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Equita Bailiff - Excessive Charges!
Hi There,
A little bit of advice desperately needed, I'm hoping someone can help me.
I have copied and pasted my letter below which i've also emailed to Equita which explains all. I'm yet to receive my response, I have 2 weeks in which to get this resolved as Bailiff is now demanding £178.00 worth of charges. I did receive a letter in the post which i'm unsure as to whether its in response to email/letter as its a Removal Notice dated 4th August 2011, I sent my email/letter on the 03rd August 2011.
I must add that I have paid the debt off in full, in 2 payments, just not the charges which my Bailiff has given me 2 weeks to pay.
My Letter;
Dear Sirs,
I refer to the above account for unpaid Council Tax, total amount £767.03, which is now paid in full.
. £401.00 paid on 04th July 2011
. £367.03 paid on 02nd August 2011
As you will be aware from your files this account had been passed to your bailiff Mr Alan Williams to enforce. I have been in regular contact with Mr Williams since the day my case had been handed over to him, I made an arrangement with Mr Williams to make two payments to clear this debt as stated above.
However when I phoned Mr Williams on the 01st August 2011 to inform him that I would be phoning him the following day which was the 02nd August 2011 to make the final payment of £367.03 by debit card, he then and only then informed me that in fact the balance in total was £945.03, which meant I still owed £178.00 and according to Mr Williams these were charges that had been applied to my account for two visits made to my property prior to him being handed over my case.
I had no acknowledgement of these visits, and no correspondence had been left or sent to me, when I first spoke to Equita before the case was handed over to Mr Williams I was told the balance being passed over was for £767.03 and no mention that anyone had been out to visit my property prior to this. I asked Mr Williams if he could provide me with the Names of the Bailiffs that had called out to my property, the times and the dates to which he told me I would need to phone Equita for that information. I then phoned Equita to be told that they held no information of these two visits out to my property and couldn't give me an answer as to why there were now charges of £178.00 being applied to my account, they just told me that I needed to go back to the Bailiff dealing with my case for that information.
I then called Mr Williams back and told him what Equita had stated, he then got rather annoyed with me and said that the first visit was in fact himself which was on the 20th April 2011, but he didn't hold any information on the second visit, he then proceeded to say that if I didn't pay the charges that he would be sending someone out to my property on the 03rd August 2011 to seize goods. He also told me that the call out charge for him to come to Southampton was £160.00, but he wasn't willing to answer hardly any of my questions. I told Mr Williams that I wasn't happy about paying for charges that no-one can provide me with any proof of, or give me any information about, as I should have been provided with some form of documentation, to which he replied ''not necessarily'' which makes me question whether these charges are in fact legal?
ESA Codes of Practice states;
6. Members should on each and every occasion when a visit is made to a debtors property which incurs the debtor in a fee, leave or send a notice setting out in detail how the fee was made up and maintain a record of the said issue of the notice for a minimum period of 12 months, after the date of issue.
Please also refer to the following as I am objecting to the level of fees that have been applied to my particular case, if I could be provided with proof of these two visits that took place, then I would be more than willing to pay what is due, but not for the amount of £178.00. Bailiffs can visit as many times as they like but they can only charge for a maximum of two visits only, first visit is £24.50 and the second visit is £18.00, therefore the correct fee that would be due if I can be provided with proof of the visits would total £42.50. Please refer to the bailiff fees that are set by legislation The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (Amended).
As a matter of urgency could you please provide me with the following information;
. The time and date of any bailiff action that incurred a fee
. The reason for the fee
. The name of the bailiff that attended on each occasion a fee was charged
. Copies of the correspondence for these two visits to my property
. The name of the court the bailiff was certificated at
. The date of the certification
. Copies of screenshots that relate to my account, please do not send a type written breakdown
I have less than two weeks to have this resolved with Mr Williams, I look forward to receiving this information as soon as possible.
Please find enclosed a cheque for £10.00 to cover any costs that may be required to provide me with the above information.
Yours Faithfully
I just need some advice on what to do if I get no response and continued to be passed from pillar to post with no proof, no answers, just threats.
