Rossendales

[tina 1969]

Hi i have been paying Rossendales bailiffs £60 every month for nearly a year, i got laid off from my cleaning job just over 7 weeks ago and having explained this to 1 of the office workers at Rossendales i explained i may pay my monthly payments a week or 2 late as i was waiting to see if i was entitled to benefits, as it was i paid them 11 days late as i was able to go back to my job, all paymenst must be made by 13th of every month, my last payment was made on 3rd may, i have just rang them to inform them that my 17 year old daughter is starting an apprenticeship in 2 weeks time, and i will be losing my Child Tax Credit of £62 a week and also my Child Benefit of £20.20 a week, so my payments will have to be reduced as i only earn £62.50 per week doing my cleaning job, and i receive no benefits whatsoever, I was told by 1 of the Rossendale team that they no longer deal with ,my account now as they have passed it on to a bailiff, after arguing with them for 5 minutes he gave me the bailiffs mobile number and said i had to contact him, So i rang him and he stated how much i owed for unpaid council tax, a little over £3,000, and said him and his colleague would be paying me a visit within the next 10 days , i asked was it to take my stuff and he laughed and said "no" just to discuss another payment plan, I therefore went on to say how i have paid every month even tho sometimes i paid late i always rang the office to explain why my payment would be late, also telling him about my daughters job and my loss of income, he just said we will see you in 10 days Mrs Gardner. Now i am worried sick, losing around £82 per week and now this, please could anyone give me some advice, thankyou

[Guest]

Re: Rossendales

Hi i have been paying Rossendales bailiffs £60 every month for nearly a year, i got laid off from my cleaning job just over 7 weeks ago and having explained this to 1 of the office workers at Rossendales i explained i may pay my monthly payments a week or 2 late as i was waiting to see if i was entitled to benefits, as it was i paid them 11 days late as i was able to go back to my job, all paymenst must be made by 13th of every month, my last payment was made on 3rd may, i have just rang them to inform them that my 17 year old daughter is starting an apprenticeship in 2 weeks time, and i will be losing my Child Tax Credit of £62 a week and also my Child Benefit of £20.20 a week, so my payments will have to be reduced as i only earn £62.50 per week doing my cleaning job, and i receive no benefits whatsoever, I was told by 1 of the Rossendale team that they no longer deal with ,my account now as they have passed it on to a bailiff, after arguing with them for 5 minutes he gave me the bailiffs mobile number and said i had to contact him, So i rang him and he stated how much i owed for unpaid council tax, a little over £3,000, and said him and his colleague would be paying me a visit within the next 10 days , i asked was it to take my stuff and he laughed and said "no" just to discuss another payment plan, I therefore went on to say how i have paid every month even tho sometimes i paid late i always rang the office to explain why my payment would be late, also telling him about my daughters job and my loss of income, he just said we will see you in 10 days Mrs Gardner. Now i am worried sick, losing around £82 per week and now this, please could anyone give me some advice, thankyou

Did you sign a walking possession agreement when you first started your repayments?Check out page 9 of The National Standards for Enforcement agents & see if you qualify for anything listed-The fact that you are unemployed is one straight away.Write to the council and copy the bailiffs in.Explain how you have paid on time for almost a year but your circumstances have now changed.Inform them that you are unemployed.Ask them to take the debt back on the grounds of your vulnerability and ask them to stop or at least suspend civil enforcement whilst you are in this situation.

[bluebottle]

Re: Rossendales

Rossendales have a very poor reputation where CT/NNDR arrears are concerned, especially where bullying of debtors is concerned and illegal/unlawful conduct. There have been a number of highly-critical and damning reports by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) in which Rossendales have been found to have engaged in illegal/unlawful behaviour. Where payment plans are concerned, they cannot dictate what you pay. It must be adjusted to accommodate your income and be realistically-affordable. If it is found they are attempting to engineer a default in order to justify charging fees, that is a no-no under OFT Regulations.

The local council involved needs to be reminded of the damning report by the LGO against Blaby Council and Rossendales.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Rossendales

Write to the council and copy the bailiffs in.Explain how you have paid on time for almost a year but your circumstances have now changed.Inform them that you are unemployed.Ask them to take the debt back on the grounds of your vulnerability and ask them to stop or at least suspend civil enforcement whilst you are in this situation.

When the council clot replies that they cannot stop enforcement action, tell them that the law states they can.

(Section 70(b) - link - of the Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996, as I'm sure you'll recall. :grin

[bluebottle]

Re: Rossendales

When the council clot replies that they cannot stop enforcement action, tell them that the law states they can.

(Section 70(b) - link - of the Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996, as I'm sure you'll recall. :grin

I am wondering, CC, if we should encourage LBers to repeatedly remind local authorities of the provision you have highlighted. They will probably get sick and tired of hearing it blasting through their ear canals, but if peeps keep reminding them of what the law says, they might, finally, get the message and stop behaving like idiots.

[bizzybob]

Re: Rossendales

(b)any instruction from the authority in relation to any debtor to take no (or no further) such steps is immediately complied with;

How often do they carry on enforcement when told to stop? Ah yes most of the time. Good idea keep reminding 'em they always retain control of an account