council tax and bailiffs help please

fluffy*giraffe*

to cut a long story short, i started paying the bailiffs 10 months ago at the rate of 80 a month.

gets a letter pushed through today to say they are coming to take goods.

phoned him up and lost it. i have never missed a payment and wanted to know what was going on. i cannot afford more and they want 100 quid a month.

they have not been in and i told him he wouldn't be getting in either and he was quite rude and i am afraid i swore at him and put the phone down.

not the best thing i know so i gave it half an hour and phoned back to apologise. i have to phone tomorrow and we will have a chat.

what do i have to agree to and what can i expect.

thank you for reading and i hope this makes sense!.

fluffy

Angel11_2

How much is left outstanding? Can you offer £85 a month. Just up it by £5. When you made the agreement to pay - was it to be reviewed after a certain period of time?

If the balliff hasn't come into your property then I believe they have to obtain a warrant.

Probably wasn't a good idea to swear but you have apologised.

I would stress that the new council tax year will soon be upon us and then you will have the new payment schedule on that one too to find.

fluffy*giraffe*

thanks for the reply.

i phoned the office and they said it had been reviewed and that is what they wanted, end of.

but my argument with them is if i have never missed a payment why mess it up now? i can only afford a set amount as i have coucil tax to pay as well, 90 a month and as you said it is near the end of the tax year so it is a viscious (sp?) circle.

what will happen if we don't come to a suitable arrangement and i don't let them in? can i go to prison?

getting worried now as i thought it was all sorted.
i am not refusing to pay but

fluffy*giraffe*

sorry missed a bit off the end

but, i only have what i have.

chevalier

don't stop payint the £80 what ever you do. Have you found out how much is left to pay. If it was only £200, and they just wanted two lots of £100, that would be different than if there was still large arrears to pay.

Have they sent you through a statement of what you have paid off, or do you get this from the council?
chev

fluffy*giraffe*

there is a lot to pay, i am too embarresed to say how much but it is a lot.

chevalier

then I would still pay the £80, and then you could ask for a redermination done by the court. If they say that is all you can pay, then that is it. Have you asked your council tax department, to take the debt back in house. They might consider it now that you have been paying the arrears on time etc.
chev

patchy987

one other thing you could consider is talking to the council tax department and seeing if they would be prepared to split your bill over 12 payments instead of 10, making a bit more money available each month for the bailiffs. the council are usually quite happy to help when you contact them before a problem occurs .hope this helps

fatbelly

You will not be going to prison! You are not refusing to pay!

Have you entered into a 'walking possession' agreement with the bailiff. That is, has he entered your property, listed goods and asked you to sign?

If not, don't let him in. See the National Debtline factsheet:http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=02_bailiffs_and_council_tax

fluffy*giraffe*

just a little update for anyone in the same situation, i have just spoken to the bailiff and he is going back to the council to see about splitting the bills up into seperate ones.

i had 4 years of arrears, part payments missed from each year and when the debt went to the bailiffs it was sent as a lump sum.

he is going to get them seperated and pay them off one at a time so the monthly payments will be in line with the bill amounts and i will not have to up my monthly amount.

i had never heard of this before so was quite surprised. may be worth trying if you are paying back for more than one years bill.

hope this helps someone and thanks for all the helpful advise.

fluffy