4 year old liability order!!!

[Norbert]

Hi All

I have recently received a letter from the council stating that I owe £370 from 4 years ago and that a liability order was apparently issued at that time. I have attempted to sort this out over the phone with the council and requested time to seek advice and get bank statements for this period as they have made several mistakes (which they admitted) with my account before claiming I owed money that had already been paid. Obviously I want to investigate their claim before paying. Anyway, they agreed to this over the phone.

Having had no further correspondance from the council regarding this or any issue I was very surprised to arrive home from work to find a letter from a bailiff stating that they had tried to access the property to take goods to pay the debt!

I should probably point out that I have never received any correspondance regarding this sum for the entire 4 years.

How can this have been completely overlooked for 4 entire years? I'm very confused!!!

Please help!

[WendyB]

Re: 4 year old liability order!!!

Have a read of this Bailiff Guide - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum and also read this thread, Worried mum - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum in particular posts #22, #29 and #30.

You need to act on this quickly and be strong, bailiffs lie and cheat as a matter of course. Most council staff are not conversant with the procedures either. If possible, deal with the CT recovery dept at the counil, not the call centre/customer services mob.

Send SAR to the bailiffs as soon as possible, and request a full breakdown from the council of your liability, as well as a copy of the LO. Whih bailiff company is it?

[Norbert]

Re: 4 year old liability order!!!

Thanks so much for your quick respone.

The company is Rossendales. Sorry I don't know what an SAR is? What I don't understand is that if I did get a liability order at the time why did they not ask for the money at the time? or at least not notice that I neglected to pay for over 4 years? I still live in the same property and have continued to pay the council. It seems very odd that this has come out after all this time!

[WendyB]

Re: 4 year old liability order!!!

Councils are not infallible, they can and do make mistakes. Have you read the Bailiff Guide in the link I posted above? There is an SAR template in there. You could try just writing to Rossendales and asking for a breakdown of what fees they have added to your account, but they are dreadful to deal with so there is really not much point in appealing to their better nature, as they don't have one. Best to send the SAR, including the £10 fee. They are legally obliged to comply with this within 40 days. As far as SAR to the council goes, you may get away with just asking them for the info, councils are usually more forthcoming in terms of info.

Write to the council (or email them), explaining the situation and asking them to put the bailiffs on hold whilst this is investigated. Request a full breakdown of how the debt is made up etc. Also advise them that you have requested a breakdown of fees from Rossendales, and send them copies of any letters you send to Rossendales. Also make it clear that you not only have had no correspondence from the council, but that you have had absolutely no correspondence either from Rossendales, so therefore for them to turn up out of the blue and attempt to gain access to remove goods is contrary to the Act. Write to Rossendales and tell them this too. Copy the Council into any emails you send to Rossendales too. Send all letters by Recorded Delivery.

The council are vicariously liable for the actions of their bailiffs, however, you may need to remind them of this.

Once you've read the Bailiff Guide it will become clearer.

Which council is it?

[Norbert]

Re: 4 year old liability order!!!

Thanks again

Sorry I am new to the site and I am still trying to negotiate it at the mo. The council is North Somerset and there have often been issues with lack of info from them but I will certainly ask for it! I was planning to go to the council offices on monday. Is this a good idea? I wanted to go fully armed with evidence such as letters received including numerous red letters for a completely different amount that they subsequently admitted was their mistake, having discovered (finally) that the bill was paid in full.

Thanks again for your great advice. I will try to find my way to the bailiff guide!

[WendyB]

Re: 4 year old liability order!!!

Click on the link in post #1. Or here it is again Bailiff Guide - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum

If you do go to the Council in person, make sure you see someone from the CT recovery department - speaking to the call centre/neighborhood office staff is usually a waste of time, although you may be able to get the info you require from them, they probably won't be able to sort out the LO and the bailiffs. Get the letters off to Rossendales asap so you can give copies to the Council, its vital that you keep the council in the loop at all times.

[Norbert]

Re: 4 year old liability order!!!

Thanks

I have found and read it! Very helpful. I thought it might be a good idea to copy in my council member too. I will sort out the SAR tomorrow and email Rossendales, the council and council member with the info and request to hold off until investigated.

Thank you so much