Advice needed Please- Council Tax ( Cornwall Council) Baliffs (Rossendales)

[LD68]

Hello,I am looking for some advice please:

On Friday, I found a hand delivered envelope containing Baliffs Rossendale’s demand for £607.50 and £100.00 payment immediately was demanded. I was home, all day, so assume was lucky to not have to have a face to face with them.
Council tax owed was £220.00, I had not defaulted on payments previously

I had not received the summons from the council, which it says it sent, and responded to their request for a financial circumstances form to be completed, which the person from council states has not been received.

I am a carer to my mother whom has dementia, and receive carers allowance and housing benefit, due to low income.

I am at my wits end and in a panic, as the debt collector told me I had to pay today, I provided credit card details and was told £107.50 would be deducted. I was then told a £100 per month would then be taken until the debt was cleared. I indicated the sum demanded was nearly3 x that owed and I had struggled to pay that so how was I meant to meet the additional sums now demanded.

I was told categorically this would need to be cleared in 6mths and thus £ 100.00 per month was necessary.

I also prior to contacting the Bailiffs, I had reiterated this to the Council tax dept and they showed no empathy or provided any solution other than to call the bailiffs and pay.

In reflection, realistically I cannot afford this sum, meet bill and feed myself.

I would therefore be obliged if anyone can provide me with some help.

Kind Regards in advance

[Amethyst]

ploddertom

Hi,

I've moved your thread to the bailiff forum and tagged Ploddertom for the practicals and knowledge.

[quote]

I had not received the summons from the council, which it says it sent, and responded to their request for a financial circumstances form to be completed, which the person from council states has not been received./[quote]
When did they send you the financial circumstances form to return ? was that before they sent the 'summons' which you didn't receive?
How did you return the form to them ?
You were a couple months behind on monthly instalments of the council tax? They do jump in very quickly with liability orders these days - had you spoken to them at all about the situation ?

I had reiterated this to the Council tax debt and they showed no empathy or provided any solution other than to call the bailiffs and pay.

It is disgusting, if someone misses a couple of payments as they can't afford to pay, how on earth is allowing bailiffs to almost quadruple the debt going to help? and it's just going to create further problems.

Are you keeping up with other priorities okay ? Are you getting all the benefits you're entitled to ? Do you live with your Mum ?

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-su...#content-start help carers of people with Dementia too so you could contact them for advice and support as well as possibly having a chat with CAB about your finances and benefits generally. The also might be able to assist contacting the bailiff company about the sums they are asking for monthly.

[ploddertom]

You must ask the Council how many Liability Orders there are? When they were obtained and how much each one was for? You also need to know what address all documentation was sent to.

As for Rossendales then as long as you don't allow them in then there is little more they can do - I'm assuming you set the payment proposal up over the phone, I also assume this is for a different address to your mum. You should also ask them what address they sent the Notice of Enforcement to? Once we have some answers we can give you some more pointed help.

[LD68]

Thank you so much for the replies. What a great forum!
Ok, the answers:
The Liability Order was received 23/9/18 stating the order/magistrates was held 20/9/18. Amount outstanding £297.50 (£75 added to original amount owed).
So the summons letter was not received and I assume sent prior to Liability. The Liability Order had the financial circumstances form which I duly completed showing my i income and out goings etc. I returned that first week of October. Normal first class post. I have a scanned copy of the completed form.
I was a couple of months behind, yes. No I hadn't spoken with anyone. I guess I was thinking I'd catch up with the payment at some point - I pay it online so I try to pay amounts as and when rather than a monthly amount.
I am getting all the benefits - yes.
I live separate to my mum.
My rent is covered by Housing Benefit so my Carers Allowance and small salary just about keep my head above water on bills. But this has thrown me as it seems so unflexible. Let alone the fact £235 has been added to my amount owing. As has been said, if I was struggling with pay £220 then adding £75 and then £235 to the bill is just so sole destroying.
My address is correct with all parties concerned.
I just wish the Council would listen to people like myself, and take the debt back under their control. Or at least have the ability of discretion to.
I pointedly rang the Council first, before Rossendales, practically begging them to take the debt back explaining my situation but absolutely nothing to be done. Thats my frustration.
If I am now stuck with this debt to Rossendales then so beit. Lesson learned. But is it really true that they have to have the debt paid within 6 months? They said it was down to the Council/Magistrates guidelines that it has to be within 6 months. I did set this payment plan up over the phone yes but I was given no choice on the monthly repayment amount. i was told it had to £100. Is this something I can change??
Your help is much appreciated!

[ploddertom]

Thank you for taking the time to come back and explain further. However I am very disturbed by the lack of communcation from both Council & Bailiffs over this and urge you to check with both what postal address they are using for you - including postcode, please also ask them what name they are using. You should have received at least 2 letters from the Council prior to a Summons being issued - that makes at least 3 in total. The Bailiffs should have sent you 1 letter - Notice of Enforcement and it is as a result of no response from this that leads to a visit from them.

Again I find it disturbing the Council saying they did not receive your I&E form despite you saying you have a copy of it etc. I know you say it went 1st Class but did you think to get a Certificate of Posting from the Post Office when it went.

A lot of this has to be blamed on yourself - that is no criticism as a lot think they can just pay as & when they can. The truth being you have to pay on a specific date by clear funds - some Councils are more lax on this than others, mine gives some 15 days before they start to get stroppy others want it on the dot.

As for the 6 month timescale, that is actually a good result as it should be paid in full before the end of the financial year - end of March, given where we are now then that is an extra 2 months more than the norm.

There are a couple of things we can do but before telling you then let us see what the enquiries over your name & address reveal