Equita Bailiffs

painterscastle

This would be a long story to tell so i will keep it brief as i can. a relative hasnt paid council tax this year (due to severe financial difficulty, paying of previous debts from when married his wife walked and left himthe kids and the debt, low wages but works every minute of overtime he can). He got home to find a letter from Equita Bailiff, they have added 400 to the debt that was originally 600 so far this is apparently for 4 letters and 1 visit (he was at work).They said pay by 12.30 today or we take goods. He said i dont have that much I can see what I can borrow from family can i make an arrangement. The bailiff said no and part payment no good.

She told him loads of thing that i thought were not true so i called to speak to her and she told me-
As soon as someone opens a door or window she has the right of entry even if this is one of his children.
She said she can take anything except beds and clothes and one table and chairs (she would leave one for each family member.
She said anything belonging to the children is deemed to be his so can be taken.
She said she will be back on Friday and that each visit she makes adds £200 to the costs.
She will keep attending and adding costs.
Now I offered to lend him some (this will leave me struggling to pay day) and between us we can pay half now. But no way can he get more by friday.
So now he is scared to leave his teenagers alone in case these people get into the house, in fact one is now terrified to be in the house at all.
He honestly owns a TV that wouldnt fetch 15 on ebay because it was my old one. He has no table and chairs just 2, 2 seater sofas not that old but its all they have to sit on. He has a laptop but the kids have to use it to log on to their senior school website to do homework on Studywiz.
He has now paid half with my help but she is still insisting on the rest by Friday. As he works 6 1/2 days a week his children will have to come to me when he isnt in incase this woman comes when they are on their own. I tried ringing the council but they have said he cant make an arrangement to pay now and they wont even speak to him as the debt is with the bailiffs. So each time the bailiff calls round the debt is going up and up I dont see how he can ever clear it. What happens how long do es this go on for..... I cant help him any more before payday and he now has 200 in the bank to cover his bills and buy food until the end of the month.

National_Debtline

Hello Painterscastle

There is a lot to go through here so I’m sorry for the long post.

The most important thing with council tax debt is to show willingness to pay so your relative should make a payment offer to the bailiff based on a realistically affordable amount. They can use a statement of affairs to demonstrate this.

If the bailiff will not accept the offer your relative should save up the instalments to show they weren’t refusing payments and it was the bailiff being unreasonable. Unfortunately most councils will say they can’t deal with the debtor directly until the bailiff passes the debt back to them if they are not able to collect.

The bailiff cannot force entry into the property as long as an adult has not allowed them in previously to take control of goods. Any vehicle owned by your relative should be kept secure in a garage or well out of sight, and obviously the house doors should be kept locked up.

If the bailiff doesn’t accept the payment offer and isn’t allowed into the property they are likely to pass the debt back to the council at some point.

To address the points in your post:

A council tax bailiff would not have right of entry as soon as a door or window is opened. They would have to enter the property and actually ‘take control’ of items belonging to the debtor by making a ‘controlled goods agreement’ and providing an inventory. In any case, they can only enter by a door or any other normal means of entry, not a window.

Exempt goods are a little bit vague but the rules say a bailiff shouldn’t take basic household items (including cooker or microwave, fridge, washing machine, table and chairs, beds, a telephone, medical care equipment, heating / lighting equipment)

Bailiffs should not take control of goods belonging to other people who do not owe the debt.

A council tax bailiff cannot keep adding fees every time they send a letter or attend the premises. The fee scale is clearly defined as £75 for the initial administration/compliance stage, and £235 for the enforcement stage which they can add for attending the premises. They cannot add further fees after that unless they have taken control of goods in the correct way.

Our Council Tax Recovery factsheet goes into more detail here:
www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx


James
@natdebtline

DorisTrousers

painterscastle wrote: »

This would be a long story to tell so i will keep it brief as i can. a relative hasnt paid council tax this year (due to severe financial difficulty, paying of previous debts from when married his wife walked and left himthe kids and the debt, low wages but works every minute of overtime he can). He got home to find a letter from Equita Bailiff, they have added 400 to the debt that was originally 600 so far this is apparently for 4 letters and 1 visit (he was at work).They said pay by 12.30 today or we take goods. He said i dont have that much I can see what I can borrow from family can i make an arrangement. The bailiff said no and part payment no good.

