**URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

[PIKEO]

Hello there, I am new to this site and I am desperate to seek some advice from yourselves if possible. Back in January I started making arrangements with Equita due to my neglect in paying council tax, they were asked to take control over two accounts, one of £600+ and other been £300+. We came to agreement of £50 to be paid each month, both parties were happy until the second payment they took was £100 which left me short for more than two weeks. When I spoke to the Bailiff who had authorization from myself to take the payments from my card, he said he was sorry and mistakenly took the £100 but offered no return to myself which left me behind with other payments, after this I made one more payment of £50 and today a different Bailiff called for payment of £300 plus £235 because he said nothing had been paid since January. I explained that I have been making payments and that £100 was taken without my consent but he was still insisting I the full amount been taken and that he will be returning back to the property within 24 hours to either collect the money or to remove goods. Now after this I called Equita call center to no avail as they said I had to deal with him direct. So I spoke to him and he was not taking any notice and telling me I had to pay in full. So I called Equita back to try and get to the bottom of why he said I was not making any payments. My persistent call found that when they had been receiving payments that the first payment of £50 was split to cover both accounts which we agreed was acceptable, but then after, the payment of £100 (which I did not authorize) was only to cover £600+ account and then the last payment of £50 to cover the same owed account. I asked how this was possible as this now lead the smaller account to become behind in payments and lead the account to be acted upon with his visit, to my reply of which was "you need to speak with the Bailiff directly". This went back and forth until the bailiff agreed this was a mess and he finally understood that something needed to be done, he said that he was going to suspend the removal until he gets to the bottom of this and will return the call to follow up. Now my concern with this is the previous Bailiff removed £100 from my account without my consent, so what is stopping this Bailiff from continuing the action going back on his word, and within the first stated timeline and removing goods or wanting full payment. I'm sorry for the lengthily post but thought I had to get the facts there for who ever is willing to advise me.

Thanks for your time and hope to here something positive back from yourselves,

Paul

[bluebottle]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

Hi Pikeo and welcome to Legal Beagles.

First thing tomorrow morning, ring the council and ask to speak to the Head of Revenues. The reason I say this is because Equita is owned by a company named Capita who run the back office at a number of councils. If you ask to speak to the Council Tax Department, you wil be put through to a Capita employee masquerading as a council employee and you will be given the runaround. The Head of Revenues is a local government officer and a senior manager. Make them aware of what us going on and that, due to Equita's conduct, you request the council to recall the debt to its administration. Remind them of the guidelines laid down by the Department for Communities and Local Government and make it clear you are minded to involve your ward councillors and MP in the matter. Follow up the telephone conversation with a letter confirming what was said during the conversation. Copy your ward councillors, MP and the council's CEO in on the letter.

[PIKEO]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

Thank you for your quick response, what do I say they refuse to recall the debt to its administration? would you advise me to search for the guidelines for the department of communities and read up about them?

[bluebottle]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

You must give the Head of Revenues a chance to resolve this matter. In the interim period, I would be seeking to have all enforcement action suspended whilst the matter is investigated with a view to the debt being eventually recalled to council administration. When you speak to the Head of Revenues, inform them you will confirming your conversation with them in writing and copying the letter to the CEO of the Council, your ward councillors, Leader and Opposition Leader of the Council and your MP. Do make sure you explain that you are doing this to draw their attention to the unacceptable conduct of Equita.

The guidelines should be available on the CfCLG website.

[Crazy council]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

I would atack this another way

email capita

Dear sir/madam/undecided ( i like to be politically correct )

In relation to acc888 888 888

I feel stressed and intimidated by your actions in relation to the above accounts

We made agreement of £ 50 per month for all outstanding and you made a mistake on the second month drawing £ 100 on the second month that had consequences for me. I am/will still pay£ 50 pm but will not put up with your bullying and intimidating tactics to try draw more money out of me, I consider your administration of the account tantamount to harassment and surely trying to bully people like your bailiff did should be something for the regulators.... So

Either we agree TODAY that all charges are removed from my account today and i will continue to pay the £ 50 pm, or I will pay the £ 50 per month directly into my councils account starting immediately ( ********i have done this even though they tried to refuse me******** ) ). I will immediately raise complaints with the regulators, my councils head of revenue, and expect you to consider this email and my phone calls as the basis for the complaint.

I will not entertain or answer the door to any baillif you send today and would consider it further harassment, and a clear attempt to simply impose further charges.

