Council Tax Arrears

Tiahanya

I've managed to get myself into a bit of a mess with my CT arrears and the case was sent to a magistrates court. I defaulted an arrangement and they have since declined a new one, even though it's actually better than the original. They have been sending their enforcement agents out, but so far I have not answered the door to them.

Today though they came again, as usual I didn't answer the door. They then put through a Notice of Attendance through my letter box. The letter states that they called with a view to obtaining a "Taking control of Goods Order" and charged me an additional £235.00. The letter then goes on to say that unless I pay in full within the next 24 hours they will apply for a "warrant of entry".

I cannot find anything on the internet about warrants of entry, all I can find refers to utility companies, so I'm at a loss. What is a warrant of entry?

Thanks in advance for any advice given

sourcrates

Some advise here for you :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/08%20EW%20County%20court%20-%20suspending%20a%20bailiff%27s%20warrant%20or%20reducing%20instalments%20on%20a%20county-court%20judgment/Page-02.aspx#

This will only get more expensive the longer it's left, you should make your offer of payment to the bayliff, in writing, you must treat CT as an essential payment in future, to avoid more contact with these companies.

Tiahanya

That's for a warrant of control which comes under county court, my liability order has been obtained via the magistrates court. At no stage has county court been used.

I have been paying them £20 a week via their council's website since they declined my payment offer, which I made via e-mail. The enforcement agents they are using are in-house.

fatbelly

The link is to a warrant of control. That just gives the bailiff the power to act as a bailiff - i.e. to take control of goods with a view to removing and selling them if payment is not forthcoming.

There is no such thing as a warrant of entry for Ctax debts. If that is a bailiff's standard letter I'd love to see it and know which bailiff company that is. They have no right to force entry. As that sheet says

You do not have to let the bailiffs into your home. The bailiffs should not force their way into your home unless

you have let them in on a previous visit;
they took control of your goods and you have broken the agreement you made with the bailiffs; and
they have given you two clear days’ notice.
If you have not let the bailiffs in before, keep your doors locked. It is also a good idea to keep windows closed (even though they are not allowed to enter by that route now

.

The council tax factsheet has similar advice

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx

You do not have to let the bailiffs into your home. The bailiffs should not force their way into your home unless:

you have let them in on a previous visit;
they took control of your goods and you have broken the agreement you made with the bailiffs; and
they have given you two clear days’ notice
If you have not let the bailiffs in before, keep your doors locked. It is also a good idea to keep your windows closed. A bailiff can take control of goods outside your home, so if you have a vehicle, keep it in a locked garage. If you park the vehicle on your drive, the bailiffs could clamp it.

You could park the vehicle away from your property, but if you park it on a public road and the bailiff finds it, they could clamp or remove it. Contact us for advice.

Politely but firmly refuse to let the bailiffs in, without opening the door to them. Offer what you can afford to pay. If the bailiffs accept your offer, ask them to return to their car and go out and pay them. Make sure you get a receipt

Tiahanya

The letter is from Aylesbury Vale District Council, they don't use outside bailiffs, just their own enforcement agents that have been trained to bailiff work. They would still have to abide by the bailiff codes of conduct though. The exact wording on the letter is as follows:

Further to my Enforcement Notice dated 27/03/15 I have attended your property today with a view to obtaining a "Taking Control of Goods Order". Unless the full outstanding amount (including all costs) is paid within the next 24 hours, I may have no option but to apply to the courts for a warrant of entry for your property.

sum outstanding £: (deleted for privacy)
Compliance stage fee £:75.00
Enforcement stage fee £:235.00

As I've said before I have contacted them via email to offer a weekly instead of monthly amount, this was declined. They state that once a case is with an enforcement agent, they cannot enter into arrangements. I've not once opened the door to them, so they have never had an opportunity to list what goods they could potentially take.

sourcrates

They can't enter your house period, keep the doors/windows closed and/or locked, if they can't get in, then they will have no were else to go except to pass it back to Aylesbury vale council to deal with.

