Council tax arrears and bailiffs

[JimTwig]

Hi, Im new to the forum and have spend the past couple hours reading and am hoping for some advice. Im writing this mainly on my girlfriends behalf but it involves me too.

A couple of years ago my girlfriend got into council tax arrears at a flat she rented. As she wasn't planning on staying there long she used my address as a postal address. A couple of letters turned up here from the council about the arrears then a couple of months ago bailiff letters started arriving. She contacted the council about the arrears and was told that she had to deal with it through the bailiff and the council refused to take payment. She then contacted to bailiff and set up a payment plan. Unfortunately she missed a payment this month and the bailiff has been ringing her this evening. She offered to make up the payment by card there and then but the bailiff said no, he was going to come to the address and seize property. But he has my address and not hers! She informed him of this and refused to give her current address to him. He said he will be contacting the council tomorrow to get her address.

Reading through this forum I saw the following...

Before bailiffs appear at your property, the law states you should have received a Final Notice or Reminder to your current address. If bailiffs have appeared, and you have not received this Final Notice, contact your council immediately, insisting the bailiffs are called off.

My girlfriend has been living at her new place august 2013 and pays her council tax promptly so her address is available to the council. However she has never received any of the above to her address.

The bailiff also informed her that her case had been taken to court which is why he is now involved. She has no information about this, didn't receive a court summons or any other letters. Should she have?

I have no fear of the bailiff turning up either to my place or hers and will be giving her all the info from here about not letting them in under any circumstance!

So basically Im just looking for some advice on the next step to take regarding this.

Thank you for reading and any advice will be much appreciated and please ask for any other info you may need to give advice!

Jim

[bluebottle]

Re: Council tax arrears and bailiffs

Hi, Im new to the forum and have spend the past couple hours reading and am hoping for some advice. Im writing this mainly on my girlfriends behalf but it involves me too.

A couple of years ago my girlfriend got into council tax arrears at a flat she rented. As she wasn't planning on staying there long she used my address as a postal address. A couple of letters turned up here from the council about the arrears then a couple of months ago bailiff letters started arriving. She contacted the council about the arrears and was told that she had to deal with it through the bailiff and the council refused to take payment. She then contacted to bailiff and set up a payment plan. Unfortunately she missed a payment this month and the bailiff has been ringing her this evening. She offered to make up the payment by card there and then but the bailiff said no, he was going to come to the address and seize property. But he has my address and not hers! She informed him of this and refused to give her current address to him. He said he will be contacting the council tomorrow to get her address.

Reading through this forum I saw the following...

Before bailiffs appear at your property, the law states you should have received a Final Notice or Reminder to your current address. If bailiffs have appeared, and you have not received this Final Notice, contact your council immediately, insisting the bailiffs are called off.

My girlfriend has been living at her new place august 2013 and pays her council tax promptly so her address is available to the council. However she has never received any of the above to her address.

The bailiff also informed her that her case had been taken to court which is why he is now involved. She has no information about this, didn't receive a court summons or any other letters. Should she have?

I have no fear of the bailiff turning up either to my place or hers and will be giving her all the info from here about not letting them in under any circumstance!

So basically Im just looking for some advice on the next step to take regarding this.

Thank you for reading and any advice will be much appreciated and please ask for any other info you may need to give advice!

Jim

Hi Jim and welcome to Legal Beagles.

Your girlfriend needs to contact the Council tomorrow and find out why she did not receive a summons and was not informed of any court hearing. Unless there is a valid reason for this, the Council may have acted unlawfully by not informing her of any court hearing. If the Council is refusing to accept any payments from your girlfriend, they cannot lawfully refuse any payment and may be committing an offence by doing so.

Which Council and which firm of bailiffs are involved, please?

[bizzybob]

Re: Council tax arrears and bailiffs

you can pay the council direct using their telephone or onliner system, she needs a fee breakdown fron the bailiff rto see what fees they have applied, as they could well have added all sorts of unlawful charges and fees, and by paying the bailiff he will only pass a pittance to the council, and swallow the rest up in fees real and Brothers Grimm. There is no law that says you have to deal with a bailiff either.

[JimTwig]

Re: Council tax arrears and bailiffs

Hi Jim and welcome to Legal Beagles.

Your girlfriend needs to contact the Council tomorrow and find out why she did not receive a summons and was not informed of any court hearing. Unless there is a valid reason for this, the Council may have acted unlawfully by not informing her of any court hearing. If the Council is refusing to accept any payments from your girlfriend, they cannot lawfully refuse any payment and may be committing an offence by doing so.

Which Council and which firm of bailiffs are involved, please?

The council is Charnwood Borough Council, Leicestershire and the bailiffs letters say Equita. So what action can she take if the council have been unlawful? Thanks

[bluebottle]

Re: Council tax arrears and bailiffs

The council is Charnwood Borough Council, Leicestershire and the bailiffs letters say Equita. So what action can she take if the council have been unlawful? Thanks

The mere mention of Equita indicates Charnwood Borough Council has an infestation of a company named Capita which owns Equita and another bailiff firm called Ross & Roberts. If you ring up about Council Tax matters, you are put straight through to Capita employees who tell you that you have to deal with their bailiff chums at Equita, which is totally disingenuous because there is nothing in law which compels you to deal with, let alone speak to a bailiff.

Your girlfriend needs to speak to the Head of Revenues, who is not a Capita employee, and get this sorted out. She needs to be aware that, in some councils where Capita has a foothold, Capita run the switchboard. She needs to box clever and not allow them to put her through to the Capita employees in the Council Tax department.

Also, Equita are well-known for fee fraud. Go to the main Bailiff forum page and click on Useful Letters. There is a specimen Breakdown of Fees letter. Use this as a template and send to Equita.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Council tax arrears and bailiffs

Charnwood Borough sounds like the place where Slymeswold cheese was made and, appropriately, its MP is the Tory, Stephen Dorrell.

The council officers' details are given here ---> PDF link

The CEO is Geoff Parker - telephone: 01509 634660 email: geoff.parker@charnwood.gov.uk