Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

[suicidal]

Hello.

I would appreciate anyone's advice please. Yes I am currently reading through forums but finding it difficult to relate to my case.

Jacobs enforcement agents - Name says it all really. I always associated Jacobs with crackers not anymore.

It started with two council tax demands and being summonsed to court, I still failed to pay so the two council tax demands we're passed on to Jacobs. After receiving 3 enforcement letters from Jacobs I phone and asked if I could pay £10 a month, they declined. I contacted a debt advise company and they gave me an attachment of earnings, I sent this off to Jacobs with my payment arrangement plan of £1. Jacobs decided to send me - Broken arrangement removal of proceedings warning letter. I phoned Jacobs and asked about my attachment of earnings but was told least they would accept was something like £20 a fortnight.

Sorry if this post looks familiar to others on here I'm really trying to get through forum for info.
This whole debt debacles making me sink into despair, but more I read this site I see the light of day.

[Kati]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

Have you got an income/expenditure to show how much you can reasonably pay each week/month?

[Milo]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

After receiving 3 enforcement letters from Jacobs I phone and asked if I could pay £10 a month, they declined. I contacted a debt advise company and they gave me an attachment of earnings, I sent this off to Jacobs with my payment arrangement plan of £1. Jacobs decided to send me - Broken arrangement removal of proceedings warning letter. I phoned Jacobs and asked about my attachment of earnings but was told least they would accept was something like £20 a fortnight.

You have not stated how much the Liability Orders are for and without knowing it is difficult to know whether or not the amount being demanded by Jacobs (£20 per month) is reasonable.

You state in your posts that a debt advice company provided you with an attachment of earnings. I assume that you meant an Income & Expenditure.

I appreciate that your income is limited but I have never come across a case yet where a bailiff collecting council tax arrears agreed to accept a sum of just £1 per week or month. Council tax is a 'priority' debt. Also, offering to pay £1 after you had spoken with Jacobs and offered £10 is not going to impress the company at all.

It is vitally important that you contact Jacobs asap so as to avoid a personal visit.

PS: Is the offer from Jacobs of £20 per fortnight in respect of one Liability Order or both added together?

[suicidal]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

Thanks for replies.
Demands are for £210 & £330. Does anyone know why they haven't consolidated the two debts together thus lowering compliance charges? Will I be charged twice for one visit from bailiff?

Yes the debt advice company emailed me a pdf (financial situation etc) with income & expenditure breakdown (Within says clearing your arrears £1 a month) This was then emailed to Jacobs...About 2-3 weeks before sending Jacobs Exp&Inc email I had phoned Jacobs trying to work out a payment plan, I vaguely remember they could only agree to accept £20 a week or maybe a fortnight (This I'm unsure about but it was to expensive for me to maintain).

Jacobs must have received Exp&Inc Email - They then sent me a letter explaining -
Further recent communication we confirm arrangement has been accepted - You must pay £10 every 14 days.

....The reference number on this letter is same for the £210 debt so I'm gathering this is for one debt, but unsure....I failed to meet their arrangement and made no payments so the next letters I received where the two Broken arrangement removal proceedings. This scared me a little so I phoned the debt advice company and they told me to dodge bailiffs, debt will go back to council whereby an attachment to earning will be provoked. Has this happened to anyone else?

[ploddertom]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

They are entitled to charge a Compliance Fee (£75) for each Liability Order but only 1 Enforcement Fee (£235) regardless of how many Orders they have that are dealt with at the same time.

[Big Al]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

....The reference number on this letter is same for the £210 debt so I'm gathering this is for one debt, but unsure....I failed to meet their arrangement and made no payments so the next letters I received where the two Broken arrangement removal proceedings. This scared me a little so I phoned the debt advice company and they told me to dodge bailiffs, debt will go back to council whereby an attachment to earning will be provoked. Has this happened to anyone else?

I assume you are working? Personal question - what is your monthly/weekly take home pay? Attachment of earnings is a good method for those on a low income.

[suicidal]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

I'm currently out of work - Skint... Without getting the violin out I had to use food bank last week.....I live on about £3 a day after all bills....My life is shit I pick up minimum wage agency work here and their that lasts 2-3 weeks....This is main reason my council tax is all over the show and I get swamped with council demands dating back, it's a mess....I'm trying to sort things out but debts keeps rising.

The bailiffs can come after me all they like - I'll end up doing something stupid like burning their building down because I'm at the point I don't care no more.
The debt advice people told me if Jacobs don't get anything from bailiffs debt goes back to council who make an attacked to earnings is this right?

[Big Al]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

Ok, so I assume you have no car or vehicle outside? If not, there is nothing Jacobs can do - they can't force entry, use locksmiths, climb thru windows or climb over fences. They can only get in if you invite them in or through an unlocked door. Eventually they will return the account to the council. They then have the option to set up an attachment of benefits, which I believe is around £15 a month, although I'm not sure if this would be the same for 2 LO's.

What years are the LO's for and do you acknowledge that you owe them? Were you on benefits for those years and have you claimed everything you could?

