Rossendales

[kazza169]

Hi,
I owe Council Tax debt of £306, however Rossendales now have the account & want payment of £438. They have placed a levy on my car which i am trying to keep hidden from them.
The bailiff has visited twice this morning within 30mins of each other (its starting to feel like harrassment now)!!
If i was to pay the council the £306 would the bailiffs still try to take my car? Or do i need to pay them the money to get them to go away?

Thanks

[Amy]

Re: Rossendales

Yes Kazza you should pay the council direct as long as the bailiff has never been inside your property.

Have a read of this guide Bailiff Guide - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum for further information.

[kazza169]

Re: Rossendales

Thanks Amy, no the bailiff has never been inside my house but it is my car that he has placed the levy on, so i'm concerned that he'll still try & take it!
Would i be better just paying the money to them & having done with it? Or can they not take my car once the original debt is paid?

[Caspar]

Re: Rossendales

I don't know a lot about bailiffs, but for God's sake don't pay them a penny unless Amy advises you to. If you pay them it will go to their charges and not come off the council tax bill - you'll be throwing it away!

Pay the council direct - you can do it online if you don't want to face anyone!

[Amy]

Re: Rossendales

You will need to try and find out what fees this bailiff has added to your account, because he is not allowed to charge two visits on the same date.

You are perfectly within your rights to pay the council direct, but you should be aware that the bailiffs will probably step up their activities. That said, you should not let this put you off.

[kazza169]

Re: Rossendales

These are the fees on my account to date.

£24.50 – 1st Visit fee applied on the 28/04/2010 following a visit at 13.21 by Mr Sheraton
£18.00 – 2nd Visit fee applied on the 05/05/2010 following a visit at 13.01 by Mr Sheraton
£110.00 – Van Attendance fee applied on 19/08/2010 following a visit at 10.08 by Mr Tomlinson
£33.00 – Levy Fee

I am hoping to pay off the amount in full to the council via their website so i have a record of payment. So i just need to know if i have to pay Rossendales for the above fees?

[Caspar]

Re: Rossendales

This is the first time I've ever done this, so wait for it to be confirmed:

First visit £24.50
Second visit £18.00
Levy £24.50 for first £100.00 + 4% of remaining balance
4% x £206.00 = £8.24
Total levy = £24.50 + £8.24 = £32.74
Vehicle Attendance = Reasonable costs - don't know how they define "reasonable"

so with the exception of 26p de minimis inaccuracy on levy
the only other bit is the vehicle fee - is it reasonable? I would guess yes!

I'll be very interested to see comments on this. OP do not take this as gospel truth
as I've not done it before.

[Amy]

Re: Rossendales

Did he visit you on these dates? Did he leave you any paperwork as to what charges you had incurred?

[kazza169]

Re: Rossendales

He visited me yes, but the letters i got did not state charges on them. And on the letter from todays visit he's written a Reg No which isn't my cars as i'd left for work already when he came over & spoke 2 my partner.

[Amy]

Re: Rossendales

Bailiffs collecting for unpaid council tax cannot charge for letters, they can only charge for the visits and then only if those visits are made on separate dates. So for the visits, as long as you agree they were made on the dates he says they were, is fine.

In posts 1 and 3 you say the bailiff levied on your car, is this correct or not?

[kazza169]

Re: Rossendales

Yes he has. On my car but i'm not sure where this new Reg No has come from on the last letter.
I'm trying to keep my car hidden but his visits are getting very early (this morning was 7:30am) and i had only left for work 20mins earlier so i'm concerned if he comes earlier then he'll see where i've got the car.

[kazza169]

Re: Rossendales

I've started paying the debt off to the council so the amount should be clear by the end of Jan at the latest (i've just got a new job which will make this possible) i've also been making payments to Rossendales to cover the fees as well.
I spoke to the Bailiff last time he called & explained all of this because he said he wanted to help so the balance didn't get really high (well thats what his voicemail said anyways) but he said he's still going to keep visiting to get all the money a couple of time a week until the debt is fully paid!!
If he does that no matter how much i pay its never going to get paid off!! Has anybody got any advice of what i can do???