Urgent Council Tax Bailiff Help Please

7CS

I will try to keep this as brief and clear as possible, as it's quite a long story, all told.

2012/2013 we (wife and I) fell into arrears with Council Tax.

01/03/2013 bailiffs attended (after claiming to have visited previously) and levied against my car.

02/03/2013 we paid the full amount of the Council Tax directly to the council. Didn't pay the bailiffs a penny.

June 2013 we fell into arrears with the 2013/2014 Council Tax and a liability order was granted against us.

07/08/2013 bailiffs claimed to have visited again and charged a van fee of £180 (not sure if we were in or out, but no letter was left.)

19/09/2013 bailiffs visited again (this was when I became aware of August "visit") and gave us three days to pay up.

23/09/2013 I again paid the council the full amount owed for 2013/2014 directly.

All liability orders have now been discharged (I have this in writing) but the bailiffs are still threatening further action to claim their fees.

I would not have an issue with paying them, as I accept it is our fault we got into this situation - However, I'm not sure the £338.50 they want is entirely legitimate.

Questions are:

Can they still take my car?
Can they still ask for fees if liability orders are discharged?
Am I still liable for fees given that the council have accepted I have paid them what I owe them? (As I understand it, enforcement fees should be deducted first.)

I have had a lot of correspondence with the bailiffs (B&S) and the council, so if anyone needs further info I can check and update.

Bailiffs gave me until today to pay. Biggest worry is the car being taken.

Thanks in advance.

ValHaller

Hopefully you have not missed out any interactions with the bailiffs - if you have, then any advice you get here is potentially quite wrong.

The 07/08/2013 visit could only be in respect of

• either fees for CT 2012/2013, which I think would be a maximum of £42-ish. I am not sure that they could take your vehicle for that part of the debt
• or CT for 2013/2014, for which they would have to raise a new levy. The old one will not do.

If the bailiff did not have the right to take your vehicle for their own fees, then the £180 van fee is also invalid.

At this point, I can see that you definitely owe

• Court fees for 2 liability orders - say £120 total - unless you settled these with the council
• Visit fees for 2012/2013 - say £42

This comes to £162 and with a further £180 van fee this comes to £342, which is suspiciously similar to the £338.50 being demanded.

The question therefore hinges on whether the council paid the enforcement fees to the bailiff

7CS

Thank you for the reply. The council didn't pay anything to the bailiffs. What does this mean?

ValHaller

It means that the bailiffs are entitled to their fees. Whether they can enforce these through their levy is not clear to me either - but if the council had passed anything to the bailiffs, then you would still owe under the liability order.

Did you also settle the hearing fee for the liability orders? Sorry for the more questions, but it will take a bit to unpick this

7CS

Very sorry for the late reply; I've not been able to get on here.

I wasn't aware of any hearing fees. All I know is I've had it in writing twice that the liability orders have been discharged. The council say I owe the bailiff fees to the bailiffs, and owe the council £0.

I will negotiate with the bailiffs once I know what I should be paying them, but I don't want the threat of my car being taken. I don't think the levy is valid, but what do I know?!

7CS

Anyone help?

7CS

Anyone at all please?

cottage_retreatist

if the bailiffs are still requesting their fees you need to send them a letter asking them what they think you owe them.

I think if anyone comes round you should tell them you've dealing direct with the DCA via letter only. Or not open the door to them and make sure you have all windows locked and sheds as well as they can access outhouses if you have them and they are open.

Do you have a garage you can keep the car in, locked until this is sorted? Or could you park it on a friend's driveway temporarily until this is sorted? We left ours in the next village while we were sorting out bailiff issues as we were so scared they might take it away during the day - so I feel for you and hope you get this sorted.

But don't pay the bailiff. Make sure you have numbers recorded and agreed to before you pay anything. Our bailiff tried to add an extra 300 quid for himself and for us to pay to his own bank account - no way buddy!!!!!

Good luck
C-R x

hallowitch

7CS wrote: »

I will try to keep this as brief and clear as possible, as it's quite a long story, all told.

2012/2013 we (wife and I) fell into arrears with Council Tax.

01/03/2013 bailiffs attended (after claiming to have visited previously) and levied against my car.

02/03/2013 we paid the full amount of the Council Tax directly to the council. Didn't pay the bailiffs a penny.

the bailiff levied your car before the liability order was paid the car now belongs to the bailiff (in the custody of the law ) you should have paid
the liability order , 1st visit fee 2nd visit fee (if they visited 2 times before the levy and the levy fee

The council tax regulations state

Distress


45. (1) Where a liability order has been made, the authority which applied for the order may levy the appropriate amount by distress and sale of the goods of the debtor against whom the order was made.

(2) The appropriate amount for the purposes of paragraph (1) is the aggregate of—

(a)an amount equal to any outstanding sum which is or forms part of the amount in respect of which the liability order was made, and

(b)a sum determined in accordance with Schedule 5 in respect of charges connected with the distress.
therefore the bailiff can return and remove your car to pay the fees
what fees were charged on the notice of seizure ? how much was the liability order ? what's the value of the car

June 2013 we fell into arrears with the 2013/2014 Council Tax and a liability order was granted against us.

07/08/2013 bailiffs claimed to have visited again and charged a van fee of £180 (not sure if we were in or out, but no letter was left.)
to charge this fee the bailiff MUST have a levy on your goods they cant use the previous levy on your car as its a separate issue and there is still an outstanding balance against the previous debt

19/09/2013 bailiffs visited again (this was when I became aware of August "visit") and gave us three days to pay up.

23/09/2013 I again paid the council the full amount owed for 2013/2014 directly.

All liability orders have now been discharged (I have this in writing) but the bailiffs are still threatening further action to claim their fees.

I would not have an issue with paying them, as I accept it is our fault we got into this situation - However, I'm not sure the £338.50 they want is entirely legitimate.

Questions are:

Can they still take my car? (yes)
Can they still ask for fees if liability orders are discharged?(yes because you have not paid the fees )
Am I still liable for fees given that the council have accepted I have paid them what I owe them? yes (As I understand it, enforcement fees should be deducted first.) correct the council should have (and may still) paid the fees to B&S

I have had a lot of correspondence with the bailiffs (B&S) and the council, so if anyone needs further info I can check and update.

Bailiffs gave me until today to pay. Biggest worry is the car being taken.

Thanks in advance.

can you list fees charged for both liability orders