Chandlers Baillifs Bristol and Council Tax confusion!

delmonta

HI

I am in a bit of worry about a letter from the Bailiffs.

I rent my house out through an agent in Bristol. A while ago they sent me a letter from the council that had come to the, saying I owed £240 for council tax from the time I lived there. I checked my bank statement and found payments I had made to the council for this time. I was sure I had stayed on top of it all when living there. I sent this statement to the agents and asked them to check what was going on. I just said I wanted to sort it out as quickly as possible and I was happy to pay anything if I definitely hadn't paid it, but I didnt want to pay twice!

They said they would look into it and get back to me. I then forgot about it and assumed they had just sorted it out and there was no problem.

Then the agents just sent me an Urgent letter today that came to them. It was from Chandlers Baliffs saying I owed them £540, twice as much as before!!. The main parts say :

---

Notice of Enforcement Agents Attendance.
Warrant of control : council tax
Balance outstanding £540
You have been served a compliance notice and enforcement notice and have failed to pay the outstanding debt. The warrant of control is now at the stage where we have been directed to sell your items to cover the debts.

I will re attend your premises TODAY. We may remove your goods which will result in an additional cost of £110 +7.5%. The removal can be done in your absence if I apply at the magistrates court for a warranty of entry if you ignore this notice.

---

What should I do? I really feel this isn't my fault and I was really happy to pay at any point once I knew it was legitimate, but I wanted to be sure. The agents can be quite useless with contact in general but over this I think its ridiculous

Can anyone recommend a course of action? Anything I should or shouldn't do?

Thanks in advance for any help

sourcrates

Hi,

You should get back in touch with the council and explain the situation to them, ask them to take the debt back and make an arrangement with them if you are liable for any unpaid council tax.

CIS

The problem you have is that you asked the agent to look in to it for you, the agent is simply a third party who facilitated the rental so they have no interest in the matter - the issue lies between you and the council as far the council tax position is concerned.

The only way forward is to speak direct with the council to try and sort it. You can ask the council to withdraw it on the basis that the agent didn't pass on your query however I suspect the council will say tough (unless you're really lucky).

Craig

fatbelly

There's a tenner missing somewhere - should be 240 plus 75 compliance plus 235 enforcement = 550

While you're attempting to get the council to look into this (good luck) the usual bailiff advice applies - keep doors locked, talk to them through the letterbox or upstairs window and keep your car parked elsewhere.

Ignore any mis-explanation of the rules that they may come up with - they cannot force entry to your house (unless you have previously allowed this and they have listed your goods), they cannot 'send you to prison', taser your dogs, take children into care or get you deported - these are all actual threats made to my clients by the way!

delmonta

Thanks for the reply. The thing is I was living very far away, and the Agents fully manage my house, and all the letters from the council and Bailiffs were coming to them. I know that maybe wouldn't make them responsible legally for council tax when I lived there in the eyes of the council, but the fact they never got back to me means it has ended up with the Bailiffs.

Fatbelly, I may have got the figures slightly wrong. So that is normal, for it to be about double what I owed in council tax? That's extortion!

As you have said, and I read...don't let them in etc. I dont actually live there, and there is a change over of tenants happening right now. What happens if my tenants let them in?

Also, what happens if I keep ignoring them? Does the fine and costs go up more and more?

On the original bill for council tax there was a link to pay online for the £240 . I can still go online and do that now. Would that be a bad idea? Is it too late to just pay that now. I am just wondering what the best way to approach it with the council is.

The most frustrating thing is I was never trying to evade anything and I had the money to pay all along, I just didnt trust the figures so wanted to double check!!

Thanks for your help guys

GeoffSpar8

I would pay the council directly now and when they come to enforce it, you can say nothing is owing and thus they cannot enforce.

Herbie21

fatbelly wrote: »

Ignore any mis-explanation of the rules that they may come up with -

they cannot 'send you to prison', taser your dogs, take children into care or get you deported - these are all actual threats made to my clients by the way!

I had one of the best ones on Tuesday this week:

The enforcement agent advised the debtor that unless full payment was made that he would personally be attending court that afternoon to apply for a 'committal warrant' and that the debtor would be taken into custody the following morning and she would spend 28 days behind bars.

He asked the debtor whether she had parents or family living nearby as she would need to make arrangements for the children to be cared for while she was in prison.