She told him loads of thing that i thought were not true so i called to speak to her and she told me-
As soon as someone opens a door or window she has the right of entry even if this is one of his children.
She said she can take anything except beds and clothes and one table and chairs (she would leave one for each family member.
She said anything belonging to the children is deemed to be his so can be taken.
She said she will be back on Friday and that each visit she makes adds £200 to the costs.
She will keep attending and adding costs.
Now I offered to lend him some (this will leave me struggling to pay day) and between us we can pay half now. But no way can he get more by friday.
So now he is scared to leave his teenagers alone in case these people get into the house, in fact one is now terrified to be in the house at all.
He honestly owns a TV that wouldnt fetch 15 on ebay because it was my old one. He has no table and chairs just 2, 2 seater sofas not that old but its all they have to sit on. He has a laptop but the kids have to use it to log on to their senior school website to do homework on Studywiz.
He has now paid half with my help but she is still insisting on the rest by Friday. As he works 6 1/2 days a week his children will have to come to me when he isnt in incase this woman comes when they are on their own. I tried ringing the council but they have said he cant make an arrangement to pay now and they wont even speak to him as the debt is with the bailiffs. So each time the bailiff calls round the debt is going up and up I dont see how he can ever clear it. What happens how long do es this go on for..... I cant help him any more before payday and he now has 200 in the bank to cover his bills and buy food until the end of the month.

Unless you have a tape of this call then there is nothing really that can be done as a punishment or in redress as the bailiff will like as not deny anything that you claim she said.

Lets try and establish some facts here. I will assume that the bailiff has NOT entered the property peacefully on a previous visit. If the debt was for this year then the bailiff will add £75 immediately and can charge £235 for a visit, but only the once.

"As soon as someone opens a door or window she has the right of entry even if this is one of his children." Bailiffs do NOT have this power, and should NOT infer that they do. Ring her again, record the call and try and get her to repeat this.

"She said she can take anything except beds and clothes and one table and chairs (she would leave one for each family member." Also incorrect, Bailiffs cannot take a whole list of things which are essential for basic domestic needs, e.g. washer, cooker, fridge, tv etc Ring her again, record the call etc...

"She said anything belonging to the children is deemed to be his so can be taken." Slightly greyer area, as the onus of proof of ownership is on the debtor, and if not deemed essential then potentially at risk. This ignores the fact that the bailiff cannot take anything at all in the first place unless she is granted peaceful entry. Peaceful entry can only be made by being invited in, by the debtor or a person that it is reasonably assumed is over 18, or through a door that has been left open. They cannot climb through an open window for example. So don't let her in. Simple. Further, if a good is clearly for the exclusive use of a child e.g. a toy, then it can't be taken, but a games console possibly could. Again, though, don't let her in and she cant do diddly squat.

"She will keep attending and adding costs." She can attend as much as she likes, but she cannot add a penny in costs.

"Now I offered to lend him some (this will leave me struggling to pay day) and between us we can pay half now. But no way can he get more by friday." Up to you, but I wouldn't. You are only shifting debt from one place to the next and making both your lives difficult. Later on in your post you say half has now been paid, don't fall for the same bully boy tactics again would be my advice.

The council are as much responsible for the bailiffs behaviour as she is, so any evidence that you can get, and word of mouth isn't evidence, will help. The council DO have the power to take the debt back, they just choose not to.

Should the bailiff re-attend, and half the time they don't, then don't let her in and see what happens. Nothing will be the answer, but I do understand people being frightened and worried by this sort of thing.

Go to https://www.adviceguide.org.uk and work your way through to the relevant section. Plenty of info from the CAB there, and in the meantime, maybe contact a charity for some more advice, or a not for profit organisation. Hesitate to maybe risk breaking forum rules (should be ok, they are free and members of Advice UK, if I am breaking rules will someone let me know and I won't repeat again?), but Council Tax Advisors are a not for profit agency that specialise in this area, as their name suggests, so they may be able to help. You do have the right to set up a payment plan, but be aware that, because the new bills are due to be paid again in April, then councils are actually encouraging bailiffs to collect the full amount before then if possible. They have played hardball with you, and won to a point, time for you to play hardball back methinks. Up to you who you speak to though, especially if the other debts mentioned are still being sorted. It may be that everything needs to be addressed via, for example, a DRO, a DMP for the other debts etc. Seems little point in addressing one issue, even if very important, whilst not addressing the underlying problems. If the only reason the C/Tax didn't get paid is because of the other debts, then it is only going to happen again from April onwards if it isn't sorted properly.

painterscastle

Thank you. You are right I have looked at his income and expenditure and Im not surprised he hasnt paid I dont know how he is living he just doesnt have enough money coming in. I think he needs some professional advice and he may need to look into an IVA (i think thats what its called) Its all really historical debt mainly from when he was married but as she cannot be traced easily the debts were joint so they go after him only as he is easy to find. Im not making excuses for him he has made bad choices in the past. Its just that he is working so many hours to try and get this resolved. I have tried to call her back but think she suspects I have done my research and that I may record the call so she just says she wont talk to me even though I say I am calling about making payment on the remaining balance.

DorisTrousers

IVA may or may not be an option, but if he has little spare money after household bills then probably not. Any budget he or you do should assume that NO payments are being made to anyone, which will help give a true picture of affordability. When you know what can be afforded then the solution becomes a lot clearer.