Bailiffs fees following missed payment?

michaels

A relative had his council tax arrers handed over to bailiffs about 18 months ago and was paying off £400 (including 2 visit fees) at £20 per month via a cheque sent by post.

Earlier this year a payment was sent about a week late. 3 weeks later the cheque was returned stating that the agreement had been broken so the installment payment was no longer acceptable. At this time the outstanding amount was about £40.

Now the bailiffs have written stating that an amount of over £1000 is owing as they claim to have visited 4 times (each time I think just leaving a letter as no one was at home) and charged £235 for each visit.

This seems ridiculous to me for a £40 outstanding debt. Have the rules changed so much that rather than charging two £20 ish fees they can now charge unlimited £235 fees? Can they apply to the new rules to a debt that was already being paid under the old rules? Is there no longer any sensible limit to fees chargeable?

Thanks for any advice.

National_Debtline

Hello there,

The £235 fee can only be charged once. You can read more about the new bailiff rules and fees on on fact sheet:

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Page-03.aspx#quicklink1

We've also a fact sheet specifically about bailiff complaints:

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/43%20Complaining%20about%20a%20bailiff/Default.aspx

Hope you find this information useful.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

chanz4

raise a complaint with the council, and then take it to the council ombudsman they will back down

michaels

Thanks both for your replies. It seems a little unfair that they were able to charge the 2 visits under the old scheme and then also the new 10x fee under the new scheme just because the debt had not been entirely cleared.