Council Tax debt help.

Green1981

Could anyone give me a little advice please?

I have a council tax debt, earlier this summer I was suffering with glandular fever, I realised I didn't have the fund in my account to cover my DD (I'm self employed on a very low income and a single mum... plus I was ill!) so I cancelled it with good intentions to call and pay it in a few days when I had the money. I mucked up, I was sleeping lots and forgot, I let a lot of things slide to be honest. I ended up missing 2 payments and it was sent to court, after the court date I went in to the one stop shop and picked up an income and expenditure form to sort a repayment plan. I took it home to fill in but then everything hit the fan when my tax credits were stopped. I was reliant on them and they told me that I hadn't renewed ( I had and I have a text saying thankyou for renewing!) I was left for a month with barely any income, I explained this to the council as I didn't know what income to put on the form for tax credits and was told to leave it until I had heard back from them (in hindsight I don't think that lady thought it was going to take 4 weeks!)

ANYWAY! In that time the debt was passed to Rundles. I recieved a letter from them so called them hoping to come to an arrangement, they told me that the minimum they could accept was about £143 a month as they couldn't extend it over 6 months (the debt is £783 as it now includes the remainder of the years council tax) I told them I didn't know how I would find the money for the first payment (about a week away) and even if I sorted that one I would struggle with that much each month. The lady was lovely and told me that that was ok and if I wanted to wait for the enforcement officer to come to my home he had alot more power to spread the debt over a longer time, I decided that it was the best solution, I was reluctant about letting them in my home but she assured me that all he would do would be list a few things and sort a payment plan for me.

So I waited, and waited, and a few weeks later (this week) he arrived, he was very nice, seemed understanding, and was asking if things had sentimental value before writing them down. He set the payment at £70 a month. Then I found out that includes £135 for his visit! Thats a third of my original debt!

I have no issue with paying my debt, I owe it, but it bothers me that I feel that when the office spoke to me about him coming out they made it out to be a solution and there was no mention of the additional fee. Had they told me that I would probably have said I'd pay the higher amount and found a way to find the money (ask my dad poor bloke! but I didn't want to bother him if I thought I could handle it! I'd rather pay my dad back than a lot more to them!)

What are my chances of getting that fee taken off? I really think that they had every opportunity to tell me that fee would be added, and if they had it would have greatly affected my decision making, I was being compliant!

I called to speak to rundles about this, the lady I spoke to was nice at first when she was telling me that it's the Ministry of Finances fault I have the fee but when I politely pushed that I should have been told she became very abrupt and told me not to bother contacting the ombudsman because I won't get the fee removed.

I've seen a couple of other posts telling horror stories about the enforcer who visited me, I'm really scared now and worried I've fallen for an act when he was so lovely... I do tend to see the best in people!

Sorry about the waffle, but if anyone could help I'd be very grateful

fatbelly

Hi

Unfortunately you story is so typical of council tax debt collection post-2014 that bailiffs could use it as a template. The only error is that the enforcement fee is £235 (not £135), which adds to the initial compliance fee of £75, and comes in after the council have charged maybe £60 for the court process and liability order.

So your initial debt was probably £413 and has nearly doubled.

To add to the bad news, the bailiff has now 'taken control' of your goods and can legally force entry to remove them, charging for a locksmith, storage and another statutory fee of £110.

You have an agreement at £70 per month, which will take you beyond April 2016 and make it difficult to avoid default next year.

Given the history, it would be sensible for the council to take this back, and allow you to repay the original debt over six months, finishing in March 2016. That's not going to be easy.

You can, and should, ask the council - it will likely be declined.

My suggestion (and I'm open to others) is that you contact your local councillor (use writetothem) and refer to as many bits of

National standards

and

LGO guidance

as apply.

HappyMJ

Can you comfortably afford £70 after paying all of your essential expenses? Your essential expenses includes your rent, gas, electricity, food and the current council tax any fines you have and any child support you pay out and a few other not quite esential but very important expenses such as landline and broadband, water, tv licence, mobile (cheap). You cannot include anything for unsecured debt repayments, cigarettes, alcohol or cable/satelitte TV subscriptions which are certainly not essential expenses.

If you can pay your essential bills but have very little left over you can get your monthly payment lowered even further.

Green1981

fatbelly wrote: »

Hi

Unfortunately you story is so typical of council tax debt collection post-2014 that bailiffs could use it as a template. The only error is that the enforcement fee is £235 (not £135), which adds to the initial compliance fee of £75, and comes in after the council have charged maybe £60 for the court process and liability order.

So your initial debt was probably £413 and has nearly doubled.

Hi Fatbelly, Thanks for your quick reply.

The original debt, including court fees (I can't find the papers at the mo so just going by my controlled goods agreement, i'll dig them all out this morning as want to make sure everything adds up) is £783.14, there has then been the compliance stage fee of £75 added on and as you say £235 enforcement (typo before!) So the debt is now £1093.14.

My main concern is that I have been somewhat naive in my attempt to get it sorted. As I said I was being compliant and the visit was offered as a solution to their inability to spread the debt further than 6 months, with no mention at all of the enforcement fee, given some things I have read from others I now think they wanted me to go as far as the visit because they make more money so there was probably tactics involved there, does that really happen? I was of the understanding that they would be obliged to be completely transparant in their dealings and that as they were speaking with me and I wasn't ignoring letters they would have to make if clear that that visit came with an additional charge.

I'm also really worried that I let him in, because again I've seen other posts about Mr Cohen being very nice first visit then becoming intimidating on further visits, again I thought 'right, just be compliant, let him in, get it sorted' but other posts suggest that they like to try to trip you up to be able to return and charge more fees, and now if I forget to lock my doors behind me he can just walk in? As I said before I'm a single mum, I also suffer from anxiety and it's really stressing me out that much as I'm trying to sort this I'm fighting a rather unfair battle. Maybe I shouldn't stress about other peoples stories!

My money is very up and down, summer is slow and the last couple of months I have had barely anything to invoice, it should pick up over Christmas but even then it's genrerally not enough to be putting money aside for the slow months (I'm reassesing my work at the moment as it's not really ideal and I need a more guaranteed income)

Also, this might be a daft question, I have just one very old and worthless sofa (I had 2 but it's partner had to go to the tip months ago and I haven't been able to afford to replace). This sofa is listed. My parents are getting a new suite and have offered me their old one, this one will likely join his friend at the tip in the sky as it's so knackered I can't see anyone paying for it. Will that cause problems? I'll be getting rid of something listed without making anything and money from it to put into the debt as I'm supposed to... I know it sounds daft but I don't want to give them any reason to come back out!

Thank you for the links, I'll go and have a proper look at them now...

CIS

My parents are getting a new suite and have offered me their old one, this one will likely join his friend at the tip in the sky as it's so knackered I can't see anyone paying for it. Will that cause problems?

In theory you cannot dispose of any controlled goods without the enf agent's agreement as they have legal control of the items.