Council Tax Bailiffs visit

[stew4278]

Hi all

In May this year I received a letter from my council telling me I had defaulted on my payment arrangements for the sum of £261. owing from last years council Tax I had spoken to them telling them i was experiencing difficult times financially I then received a Bailiffs letter on the 22nd May telling me they had been trying to contact me! they hadn't ...the letter had no amount on just that i owed money to the council then on the 15th June a hand delivered letter came.. I live above a shop and all my post is delivered to them the bailiff gave them an unsealed letter to give me that said ATTENDANCE NOTICE clearance of goods and asking for a full payment of £484.68 fees of £223.50!!! I called the Bailiff (was really unpleasant ) to offer a payment plan he refused and given me till monday to pay in full after reading your info on this subject :

I did not get a FINAL NOTICE letter
The letter was in an unsealed envelope
Fees of £223.50 not itemized
The Bailiffs only first contacted me 24days ago!!!

Please HELP what should i do ??
Stewart

[labman]

Re: Council Tax Bailiffs visit

You have no obligation whatsoever to deal with the bailiffs. Don't let them in, if you have a car, move it a few streets away so they cannot levy on it. Work out what you can afford towards the debt and pay it directly to the council using either their automated telephone system, or online.

By doing this, you limit your liability to the bailiffs to just £42.50 as long as they don'tgain entry or levy on anything outside. There's no point phoning the council yet as they will say they cnnot take payment as it's with the bailiffs. This is a lie, but it's what they'll say.

Above all, DON'T WORRY!!!!!!!!! This is nothing which is not easily resolved. Just make sure that you pay weekly payments of the same amount religiously every week / fortnight / month. I always suggest weekly as it looks good when they look at your repayment history - they can se lots of payments being made.

[stew4278]

Re: Council Tax Bailiffs visit

Thanks for that the one problem I have is I live above the office that my brother owns and i rent the flat from him I have no front door as such and go thought the office and then upstairs to my flat i am concerned the bailiffs will gain entry from the Secretary or other members of staff

[labman]

Re: Council Tax Bailiffs visit

They won't try and break in for council tax. I have to confess I'm not sure about the front door bit. I have found out about the definition of a front door for non-domestic premises attached to domestic premises, but not the other way round.

Hopefully Ploddertom, Pepsie or someone else in the know will be along and be able to answer this. I wouldn't worry too much. Presumably the office staff are not in the habit of letting people up to your flat. Is there a door at the top of the stairs? If so, is it lockable?

[stew4278]

Re: Council Tax Bailiffs visit

Thanks for your help and all the help on this site ...armed with all I learned I phoned the council told them I was recording the call told them the bailiff had acted outside the law and I wanted them to take the debt back and arrange a repayment plan .....They agreed and took the debt back from the bailiff and we set up a payment plan ..result hope this might help others and give hope and yes they can take the debt back

[wales01man]

Re: Council Tax Bailiffs visit

Well done,commonsense from a council i presume because they took the debt back after being told the bailiff was acting illegally will they take action against the bailiff after all they are quick to take action againtst someone who owes CT or fine money More like this and maybe the day of the lying bullying bailiff will be numbered my thought is if you owe money and struggle to pay why do they insist on placing more burdens on you in the way of bailiffs acting badly or further charges maybe one day the hitlers in council officers will take a closer look into people financial circumstances we are after all in the 21st century not in the dickens era of transportation /workhouses and debtor prisons.

[labman]

Re: Council Tax Bailiffs visit

Good result, well done you! Just make sure you only pay what is on the LO now.