bham city council

[coops555]

I had council tax arrears which i agreed with equita to pay back in instalments.EQUITA, HOWEVER I WAS ON SOME BENEFITS AT THE TIME AND THESE STOPPED, WITH THIS I RECIEVED A NEW COUNCIL TAX BILL FRO B/HAM CITY COUNCIL ASKING FOR MONTHLY PAYMENTS, THE LETTER STATED THAT £300.68 WAS OWED AND BEING PURSUED BY OTHER MEANS(IE EQUITA) AND THE BALANCE OF THE REMAINING YEARS COUNCIL TAX INCREASE TO BE PAID BY 3 MONTHLY PAYMENTS, THE FIRST OF WHICH I HAVE MADE DIRECT TO THE COUNCIL. TO EQUITA I HAVE ALREADY PAID £304. I CALLED EQUITA THIS MORNING WHO SAY THAT I OWE THEM £504 IN TOTAL,HOWEVER I HAVE ONLY RECIEVED LETTERS FROM THEM AND NEVER HAVE I HAD A VISIT FROM AN ACTUAL BAILIFF WITH THE INTENT OF MAKING A LEVY.
DO I OWE EQUITA THIS MONEY(THE EXTRA £200) OR DOES IT SOUND AS IF THE CASE IS CLEARED WITH ONLY EQUITA TO PASS THE FUNDS ONTO THE COUNCIL?


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i phoned equita and the bloke who i spoke to seemed utterly clueless as to what i was trying to explain to him and he insisted that i will be paying all of this years council tax to equita, and suggested that the bill i have from bham city council is in fact a different council tax bill eeven though it states year 201-2012

[ploddertom]

Re: bham city council

You need to establish exactly what you owe and for what year. One thing you should be aware of is that BCC have farmed out most of their admin including Revenues to a Company called Capita. They in turn own a couple of Bailiff firms one of which is Equita. When you ring the Council therefore you are not talking to a Council employee and it is in their interest to confuse you so Equita can add more charges.

You need the following information:
1 - how many Liability Orders there are against you
2 - the date(s) they were obtained
3 - the exact dates they cover
4 - the amount of the Liability Order
5 - the amount now outstanding
6 - the date it was passed to the Bailiff

Are the letters you have received sent by mail or delivered by hand?

[coops555]

Re: bham city council

one liability order for council tax 2011-2012, thats the ammount equita had in september, for the original council tax bill. the second bill i recieved from council is for the remainder of the years council tax,after coming of benefits, the original ammount equita were pursuing was for the year2011-2012, after benefit deductions but an estimate for the whole year.
i have only recieved letters through the post informing me that a bailiff will be visiting in next 7 days to remove goods/chattells etc etc , the last one was in october.

[ploddertom]

Re: bham city council

If you have only received letters via Royal Mail then the fees you owe are zero. There is no allowance in the Fee Scales for letters posted to you. To find out what they are charging you for you should send off for a breakdown of their charges, below is an example of what to send - adapt as you see fit and send initially by email backed up by a copy in the post:

"From:
My Name
My Address

To:
Acme Bailiff Co
Bailiff House

Ref: Account No: 123456

Dear Sir

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

This includes:
a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.
b - the reason for the fee.
c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.
d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.
e - the date of the Certification.

This is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

I require this information within 14 days.

Yours faithfully

Ripped off customer"

[CleverClogs]

Re: bham city council

If you have only received letters via Royal Mail then the fees you owe are zero. There is no allowance in the Fee Scales for letters posted to you.

Nor may bailiffs charge any fee(s) for telling lies, but most bailiffs will gladly do that free and gratis.