Bristow and Sutor - Council Tax Arrears

pepperjack

Hi everyone, long time reader, first time poster.

I've been an idiot in recent years with regard to finances, had my head buried deep in the sand.

Last month I received a letter from Bristow and Sutor detailing 6 separate cases of council tax arrears dating back to 2010 and totalling nearly £4500.

Ever since I left home I've been financially unstable, struggling to get by and foolishly I let the council tax bill mount up for years. Now I'm back living at home with my parents, due to being unable to afford rent and mounting debts.

Being back at home has given me the opportunity to take a fresh look at my debts and the council tax is something I very much want to take care of with monthly payments.

A couple of days ago an enforcement agent from Bristow and Sutor called my mobile to inform me that they had visited the house I had recently vacated as part of their enforcement duties.

I really do not wish for an agent to ever visit my parents home looking for me as I do not want to worry my parents who are good people just trying to get by.

Over the phone I made the offer to the enforcement agent to pay £150 per month (they wanted £400 a week!) which is what I can afford. After much to and fro, I was told to make the payment and he would get back to me to let me know if the £150 per month offer would be acceptable to them, but only for the first three months after which they would review it again.

I made the payment and looked at my B&S account online and found that only half of the payment actually went to lowering my debt, the rest seems to have been swallowed up by B&S in some way. I fear that to continue to pay B&S would mean it would take twice as long to clear the debt and they would find ways to continually add fees.

I called the council and asked if I could pay them directly but they told me I would have to deal with the enforcement agents.

Are the council telling the truth? Do I have to deal with the enforcement agents only?

I've never met the enforcement agent, only spoken on the phone, they've never been to my parents' house and if they did I would certainly not let them in. I don't have any belongings worth levying anyway.

Thanks in advance for any advice on this!

sourcrates

Hi,

Unfortunately you will have there fees to pay, which can be quiet substantial, you really should treat council tax as a priority debt in future, see this link for bailiff fees :

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/bailiffs/bailiffs-fees-and-charges/fees-bailiffs-can-charge/

pepperjack

Thanks for getting back to me.

So I'm stuck with paying the bailiff? Paying direct to the council is no longer an option for me?

HappyMJ

pepperjack wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me.

So I'm stuck with paying the bailiff? Paying direct to the council is no longer an option for me?

If you can ignore the bailiff then you don't have to pay the bailiffs fees. The debt will be returned back to the council as unenforceable by the bailiff. The council will then consider taking alternative recovery action.

You can't pay the council until the debt has been returned so my advice is simply to ignore the bailiff.

Can you really afford £150 per month? You said early in your post you couldn't afford to pay the rent to provide a roof over your head. The rent is of a higher priority than the council tax. If you can only barely afford the rent and spend as little as possible on providing yourself with a warm home and a healthy balanced diet then the council will not take any further action. You've got to let them know though. They'll go through your SOA and if they see you've prioritized unsecured debt repayments over the council tax they'll ask to to stop paying them so you can pay your council tax.

Paying the current years council tax is more important than paying the arrears so don't worry too much about the arrears.

antonic

What fees have you been charged ? - they have to provide a breakdown upon request.

Are the fees £75.00 for a Notice of Enforcement and £235.00 for an Enforcement Stage 1 visit ?

Any fees charged are not actual fees charged by the Bailiff but fees due to the Ministry of Justice which the bailiff collects.

As you have found out , once the fees have been charged they get paid first , before any money gets paid towards your council tax debt(s), and once incurred will not be waived.

See here for more info :http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1894/contents/made

National_Debtline

Hi

As sourcrates and antonic have said, you will be liable for the fees now. The council can still take payments directly from you and can even call the debt back from the bailiff at their discretion according to the good practice guidance, although they rarely seem to do this. If you get to a point where no one will accept your affordable instalments it’s best to save them up to show you aren’t refusing to pay.

Even if you pay the council directly the bailff fees will still need to be paid. The council are likely to allocate a portion of any payments you make towards the council tax bill and a portion towards bailiff fees.

James
@natdebtline

pepperjack

Hello again, Ok, so new problem...

I made an arrangement with the enforcement officer over the phone to pay £150 per month (all I can currently afford) which he accepted and said we will review after 3 months to see where I am financially.

I made the payment via the Bristow website this time last week.

Fast forward to today: I get another ENFORCEMENT PROCESS COMMENCED letter in the post saying I need to pay over £400 per WEEK!

I call them up, they say they have nothing on record about a £150 per month arrangement and the enforcement process is to still go ahead!

They did confirm that I had made the payment last week and said I could continue to make the £150 payments each month but it won't stop the enforcement process from going ahead.

What on earth can I do? I am now living back with my parents, I have no belongings worth seizing and I certainly don't want enforcement agents knocking at my parents door.

its_maths_not_magic

I don't know if you've done this already, but I would really advise contacting the national debt helpline. Its a free call, and you'll be able to speak to someone who knows the ins and outs of debt repayment better than I do. I have delt with the ndh before and they are awesome. Their staff is non-judgemental and genuinely want to help. You may want to also contact step change to help you deal with your debt. You can find both contact details on the sticky on this forum.

If you want to look at your spending and make a budget, you can post a statement of affairs here (again, the link is in the first sticky) as others will help you get your budget into shape. I hope this helps, good luck with it.

pepperjack

Ok, thanks for your help.