Council tax arrears

Bobbierabbit

Hi really not sure if this is right page but seems ok.

In November bailiffs came to my home and took control of goods and took them away on that same day for unpaid council tax. I have since made an arrangement plan with them through a debt charity which I have kept to for the last three months.

My question is what happens to my goods. They charge £20 per day storage and if so and the original debt is unpaid until at least December, the storage costs are going to be more than the council tax debt. Surely that cannot be right. Is there anything I can do to change this.

Any advice welcome.

National_Debtline

Hi there, welcome to MSE.

It is quite unusual for a bailiff to (a). actually remove the items they have taken into control and (b). to remove them and not sell them. What sort of items were these?


It might be a good idea to get some more specific advice before doing anything, but I believe you have 2 options. (1). If the items don't hold much value (and you can live without them) then you can stop the payment arrangement and force the bailiffs hand to sell the goods - releasing you of the storage costs and then you would need to come to a new payment plan once the goods have been sold and all of the bailiffs fees have been deducted etc.


Or (2). If you wish to try and have the items returned to you at a later date you would need to continue with the payment arrangement and also make a formal complaint to the bailiff firm. There is no official time limit that the bailiffs must store the items for but bailiffs have a general duty to sell the goods for the best price and you could argue that by leaving them in storage for so long they are depreciating in value. Complain to the bailiff firm and escalate the matter to CIVEA (you could also copy in the council). Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

CIS

A point regarding (1) - goods are sold for the fair value obtained at market but you are then liable for any fees incurred in selling the items. Once the items are sold, if they don't obtain enough to clear the balance, then you're back to square once - no goods and still owing a debt. Unless they're of a decent value and the debt is low then you may well be worse off.

Very unusual for goods to be taken for council tax arrears, I've never been (in nearly 10 years) been involved in goods being taken for sale and I've never even heard an enforcement agent even entertain the idea of removal and storage of goods (too much hassle for them).

HappyMJ

Bobbierabbit wrote: »

Hi really not sure if this is right page but seems ok.

In November bailiffs came to my home and took control of goods and took them away on that same day for unpaid council tax. I have since made an arrangement plan with them through a debt charity which I have kept to for the last three months.

My question is what happens to my goods. They charge £20 per day storage and if so and the original debt is unpaid until at least December, the storage costs are going to be more than the council tax debt. Surely that cannot be right. Is there anything I can do to change this.

Any advice welcome.

If you don't me asking...what did they take? They rarely take anything.

I'd stop paying forcing them to sell the goods.

Bobbierabbit

Hi, I have not actually heard anything about the goods being sold and I have received no notification at all about it, which I then assume they are still storing it.

It is interesting you say that it is the first time you have heard of goods being taken, that surprised me. They were not very efficient enforcement agents, did a lot of things they should not have done, but I could not prove it and when I complained to the council, the enforcement agents lied and the council believed them.

They took my child's laptop and headset, I know, they were not allowed to take that, they took my business PCs and printer, I know, they should not have taken that either. They took garden equipment mostly, it was not worth much really, most of it was broken and old, and a ring. They also took my partners laptop and air rifle but we got those back. So all in all, not much value in what they took really, the storage costs will be more than the value of the goods, which is what concerns me.

I really don't want to stop paying what the agreement was, and to be honest I only want my PCs and printer and my child's stuff. I am just unsure of how to go about it.

HappyMJ

Bobbierabbit wrote: »

Hi, I have not actually heard anything about the goods being sold and I have received no notification at all about it, which I then assume they are still storing it.

It is interesting you say that it is the first time you have heard of goods being taken, that surprised me. They were not very efficient enforcement agents, did a lot of things they should not have done, but I could not prove it and when I complained to the council, the enforcement agents lied and the council believed them.

They took my child's laptop and headset, I know, they were not allowed to take that, they took my business PCs and printer, I know, they should not have taken that either. They took garden equipment mostly, it was not worth much really, most of it was broken and old, and a ring. They also took my partners laptop and air rifle but we got those back. So all in all, not much value in what they took really, the storage costs will be more than the value of the goods, which is what concerns me.

I really don't want to stop paying what the agreement was, and to be honest I only want my PCs and printer and my child's stuff. I am just unsure of how to go about it.

Out of the above the most important looks to be the child's laptop so I'll address that one.

Do you have a receipt for the laptop that was given to your child? Did you gift the laptop to your child? If it was a gift was the receipt dated some time before their birthday or Christmas or even just before school started. Anything to prove it was a gift. Maybe a photo of them opening it as a present at the special occasion. If someone else did then get them to write a letter saying it was a gift for your child and it's not yours.

Printer's are very cheap they'd only get a tenner for it and that's if they're very lucky. It's not even worth storing. Go and buy another one. To buy another one you may have to stop paying for a month then so be it.

Herbie21

Bobbierabbit wrote: »

Hi, I have not actually heard anything about the goods being sold and I have received no notification at all about it, which I then assume they are still storing it.

They took my child's laptop and headset, I know, they were not allowed to take that, they took my business PCs and printer, I know, they should not have taken that either. They took garden equipment mostly, it was not worth much really, most of it was broken and old, and a ring. They also took my partners laptop and air rifle but we got those back. So all in all, not much value in what they took really, the storage costs will be more than the value of the goods, which is what concerns me.

I really don't want to stop paying what the agreement was, and to be honest I only want my PCs and printer and my child's stuff. I am just unsure of how to go about it.

I would wholly agree with the others who have responded that it is very rare for goods to actually to be removed (despite it being very common for enforcement agents to threaten that goods will be seized).

If goods have been taken then by law the enforcement agent MUST provide a list of the items taken. A short while afterwards the enforcement agent is then under a legal duty to send you a Notice of Sale. There must also be a valuation. What documents have you received?

A description of each statutory notice together with a link to the notice itself can be viewed here:

http://bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/new-bailiff-regulations/statutory-notices

Would you mind letting us know which enforcement company removed the goods?

Bailiff Advice Online