bristow and sutor

[ianhere]

i had a visit from these this morning, im in arrears with my council tax and these are dealing with it, they wanted £93 pw , i i paid £200 the first week £95 the second then told them i could not afford the 93 pw, i had a visit today and i said i could pay £50 pw , the agent said yes thats fine but i would not let him in so he said the agreement is off i will expect payment in full by the end of the day, he said do not contact my office as they will only refer you back to me, im worried sick , i wont to pay it off but cannot afford the full amount in 1 payment, my property is rented and furnished by my landlord but dont want him involved, any advice will help ty

[nemesis45]

Re: bristow and sutor

Contact B&S office inform them that the furniture fixtures and fittings are the property of your LL.

Do you have an inventory from when you moved in?
Also state the is no property or assets of sufficient value to satisfy the debt.

[Kati]

Re: bristow and sutor

Hi Ian ... welcome to LB

I (personally) think you did the right thing not letting the man into your property. They are only allowed to enter peacefully (not break in or come through a window). They are also unable to make you enter into an unaffordable payment plan.

I would suggest you put in a complaint with both BS and the council involved regarding this bailiffs attitude, he should not be forcing you to pay in full like you say he's trying.
Keep everything in writing (email is fine). Also send an income/expenditure sheet to show how much you can afford to pay and make sure that you keep this 'man' out

I know you'll get more advice from the knowledgeable Beagles

K x

[ianhere]

Re: bristow and sutor

Contact B&S office inform them that the furniture fixtures and fittings are the property of your LL.

Do you have an inventory from when you moved in?
Also state the is no property or assets of sufficient value to satisfy the debt.

i do somewhere i will find it out , thanks for your advice

[ianhere]

Re: bristow and sutor

thanks

[Guest]

Re: bristow and sutor

There is a strong possibility that a fee of £235 will have been added for the visit this morning. You really need to find out if the bailiff has charged an "enforcement fee" for todays visit. I suspect that he has and this will determine how you word your complaint and also how you approach the situation moving forward.

Can you find out if he has charged the enforcement fee and let us know? Also, do you own a vehicle which is parked outside?

[ianhere]

Re: bristow and sutor

yeh theres a £235 fee, no i dont own a vehicle, im going to call them in the morning so any advice will come in handy , as soon as i told him he was not getting into my house he walked off in a strop saying deal was off

[Guest]

Re: bristow and sutor

You are now in a very strong position indeed. There can be no way of adding further fees UNLESS you allow him access to your property. It should be you telling him that the deal is off. Because you have paid B&S directly, the £75 compliance fee is now paid. B&S will also have taken around 20-25% of the balance towards the enforcement fee.

As long as you are happy to refuse the bailiff entry to your home, there is absolutely nothing he can do & cannot charge you another penny, no matter how many more times he visits. You now have several options:

1. You can give him a "take it or leave it" offer and if he refuses, you can say that you will wait for him to return the debt to the council. At that point, any outstanding fees would be removed from the account.

2. You can tell him you won't be paying any more and just wait for the debt to be returned to the council

3. You can write a formal complaint to the council, claiming that B&S placed you on a punitive repayment plan that you were bound to be unable to maintain. This was done so as to ensure the chance to visit, thus charging the £235 fee. State that you are happy to pay this at an affordable rate but the bailiff is refusing, stating that the debt must now be paid in full. Offer what you can comfortably afford and demand that the £235 fee is removed from your account. Ask for enforcement action to be suspended whilst the complaint is investigated.

4. You can wait for the bailiff to return/contact you and try to agree a reasonable plan. Remember though, you hold all the trump cards-He is powerless and only has "bluff" to scare you with.

[josephbloggs]

Re: bristow and sutor

End of the day the fees are on and they dont have right of entry.
the costs are maxed out and the debt cant get any bigger, so pay them £50 a week until its paid. If they dont agree, carry on paying anyway.
for what its worth i wouldnt waste your time complaining about the enforcement agent, their job is to collect full payment and is not worthy of a complaint

[bizzybob]

Re: bristow and sutor

End of the day the fees are on and they dont have right of entry.
the costs are maxed out and the debt cant get any bigger, so pay them £50 a week until its paid. If they dont agree, carry on paying anyway.
for what its worth i wouldnt waste your time complaining about the enforcement agent, their job is to collect full payment and is not worthy of a complaint

Don't let them in keep any car away, they can't take control of goods and then plot to add the £110 sales fee plus storage as well. As per JB pay them what you can afford anf keep the sucker out. Unless he gets in he cannot add any more fees.

[Guest]

Re: bristow and sutor

BB-The complaint is not directed at the agent, it is aimed at getting the £235 fee removed. £93 per week is an extremely unreasonable amount to have to find. It was inevitable that a payment would not be made at some point. If the OP does want to continue to pay B&S, then the complaint is the best way forward. It costs nothing and can gain £235. To simply give in & continue paying is playing right into B&S's hands. I would not pay anything until an agreement is in writing, or this is settled. Why pay them anything if they don't accept it and continue to attempt to take control of goods? They'll be back, soon enough, cap in hand, asking for the £50 a month.

[ianhere]

Re: bristow and sutor

thanks for all the advice, i will sort it out first thing in the morning , the agent did post a letter a short while later leaving me his phone number saying i had till 5pm to contact him if i had decided to let him in, He wont get entry to my place , if he does he will be out quicker than he entered