Equita Fees

kessik

If we don't pay Equita's fees resulting from council tax arrears we have now cleared what can/will happen? I think they are about £300.

HappyMJ

kessik wrote: »

If we don't pay Equita's fees resulting from council tax arrears we have now cleared what can/will happen? I think they are about £300.

If you paid Equita then the first payment you made to Equita is paying for their fees so you still owe the council tax arrears and enforcement action will continue.

If you paid the council directly then you may still owe Equita and are supposed to pay them. In my experience they chase you for it but they don't do too much and they eventually give up chasing the debt. The debt does not appear on your credit report so I wouldn't pay them and ignore any letters you get, never let them in and keep any valuable car you own away from your property.

kessik

Thanks for your response. One thing that puzzles me though - you say, and I have seen in on other bailiff-related threads too, that they can seize or somehow put dabs on any car you might have in your drive but surely this is only if they are acting as bailiffs in relation to the debt they are chasing, in my case on behalf of the city council? If I have paid that off (and have written confirmation to that effect from the council) surely Equita would be going beyond their legal powers if they tried to get access to my home in order to satisfy ? Hope I'm getting this across properly.

fatbelly

This is how it is supposed to work

http://bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/latest-news/can-i-avoid-bailiff-fees-by-paying-the-council-or-magistrate-court-direct

dancingfairy

Thanks Fatbelly. I wondered how it was meant to work. I thought the bailiff fees were taken off first but I didn't realise it was pro-ratered.
df

sourcrates

So basically OP, its best to pay up the full cost, to avoid another visit, as the new rules allow them to continue enforcement action, if you don't !!!

kessik

Could ours have happened before the new rules, because we paid the outstanding council tax directly to the council after we had a hand-delivered letter from Equita. The council took the entire amount and we now owe them nothing. Which is also what Equita got, neither from us or the council. Maybe the rules don't apply retrospectively? I still don't understand how any enforcement action can continue when it's only to get their own fees from us. Didn't think I was particularly slow on the uptake but I obviously am in this case!

fatbelly

New rules came in in April 2014.

I guess it's a case of waiting and seeing.

If the council have not passed any of your payment on, and you are blocking the bailiff and refusing to pay them, there may not be any other options easily available to them, as they can't threaten committal.

HappyMJ

kessik wrote: »

Could ours have happened before the new rules, because we paid the outstanding council tax directly to the council after we had a hand-delivered letter from Equita. The council took the entire amount and we now owe them nothing. Which is also what Equita got, neither from us or the council. Maybe the rules don't apply retrospectively? I still don't understand how any enforcement action can continue when it's only to get their own fees from us. Didn't think I was particularly slow on the uptake but I obviously am in this case!

It's only what is supposed to happen. Maybe someone hasn't figured out the council is still paying the bailiff firm whether successful or not and haven't yet applied it to your account.

If all you owe is the fees the enforcement action can still continue. They can visit again and they can still take any cars you may own and are easily accessible. The council seems to have all their money so won't commit you to prison nor will they attach your wages or benefits. The bailiff company in previous years could have taken the matter to county court and get a CCJ for the fees but that was very unlikely as the enforcement action for a CCJ is very similar to a liability order but a CCJ would have appeared on your credit report.

So I'd do as I said earlier and just ignore them as long as you can and if council asks for more money then I might consider paying them but I'd always ignore any bailiff firm new rules or not.

Herbie21

fatbelly wrote: »

This is how it is supposed to work

http://bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/latest-news/can-i-avoid-bailiff-fees-by-paying-the-council-or-magistrate-court-direct

Bailiff Advice Online is my website and the above document is one of the most read pages on my site (after TV Licensing). When putting together the page I wanted to highlight the fact (and I hope that I have done so) that once a Notice of Enforcement has been issued the amount of the debt INCLUDES bailiff fees.

In the early days of the regulations a lot of local authorities had little idea as to how the deal with direct payments or had the computer programmes in place. We are now 18 months into the new regulations and most LA's now have a better understanding of the pro rata distribution of payments.

National_Debtline

If you were visited by bailiffs before April 2014 and they did not create a Controlled Goods Agreement then they will have switched to the new rules in April 2014 and that means (more or less) coming over to the new fee structure. From the fees you have mentioned (approx. £300) that would appear to be the fees under the new fee structure.

This means that when you paid the money to the council they would have needed to pro rata that money between the debt owed and the bailiff fees - the above link for Bailiff Advice Online explains this very well. Because some money is still owed you will need to take the same precautions against the bailiffs now as you did before (keep your home locked and secure, do not let them in and hide and vehicles/ assets outside the home). You will need to clear the remaining balance (either by instalments or in a lump sum if possible). I hope this helps to clarify things.


Laura
@natdebtline