Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

[Gonzalo]

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

Thanks guys, you may be interested to know that a letter is winging its way to Messrs Stanford and Green as I type this!

Here's one for Cleverclogs. You said earlier that 'suffice it to say that, when Council Tax is being enforced, no letter fees are payable.'

Really, I had no idea? Can you point me to link to where I can find out more?

Cheers

G

[ploddertom]

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

I find for more than 3 Liability Orders it is easier to use a spreadsheet, meaning you can see quite easily at a glance. With there being so much it may be worth considering serving a Subject Access Request on both Council & Bailiffs.

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

You certainly need a breakdown of the fees demanded by the bailiffs, as it is quite likely (or almost certain) that some will have been bogus, inappropriate or otherwise unlawful. Use letter #1 from http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...Useful-Letters

Apart from that, one can merely repeat the celebrated words of George Frederic Handel: "God rot Tunbridge Wells!". :grin:

[Gonzalo]

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

Hi,

Many thanks for your comments and my apologies in advance for another long post.

Thanks to Inca for pointing out the error in my sums. I was undone by two typos. The numbers for the attendance fees are £125 and £95, or a total of £220.

In answer to Ploddertom, it seems that there were five Liability Orders made against me. In saying this, you should be aware that my paperwork is in a mess and so I'm relying on the Bailiff's figures and not the Council's for the time being.

All five Liability Orders would have been made against me between 2008 and 2013. Again, in saying this I'm relying on the Bailiff's figures: three of the five orders are clear with no balances outstanding showing on them, nothing is owed on them. The two remaining Liability Orders - the Bailiff calls them 'cases' - have £200.43 and £1076.27 outstanding on them, bringing the total to £1276.70 as at 31st December 2013.

I don't have the dates for any of the Liability Orders, or not yet anyway, but I'll definitely ask the Council for them when I next write to them - which I think is going to be soon. Very soon!

Thanks also to Cleverclogs for his comments and for me to confirm that the Liability Orders were made on the same property. The firm of Bailiffs is Stanford and Green and the council is Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. I can also confirm that know the names of the service heads and their contact details, which I have already: Mr William Benson is the Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service), and Mr Lee Colyer is the Head of Finance and Governance (Section 151 Officer).

So, moving on, and to bring you up-to-date, I wrote to the Council earlier in January asking them to provide me with a full breakdown of the payments (on a month by month basis) that I had made to them for all years between September 2007 - when I first bought the house - until January 2014. They replied by letter showing a breakdown of receipts and payments year by year, which essentially was what I had asked them to do.

What I really wanted to do was to get to a reconciliation of the figures that both the Bailiffs and the Council had sent me. This is not as straightforward or as simple as it should be, in part because the Bailiffs show their figures in a summary form and on a case by case basis, whereas the council provides its figures on monthly basis for each of the relevant financial years, e.g. from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011.

To complicate matters further, I was in receipt of two forms of benefit for the periods 2008/09 and again in 2009/10; the first being JSA and the second being something called New Deal 50+ . So far as I can see the benefits were applied correctly to my Council Tax 'account' by the Council. Although, I have to say that the whole issue of 'benefits' is a bit of a mystery to me, as I'm sure it is to a lot of other people?

You should also know that the figures that the Council sent to me contain a number of errors, which doesn't exactly give me a lot of confidence in the ability of the Council to resolve the problem(s) I have with. So, to give you an example, the breakdown of the figures for the Council Tax for the period April 2010 to 31st March 2011 doesn't add up, the payments I actually made for the charge period do not equal the charge, although the balance outstanding for this period is shown as £0.0. In my case, the CT charge is for Band D, minus single persons discount, plus the court costs, you'd think that the calculation should be simple enough for the Council to do, wouldn't you? In this case, the error happens to be in my favour to the tune of £31.26.

The Council's letter dated 24th January 2014, states that there is a 'balance due for the 2012/13 tax year of £1111.20 which is with the Bailiff for collection'.

So, where do I go from here, bearing mind that I have already incurred costs of £472 which are due to the Council and presumably for Court fees, together with costs of £497.52 (allegedly) which are due to the Bailiff. I should say that I get some comfort from knowing - or at least I assume - that these costs amounting to £969.62 in total are included in the figure of £1110.20 that the Council thinks I owe them.

Looking through my bank statements I know two things. First, I know the time a date of every transaction and the amount of money I have paid to the Council over the past seven years. Secondly, and in the same way, the time and date of the all the monies I have paid to the bailiff over the past five years. I should add that I also know that the DWP paid my benefits directly to the Council such as thy were because these are shown in a summary form on the letter that the Council sent to me on 24th January 2014.

I won't bore you with the details, but the years between 2008 and 2011 have been particularly difficult for me. I am keen to move on and to put the whole matter behind me, but I get the impression that the staff at the Council are ignorant of the rules and I find them to be unhelpful for these reasons. I am not clear that they have or are aware of a policy for Bailiffs' charges and regulations or for their dealings dealing with 'vulnerable people' in general.

Given the circumstances, what do you suggest I should do next?

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers

G

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

From their reference to "letter fees", one might suspect the firm could be Equita.

Suffice it to say that, when Council Tax is being enforced, no letter fees are payable.

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

You need to speak to someone at the Council and ask the following questions:
1 - how many Liability Orders they have against you
2 - the dates they were obtained
3 - the addresses they were for
4 - the period of time each covers
5 - how much each one was for
6 - how much is still outstanding
7 - the dates they were passed on for enforcement
8 - the dates & amounts of any payments

You can always pay the Council direct at a level you can afford by using online banking,the Council website or their automated service via the electric telephone.

Which firm of bailiffs is it?

Which council is it? (I want to find the Head of Revenues and/or Chief Executive Officer for you.)

[ploddertom]

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

How many Liability Orders are against you & how much do you owe on each one - as confirmed by the Council, not the Bailiffs? Have they given you the dates to go with the charges?

Re: Council Tax - Bailiff's Fees and Charges

Well,,125 and 90 is 215 so they're a bit out there lol
As for the others,,I don't have a clue but the clever bods will pop by soon