Martson Debt Advice

mrsb1980

Dear All,

I received a letter from Marston asking me to pay a debt of £1100 by 3rd July. I couldn't afford this and made a payment of £200 on 30th June and contacted them via email to offer a payment plan of £150.

Marston didn't respond to me, they sent an enforcement person on 7th July, i wasn't in, but they added further costs to my debt. I emailed them again telling them I had contacted them on 30th June, and resent this email. Again they chose to ignore.

They have got back to now, stating:

Our office is in receipt of your correspondence dated 8th July 2015 the contents of which we note. Please be advised that this debt is in relation to a writ issued in High Court for enforcement and whilst we will enter into a payment arrangement this is subject to circumstances and claimants agreement. We need to inform you that such an arrangement will require a personal visit from one of our officers and the matter will be escalated to Enforcement Stage 1 as detailed above. An explanation and reason for the visit is outlined under Item 7.3 of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014.
An instalment arrangement has now been put in place and your next payment of £150.00 is due at our office on or before 30th July 2015. Should you fail to make the full amount of the arrangement by the due date your agreement will be considered to have been defaulted upon and the arrangement will be revoked. The balance in full will become due and additional fees will potentially be incurred as the case moves on to the next Enforcement Stage. If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact our office.

I feel like I have tried to do my best to settle this debt and come up with a payment plan. Yet they are still going to send someone to my house?

Feeling a bit disheartened.

Thanks for reading

antonic

The minimum charges that they can add to your bill ( per TCoG Regulations 2014 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1894/contents/made)

£75.00 For Enforcement Letter
£235.00 For Enforcement Visit and listing of goods
£110.00 for Enforcement Removal Visit

The letter they have sent you implies that they will charge you £235.00 for a visit from the High Court Enforcement Officer to agree the arrangement which does seem to a bit unfair.

The rest of their letter is fine as they have warned you what will happen if you default.

mrsb1980

thank you for your comment.

I'm just confused as to why they are sending someone out to my address still, although further down in the letter have stated that the final outstanding will need to be paid if I default on my payment plan? So why are they still sending someone out.

These are the fees they have charged me...

Does it seem wrong?
Thank you for your emails dated 7th July 2015. Please find below a Statement of Account and a breakdown of our Enforcement Fees. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT

Judgment Debt: £ 795.50

Judgment Costs: £ 143.25

Execution Costs: £ 111.75

Interest to Date: £ 3.82

Enforcement Fees: £ 322.80

Less Credits Notified: £ 0.00

Less Payments Received: £ 200.00

Balance as at today's date: £ 1177.12

Compliance Fee £75.00 + VAT = £90.00

Enforcement Stage 1 Fee £190.00 + VAT = £228.00

7.5% Over £1000.00 £4.00 + VAT = £4.80

Total Fees = £322.80

Enforcement fees are pursuant to The Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014.

Whilst we can confirm that we received a payment in the sum of £200.00 dated 30th June 2015, we must advise that as

we did not receive the remaining balance in full by 3rd July 2014 as stated in our letter to you dated 22nd June 2015, you

incurred the Enforcement Stage 1 Fee and an Enforcement Stage 1 attendance was made at your property on 7th July

antonic

The fees you have listed are within the Guidelines but I would check if they are going to charge you ANOTHER Stage 1 Enforcement Fee of £190 + VAT or £228.00.

I would argue that this is unfair and accruing further costs for you as they have already agreed the proposal with you in writing.

If they do insist that someone has to visit you to agree to it, I would suggest that you meet away from your home address at somewhere like a coffee shop etc, as the cynic in me thinks the reason why they want to meet you in person is to get access to your home and be able to list your assets if you default.

Hope this helps.

mrsb1980

antonic wrote: »

The fees you have listed are within the Guidelines but I would check if they are going to charge you ANOTHER Stage 1 Enforcement Fee of £190 + VAT or £228.00.

I would argue that this is unfair and accruing further costs for you as they have already agreed the proposal with you in writing.

If they do insist that someone has to visit you to agree to it, I would suggest that you meet away from your home address at somewhere like a coffee shop etc, as the cynic in me thinks the reason why they want to meet you in person is to get access to your home and be able to list your assets if you default.

Hope this helps.

This is what I thought. Do they have to tell me when they will be visiting or can they just attend? Also the house I live in is owned by my husband (i am not on the mortgage, never have been), and the car is in his name. Do they still have right to come in?

Thanks again.

National_Debtline

Assuming this is for a personal debt (not a business debt) the bailiffs would only have the right of peaceable entry – which means open or unlocked access or by invitation – they can visit any property where the liable party lives (even if you are not named on the mortgage). You should keep your home locked and secure and not let the bailiffs in under any circumstances. From what you have described the bailiffs do not appear to have any intention of visiting again as long as the payment plan is maintained.

The breakdown of the account does seem correct based on the High Court fee structure (please see our factsheet - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/31 EW High Court enforcement/Page-04.aspx#quicklink1). The bailiffs also appear to have added VAT which is a bit of an ambiguous topic at the moment and has not been clarified by the Ministry of Justice as to whether it can be added or not.

