Bailiff Help Urgent Please Help!

Freeland

Hi,

I have posted on here a couple of times regarding old student debts from my shared house and some of them i have managed to get under control thanks to you guys!...however...

When i tried to contact the council about two outstanding council tax bills from 2 previous properties they said they had been passed to bailiffs and they had MY address!

I contacted the bailiffs and left messages asking them to call me back, they didnt and then one week later they turned up at my door when i was at home on my lunch.

Basically there are 3 bills...

£1340 - previous address.
£500 - 2 nd previous address.
£300 - 2nd previous address

I have been left with these bills attached to my name, i have contacted old house mates who wanted to pay there part off but the bailiff said they can not split the bill so i need to get the money together ASAP!

He said because i answered the door he will give me one week to pay the
£500 one and then we can come to an arrangement with the other two. I asked if could just set up a Direct Debit of say £150 per month to cover all 3 as none of us can afford to pay anything out right....he said no that is as lenient as he can be....

Is this true? Can i demand that he accepts my situation and accepts the £150 offer?

It has been so hard to get all this sorted chasing old house mates etc, thats why its ended up at this point...i told him he cannot take anything from my house as nonme of it is mine....

I WANT TO PAY IT BUT CANNOT AFFORD £500 IN UNDER A WEEK!:mad:

PLEASE ANY ADVICE OF LEGAL STANDINGS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.

He said he will be back next monday but i want to ring him before then and tell him what i want to do.

Please help! Thank you!

Burlesque_Babe

Was there any other name on the bill or just yours? If there were other names on the bills and you have their address (es) they can be chased as jointly and severally liable.

loubie_lou

Were you students in these shared houses? if you were you should've had an exemption of some kind!

Freeland

In the two houses we had just finished being students so we were not exempt...i do have other names and addresses but that would just cause more stress as they both live with parents now....i just want to set up a DD for an amount we can all afford is this possible? I can propose paying about £200 to pay of all of them each month....any one know where i stand with it or will i have to pay the first amount outright like they suggested...PLEAE ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED...THINKING OF CALLING DEBT LINE?

maninthestreet

Bailiffs or debt collectors? They are often confused, but are not the same.
A bailiff is acting on behalf of the courts, in enforcing a court order against you in relation to the debt. They have a number of legal powers. A debt collector is hired by the person/organisation owed money, in an attempt to recover the money owed to them. They have little, if any, legal powers to enforce the debt, and must get a court order to force you to pay, but then that court order would be enforced by bailiffs.

Burlesque_Babe

You say you have other names and addresses - but which names were on the bill? If their names were on the bill also, it isn't fair for you to take the burden on your own shoulders - if they are living with their parents, then hopefully they will have some money to pay their share!

saffronflowers

If it is council tax it will be a bailiff!

SFx