than Rossendale's, see if they can call the debt back. Also try and deal in writing with bailiffs wherever possible, as phone calls aren't worth the paper they're written on. If the council or company cannot collect payment, they may take out an Attachment of Earnings, which you have no say over.

(If any of this is wrong, more knowledgeable people will correct it)

HBS x

HulaHoop90

Hi Thanks...I have sent a letter to the council saying I want to deal with them and want to start paying a set monthly amount. I have also sent a letter to Rossendales stating that I don't want to deal with them and want to pay the council directly.

How could I prove to them I don't live at my parents house??

spacey2012

Your parents need to resist the bailiff entry and call the police to remove a aggravated trespasser.

heartbreak_star

Ask the council of your parents' area to provide a statement saying you're not on the electoral roll there? Do you have a recent letter with some address that's not your parents' printed on it? It's not going to be easy sadly.

I hope the council take notice of your letter because the bailiffs won't. They just want the money. FWIW, when this happened to me I was reminded that I was in no position to be making demands.

Eventually I ended up with an AoE. At least I knew it was being paid then.

HBS x

RAS

HulaHoop90 wrote: »

Hi was just wondering if anyone could advise me here. I received 2 letters today delivered by hand from a bailiff working for Rossendales regarding unpaid council tax. I believe this is to do with unpaid council tax from a flat I lived in about a year ago but I have not received any warnings or notices prior to this bailiff turning up today!
Also the bailiff turned up at my parents house and I don't live there anyway! He is threatening to take their possessions to pay for my debt even though nothing in that house belongs to me!!
At the moment I don't have a fixed address but surely some notices or warnings regarding this debt should have gone to my parents house if that was where the baliff was going to turn up??
I am going to send a cease and desist letter to the bailiffs for my parents address and then send another letter to the bailiff stating that I did not know I owed any money, I hadn't received any letters before this and I don't live at the address he visited.
I can't afford to pay the full amount straight away but have asked if I could set up a payment plan.
I have just started a dmp with stepchange so I would have just included this debt on that if I had known about it!!
Can anyone advise me if I am doing the right thing with the letters? Also should I phone the bailiff to discuss this?
Is there anything else I can do?
Thank you and sorry for the long winded explanation! Hope it makes sense!!

The bailiff cannot take property from your parents and s/he knows this. Just that they hope to add charges by making visits.

So your parents might write to the Rossendale and advise that you are not resident there. END of.

You need to ring the Coucil and ask the following:

What is the value of the Liability Order?
What dates does this order cover? (Where you actually redident on those dates?)
To what address did they send correspondence re the debt? (probably the property you left - you did tell them?)

Then come back here.

PS - you cannot add this debt to the DMP as it is a priority debt but before you speak to your DMP provider, get the info above.

HulaHoop90

Hi

So yesterday I sent a letter to the council requesting that they call back the debt and allow me to enter into a payment plan directly with them. I also sent a letter to Rossendales stating the same and told both that the address they were going to was not mine and none of the possessions within the house were mine.

I have heard back today from the council who have basically said they won't call back the debt and the bailiffs were going to the address because a trace resulted in a connection there. But still no letters or anything were sent to this address.

The council also said "You should contact Rossendales immediately to make an arrangement with them to clear the liability orders and provide them with a correspondence address." But I don't have a correspondence address! I don't have an address!!

Rossendales also got back to me and just said my case was being dealt with by their enforcement bailiff and to contact him on his mobile number.

I feel sick as I just don't know what to do next. I am so scared the bailiff is going to ignore me and just take all of my parents stuff.

any advice would be greatly appreciated! Is there any way I can get the council to just take the debt back??

fatbelly

These are standard responses from council muppets and Rossendale idiots.

They cannot take your parents stuff as they can only levy goods belonging to the debtor. They don't take stuff anyway - just list it and then threaten to take it.

However your parents do need to know NOT to allow a bailiff to enter 'peaceably' and there's a bit more to that than just 'don't let them in'.

Dealing with bailiffs

As for what you can do, have a look at the new government guidance on Council Tax. I note the following:

2.6 Local Authorities should be willing to negotiate payments at any point in the process and should work with bill payers to agree affordable and sustainable payment plans which ensure that the debt is paid off within a reasonable period

.

4.5 Local Authorities should remain prepared to deal directly with individuals at any point. It is perfectly within their gift to call action back from the bailiffs at any time and where there is a case to do so they should consider such action.

As you have already politely requested this, and been rebuffed, I think it is time to involve your local councillor (check https://www.writetothem.com ) and ask whether they would make enquiries about your case in the light of the recent guidance. You may wish to ask the councillor if he/she is the appropriate person to do this or should you consider a direct complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

ValHaller

HulaHoop90 wrote: »

I have heard back today from the council who have basically said they won't call back the debt and the bailiffs were going to the address because a trace resulted in a connection there. But still no letters or anything were sent to this address.

By way of explanation, the trace was probably done by Rossendales. By definition, a trace by Rossendales would have taken place after the liability order was granted. So no correspondence, nothing, until the bailiffs turn up.

RAS

Please do what you were asked to do below, rather than wasting your time trying to get the bailiff recalled.

RAS wrote: »

You need to ring the Council and ask the following:

What is the value of the Liability Order?
What dates does this order cover? (Where you actually redident on those dates?)
To what address did they send correspondence re the debt? (probably the property you left - you did tell them?)