Laura
@natdebtline

mrsb1980

From what you have described the bailiffs do not appear to have any intention of visiting again as long as the payment plan is maintained.

I hope so Laura, I'm really worried they will come round.

Thank you for your advice.

antonic

They dont have to tell you when they are visiting BUT if they want to visit you to confirm the arrangement commonsense would suggest that they would ring you first to make an arrangement.

If you meet away from your home address you dont have to worry about anything.

dandy_s

Hi

Sorry to jump on the back of this post, but I didn't want to post another thread.

I have had another case similar to yours and wondered if anyone could offer any advice.

I got a car parking ticket last December, but never received any correspondence from the council, as my car was registered to an old address (I have tried to changed and DVLA lost documentation so it took much longer than expected).

They have obviously since passed the £82 debt to Marstons for recovery.

The new owners of the property sporadically pass across post and so when I got the correspondence from Marstons I went online and paid the £82 debt immediately.

They have since however sent an enforcement officer round there for a 'balance of £310'.

This morning I called Marstons and advised them that I no longer live at the property and that the current owners have no association with the debt and asked for them to stop sending round the enforcement officer or both parties will have to report them for harassment since I have now advised them I don't live there.

The guy on the phone did confirm they had received the £82 and the enforcement officer was there to collect Fees that I owed!

Having looked at their charging structure:

- Compliance stage is £75
- 1st Enforcement stage is £190

Which doesnt correlate with the £310 they are asking for anyway...

Anyway the call was ended by him with no real resolution, so I am just about to put this into writing both via post and email.

Is it worth offering them 50% of the initial compliance stage costs of £37.50, since I had never receieved the correspondence and see if they will almost settle at that?

I wondered if anyone had any advice about what I can do now, and what Martson's next steps might be?

They will now know I don't live there and have received the initial debt amount repaid (albeit not their fees) and I have not provided any details of where I live now.

I am preusming they cannot keep attending the old property and harassing the new owners??

Thanks
D

mrsb1980

HI all,

an update on my case, I got this today, it seems to take them 6 days to get back to any of my emailed replies which is really frustrating.
Initiially I got the letter stating that I should pay in full or arrange a payment plan otherwise the enforcement stage would commence, I had to do this by 3rd July, I emailed them on 30th June with a payment plan. However they still pushed it to enforcement stage. I have queried this, however they have not answered this. They have stated:

However, we are unable to accept instalment offers during the compliance stage. Should payment in full be made during this stage, no attendance will take place in order to take control of goods. In the case of an instalment arrangement, however, our officer must attend at the warrant address to take control of goods. Your continuing instalment of £150.00 is payable by the 30th July 2015 to which we look forward to remittance.

What does 'take control of goods' mean? Are they going to come in and take away things? Should I let them in? I don't want to cause a scene at my door should someone knock and I refuse to let them in, neither do i want them to call the police because I won't let them in. I'm currently living with the shutters down and all windows locked. But I have two children at home now for the 6 weeks. I'm feeling extremely anxious about all this

Any advice would be great.

Thank you

antonic

Please see my replies in Blue

mrsb1980 wrote: »

HI all,

an update on my case, I got this today, it seems to take them 6 days to get back to any of my emailed replies which is really frustrating.
Initiially I got the letter stating that I should pay in full or arrange a payment plan otherwise the enforcement stage would commence, I had to do this by 3rd July, I emailed them on 30th June with a payment plan. However they still pushed it to enforcement stage. I have queried this, however they have not answered this. They have stated:

However, we are unable to accept instalment offers during the compliance stage. Absolute rubbish , they may choose NOT to do this, but in my experience I have known offers to be accepted during the Compliance Stage Should payment in full be made during this stage, no attendance will take place in order to take control of goods. In the case of an instalment arrangement, however, our officer must attend at the warrant address to take control of goods The £75.00 Notice of Enforcement they have issued is valid for 12 months, if they agree an arrangement with you and you default within the 12 months they can restart enforcement proceedings. This ties in with their insistence on listing your goods. Your continuing instalment of £150.00 is payable by the 30th July 2015 to which we look forward to remittance.Correct - you have to keep the arrangement up to date

What does 'take control of goods' mean? Taking Control of Goods means that that they want to see if you have any assets they can take if the arrangement fails - the last thing they want to do is to take goods as its a pain in the bum for them - what they want is is for an arrangement to succeed. Are they going to come in and take away things?They want to list items to remove if the arrangement fails. Should I let them in? I wouldnt because if you let them in they then have the right to re-enter. I don't want to cause a scene at my door should someone knock and I refuse to let them in, offer to meet them elsewhere neither do i want them to call the police because I won't let them in - the police wont interfere in this as they have no jurisdiction over the debt . I'm currently living with the shutters down and all windows locked. But I have two children at home now for the 6 weeks. I'm feeling extremely anxious about all this If you have children (up to the age of 16) at home and they answer the door to the bailiff, the bailiff *should* withdraw and not mention it to them.

You need to remember that the Bailiff fees incurred have to be paid because they have been legally incurred, the rest of the debt *can* be returned to the Council if the Bailiffs feel that it is taking to much time & aggravation to collect that part of the debt.

Any advice would be great.

Thank you