Council tax and equita bailiff

ro23 · 31 October 2012 at 9:37PM

Hi my 1st post but really panicking & hope someone can help re Council tax & Equita Bailiffs,
To cut a long story short, I had a payment plan in place but have defaulted on it, it has now gone to equita bailiffs, Ive asked them if i can put another DMP in place but they are insisting on the full amount of £900 !!!
I know it's my own doing and I do want to pay but there is no way I can afford to pay it in full.
Yesterday I received a letter from them with the following.

Removal Notice

Despite numerous previous applications for payment you have failed to pay the outstanding council tax due to Birmingham City Council.

Therefore, I have been issued your case so that I can call at your home within the next week with a removal contractor when I may remove your goods to the local auction house.

I would prefer that you were in attendance if your goods are removed and should another day be more suitable I urge you to contact me on the number below immediately.

Should you prefer to pay the balance outstanding, call me to arrange immediate payment.

Last night someone paid £60 towards the arrears & today I phoned them, the lady agreed to take a further £120 over the phone and then told me it is still with the bailiffs and to contact them to arrange the outstanding balance.

Is there anything I can do? I do want to clear this debt but I truly can't afford it all at once.
Any advice is greatly appreciated

dancingfairy · 31 October 2012 at 9:41PM

Who was the arrangement with?The council or the bailiffs? If it was the bailiffs have you ever let them into your house? and/or have they levied on a vehicle or anything like that?
They can't break into your house unless you have previously let them in.
If you have a vehicle and they haven't levied on it already you should immeadiately park it several blocks away.
Post more info and we can help more.
df

dancingfairy · 31 October 2012 at 9:48PM

You need to draw up a budget and work out how much you can afford pay off this debt each month.
Is this this years council tax to cover you until end of March?
Fact sheet on council tax and bailiffs here:
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=02_bailiffs_and_council_tax

As long as they have not levied on your contents of your house or a car they can only charge you a maximum of about 42.50I think. Do watch out for illegal/front loading of fees.
You need to write to the council and the bailiffs with your offer of payment. Bear in mind that the council are under likely to be under great pressure to have allthe council tax collected by the end of Jan and this is what they are likely to be pushing for. They mayconsider letting you extend it to the 2 'free' months but arelikely to be extremely releuctant to let you carry on into next year (as obviously you'll owe next years council tax next year as well).
You are likely to have to fight your corner to sort out a payment plan and are likely to be put under a lot of presuse to let the bailiffs levyon your property as this means they can charge you a shed load more fees (several hundred??) and can then come back and take your property. Clearly you need to prevent this.
Do you know a) how much the liability order was for b) whether this includes the court costs or not ? and therefore c) how much has been added in bailiff charges?
df

ro23 · 31 October 2012 at 9:55PM

The arrangement was with the bailiff, over a phone call. As a previous appointment was made for him to come round. Which he failed to keep. We phoned him and a arrangement was made. He told us to wait for details in the post. They have never entered the property and we have no vehicle outside. Thanks for your help

ro23 · 31 October 2012 at 10:32PM

He liability order was for £724.19, this includes the £65 they added for costs incurred. The hand delivered letter off the bailiff didn't have any debt amount on. After I called they told me it was for £900. And if I didn't have the full amount in a few days they will commence with the removal of goods. The bailiff wouldn't accept any other payment than the full amount. After trying to to to an arrangement they hung up on me. We've made £180 payment since then. Online and through the council. The person at the council said they can't contact equita on my behalf and inform them of my payment. And this will not stop equita trying to collect the full amount

CIS · 31 October 2012 at 11:57PM

And if I didn't have the full amount in a few days they will commence with the removal of goods. The bailiff wouldn't accept any other payment than the full amount.

To stop any action he can insist on full payment first - he doesn't have to accept an arrangement.

Larry22 · 1 November 2012 at 12:14PM

CIS wrote: »

To stop any action he can insist on full payment first - he doesn't have to accept an arrangement.

