Council Tax Debt

[nigelsquire]

Hi every one,
I have had a man come to the house saying he is from Equita & we owe with his charges £900 I have made an offer to pay each month & he has said NO & wants to take my van away can he do this ?? HELP!!!!

[Kati]

Re: Council Tax Debt

What is the debt?? Did you have any prior warning from Equita??

tagging [MENTION=26498]ploddertom[/MENTION] [MENTION=9189]bizzybob[/MENTION] [MENTION=30402]Milo[/MENTION] [MENTION=30549]bluebottle[/MENTION]

[nigelsquire]

Re: Council Tax Debt

What is the debt?? Did you have any prior warning from Equita??

tagging @ploddertom @bizzybob @Milo @bluebottle

Hi, The debt is council tax & it was £600 know with fees its £900 I also owe income tax then water bill & the bank

[Kati]

Re: Council Tax Debt

[MENTION=48934]Debt Camel[/MENTION] might be able to advise too xx

[nigelsquire]

Re: Council Tax Debt

Yes, But I was in & out of hospital having had two heart attacks then an irregular heart beat which they can't fix then I have a big breathing problem so I thought I will do that later & with all the stress I forgot.

Nigel

[bluebottle]

Re: Council Tax Debt

Yes, But I was in & out of hospital having had two heart attacks then an irregular heart beat which they can't fix then I have a big breathing problem so I thought I will do that later & with all the stress I forgot.

Nigel

Whoa! Admission to hospital following two myocardial infarcts (heart attacks), arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and respiratory issues (breathing) makes you highly vulnerable and both Equita and the local authority involved need to take this seriously and not continue as if your health issues don't matter. They do matter and Equita, their EA and the local authority involved all have a duty under health and safety legislation to carry out a risk assessment before continuing any further. Have the local authority involved and Equita been informed of your health issues and vulnerable debtor status yet? If they have and are ignoring it, then they are potentially breaching health and safety laws. If not, they need to be told straightaway.

If HMRC, the water company and bank are taking your health issues seriously and working with you rather than bullying you, as Equita and the local authority appear to be, then this should be mentioned.

Hope this helps.

[ploddertom]

Re: Council Tax Debt

Before you had a visit did you get a letter from Equita saying you owed and for you to contact them by xxxx date?

[Snoopy1948]

Re: Council Tax Debt

Hi nigelsquire ...

I agree with other comments here, you are a vulnerable person ( medically so, certainly ) and you also have a multiple debt situation so you cannot isolate this one council tax debt without talking about the others. Alas, firms such as Equita, in fact all similar enforcement agencies, tend to employ the least tactful enforcement agents so they are not worried what else you owe providing they have a vehicle to distrain upon. It's recovery by fear and nothing else and certainly not what I practised when I was doing a similar job ( albeit for a council ).

My advice was always to seek independent advice and I would suggest an urgent appointment with a Citizens Advice Bureau advisor to get a preliminary assessment and help with all of your creditors. they may refer you to another agency but you have to start somewhere.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/