trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

[cr2556]

Hi I am having trouble with Jacobs over council tax. They visited my home 1st on the 8th Feb 2013 with 8 different liability orders then again on the 11th feb 2013 I rang and sorted to pay £50.00 per month due to the council telling them they had to for a period of time. I paid on the 28th April then "8th March but on the 24th of may they came again and pushed more letters through my door with much higher costs in fact when I worked this out they had charged me £775.50 for the 3 visits. They never came in at any time. I complained to council and asked them to take debt back they said no because I owe £3,084.61 in total or I did before costs of bailiff went on. I sent and asked for a breakdown of costs and they sent me following explanation. ref (1 )_ 8/2/2013 outstanding £567.20 plus costs. 11/2/2013 outstanding £585.20 plus costs 24th May £641.70 Explanation letter states Jan 17 2013 debt £542.70 Feb 8th visit 1 24.50 Feb 11th visit 2 18.00 May 24th Sch 5 head H 24.50 24th march levy fee 42.00 Paid £100.00 balance now £551.70 .They have never been in my home ever. They have added charges like this on all 8 orders and after reading this forum I am not sure if its legal to be charging me all this. They said they returned again to my home as the plan was only for 8 weeks and I had not contacted them to change but in the letter they sent me they said they would write to me with a request for new proposal for payment. They never did this. Sorry this is long but I haven't put all orders down so not to bore everyone. Please can anyone help Thanks cr2556

[CleverClogs]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Right... It probably isn't legal to add charges like that and some of the charges - such as the "head H" fees - seem inappropriate.

Can you set out in turn for each liability order:

1. the date of the liability order
2. the initial amount of the liability order
3. the charges applied and the dates those charges were applied

The summary you've made suggests there is a problem, but it does not really help one to unpick the bailiffs' misdeeds.

Three last questions:

1. Though the buggers have never been inside, have they levied distress or seized anything outside the house, no matter how cheap or insignificant that might be?
2. Might they have seized or sought to seize a motor-car parked nearby?
3. Did they leave a Notice of Seizure listing items they claimed to see through a window, or any Notice of Seizure at all?

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

1st 1 is liability order date 24/09/2008 bailiff attendance notice gives £567.20 and says plus costs at side but not what costs are. the letter I got from bailiffs states Jan17th Debt £542.70 Feb 8th visit fee 1 24.50 Feb 11th visit fee 2 18.00 may 24th Sch head H 24.50 May24th levy fee 42.00 I paid £50.00 on 28th April and £50.00 on the 28th May it says balance outstanding now £551.70 Shall I send you all the dates and amounts for all the orders . The bailiff put all 8 liability orders through door in one envelope . If I am doing this right I will post all different ones just checking with you as I have not been on a forum before. On the last three questions they have never levied anything to my knowledge outside the house. I don't have a car of my own but I do drive a disabled lady round in her mobility car but have not heard that they know this. I have never had a notice of seizure listing items through a window or a notice of seizure at all in fact I didn't know what that was. When you say it does not help to unpick bailiffs misdeads do you mean I should not have wrote to ask for explanations from them. I didn't say in my posts but they wouldn't even tell me why they had come when I rang them

[ploddertom]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

I use a spreadsheet to view these as it makes it easier for multiple LO's. Writing it out as you have done is quite hard to follow but there will be a lot of fees on there that shouldn't be. If you cannot make your own spreadsheet up can I suggest you put it into a format similar to this:

Liability order 1
31/2/2012 - Initial Debt - £999-99
15/13/2012 - 1st Visit - £24-50
16/13/2012 - 2nd visit - £18-00
17/13/2012 - levy Fee - £50-00
17/13/2012 - Head H - £24-50

Liability Order 2
follows similar pattern and so on with each one.

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

2nd liability orderdate is 27/5/2009 £351.46 again plus costs Jan 17th Debt £351.46 Feb 8th visit fee 1 24.50 Feb 11th visit fee2 18.00 may 24th Sch 5 Head H 24.50 24th may levy fee 35.00 balance outstanding of 30th may £453.46 3rd Liability orderis 26/01/2011 Debt £419.88 Jan 17th debt £419.88 Feb 8th visit fee 1 24.50 Feb 11th visit fee 2 £18.00 may 24th Sch 5 Head 24.50 may24th Attendance/van £90.00 May 24th Levy fee £38.00 balance outstanding as of 30th may £614.88 4th liability order25/5/2011 Jan 17th Debt £839.37 Feb 8th visit fee 1 £24.50 Feb 11th visit fee 2 £18.00 May 24th Sch 5 Head H £24.50 May 24th Levy fee £49.00 balance outstanding as of 30th may £955.37 5th Liability order 30/5/2012 Feb 8th visit fee 1 £24.50 feb 11th visit fee 2 £18.00 May 24th Sch 5 Head H £24.50 May 24th levy fee £49.00 balance outstanding as of 30th may£924.70 . I hope I have done this ok for you sorry if it's not very clear i'm not very good on computers Thanks again for your very quick reply to me.

