Bristow & Sutor Council Tax Liability Order

bennycal

Hi,

I have just received a letter from Bristow & Sutor entitled 'Council Tax Notice of Issue of Liabilty Order Information Preliminary to Distress'.

However we have received no court summons from the Council prior to this?

After having a search on Google for the past hour it seems clear that Bristow & Sutor are nothing but bullies that use lies and intimidation to get money out of people, and in a lot of cases pocket the majority of the money themselves (One case where a lady payed £2400 to them and the Council received only £350!!)

I have no desire to have any contact or communication with these parasites but am of course quite willing to pay the Council directly the money owed.

What are my options? Can I ignore this Bristow & Sutor and simply pay the Council directly on a monthly basis until the debt is cleared? I have little experience with these sorts of things and would HUGELY appreciate any help as it is really stressing me and my partner out a great deal, and although their is a lot of information on the internet it is hard to know what to do.

By the way, it is Bury Council, and the amount 'owed' is around £1200.

I will add that this amount is for council tax until April 2015 (which I think is crazy?!)

Thanks again to any and all response(s).

CIS

I will add that this amount is for council tax until April 2015 (which I think is crazy?!)

If payments haven't been made for this years council tax then you would have lost the right to pay and the full balance becomes due. Have you actually contacted the council regarding the bills, reminders etc ?

The enforcement agents can continue to pursue any balance, even if you make payments to the council. The letter you have received is the notice they need to give prior to visiting.

sunnsea

Really sorry - i think i may have posted this in the wrong place but can not find a 'new thread' button anywhere.

Could anyone advise please????

I received a notice from Bristow and Sutor saying I owed £945.81 and they said I could pay in installments of £75 a week over 12 weeks taking me to the 27th June. If I did not pay this amount - they would seize my goods.

Although my wages are poor I didn't want to lose my goods so I agreed.

I have been paying the money as and when I could and I have managed to pay it all off this morning which is a day later than they said I had. When I went online to check all payments had been paid, I noticed that the site said I still owed £235. I didn't understand this as I have a record of all payments and the full amount I owed has now been paid.

I tried to call Bristow and Sutor but no one answered.

I have been away all week but when I have just got back home,there was a letter in my postbox with ENFORCEMENT VISIT WARNING written on it. It said that I owed £435 and they had called on the 27th March at 11:40 to take control of my goods. The letter went on to say that I had to ring this man on a mobile number. I have rang but no one answers that phone either.

I have checked the website again and I have definitely paid all monies owed apart from £235 that seems to have been added on yesterday.

Can anyone tell me what this is for? I cant believe this has been added for my payment being one day late and do this mean I have to pay that as well now?

Thanks for any advice.

dancingfairy

O.k the £945.81 how is this debt made up? How much is council tax and how much is charges?
Basically you owe a) the original council tax b) the amount it cost the council to take you to court to get the liability order (maybe £90) and c) bailiff costs.
Have the bailiffs ever been inside your house/flat etc? Have they levied on your goods?
The amount the bailiffs can charge as their fees are set by law but it will depend on whether they have been in your house/levied on any goods.
Also if they have been in your house then they can break in to take the goods, If they haven't been in already then they can't break in. Basically they have to be let in peacefully the first time to take official control of the goods before they can break in to recover them.
Obviously depending on whether they have been in your house or not a) affects the fees they can charge but b) affects how you need to deal with things as if they have been in your house you are in a much weaker position.
There is a really useful factsheet here on National Debtlines website on how to deal with council tax debts. I'll post it in a minute.
df

dancingfairy

The factsheet is here: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx
If you do not know what fees were included in your £945.81 I would be writing to them to find out.
The fee £235 may be legitimate it's hard to tell without further facts (ie whether they've come in to your house) but if it is then I would want to know why they have suddenly charged it now.
df

antonic

sunnsea wrote: »

Really sorry - i think i may have posted this in the wrong place but can not find a 'new thread' button anywhere.

Could anyone advise please????

I received a notice from Bristow and Sutor saying I owed £945.81 and they said I could pay in installments of £75 a week over 12 weeks taking me to the 27th June. If I did not pay this amount - they would seize my goods.

Although my wages are poor I didn't want to lose my goods so I agreed.

I have been paying the money as and when I could and I have managed to pay it all off this morning which is a day later than they said I had. When I went online to check all payments had been paid, I noticed that the site said I still owed £235. I didn't understand this as I have a record of all payments and the full amount I owed has now been paid.

I tried to call Bristow and Sutor but no one answered.

I have been away all week but when I have just got back home,there was a letter in my postbox with ENFORCEMENT VISIT WARNING written on it. It said that I owed £435 and they had called on the 27th March at 11:40 to take control of my goods. The letter went on to say that I had to ring this man on a mobile number. I have rang but no one answers that phone either.

I have checked the website again and I have definitely paid all monies owed apart from £235 that seems to have been added on yesterday.

Can anyone tell me what this is for? I cant believe this has been added for my payment being one day late and do this mean I have to pay that as well now?

