Newlyn Harrassment

[Larry]

Hello, I was searching online to find some help, and came across this page. I have been reading through and found people with similar experience, so I will go right to it.

I got home last night to find a letter in my letter box from Newlyn about a Council Tax debt. I had missed a few months payment as my business just went under and I was in the process of finding a job, had a few payment plans with the council that failed..... Eventually when my situation changed I called the council to make £400 payment (of the £848 outstanding). I made the payment online then called the council to set up a plan to pay two installments to clear the balance. I was told it wasn't possible as my payment (of £400) had not reflected on the account (not until next working day), being a Friday, I was asked to call back on Monday to set up payment plan, long story short, I forgot! this was on the 4th of December.

Back to the letter, so I open the letter and saw a £760 bill and a 'REMOVAL OF GOODS NOTICE', so I called them, bottom line, they have added a fee of £312. I asked what that was for, and he said £75 for admin and £237 for a visit (which I can swear they did not make as I was at home on the said date). I called the council this morning but they were not of any help, I have paid what I owe the council and refused to pay there ridiculous and dubious charges. Please help what can I do to avoid those charges.

From what I have read on here, I need to send them a SAR, can I have a link to download that pls? also any advise will be much appreciated.

Regards

Larry

[Kati]

Re: Newlyn Harrassment

:bump: for [MENTION=9189]bizzybob[/MENTION] [MENTION=30402]Milo[/MENTION] xx

[Snoopy1948]

Re: Newlyn Harrassment

I worked in local authority enforcement for 23 years and sensibly, quiet agreeable negotiation is always the best way forward. The debtor will always be a debtor but there should always be room for two way respect in any discussion.

If I had been dealing with this, notably the telephone conversation where you confirmed that you had paid £400 of an £848 due balance, I would have accepted that was 'in the pipeline' and made an agreement on the balance. You had in fact already stated that you paid some 47% of the debt that would only take a day or so to be confirmed. That would have been the sensible thing to do on the council's part.

However, was the conversation updated on their system or did you get the person's name? All very important.

I retired in May 2014 so the enforcement procedures have since changed. The fees have increased ( as you can see ) substantially but the council can only go down that route if they have made every attempt to resolve this directly i.e. debtor responsibility, and there is good reason for that. From what you say, there may well have been some documented neglect on your part of regular contact and failed payment plans. That never bodes well.

Did the council have full contact details for you during the initial payment and requested negotiation? Did they update their records on the back of your telephone call and payment advise? Did you receive any further correspondence ( outlining ongoing enforcement procedures ) that you just may have again ignored?

I have never seen an SAR sent to the council regarding council tax enforcement but of course they may have well been received. My view here ( and this has been somewhat successful in my experience ) is that an immediate letter of formal complaint to the Council's CEO ( research full name and contact address ) detailing the payment, subsequent phone call and the fact that no negation was 'sensibly taken on the day'. Also indicate if contact details were taken to allow the council to re-contact you and complete the matter. Point out that the authority has to make every effort to resolve the matter with you prior to incurring heavy costs to you and you feel that they have acted prematurely and needlessly. As such, you request an urgent reviewal of the enforcement team's actions and consideration to put you back in a position before the event, so that you may set up a payment plan to clear the balance quickly. Make sure that the letter is marked 'Complaint' .

You can only but try!

[Larry]

Re: Newlyn Harrassment

Thanks for your advice Snoopy1948, Yes, the Council has records of all my calls including failed payment plans up till my last conversation with them as confirmed to me this morning. There was some correspondence from the council about missed payments which were not ignored, I just simply did not have it and I made them aware of it. As a matter of fact, I was dealing with a debt management charity who was in touch with them and paying the a 'Token Payment' (which is an acknowledgement of debt with the intension to pay when circumstances change).


The last correspondence was one demanding payment in full within 14 days, this was when I called to make the £400 payment and tried to set up the payment plan. to answer your other question, Yes, the Council did have my contact, as they have always contacted me in the past.

To clarify my statement about SAR, I was referring to Newlyn as the Council as adviced that I have to deal with Newlyn. Also, payment of £448 was made to Newlyn today.


I will surely follow your advise on writing to the Council's CEO.

Thanks Again

[ploddertom]

Re: Newlyn Harrassment

You should have received a Notice of Enforcement from the Bailiffs asking you to pay in full or make an arrangement to pay in acceptable instalments. This should have given you 7 clear days to make contact and the letter should have contained a date when this ended. You need to ask them when this was sent (date) and how it was sent? A £75 charge is added to what you owe.

It appears they are suggesting you did not make contact and a Bailiff made a visit - again you want the date & time this happened - for this they will have added another £235.

Sending an SAR is pointless as they will have very little to tell you.