Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

[janeyjewel]

Please can someone tell me what to do with Bristow and Sutor. I have had a letter today stating that they have been to my property to remove goods. They say i now owe another £228.00 so now owe in total £690.64.
I do not have it as myself and my parrtner are on bennefits. I offered monthly instalments but they say they wont accept it. Can you please help me as i dont want to loose my property. They made an agreement with my partner when i was out 2 weeks ago, she is mentally disabled and i am a full time carer. I told them this and said they should of dealt with me. What can i do.
Thanks,
Jane

[bluebottle]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

Hi Janey and welcome to Legal Beagles.

The first thing you need to do is ask B & S what this £228.00 is for. If you and your partner are on benefits and your partner is mentally-disabled, you are classed as vulnerable under the National Standards for Enforcement Agents. B & S need to be told this as they should advise their client and seek direction. Also, B & S hold an OFT Category F Credit Licence which means they must comply with OFT Debt Collection Guidelines as a condition of their licence. Failure to comply can result in them having restrictions placed on the licence or an Adverse Determination to Revoke or Refuse Renewal of the licence. For a company like B & S, this would be disastrous as they would not be able to collect consumer or public debt. Any bailiff company collecting public debt is normally required to hold an OFT Licence as a condition of contract/tender.

As such, B & S cannot refuse monthly instalments. That is a breach of their OFT Licence and Debt Collection Guidelines. Their conduct to date can be classed as oppressive and amounting to harassment. That, too, is a breach of the Guidelines and B & S's licence.

If you could tell us what the debt is for, it will easier to advise you further.

[Guest]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

This looks like a council tax bailiff.

The law that prescribes bailiffs fees for unpaid council tax is Regulation 14(2) (amended) and Regulation 45(2) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, which prescribes a fixed fee of £24.50 for visiting you, and reasonable costs for taking control of your goods. The bailiff appears to have seriously overcharged you by over £200.

If the bailiff did not take control of your goods, then the bailiffs costs are NIL.

You are on benefits, and this could be your trump card. This is because you can now make a written formal complaint and ask for the case to be returned to council administration, because they did not follow council tax enforcement regulations.

[HEAD OF COUNCIL TAX ENFORCEMENT]
[NAME OF] Council
[ADDRESS & POSTCODE]

[DATE]

Dear sir.

FORMAL COMPLAINT

BY POST AND BY EMAIL

Re: Council tax [ACCOUNT NO.] & [amount AS SHOWN ON THE LIABILITY ORDER]

I make this formal complaint because on [DATE] because you indicated you may instruct bailiffs to recover the debt/I received a bailiff who said was acting on your behalf.

I therefore I write to make a formal complaint because I am in receipt of prescribed benefits including [NAME OF BENEFIT E.G. JOB SEEKERS ALLOWANCE, DLA] and evidence has been enclosed with this letter.

I understand that deductions can be made directly from prescribed benefits to pay council tax arrears under Section 2 of the Council Tax (Deductions from Income Support) Regulations 1993

Complaint resolution

Cease enforcement action and start deductions for the arrears from my benefits.

Yours Faithfully


[YOUR NAME]
Enc proof of benefits.

cc [NAME AND SURNAME] MP.

Also, your post does not mention whether you received a final notice or a reminder fro the council before it sent bailiffs. If no final notice or reminder was received, then you have a further case for complaint.

[miliitant]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...-tax&highlight=

HAVE A NOSE AT THE ABOVE LINK

i have just sorted out the same problem with a friend of mine

[miliitant]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

Mrs xxxx

Xxxx

xxxx

31/07/2012

xxxx Council
Council tax recovery department
Xxxx
xxxxx

CC: BRISTOW AND SUTOR

(Hard copies sent by royal mail to recipients)

COUNCIL TAX REFERENCE NUMBER xxxx/ BRISTOW AND SUTOR xxxxxx

Dear sir madam

I have just received correspondence from your enforcement agents Bristow and Sutor with reference to a liability order obtained in relation to Council Tax arrears. (Copy enclosed)
The enforcement agent has set up a payment plan in my absence at a rate of £xx0 per week. I do not contest my liability in this matter and fully agree that any outstanding liability needs to be repaid back to the issuing authority.