But in this case if the op has no way of paying the full balance, where do they stand? admittedley it's the op's fault but surely there must be another way of paying without having goods seized & still being in the same situation.
Larry

CAB_Swansea_Bay_representative · 1 November 2012 at 2:03PM

Hi ro23, thank you for your query regarding council tax and bailiffs
Firstly I would suggest you complete a detailed income and expenditure and see what you have available after essential expenditure but as this is a priority debt it needs to be paid before payments to non-priority creditors such as credit cards and personal unsecured loans. If you have no money left each month I would suggest you seek help from a debt adviser who can advise you on other options such as a Debt Relief Order. If you have availabe income I would suggest you put an offer in writing to the bailiff (send recorded delivery and keep a copy) and if they accept the offer then no further action should be taken but if they do not accept the written offer I would suggest you seek help from a debt adviser who will be able to negotiate a repayment arrangement on your behalf. You can find information on completing an income and expenditure and template letters to make offers to your creditors at www.adviceguide.org.uk. In the meantime I would suggest you do not let the bailiff into your home and read information on www.adviceguide.org.uk on bailiff's powers. You can find your local Citizens Advice Bureau at www.citizensadvice.org.uk. There are certain circumstances in which a bailiff should not be instructed like if you are suffering from a diagnosed mental health condition or disability and also if you are in receipt of means tested benefits it may be possibly to have the arrears taken directly from your benefits via a third party deduction.
Hope this is of assistace.

CIS · 1 November 2012 at 6:33PM

But in this case if the op has no way of paying the full balance, where do they stand? admittedley it's the op's fault but surely there must be another way of paying without having goods seized & still being in the same situation.
Larry

Only at the discretion of the bailiff / council to accept a payment arrangement - the legal basis of using a bailiff is to collect full payment.

VitaK · 1 November 2012 at 7:51PM

Council Tax is a priority debt and you should consider it above most other debts. Until that debt is cleared you may have to offer token payments to your other creditors.

I may be wrong but if the bailiff have not levyed then they can only charge £42.50. First attendance to levy (£24.50) and second attendance to levy (£18.00), but where where no levy was made.

ro23 · 1 November 2012 at 9:22PM

We had arranged a payment plan with a previous bailiff for the same debt. He told us to wait for a letter with a barcode on to come in the post. This was to go and pay at a pay point. We never received it and tried to chase him up. After we couldn't get hold of him we phoned the bailiff office. They said its definitely on its way and to wait. After a week it hadn't come and we phoned back. They said they will post a new one out and to wait for it. After making contact with the bailiff and agreeing to the monthly payments straight away, we assumed that we were out of trouble. As long as we kept to the payments. During all the phone calls we had with the previous bailiff and equita office, we were just waiting for a letter. Not once was any other way of paying offered. The next week we recieved a removal notice from a different bailiff, also from equita. As before we made contact straight away trying to arrange a payment. They told us we have a couple of days to get the full amount of £900 or they will start the removal of our goods. The figure they say we owe has always been told over the phone. We haven't had this in writing from equita and have no idea what charges they have put on top. We explained the whole situation with the new bailiff. Stating everything that's happened with the previous bailiff and we've been waiting and chasing up for this letter in the post. They said that non of this maters and we should have paid dispite this. I told then this was the only way we've been offered to pay. And we've been phoning their office to try and sort it out. Maybe you could speak to someone there that could confirm that. They told me they didn't need to speak to anyone, they just want the payment in full or removal and hung up on me. Since the debt was passed to equita, the council refuse to speak to me about the debt and tell me I can only sort it out with equita, and refuse to take any complaints about equita. Everytime I phone equita they say I can only sort it out with this one bailiff. Since I spoke to the bailiff they haven't answered their phone to me again, or returned my calls. I've always wanted to get this sorted straight away. No one will take any payment apart from £900 which I've told them that is impossible for me to do in that amount of time. I've made payments since through automated facilities online with the city council. That I've only just found I can do , looking online on advice about my case. I've never met the bailiff face to face. They've never been inside the property or made a levy

Council tax and equita bailiff

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