Help with Equita and council

[astraldream]

Hi,

I have had problem after prolem with Equita and my council.

I got into a load of trouble with my council tax but as of Dec 2010 i have been paying off £100 arrears for two years council tax which have liability orders on them. I have found Equita rude and aggressive every time i have spoke to them to pay so finally in August 2011 i gave up and told Liverpool council that i want to either pay them directly OR it to be transferred to another DCA.

I first of all sent a letter by recorded post to the revenue office day 14 no response, so i emailed the head of the revenue service who apologised and asked for a further 14 days. Day 13 i got an e mail saying they needed a further week as they needed information from Equita.

I then received a letter by e mail (which i will attach) from them and two days later before i had time to respond not one but two letters from Equita despite the Head of Revenues saying he would ask them to stop contacting me for 6 weeks until we had come to an agreement between ourselves.

I emailed back the following which may upset them but i was angry..


Richard,

After receiving not only a late response to my original letter it was then delayed yet again because Moira was awaiting information from Equita.
I finally received a response on Thursday the 23rd of Feb from Moira which proved that i was indeed right about my payment dates yet you still refuse to remove my debt from the thugs you employ to work for you. I had not yet had time to draft a response to you when on Saturday 25th of February i received not one but TWO letters from your attack dogs when in previous communication from yourself you had said you would ask them to not get in touch with me until we had resolved the issue between ourselves.
I quote "Equita have today been told that they must not send you any more letters or visit you for the next 6 weeks. This will give us time to investigate and reply to all the issues you have raised, plus for you to consider our response. Our initial response to you will be sent within the next 14 days"
So it seems either you aren't able to control these people OR you are complicit in their actions. I will now be taking this further with your CEO, and if no satisfactory outcome from him then i will have no choice but to go to the LGO.
I ask that you try and control your employees at Equita and they refrain from contacting me further if they do i feel this just proves they bullying tactics they are using and you as a Local Council are allowing.
I will be contacting your CEO within the next 14 days.


Can anyone help with my response to the CEO please?

[labman]

Re: Help with Equita and council

Please remove the attachment - it contains all your personal details.

Yes we will be able to help, but please sort this first. :beagle:

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

ok thought i had removed the details i will try again. thankyou.

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

ok tried again and removed some more details.

[labman]

Re: Help with Equita and council

Were the charges applied for Visits 1 and 2 on the same day, as they appear, or were the visits actually made on different days?

What have the bailiffs actually done that has upset you?

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

I have never seen a bailiff here.

They are so rude and aggressive on the phone when i am trying to pay and i am paying not only the full amount on time but i have paid early by at least a week or 2 weeks but Equita have been telling the council i am consistantly late.
I feel i cant be in contact with them anymore as i get so stressed out after i have had contact with them i am worried they will push me back into depression.
I have been offered an attachment of earnings but i dont want to do that either as i dont want my employers to know as they are incredibly judgemental and i seriously dont think it will stay with payroll it will be passed around so everyone knows.

[labman]

Re: Help with Equita and council

OK.

Firstly, you have still left your address on it - two thirds of the way down page one.

Secondly, and possibly importantly, are you a single owner / Occupant? Do you receive treatment for your depression?

These can both be used against the council / bailiffs.

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

I have removed the address now sorry,

I am a single owner/occupant and i have received treatment in the past but got back to full health and stopped taking the meds. I feel i may need to go ack on them now due to the stress of Equita.

[labman]

Re: Help with Equita and council

Thank you. Bear with me and I'll draft a letter for you.

Will post back shortly! :tinysmile_grin_t:

[labman]

Re: Help with Equita and council

It may need some adapting, but should give you a reasonable basis.


Dear Sir,

Your Ref: [Insert your account reference]

It gives me no pleasure to write this letter with regard to the above account.

On dd/mm/yyyy I wrote to your Head of Revenues, [Insert title and name] complaining about various aspects of the recovery procedures followed by your appointed enforcement agents, [Insert name of Bailiff Company]. I also requested that my account be recalled to your council, and your appointed enforcement agents be informed not to pursue the account any further.

Today I received his reply (copy enclosed) which clearly states he upholds in part my complaint, but refuses to take the debt back to the council unless I provide my Employment details. As I have a longstanding record of repayment with you, I do not understand why he feels he should require this information. Understandably I do not want an Attachment of Earnings due to the difficulties this may cause at my place of work. Should I lose that, I will lose any means to repay this debt. It is therefore in nobody's interest for this route to be followed.



Please may I also make you aware that as a single person who has recently suffered mental health issues, I fall into the category of vulnerable people as defined by the National Standards for Enforcement Agents. This is something which has been continually overlooked by Equita, and by your Head of Revenues, as a direct result of which, I am now suffering a relapse of my mental health issues.



I would also like to point out that according to the schedule of fees incurred, according to your Head of Revenues, charges were made for first and second visits on the same day. This is contrary to the legislation and is thus unlawful. Your Head of Revenues has condoned these fees, and is thus condoning an unlawful action.



This same error occurred four years running. I would be grateful therefore if the fees, which appear to have been applied to my account unlawfully, could be credited back to it.


Please may I point out that under your council’s vicarious liability for its appointed enforcement agents, your Head of Revenues is leaving you open to serious litigation. The fees charged are clearly unlawful, and in direct contravention of the Council Tax Administration and Enforcement Regulations, as amended by Statutory Instrument in 2006/07. The correct fees can be found in Schedule Five. No notice of visit was left by your appointed agents, and so one has to question whether or not the visits actually took place, as I was repaying the debt in any case. Having made eight visits, it is highly improbable I would not have been at home on at least one occasion. They would therefore have seen how vulnerable I am.


It is hard to understand how such a basic mistake could be made. As you can see, it appears not only that one of your senior members of staff has little knowledge of the relevant legislation involved in his job (an issue I am sure you will want to address), but also that he is condoning the unlawful charging of fees. Your vicarious liability makes this a very serious issue indeed for you, and there are a number of criminal avenues that could be pursued over this should legal proceedings be instigated.
I would be grateful if you would recall this debt to the council with immediate effect, confirm your council’s acceptance of my continued repayment schedule, and confirm that you have instructed your appointed enforcement agents to cease pursuing this account, again with immediate effect. I would also be grateful if you would please confirm that no fees are owing to your appointed agents.

Please rest assured I have not intention of reneging on my responsibility to pay this debt, but it is only fair given the circumstances, that I should be able to do so free of any unlawful activities by your staff or your appointed enforcement agents.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours faithfully,

Sign your name here

[Print Name]

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

Thank you. I really appreciate any help i get.

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

Thanks labman, just a question about the bit about the attachment of earnings they have asked to do this, do i still have the right to refuse this?

[labman]

Re: Help with Equita and council

To be 100% honest, I'm not sure. I deliberately phrased the letter to make it look as though you could potentially lose your job through pursuing that course, which would not be in anyone's interest as you wouldn't be able to pay a penny then.

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

Ah yes i see now i have re read it. Thats great loads of help.

Thanks so much for spending the time to help.

[astraldream]

Re: Help with Equita and council

As i just cant follow the letter she has wrote including the charges etc, can you point out where they have made visits on the same day please?