Please let me know by 3pm today if you wish me to maintain the agreement without and charges, or you wish me to take the second option.

regards ************ ( edit and fill out were required, it should head them off )

email them it, call them, make sure they read the email. let us know what they say

[PIKEO]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

I've been told by national debt line to forward them a copy of my budget plan for income and outgoings and what I propose to pay them each month and to continue to pay them the said amount originally agreed. Thank you for your time and I will keep this thread updated with my progress

[Guest]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

The correct action to take in this instance is to issue a formal complaint in writing to the CEO of the council. A telephone conversation with the head of revenues will not advance the situation any further, if indeed you are actually passed on to the head of revenues. The guidelines issued by the DCLG are not really much help in this instance.


Structure your complaint in much the same way as you've laid out the situation in post #1. Add that there was no excuse to visit and charge £235 as your payments were up to date (£100 in one month was effectively paying a month in advance) You require this fee to be removed from your account.

They cannot charge you any further fees unless you allow them into your property (which you are not obliged to do so) or they are able to take control of a vehicle or other property outside your house. Ask for enforcement action to be suspended whilst your complaint is being investigated, just to be on the safe side.

A problem that you may have is that I anticipate you have nothing in writing regarding the agreement of £50 per month? It will be hard for you to prove this agreement was made & easy for the EA's to deny it.

A formal complaint gets a process under way & the council are bound to go through the correct complaints procedure. They would be on very shaky ground if they continue with enforcement whilst the case is being investigated. A telephone conversation is not accepted as part of any official procedure.

As mentioned previously, the big factor here is going to be your ability to prove an agreement of £50 was in place. If you can do this, you have a very strong argument.

[Guest]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

I've been told by national debt line to forward them a copy of my budget plan for income and outgoings and what I propose to pay them each month and to continue to pay them the said amount originally agreed. Thank you for your time and I will keep this thread updated with my progress

This advice is incorrect. Unless you get a formal complaint in asap, the EA's are at liberty to return. If they get hold of any goods belonging to yourself, it will cost you more money. It is essential for you to get a complaint under way, firstly, to suspend recovery action and secondly to challenge the £235 fee. The National Debtline appear to have brushed these issues under the carpet.

I would personally never volunteer an income & outgoings to them until asked in any case.

[Wombats]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

Starving Taxpayer, I think you are partially correct, but I also think National Debtline is also correct. The good thing about National Debtline is they were one of the few organisations that received their training in the new regulations directly from John Kruse, so their training was top notch.

By volunteering your I&E at this stage, effectively you are proving that what you are paying is what you can afford, no more, no less, thus if, in future an EA tries to demand more than this, it is in writing that you cannot afford it so the EA is open to formal complaint.

Having said that, I agree it would be good, alongside what you send to the council regarding your intended payments, to ask for written confirmation that this is acceptable. The national standards ( taking-control-of-goods-national-standards.pdf ) state where a LA has stated a repayment proposal is acceptable, the EA should accept it. They are therefore on very dodgy ground if they fail to do so.

I wouldn't suspend payments, as that is willfully not paying - a VERY different thing to not being able to pay. It also prolongs a very stressful time.

I would be asking the council to take it back under their control given the circumstances, and asking for clear instructions on how to allocate payments to each individual account to stop this happening again.

[bizzybob]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

As the council is likely to be infested with Crapita, it may neeed that Formasl Complaint to ber sent before they will be willing to take it back, the administration being in the hands of Capita, they will trot out the deal wit equita spiel.

[PIKEO]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

Just spoke to the council and they said they could not put me through to Head of Revenues and that because I have missed payments to the bailiff then they can not instruct the bailiff to start taking the original payment plan and will not take it back under there administration

[wales01man]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

Nonsense they are taking the pee

[PIKEO]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

How do I contact the Head of Revenues directly as I am struggling to find a number, should i contact my local Councillor

[ploddertom]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

If the Council are giving you the runaraound - which they appear to be doing - then contact your local Councillor(s) - initial contact by phone is best. If they are reluctant or refuse then you next need the leader of the Council & his oppsite number.

[Wombats]

Re: **URGENT** Eqita Bailiff

It won't harm to contact your Councillor, MP, or both. The council can put you through to the Head of Revs though, they're choosing not to. Phone and ask for the email of the CEO and for the Head of Revenues and state the reason as private (CEO first). If they refuse this, rather than faff about with complaints, it's easier to go straight to your Councillor and tell them you can't get through to the Head of Revs - the Councillor should help you, especially if you emphasise you need to speak to someone about CTax who is outside Equita, and has some power - explain the position.

Let us know how you get on.

(Sorry Ploddertom - crossed post!)