Due to my personal circumstances of being on state benefitat the moment, and receiving only £xxx every two weeks, it is simply impossible to maintain repayments of £xxx per week.

I have had to seek external advice on this matter due to my personal circumstances and I have been informed that I come under the VULNRABLE PERSONS category as to regulations set by the Ministry of Justice. The regulations are contained within The National Standards for Enforcement Agents (Department for Constitutional Affairs)

Those that might be considered vulnerable include the following:
The elderly, People with a Disability, Seriously ill, recently bereaved, single parent families, pregnant women, Unemployed people, and those who have difficulty understanding/speaking English.

I respectfully request xxxx Council recall the liability order from its enforcement agents Bristow and Sutor with immediate effect due to the circumstances outlined, and that a realistic repayment proposal be set up direct with the issuing authority.

Please confirm receipt and acceptance of my proposals by email to

[janeyjewel]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

Thankyou for this info. I should have mentioned that this debt is not council tax. It was a parking fine i recieved when my car broke down at my local car park that the council charge for. The original ticket was for£50. I didn't pay at the time as i sent a form back telling them thai had broken down and maybe i wouldn't have to pay. I heard nothing back until the bailiffs. My partner didn't informe of their first visit as she forgets a lot of things which is why they should not of dealt with her (amongst other reasons ). Please can you inform me what to do now you have all the info. SUEThankyou for, Jane n. My local council who charge for the parking is Cheshire east.

[bluebottle]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

It sounds like the council involved in this have not followed correct procedures and neither has B & S. You need to speak to the council involved and ask why correct procedures have been by-passed. You should have been sent a letter informing you that you had not paid the PCN and that the fine had increased and warning you of further action. If you have not received this, the council need to explain why. Don't accept any claims of "You would have received it," as they have to prove it was sent and you received it. It sounds like you need to file an Out of Time Statutory Declaration with the Northampton TEC. This would put things on hold whilst the TEC and council sort things out. B & S know very well they cannot deal with third parties when chasing debt, unless there is a very good reason.

[janeyjewel]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

Thanks Alsation for your reply just a few more questions if you don't mind could you tell me how to file an Out of Time Declaratio with the Northampton TEC and what can I do in the meantime if Bristow and Sutor come back, or should we contact them, and if so what should I say. If we do need to contact them can we adapt the above council tax letter posted by Border Collie for the council parking fine. Did you mean by ' third party ' my partner who is mentally disabled, was it very wrong they did that as I think it was.I'm also a bit worried about them returning and not being prepared as my partner also agreed to certain goods to be taken if the payments were defaulted on although nothing has ever been signed by her. Thank you in advance for your time and advice again.Jane.

[bluebottle]

Re: Please help with bailiffs bristow and sutor

Thanks Alsation for your reply just a few more questions if you don't mind could you tell me how to file an Out of Time Declaratio with the Northampton TEC and what can I do in the meantime if Bristow and Sutor come back, or should we contact them, and if so what should I say. If we do need to contact them can we adapt the above council tax letter posted by Border Collie for the council parking fine. Did you mean by ' third party ' my partner who is mentally disabled, was it very wrong they did that as I think it was.I'm also a bit worried about them returning and not being prepared as my partner also agreed to certain goods to be taken if the payments were defaulted on although nothing has ever been signed by her. Thank you in advance for your time and advice again.Jane.

If you have the reference number of the PCN, ring Northampton TEC on 0845 7045007 and ask them which forms you need to download from the MoJ website and how to submit them. Some TEC forms need to be notarised by a solicitor (Cost: £5/£10).

With regard to your partner, if they are subject to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, any agreement made by them with the bailiffs is invalid as a person subject to the Act who is deemed to be incapable of administering their own affairs, cannot enter into a contract or agreement. Any sort of contract or agreement has to be dealt with by their attorney in order for it to be legally-binding or valid. If this is the case, the bailiffs might kick-off and claim that it doesn't make any different. It does.