Thanks for any advice.

The *minimum* fees set by the Ministry of Justice are as follows:

1) Issue of Notice of Enforcement £75
2) Attending the premises to remove goods £235 (and if the debt is more than £1500 a further 7.5% fee is charged.
3) Sale of goods by Auctioneer £110 plus a further 7.5% fee if the debt is more than £1500.

However any Bailiff Co can charge whatever fees they like, and the fees charged ALWAYS get paid first to the Ministry of Justice and NOT your Council Tax debt.

For them to have legally charged for an attendance fee they HAVE to have sent you a Notice of Enforcement Letter first (costing a minimum of £75) and then waited 7 days before attending.

Did you get the Notice of Enforcement letter ? - if you didnt they cant charge you the £235 and I would ask them to prove they sent it to you.

I fear what has happened is that you have made the payments as promised BUT because they have sent you the Notice of Enforcement part of your payments have been used to pay the Ministry of Justice fee of £75 , and this has meant you are £75 short and have therefore failed the arrangement.

The failure of the arrangement has then lead to the call which has cost you £235.00

Hope this helps and please post back if you need more help.

dancingfairy

It is unclear to me from the National Debtlines website under what circumstances they can charge the £235. Is it where they have entered the house and are therefore coming back to remove goods or is it merely turning up in the hope of gaining entry peacefully?
In any case I would argue strongly to the bailiffs and the council in writing (As they appoint the bailiffs) that these fees are unfair. If you were given notice in writing that the total cost would be x and you have paid that then it seems ridiculous they could add £235 in fees for being 1 day late. Obviously you shouldn't have paid 1 day late but they should have made it very clear in writing the consequences of failing to pay on time (As no doubt you would have made doubly sure of paying on time).
df

antonic

dancingfairy wrote: »

It is unclear to me from the National Debtlines website under what circumstances they can charge the £235. Is it where they have entered the house and are therefore coming back to remove goods or is it merely turning up in the hope of gaining entry peacefully?
In any case I would argue strongly to the bailiffs and the council in writing (As they appoint the bailiffs) that these fees are unfair. If you were given notice in writing that the total cost would be x and you have paid that then it seems ridiculous they could add £235 in fees for being 1 day late. Obviously you shouldn't have paid 1 day late but they should have made it very clear in writing the consequences of failing to pay on time (As no doubt you would have made doubly sure of paying on time).
df

To charge the £235 they dont have to enter the property, all they have to do is turn up and knock on the door.

The fee structure was changed because they (the fees) were previously unregulated.

As I said in my previous post, the fees charged by the Ministry of Justice are the MINIMUM fees that can be charged, bailiffs can charge more if they want.

sunnsea

Thank you all for your replies. In answer to the questions - No one has been into my apartment at all and as I'm at work all day till 8pm I haven't seen anyone either.
The bill including all the charges was £945.81. I tried to argue that but trying to speak to someone was ridiculous. I left numerous messages telling them that I worked 12 hour shifts and and wasn't allowed to have my phone on when I was on the shop floor so I asked if they could call me back at specific times but nobody rang me at any time.
The last payment on my account should have been paid by the 27th June and the date of bristow and sutors letter of enforcement is 27th June at 11:40am.
I paid the full amount I owed this morning on the 28th June but it seems they have added £235 on for coming round to my apartment yesterday.
Can they do this and do I have to pay the extra £235.

antonic

sunnsea wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies. In answer to the questions - No one has been into my apartment at all and as I'm at work all day till 8pm I haven't seen anyone either.
The bill including all the charges was £945.81. I tried to argue that but trying to speak to someone was ridiculous. I left numerous messages telling them that I worked 12 hour shifts and and wasn't allowed to have my phone on when I was on the shop floor so I asked if they could call me back at specific times but nobody rang me at any time.
The last payment on my account should have been paid by the 27th June and the date of bristow and sutors letter of enforcement is 27th June at 11:40am.
I paid the full amount I owed this morning on the 28th June but it seems they have added £235 on for coming round to my apartment yesterday.
Can they do this and do I have to pay the extra £235.

Go back and reread my first post.

Have you had a letter from them saying Notice of Enforcement and charging you £75 for sending you the letter ?

If you haven't, they can't charge you £235 for visiting yesterday.

If they had sent you the letter, they have to wait 7 days before they can visit and charge you a further £235.

Hope this helps

sunnsea

antonic wrote: »

Go back and reread my first post.

Have you had a letter from them saying Notice of Enforcement and charging you £75 for sending you the letter ?

If you haven't, they can't charge you £235 for visiting yesterday.

If they had sent you the letter, they have to wait 7 days before they can visit and charge you a further £235.

Hope this helps

No I haven't had a notice of enforcement letter. I have had an "issue of liability" and an "enforcement visit warning" but I have had a £75 charge which says it is an enforcement charge that was added onto my account a while ago. I have paid that.

Do you think t should call the council or keep trying to get a hold of someone from Bristow and Sutor ?

Thanks for your help.