Another route, which is a slim chance, is to try to use section 13(a) of the Local Government Finance Act which says:



(1) Where a person is liable to pay council tax in respect of any chargeable dwelling and any day, the billing authority for the area in which the dwelling is situated may reduce the amount which he is liable to pay as respects the dwelling and the day to such extent as it thinks fit.
(2) The power under subsection (1) above includes power to reduce an amount to nil.
(3) The power under subsection (1) may be exercised in relation to particular cases or by determining a class of case in which liability is to be reduced to an extent provided by the determination.

Worth a try.

[suicidal]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

Liability order Aug 13
Liability order Jun 14

I suppose I have already acknowledged I owe them by my previous emails/phone calls to Jacobs.. I was in and out of work during these periods. It seems to be the breaks in benefits whilst working mounts up the demands. I know I'm mainly to blame for not keeping an eye on my finances but their letters don't make head or tail with me sometimes and I get lost in dates and can't afford their demands. It feels like I'm permanently pinned down.

Thanks for the section 13(a) of the Local Government Finance Act.
""(3) The power under subsection (1) may be exercised in relation to particular cases or by determining a class of case""
I feel this clause might be in regard to people with serious difficulties or situations unseen....Not the case for some guy who got swamped and lost control of his finances like myself but I will use it and look further into it...

I'm currently writing the council a letter hopefully get my data from them so I can orginize - Does anyone have anything I could add?

Asking for following data for last 3 years in subject to the data protection act I am asking for information you have used for liability orders against me. This information is required for the purposes of obtaining legal advice and establishing, exercising and defending my legal rights. The information relates to a legal matter.

1 - How many Liability orders against me
2 - Dates they were obtained
3 - Addresses they were for
4 - Period of time each covers
5 - How much each one was for
6 - How much is still outstanding
7 - Dates they were passed on for enforcement
8 - The dates & amounts of any payments
9 – All summons letters and correspondence

Also I've asked for - The Clerk to the justice from councils contact address, telephone number and Email address. So I can get straight to the person.

[Guest]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

If you are in receipt of benefits, the maximum that they can take off you is £3.65 per week. This is usually rounded off to £3.50. I would write to Jacobs and also copy in the council. Advise them of your circumstances and offer £14 per month. Tell them that due to your financial circumstances, you do not wish to incur an additional £235 enforcement fee. In addition, you will not allow a bailiff access to your property-Permission to enter is denied.

[bizzybob]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

This thread is a good example of how and why Council Tax is so iniquitous, it takes no account of ability to pay, enforcement is largely automated, and for someone like suicidal, and many more in the Agency work, benefit trap it iust traps them in an endless cycle of debt and fees to cunning stunts like Jacobs.

Good advice above, provide evidence to the council of the work pattern, and go for the AOB, only problem is when you do some more Agency work, the benefit stops, and the cycle begins again.

[wales01man]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

Yet again a situation where these Bailiff companies what to apply the maximum fees to a debt thus u=increasing it until Councils get it in their thick skulls that some people cannot afford to pay large sums off a debt we will have posters like suicidal sitting worrying

[bizzybob]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

Yet again a situation where these Bailiff companies what to apply the maximum fees to a debt thus u=increasing it until Councils get it in their thick skulls that some people cannot afford to pay large sums off a debt we will have posters like suicidal sitting worrying

agree wales, but then Enforcement is a profit driven industry mores the pity.

[Debt Camel]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

I'm currently writing the council a letter

Asking for following data for last 3 years in subject to the data protection act I am asking for information you have used for liability orders against me. This information is required for the purposes of obtaining legal advice and establishing, exercising and defending my legal rights. The information relates to a legal matter.

1 - How many Liability orders against me
2 - Dates they were obtained
3 - Addresses they were for
4 - Period of time each covers
5 - How much each one was for
6 - How much is still outstanding
7 - Dates they were passed on for enforcement
8 - The dates & amounts of any payments
9 – All summons letters and correspondence

Do you actually have any reason to think the LOs are incorrect or that the council has previously given you wrong information? I'm not sure what "legal rights" you are trying to defend here. Save yourself a lot of trouble and just phone the council up on Monday and they will give you the information over the phone.

There is no point in getting annoyed at Jacobs, they have been given a job to do by the council and will have been given a maximum time they can agree to accept a payment arrangement for. They won't be allowed to accept your current low offers.

Write to the council with your income & Expenditure sheet, say you are happy to make the following payments or to have monies deducted from your benefits. Ask for the debt to be called back from the bailiffs.

If they refuse, then put in a formal complaint to the council and also contact your local councillor.

But don't get this confused with "defending your legal rights" and complaining about bad behaviour by bailiffs. Your offers of payments will be taken more seriously if they are straightforward and not making allegations about all sorts of things.

IMPORTANT QUESTION Do you have additional debts? How large?

[Debt Camel]

Re: Jacobs are going crackers over council tax i owe.

If you are in receipt of benefits, the maximum that they can take off you is £3.65 per week. This is usually rounded off to £3.50. I would write to Jacobs and also copy in the council. Advise them of your circumstances and offer £14 per month. Tell them that due to your financial circumstances, you do not wish to incur an additional £235 enforcement fee. In addition, you will not allow a bailiff access to your property-Permission to enter is denied.

£3.65 is the maximum that can deducted from benefits. There is no maximum if a debtor offers to make monthly payments.