Bailiff issues

[concerned]

Hi Sorry i am confused

My husband has supposed to be paying the council tax but hasn't so we had the bailiff round yesterday - he left a note "notification of bailiff visit " re costs incurred to our council. My husband spoke to the chap and agreed a payment plan with him but the bailiff was coming to the house at 9am tomorrow and my husband was going to let him in and let him list items such as our tv etc.

I have just found out and after reading through here i contacted the bailiff to ask him not to attend tomorrow as i would not be prepared to let him in and would like time to investigate further my options, I also advised him that he had not provided us with any information on paper regarding how much we owe and he said he'll be coming anyway and would charge us and try to gain access through an open window or door (which is a pain as during the day i usually leave my door open in the back for my pets, i wont be doing that)

He said each time he visited he was charging us £300 which is ridiculous and now my husband is furious i told him not to come, but i dont want him coming in to the house and frankly my husband was under the belief that he could let him in to list only items in the lounge and sign on that.

The bailiff told me that the only way i could set up a payment plan was to allow him access to our home, but I told him i would like to confirm this first and could send a payment in 7-10 days for half the debt.

What should we be doing now? Our council tax bill was £700 he is saying we owe £1000 we are happy to pay £35 a week and then in addition £500 as soon as some money we are expecting has cleared, can we not agree this without allowing him access to our home?

[Guest]

Re: Bailiff issues

Have you read the bailiff guide? It can be found here and does answer a lot of your questions.

At what point did the bailiff tell you he was going to charge you £300? Can you obtain this in writing? Which bailiff firm is it?

[concerned]

Re: Bailiff issues

Hi I've read as much as i can grasp it was very helpful, which is why i told my husband not to let him in the house and that he can gain access to the house through any door or window left open. The firm is Bristow and Sutor - chaps name is Jay (thats all he gave us on the form) its for Sandwell MBC council

Bailiff told my husband over the phone that the bill was £1029, we phoned the council and we owe £703 - the bailiff says he is going to charge us again to visit tomorrow even after I have asked for some time to gather the funds and a payment plan.

before i pay anything i have requested the outstanding amount in writing, along with a full breakdown of costs. He said the office didnt have his file he would have it till monday and i would have to contact the office on tuesday,

[WendyB]

Re: Bailiff issues

Hi Concerned,

Bristow & Sutor are indeed the bailiffs used by Sandwell. I have had dealings with them myself (still am, in fact). Have you contacted Sandwell regarding your arrears? Most councils are pretty crap as far as the bailiffs are concerned, but I have to say, to be fair, that the Recovery at SMBC are quite helpful, on the whole. The bailiffs will tell you all sorts of rubbish, but you don't have to deal with them. If you are still online come into Chat and I'll give you the direct line number for the Recovery Office and the names of the helpful people, I've also got the name of the manager and she was very helpful to me.

I haven;t actually had the debt returned to the Council, but have had all the charges removed, and the council have instructed Bristow & Sutor how much to accept in instalments.

Here's a link to my thread Wends v Bristow & Sutor

[concerned]

Re: Bailiff issues

Thanks wendy that would be really helpful, cant do chat as on my mobile. My husband spoke to council and they said we had to deal with bailif but I will happily call them tomorrow and try and get something sorted. The bailiff told me there was no way of setting up a payment plan without him coming into my house

[Angry Cat]

Re: Bailiff issues

[Quote] by concerned:
The bailiff told me there was no way of setting up a payment plan without him coming into my house [Quote]

Why would the bailiff need to gain entry to your home, if you are prepared to set up a payment plan?

Utter rubbish!

[WendyB]

Re: Bailiff issues

What the bailiff has told your husband is complete garbage. Bailiffs lie and cheat in order to scare money out of you. You will know when a bailiff is lying - his lips will be moving.
Don't contact the bailiff again, definitely don't phone him, and whatever you do, don't let him into your house. Do't even open the door if he turns up. If you must speak to him (I wouldn't bother, personally) then do it from an upstairs window.

When you contact the council don't ring the 0845 number it shows on the council tax bill, that will just put you through to the call centre who basically will just refer you back to the bailiffs. I'll pm you the direct line for the Recovery Office. When you ring them just be reasonable, explain the situation re losing your job etc etc and they'll probably be ok. To be honest, if they know you are not trying to dodge, just in a bit of a mess at the moment, and not trying to get out of paying, just simply can't afford it, they will be reasonable. Well they always have been with me, anyway, and to be perfectly honest my payment history with them was dreadful.

