bailiff charges

adelburn

adelburn

adelburn

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My mother had bailiffs come round to take property for an outstanding council tax debt, which my sister had kindly failed to pay when she stayed there for 6 months:rolleyes:.

She had been paying something like fiver a week, but missed 1 payment so they sent the bailiffs round.

Luckily I was there at the time and offered to pay the full sum, which was just over 3oo squid.

Now the bailiffs have sent a letter stating she hasn't payed and will be advising she be sent to prison :eek:after quering this they have said that although we did pay we still need to pay 70 squid for addditional charges.

Now surely this is wrong considering they did not tell us before, has anyone had any experience with this and where would she stand.
 
I assume you have a receipt from when you settled the balance?

You need to clarify when this £70 charge is from. If you were told that the balance was the £300 and you paid that in full I can't see how they can tag another £70.

If in any doubt contact your local CAB.
 
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Ye I have the receipt, originally when I phoned they denied that I had settled the balance, unitl I produced the receipt, twas only then that they said about the additional charges.

I'll give CAB a ring then now.
 
I actually don't, I had asked me mom if the amount he siad was correct and she agreed, but I didn't see the bill no.
 
Is the £70 the charge for the baliffs having to attend your premises? There is a maxium amount they can charge you if they have exceeded that here I don't know.

Just googled this and £70 seems a little steep

Do I have to pay the bailiff's fees?
The fees that bailiffs can charge for recovering money vary. There are fixed fees for bailiffs collecting council tax; for example, from 1 April 1998 fees for the first visit by a bailiff are £20 and £15 for a second visit, where no levy or seizure is made.

I'll take a wild guess at the £70 being a combination of baliff fee's and administration costs. Try to get a breakdown of the cost and speak to CAB if anything seems dodgy.
 
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These firms are a license to print money. Why the government doesnt do something about these nasty bullies i cannot understand. People that dont pay council tax are genrally the people who need the most help in soceity and letting people like this bully more money out of them does not help.

And before the flamers start about people dodging their bills, lets remember that not everyone earns or can earn £30K a year, some people have £20 a week after all the bills have been paid and generally are the people running the services that you all love to be cheap i.e. Tescos, starbucks etc so they need an extra hand from soceity so that we can all enjoy these cheap services!!
 
I have just phoned to get a break down of charges and they said forget about the balance they will "sort it".

By "sort it" I presume they do not mean write the balance off, but send the bailiffs round again:rolleyes:

So I rang the housing peeps to find the original balance and it was 189. So I have requested a full list of original balance, payments made and the oustanding balance.

Am I right in thinking that, just like banks, they are legally obliged to provide this within 30 days.
 
Also take it up with your local coucil if anything seems amiss.

Although the debt will have been sold to the bailiffs (in the majority of cases it is) they are still accountable to who they sell the debt to.

For instance they cannot sell debt to loan sharks with a reputation for breaking legs.
 
Taken from http://www.debtquestions.co.uk/prob_bailiffs.php

Your rights

You cannot be sent to prision for not co-operating with a bailiff. You do not have to let them into your house. You should seek advice as soon as possible.

A bailiff must not threaten you illegally, force entry to your home or use offensive language. If you are concerned about a bailiff's behaviour, you can complain either to the creditor or to the court that sent them.


A friend got themselves into financial trouble after a disastrous attempt to set up a business, Citizens advice prooved invaluable and even aided in the successful prosecution of a bailiff who was nothing more than a glorified loan shark.
Ensure you get the full breakdown of the 'debt' from the bailiffs even if they have said they'll 'sort it', it wouldn't be surprising if there are a few 'illegal' charges in there. Also make sure you keep a record of all your interaction with them (record dates and duration of phone calls, letters sent etc.) because many Bailiffs attitude to record keeping can be a tad lax.
 
adelburn said:
My mother had bailiffs come round to take property for an outstanding council tax debt, which my sister had kindly failed to pay when she stayed there for 6 months:rolleyes:.

She had been paying something like fiver a week, but missed 1 payment so they sent the bailiffs round.

Luckily I was there at the time and offered to pay the full sum, which was just over 3oo squid.

Now the bailiffs have sent a letter stating she hasn't payed and will be advising she be sent to prison :eek:after quering this they have said that although we did pay we still need to pay 70 squid for addditional charges.

Now surely this is wrong considering they did not tell us before, has anyone had any experience with this and where would she stand.
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Bailiffs cannot take your mother's property to settle another persons debt.

Why did you pay the bailiffs? It's your sister's debt. You and your mother have nothing to do with it. The debt is specific to a person, not a property.
 
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Didn't think about it tbh, never really been in this sort of situation before so thought I'd pay it and sort it out after.

I'll have to look into why the debt is in me moms name.
 
Legoman said:
Bailiffs cannot take your mother's property to settle another persons debt.

Why did you pay the bailiffs? It's your sister's debt. You and your mother have nothing do with do with it. The debt is specific to a person, not a property.
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Exactly, ring the police and ask them to send an Officer with experince in Bayliff matters if they do it again (wanting money/property for another persons debt)
 
adelburn said:
Didn't think about it tbh, never really been in this sort of situation before so thought I'd pay it and sort it out after.

I'll have to look into why the debt is in me moms name.
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You really do need to look into it. If it's your sister's debt but the bailiffs say it is your mothers then you appear to have been conned :(
 
Reading the OP it seems that the debt is in his mothers name and the sister was simply going to take over the payments while she stayed there for a few months. So the bailiffs were in the right to attempt to seize goods belonging to the mother as it is not the sisters debt.

Take the "attempt to seize goods" parts with a pinch of salt, I know there is a few hoops to jump through before they walk out your door with your TV.

Oh and im pretty sure you have to be given 7 days notice before a Bailiff attends (first visit), after that they can return as and when they please with a few rules regarding what hours of the day then can call. Not sure of the rules with Council Tax Bailiffs though, might be different.
 
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