rossendale enforcement agents council tax

Kaytee91

Hi

I'm very concerned as my mother received a letter through her door whilst out yesterday from Rossendales. It states 'enforcement agent removal notice for non payment of council tax'.

It then goes on to state that after previous attendances you have failed to pay the total amount due. Firstly, this is the first heard from anyone regarding a house visit. the letter is dated the same day of receipt and says they will return on the same day? Now correct me if I'm wrong but aren't they supposed to give advance notice to remove goods?

It then goes on to state that they will return to remove goods even on your absence absence. There are additional charges of 110.
No further requests for installments can be made. Must
Be paid in full by cleared funds only.

This is obviously very worrying and my mum is a single parent with her youngest being 13. She called rossendales after receiving this who told her they can't arrange a payment plan, they 'dont care' and someone will be around first at 4 then at 6. No one returned either time.

I told her to call stepchange who she is calling back today and everyone including the council adviser and local police officer, has told her not to answer the door. Simply shout through the door that they will not be allowed entry and stepchange will be in contact with them soon.

I'm worried because she's on her own and often in work meaning if anyone is at home in her absence, it willa
Be my 21 yr old and 13 yr old sisters.

could anyone give any advice? It all seems strange to me given that there has been no prior notice and she is going away in a couple of days. Is there any way that the council would accept to take back the debt?

fatbelly

Advice so far seems good.

The fee of £110 concerns me. That's the 'sale stage' fee.

The fees we usually see are the first stage of £75 and then the enforcement fee when the bailiff visits of £235.

There has to be an awful lot of history before the sale stage. Still, offer a payment plan, refuse entry to the bailiffs (unless they've already been in, which it sounds like they may have) and if this is part of a bigger debt picture, use stepchange to do a DRO or something.

HappyMJ

I know it sounds scary not opening the door to people banging on the door and I've been there before...your heart races and you really just want to open the door but opening the door gives them the chance to talk themselves into your property.

You might have something of some value such as a TV, sofa or something else which they will levy (take ownership of). Once they've levied that they can enter whenever they want by whatever means to take back what is now their property.

They cannot levy items by looking through the window they have to physically touch them.

So not letting them in is the best advice.

You DO NOT have to pay in full. If all you can afford is £1 per month then that's all you need to pay.

When making a SOA for them you cannot include any debt repayments and no entry for holidays/entertainment....i.e nothing considered luxury. The court will expect you to pay your council tax before your credit card and will expect you to stay at home miserable paying your council tax. Even a mobile phone contract should go unpaid as well so just be careful what you put. Stepchange has some recommended figures for groceries in which you can put a lot of your expenses in...it might be double what you actually spend so use that figure.

Kaytee91

Thanks for the replies.

To clarify, no one has been in the house yet. Thet knocked on the door when the house was empty. Theres a mobile number on the letter for the enforcement agent. When they were contacted they were very abrupt and said they will not accept a payment plan, we're coming round to take your goods.

Well if they can't get in the house it looks like they can't take anything. There's nothing even of much value in there anyway.

sourcrates

Kaytee91 wrote: »

Well if they can't get in the house it looks like they can't take anything. There's nothing even of much value in there anyway.

Taking goods is the last thing they want to do, despite what they may imply, second hand goods rarely fetch much money, so it just isn't worth there while, its another trick used to get you to pay up, more often than not.
Deny them access to the property, when they cant collect on the debt, they will return it to the council, at which point it would be wise to contact them and arrange to pay it, at a rate you can afford, this will avoid any further contact from your friendly neighbourhood bailiff !!!!

Kaytee91

If they knock whilst we're in (which they haven't been again yet) and we tell them through the door that we won't be allowing entry, is it likely that they would still call again ? Feel like we're being harassed in our own home. Considering the council passed the debt on to them, the councils advice was not to let them in under any circumstances as the house also belongs to the housing trust.

HappyMJ

Kaytee91 wrote: »

If they knock whilst we're in (which they haven't been again yet) and we tell them through the door that we won't be allowing entry, is it likely that they would still call again ? Feel like we're being harassed in our own home. Considering the council passed the debt on to them, the councils advice was not to let them in under any circumstances as the house also belongs to the housing trust.

Contradictory isn't it and very annoying. You'd think they'd sort out a deal directly with you...but the procedure is to put it to the bailiffs. My experience..they visit twice before giving up and returning debt to council. They will do everything in (and not in) their powers to gain entry. Not knowing it was them I opened the door and they put the foot in my door preventing me from closing it. The police were called and asked them to remove their foot which they complied. I then shut the door and they left never to be seen again. The first time they knock you will be a nervous wreck so try and stay as calm as possible and it should all be OK.

dancingfairy

I would expect them to call several times. 2 or maybe 3. It depends I think on their firms guidelines and how busy they are/whether they are in the area for other people/how likely they think they are to get money from you.
Eventually they will return the debt to the council.
You shouldn't have any trouble with them but obviously if you do and you feel threatened then call the police.
They should not enter when it is made clear to them only a minor is in the house alone (for example if only the 13 year old was there). Again, if there is any issue then call the police.
Whilst the bailiffs get a lot of bad press and you hear all the horror stories on here it is unlikely they would be stupid enough to try and break in as they would get hauled over the coals , would be breaking the law and would lose their licence over it. They will however huff and puff and threaten everything under the sun whether or not they actually have the power to do it (they'd tell you the sun was green if they wanted to).
df
edit: I agree with the person who said they don't want your goods. The only advantage for them is it means they can start ramping up the fees quite heavily and it means they can come back and remove the goods at any time which obviously is a pressure tactic to get you to cough up the money which is what they really want.

dancingfairy

See this factsheet here from National Debtline on how to deal with council tax and bailiffs:
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx
df