Dukes Bailiffs Calling to Collect A Council Tax Debt

AndyLGR

A good friend of my family has been visited on a number of occasions recently by Dukes to collect council tax debts on a previous property.

She has been giving the bailiff cash just to get him to leave yet he gave her no recipts when he took this cash.

Her other half is a bit of a waster and is hardly at home and they struggle to make ends meet. She also has 2 young kids and is very scared by these visits (hence giving him whatever cash she has on her at the time). However one good thing is that she has not let them in to the house. But she has no information on what she owes and the state of the accounts as she left it to her partner, I can only assume her fella has that information from Dukes.

I've suggested that she contact Dukes by letter or email to request a full break down of the account to show their fees and the state of the account. But should she pay for this like a SAR?

And in the meantime I've said that not give him any more money or let them in. I've also suggested that she contact the council and get them to send the amounts owed and when the liability orders were issued too.

They live in a fully furnished rented house too. So how does she stand if the bailiff got entry to the house to levy or try to take goods?

Thanks.

fatbelly

He can't force entry unless he has previously obtained peaceable entry AND has taken control of listed, non-excluded, goods.

So the advice "contact the council and get them to send the amounts owed and when the liability orders were issued" and "contact Dukes by letter or email to request a full break down of the account to show their fees" is a good first step.

She should not be giving them money that would otherwise be needed to pay the rent or feed her and the kids. She needs to draw up a proper budget to show what, if anything, is available to this debt.

And if she has other debts she should get advice on the big picture from one of the usual charities.

AndyLGR

fatbelly wrote: »

He can't force entry unless he has previously obtained peaceable entry AND has taken control of listed, non-excluded, goods.

So the advice "contact the council and get them to send the amounts owed and when the liability orders were issued" and "contact Dukes by letter or email to request a full break down of the account to show their fees" is a good first step.

She should not be giving them money that would otherwise be needed to pay the rent or feed her and the kids. She needs to draw up a proper budget to show what, if anything, is available to this debt.

And if she has other debts she should get advice on the big picture from one of the usual charities.

Thanks, I forgot to mention that the mrs has even offered to go to the CAB with her too. But no she hasn't let him in to the house and luckily she has no car either.

Does it matter if shes contacts Dukes by letter or email to request the information?

I suppose that what I'm hoping is that she can get the debts returned back to the council and get something sorted with them. Because its clear the amount of stress shes under when this guys visits and she feels she has to hand over money.

MrsTinks

AndyLGR wrote: »

They live in a fully furnished rented house too. So how does she stand if the bailiff got entry to the house to levy or try to take goods?

Thanks.

If the furniture is owned by the landlord then the bailiff wouldn't be able to levy against them even if he did gain entry but she may need to prove it isn't hers. The easiest is obviously to not let him in, but should he be legit then proving by way of tenancy agreement and inventory from the check in should make life much easier in stopping him trying to take possession of any items. If they own a car however make sure they park it far from the house or in a garage etc.

She needs to get some help from one of the debt charities and she needs to find out how much the debt is and if these cash payments have been registered against the debt or not. I suspect if they didn't give a receipt it may not have been. I believe all bailiffs should be giving receipts for any money collected...

fatbelly

AndyLGR wrote: »

Thanks, I forgot to mention that the mrs has even offered to go to the CAB with her too. But no she hasn't let him in to the house and luckily she has no car either.

Does it matter if shes contacts Dukes by letter or email to request the information?

I suppose that what I'm hoping is that she can get the debts returned back to the council and get something sorted with them. Because its clear the amount of stress shes under when this guys visits and she feels she has to hand over money.

Getting the council to take it back is tricky but there a couple of useful documents to point them to in my recent post

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71265863#Comment_71265863

The bailiffs will eventually return the debt if they cannot get payment. Really this is about finding what level of payment is affordable and making it. Or if this is part of a bigger picture, getting advice on whether something like a DRO is the way forward.

National_Debtline

Hi

Sometimes bailiff offices say you need to ask the specific bailiff dealing with the case for a breakdown of the account. You can try contacting Dukes directly but also ask the bailiff for a breakdown. You will want to check the fees that have been added, in addition to making sure all of the payments made so far have been taken off the balance.

This factsheet might be useful to read through for general advice on dealing with council tax bailiffs:
www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/council-tax-recovery/counciltaxdebt.aspx

James
@natdebtline