I am the most placid person and slow to anger but on hearing this, I spoke with the enforcement agent myself and made it very clear that he needed to apologise immediately to the debtor (which he did). I also reported him to his employer.

PS: For anyone reading this post at any time in the future, please be ASSURED that an enforcement agent CANNOT apply to court for a 'committal warrant'.

delmonta

Hi Geoffspar8. Thanks

Thanks Geoffspar,
Can anyone else confirm this would be the right thing to do, to go online now and pay the council tax? I am worried that if I do that then I might end up having to pay twice?

Surely if it was that simple, then when anyone had the bailiffs round they would just pay the original council tax bill online. It seems maybe its too late for that now the enforcement order has been given?

Also, I have just been on this site : http://beatthebailiffs.org/Council-tax-bailiffs.html

And the first thing it says it that you must be sent a final notice or reminder by the council before they send the bailiffs. But all the agents sent me was a normal council tax bill for £240 a couple of months ago. I questioned it as I was sure I had paid, and they said they would look into it. They never got back to me so I thought it was fine. Then I receive this letter from the bailiffs and the double in price....no final reminder of any sort!

I'm confused about it all!

Herbie21

delmonta wrote: »

Fatbelly, I may have got the figures slightly wrong. So that is normal, for it to be about double what I owed in council tax? That's extortion!

As you have said, and I read...don't let them in etc. I dont actually live there, and there is a change over of tenants happening right now. What happens if my tenants let them in?

Also, what happens if I keep ignoring them? Does the fine and costs go up more and more?

On the original bill for council tax there was a link to pay online for the £240 . I can still go online and do that now. Would that be a bad idea? Is it too late to just pay that now. I am just wondering what the best way to approach it with the council is.

The most frustrating thing is I was never trying to evade anything and I had the money to pay all along, I just didnt trust the figures so wanted to double check!!

Thanks for your help guys

The debt has increased because; once a Notice of Enforcement is issued, a Compliance fee of £75 is added to the principal debt and if an personal visit is made, an 'enforcement fee' is also applied (making total bailiff fees of £310).

If you make payment online to the council of the principal debt (minus bailiff fees) then please be aware that in doing so, the enforcement company are legally entitled to continue enforcement to recover the balance under their instructions. This was the subject of a recent court judgment and the debtor has been landed with a costs bills alone of £7,000.

delmonta

So I should not just pay the council tax bill online, as it wont get rid of the bailiffs?

Can anyone help with anything in my previous posts :

''I dont actually live there, and there is a change over of tenants happening right now. What happens if my tenants let them in?

Also, what happens if I keep ignoring them? Does the fine and costs go up more and more?''

And what I wrote above about not getting any final notice letters etc. Just a council tax bill and then the bailiffs coming with a 300 quid fee on top!

Herbie21

delmonta wrote: »

Hi Geoffspar8. Thanks

Thanks Geoffspar,
Can anyone else confirm this would be the right thing to do, to go online now and pay the council tax? I am worried that if I do that then I might end up having to pay twice?

Surely if it was that simple, then when anyone had the bailiffs round they would just pay the original council tax bill online. It seems maybe its too late for that now the enforcement order has been given?

Also, I have just been on this site : http://beatthebailiffs.org/Council-tax-bailiffs.html

And the first thing it says it that you must be sent a final notice or reminder by the council before they send the bailiffs. But all the agents sent me was a normal council tax bill for £240 a couple of months ago. I questioned it as I was sure I had paid, and they said they would look into it. They never got back to me so I thought it was fine. Then I receive this letter from the bailiffs and the double in price....no final reminder of any sort!

I'm confused about it all!

If you read my earlier post you will see that I have referred to a recent court case where the debtor has been ordered to pay costs of £7,000. That individual had sought advice from the owner of the above website.

Details of the awful legal case can be read by way of the following link:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?477808-Paying-the-creditor-direct-to-avoid-paying-bailiff-fees-has-landed-a-debtor-with-a-%A37-000-cost-order.

Secondly, the local authority would be required to send notification to you that you had defaulted in paying your council tax and a separate notice would be sent advising that a summons has been issued and a date given for the court to grant a Liability Order. There is NO requirement in legislation for another notice to be sent advising that the account is being referred to bailiffs. Such a notice had existed but was revoked from legislation in April 2014.