Many Thanks Dee
A little bit of advice desperately needed, I'm hoping someone can help me.
I have copied and pasted my letter below which i've also emailed to Equita which explains all. I'm yet to receive my response, I have 2 weeks in which to get this resolved as Bailiff is now demanding £178.00 worth of charges. I did receive a letter in the post which i'm unsure as to whether its in response to email/letter as its a Removal Notice dated 4th August 2011, I sent my email/letter on the 03rd August 2011.
I must add that I have paid the debt off in full, in 2 payments, just not the charges which my Bailiff has given me 2 weeks to pay.
My Letter;
Dear Sirs,
I refer to the above account for unpaid Council Tax, total amount £767.03, which is now paid in full.
. £401.00 paid on 04th July 2011
. £367.03 paid on 02nd August 2011
As you will be aware from your files this account had been passed to your bailiff Mr Alan Williams to enforce. I have been in regular contact with Mr Williams since the day my case had been handed over to him, I made an arrangement with Mr Williams to make two payments to clear this debt as stated above.
However when I phoned Mr Williams on the 01st August 2011 to inform him that I would be phoning him the following day which was the 02nd August 2011 to make the final payment of £367.03 by debit card, he then and only then informed me that in fact the balance in total was £945.03, which meant I still owed £178.00 and according to Mr Williams these were charges that had been applied to my account for two visits made to my property prior to him being handed over my case.
I had no acknowledgement of these visits, and no correspondence had been left or sent to me, when I first spoke to Equita before the case was handed over to Mr Williams I was told the balance being passed over was for £767.03 and no mention that anyone had been out to visit my property prior to this. I asked Mr Williams if he could provide me with the Names of the Bailiffs that had called out to my property, the times and the dates to which he told me I would need to phone Equita for that information. I then phoned Equita to be told that they held no information of these two visits out to my property and couldn't give me an answer as to why there were now charges of £178.00 being applied to my account, they just told me that I needed to go back to the Bailiff dealing with my case for that information.
I then called Mr Williams back and told him what Equita had stated, he then got rather annoyed with me and said that the first visit was in fact himself which was on the 20th April 2011, but he didn't hold any information on the second visit, he then proceeded to say that if I didn't pay the charges that he would be sending someone out to my property on the 03rd August 2011 to seize goods. He also told me that the call out charge for him to come to Southampton was £160.00, but he wasn't willing to answer hardly any of my questions. I told Mr Williams that I wasn't happy about paying for charges that no-one can provide me with any proof of, or give me any information about, as I should have been provided with some form of documentation, to which he replied ''not necessarily'' which makes me question whether these charges are in fact legal?
ESA Codes of Practice states;
6. Members should on each and every occasion when a visit is made to a debtors property which incurs the debtor in a fee, leave or send a notice setting out in detail how the fee was made up and maintain a record of the said issue of the notice for a minimum period of 12 months, after the date of issue.
Please also refer to the following as I am objecting to the level of fees that have been applied to my particular case, if I could be provided with proof of these two visits that took place, then I would be more than willing to pay what is due, but not for the amount of £178.00. Bailiffs can visit as many times as they like but they can only charge for a maximum of two visits only, first visit is £24.50 and the second visit is £18.00, therefore the correct fee that would be due if I can be provided with proof of the visits would total £42.50. Please refer to the bailiff fees that are set by legislation The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (Amended).
As a matter of urgency could you please provide me with the following information;
. The time and date of any bailiff action that incurred a fee
. The reason for the fee
. The name of the bailiff that attended on each occasion a fee was charged
. Copies of the correspondence for these two visits to my property
. The name of the court the bailiff was certificated at
. The date of the certification
. Copies of screenshots that relate to my account, please do not send a type written breakdown
I have less than two weeks to have this resolved with Mr Williams, I look forward to receiving this information as soon as possible.
Please find enclosed a cheque for £10.00 to cover any costs that may be required to provide me with the above information.
Yours Faithfully
I just need some advice on what to do if I get no response and continued to be passed from pillar to post with no proof, no answers, just threats.
Many Thanks Dee
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