fatbelly

Tiahanya wrote: »

The letter is from Aylesbury Vale District Council, they don't use outside bailiffs, just their own enforcement agents that have been trained to bailiff work. They would still have to abide by the bailiff codes of conduct though. The exact wording on the letter is as follows:

Further to my Enforcement Notice dated 27/03/15 I have attended your property today with a view to obtaining a "Taking Control of Goods Order". Unless the full outstanding amount (including all costs) is paid within the next 24 hours, I may have no option but to apply to the courts for a warrant of entry for your property.

sum outstanding £: (deleted for privacy)
Compliance stage fee £:75.00
Enforcement stage fee £:235.00

As I've said before I have contacted them via email to offer a weekly instead of monthly amount, this was declined. They state that once a case is with an enforcement agent, they cannot enter into arrangements. I've not once opened the door to them, so they have never had an opportunity to list what goods they could potentially take.

My understanding is that the bailiff would still have to be certificated

http://certificatedbailiffs.justice.gov.uk/CertificatedBailiffs/

Just checked, that council do appear to have 3 bailiffs (2 women, one man)

I have not met the threat to apply for a court order to enter property before, at least not in relation to Council Tax. Installation of a prepayment meter for electricity or gas, yes. It might be worth having a chat to National Debtline about this to see whether they think that there is any unfair practice here that should be complained about.

The fees are unfortunately correct so you just need to continue to pay this off at a rate you can afford so they cannot go down the committal route.

Tiahanya

That's odd, one of agents that has been to my house is not even on that list, I shall bear that in mind, since clearly she is not certified according to the link your provided.

I've submitted a question to Bailiff Advice Online about this, so will hopefully get a reply today. Failing that, then yes I will get in touch with national debt line.

In the meantime I've been paying off £20 per week, instead of per month which I originally offered, so I have already paid off £80.00.

Many thanks all, for the help given and pointing me in the right direction to further information

fatbelly

Tiahanya wrote: »

I've submitted a question to Bailiff Advice Online about this, so will hopefully get a reply today. Failing that, then yes I will get in touch with national debt line.

If Herbie21 (Bailiff Advice Online) could post here I'd appreciate it!

Herbie21

Tiahanya wrote: »

That's odd, one of agents that has been to my house is not even on that list, I shall bear that in mind, since clearly she is not certified according to the link your provided.

I've submitted a question to Bailiff Advice Online about this, so will hopefully get a reply today. Failing that, then yes I will get in touch with national debt line.

In the meantime I've been paying off £20 per week, instead of per month which I originally offered, so I have already paid off £80.00.

Many thanks all, for the help given and pointing me in the right direction to further information

Tiahanya,

Thank you for your query which I will answer here.

Can you post back to let us know how much the liability order is for (this question is to gauge whether the payment proposal should be accepted by the council).

The letter that you have received is frankly appalling and I am sure that the Ministry of Justice would take a very dim view of the wording indeed with the veiled reference to 'forced entry'. Personally I would be inclined to write a formal letter of complaint to the Chief Executive of the Council regarding the threat..which by the way....is a threat that is not allowed so please do not worry.

On the matter of whether or not the bailiff is certificated, the problem is that the HM Courts website is only as accurate as the information provided by the courts and some county courts are better than others ensuring that HM Courts bailiff register is updated as soon as the bailiff has been granted a certificate. In your letter of complaint to the council you should raise the query about the bailiffs certification.

You do not need to allow a bailiff into your home and I would not suggest that you do. The problem that you could have is if you or your partner (if you have one) have a car parked outside and this could be taken.


Bailiff Advice Online

immoral_angeluk

You'll probably find they won't bother going to too much effort with you if you're regularly paying £20 a week off the arrears. I'd just send them a letter with a financial statement advising that is your offer but continue paying it. All they want is payment, they don't want to HAVE to do any actual work.