Is this the current year's council tax? And how far behind are you? You should be able to make arrangements to pay xx per week on top of the normal monthly payment to get back on track, although they do like it to be finished by the end of March, when the new council tax year starts. So that basically gives you 6 months, but if you have got a good enough case they can extend this. Is the 703 the total left to pay for the year?

Bear in mind though, to only agree to what you can afford to pay, otherwise if you agree to too much, then fall behind, they'll get Bristow and Sutor back on the case again. Make sure you get an agreement in writing from SMBC, and ask them to instruct/advise B & S how much you will be paying. You can make a payment directly to SMBC by debit card whilst you are on the phone, if you are able to. The upshot of it may well be that you still have to pay the payments directly to Bristow and Sutor, if this is the case then no bother, as long as you only pay what is actually owing. And make sure you either send them a cheque or set up a standing order, because then they won't be able to charge extra for paying by debit card (a cunning bailiff trick).

Whilst you are on to the Council, make sure you ask them what fees the bailiffs have applied to your account, and ask them to remove any unlawful fees. Also tell them what the bailiff said about each visit was going to cost you an extra 300 quid. And you could point out to the council that they are responsble for the actions of the bailiffs, because they employ them. Don't do this in too shirty a way though as you want to keep the Council mob on your side,

[Angry Cat]

Re: Bailiff issues

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTax...rs/DG_10013198
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------

What the bailiff has told your husband is complete garbage. Bailiffs lie and cheat in order to scare money out of you. You will know when a bailff is lying - his lips will be moving.
Don't contact the bailiff again, definitely don't phone him, and whatever you do, don't let him into your house. Do't even open the door if he turns up. If you must speak to him (I wouldn't bother, personally) then do it from an upstairs window.

When you contact the council don't ring the 0845 number it shows on the council tax bill, that will just put you through to the call centre who basically will just refer you back to the bailiffs. I'll pm you the direct line for the Recovery Office. When you ring them just be reasonable, explain the situation re losing your job etc etc and they'll probably be ok. To be honest, if they know you are not trying to dodge, just in a bit of a mess at the moment, and not trying to get out of payimng, just simply can't afford it, they will be reasonable. Well they always have been with me, anyway, and to be perfectly honest my payment history with them was dreadful.

Is this the current years council tax? And how far behind are you? You should be able to make arrangemnents to pay xx per week on top of the normalmonthly payment to get back on track, although they do like it to be finished by the end of March, when the new council tax year starts. So that basically gives you 6 months, but if you have got a good enough case they can extend this. Is the 703 the total left to pay for the year?

Bear in mind though, to only agree to what you can afford to pay, otherwise if you agree to too much, then fall behind, they'll get Bristow and Sutor back on the case again. Make sure you get an agreement in writing from SMBC, and ask them to instruct/advise B & S how much you will be paying. You can make a payment directly to SMBC by debit card whilst you are on the phone, if you are able to. The upshot of it may well be that you still have tpo pay the payments directly to Bristow and Sutor, if this is the case then no bother, as long as you only pay what is actuially owing. And make sure you either send themm a cheque or set up a standing order, because then they won't be able to charge extra for paying by debit card (a cunning bailiff trick).

Whilst you are on to the Council, make sure you ask them what fees the bailiffs have applied to your account, and ask them to remove any unlawful fees. Also tell them what the bailiff said about each visit was going to cost you an extra 300 quid. And you could point out to the council that they are responsble for the actions of the bailiffs, because they employ them. Don't do this in too shirty a way though as you want to keep the Council mob on your side,

Excellent advice

[WendyB]

Re: Bailiff issues

Forgot to mention, the council staff can get onto B & S screens, so they should be able to see exactly what's on there, and the notes regarding charges and (alleged) visits made. Although I believe there are two different systems, one of which the council can see, and another which they can't. Not sure if this is the same for all councils and all bailiff companies, but it certainly is the case for Sandwell and B & S.

[WendyB]

Re: Bailiff issues

Concerned, I've pm'd you.

[concerned]

Re: Bailiff issues

Thankyou so so much , you are all saints. I always figured myself pretty informed about finance but when it hits you, its really quite tough. I think our bailiff was trying to push us to do something asap without checking our rights, he threw loads of stuff at me on the phone about him getting access to my home and form 8 I need to complete, I was calm and just told him I live in a bad area and it was unlikely to find anything unlocked, I will speak to the council today .Thankyou again x x

[Amy]

Re: Bailiff issues

This is the reason you should never telephone a bailiff.

[concerned]

Re: Bailiff issues

just an update, i spoke to the council today and have set up a payment plan - i hope to have repaid by jan. Thanks so much for the help and support xxxxx

[WendyB]

Re: Bailiff issues

Great result! Glad we could help. If you need any more help just shout.