Enforcement Notice

what2do21

This is the first time I've been on here and I'm hoping for some advice 'cause if what I've just seen/heard isn't wrong then this country is hideous. A good friend of mine is a single mum to four children whos father left her and them and hasn't been paying a penny for the last 8 months. Four children under 13 and she's working full time. She's very conscientious over her budget and while accepting benefit payments she's due, works full time and does everything she can to manage. She has a budget set and is sticking to it but had a problem with council tax. The council passed the debt on to an enforcement agency (Ross & Roberts) who seem to have the knack of taking a very strong woman to bits. I've just had her in tears because of the way a lady from the company was speaking to her, treating her like a naughty child, and taking a payment of £200 while charging an enforcement fee of £235 for getting no answer when the knocked the door 2 days earlier (she was in work). the outstanding debt is now £1225 and although I don't have any of the figures I'm pretty confident that that's despite having paid c. £800 off a £1200 debt. It seems that the CSA are on top of things and that she should start having the full payments from her ex within 2 months, but what can she do about this debt. I feel this agency is being exploitative, is certainly treating her appallingly and while of course the shouldn't (and certainly didn't want to) have got into debt in the first place the council should not deal with companies that charge ridiculous rates like this.

Please could someone advise me, I've just seen an extremely strong, hard working, honest woman in tears in front of her children because of these idiots.

fatbelly

Bailiff fees are fixed now at £75 for the 'compliance' fee and £235 for the 'enforcement' fee. She should request a breakdown of fees. Although the £75 fee can be charged on each liability order (if there is more than one) a bailiff acting on multiple orders should only make one charge of £235.

These fees were brought in in 2014 as a rationalisation of the rules - before this the bailiffs would charge £42.50 for 2 failed visits, then return the debt to the council.

Anyway the point is that as long as she does not give them access to her goods they cannot make any more charges.

On the point about bailiffs being aggressive idiots, that's why we advise communication in writing - easier to complain if they are stupid enough to write it down

Karonher

Its hard to give an answer when the figures you give don't add up. Is the fee for a one off visit or a combination of charges? Again its hard to say if the company are treating her badly without knowing what was said - the woman should be polite, so maybe a complaint can be made if the comments were bad.

The only thing I can say is that this is a priority debt and should have been dealt with first and it does seem that this has not happened - it could be that your friend did not know this, but I doubt that will be taken into account. It will be best to concentrate on this rather than certain other debts if there are any. I don't know where your friend lives but I googled council tax debt and enforcement and got this:-

http://www.slough.gov.uk/council-tax/enforcement-agent-formerly-known-as-bailiffs---role-and-fees.aspx

It does mention the figure of £235 for a visit with 7.5% of the debt added if I am reading it correctly.

Just one final thing - it talks about a liability order - has this been received as if so, it does seem as if there have been other methods tried to get payment before using an outside company and they have failed. If not it would be worth contacting the council regarding them not following the correct procedure.

sourcrates

Basically make sure she dosent let them into the property, keep doors locked etc, if they can't get in, then the debt will be returned to the council, and they should accept a payment plan.

Some people on here have had positive results after getting there local MP involved, maybe worth a try.

sourcrates

Karonher wrote: »

Just one final thing - it talks about a liability order - has this been received as if so, it does seem as if there have been other methods tried to get payment before using an outside company and they have failed. If not it would be worth contacting the council regarding them not following the correct procedure.

The council has to obtain a liability order from the court before they can instruct bayliffs.
That is the legal process they followed.

Karonher

sourcrates wrote: »

The council has to obtain a liability order from the court before they can instruct bayliffs.
That is the legal process they followed.

Sorry I meant obtained not received - I could not tell from the OPs remarks if they thought it had gone from missing a payment to bringing in other agencies.

fatbelly

Karonher wrote: »

It does mention the figure of £235 for a visit with 7.5% of the debt added if I am reading it correctly.

Enforcement Fee: £235 (plus 7.5% of the value of the debt over £1,500)