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Sorry i'l do them again now only just seen your reply sorry will do this now

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Liability order date 24/9/2008

date	type	amount
jan 17th 2013	debt	542.70
feb 8th 2013	visit fee 1	24.50
feb 11th 2013	visit fee 2	24.50
Mar 28th2013	payment by d/c	1.00
April 28th 2013	payment by d/c	1.00
may 24th 2013	Sch 5 Head H	24.50
May 24th 2013	levy fee	42.00

outstanding as of 30th may 2013 £551.70 Paid £100.00 of this bill 50..00 28th march and 50.00 28th April

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Liability order date 27/5/2009 Outstanding as of 30th may 2013 £453.46

date	type	amount
jan 17th 2013	debt	351.46
Feb 8th 2013	visit fee 1	24.50
feb 11th 2013	visit fee 2	18.00
May 24th 2013	Sch 5 head H	24.50
May24th 2013	Levy fee	35.00

[ploddertom]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

OK that is easy to follow thank you. Just to save you aving to the others do they all follow a similar pattern? Are the dates for the Visits all the same? Have you been left a Notice of Seizure for the levy they are claiming to have made?

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Liability order date 24/9/2008

date	type	amount
jan 17th 2013	debt	542.70
feb 8th 2013	visit fee 1	24.50
feb 11th 2013	visit fee 2	24.50
Mar 28th2013	payment by d/c	1.00
April 28th 2013	payment by d/c	1.00
may 24th 2013	Sch 5 Head H	24.50
May 24th 2013	levy fee	42.00

outstanding as of 30th may 2013 £551.70 Paid £100.00 of this bill 50..00 28th march and 50.00 28th April

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Yes they all do except one there is also a fee for attendance with van it cost 90.00 but it was on same day 24th may its only on one of the orders though. all visits on same day .No notice of Seizure I had not heard of levy till I gat the letter explaining costs.

[ploddertom]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Jacobs have form for this type of overcharging. You are going to have to do some more writing but this time to the Council and copies may be sent to the Bailiffs. As the Council are ultimately responsible for the actions & charges of their agent, you ask them to explain why the Bailiff is charging for multiple fees & also claiming a levy on goods for which you have been left no Notice of Seizure - a legal requirement. You should make this complaint to the Council CEO and mark both letter & envelope "Formal Complaint". It will also be a good idea to involve your local Councillor(s).

There is a very good chance the Council will just defer this to the Bailiffs & come back & say everything is hunkydory. If they do then all the better as we can then help you show them where they have gone wrong. In the meantime repel all boarders.

Incidentally how many are in the household & is there anyone ill or disabled or on Benefits?

[CleverClogs]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

Well, they should not charge a visit fee for each visit for each liability order which, of course, they have done. By charging like that, they are effectively preventing your payments from ever reaching the council.

If no Notice of Seizure has ever been left, no levy on goods has ever been made and thus no levy fees are payable - not even if, as here, the levy fees are less than they should be! It follows, then, that no "head H" fees (for the release of goods levied and removed, where the sale has been cancelled) could apply either. There is no provision in the regulations for charging any fee for payment by card.

All the buggers can lawfully claim in fees is £42.50 - and that's £42.50 for all the liability orders, not £42.50 for each!

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

No one else lives here only me and im not on any benefits.

[cr2556]

Re: trouble with Jacobs baliffis please could anyone help.

I went into the council last Tuesday and asked them to take the debt back and I said I would not pay baliffis any more money. They took a payment of £ 50.00 that was due for May 28th. But they rang me up and said it had gone of this years but they had rang Jacobs and told them to take 50.00 on June 28th and she said I was wrong about charges and I had to deal with Jacobs. Am I allowed to ask council again to take debt back or do I just ask them to speak to |Jacobs over charges.