What do you know about bailiffs coming to the door?

[Lighthousekeeping]

My friend was out last week and that's exactly what happened. She lives in a shared house and the person she was paying rent to got behind with the council tax from a couple of years ago. The council office say they owe £600 and the baliff has bumped it up to 1200. My friend can't sleep. She's on her own in the house and having to pay the rent on her own. If she managed to find £600 could she at it straight to the council and that would be it?

Sorry OP but you are not really explaining this very well. Before anyone can advise you on the bailiffs you really need to give us much more detail about the history of this debt.

LEL: THe bailiffs can charge for attending, but it's only a small amount. I have defeated a couple of bailiff firms who tried to charge me stupid amounts, by telling them firmly that I was aware of the law and if they didn't fuck off I would put in an official complaint about them. They were demanding a levy fee, which they were not entitled to charge as they had never been allowed in the house so had not placed a levy on any goods. 'Removal fees' and 'attendance with van' are also illegal charges which no one has to pay.
Basically bailiffs are dishonest scum and should be stood up to. By all means pay the debt to the creditor, but there is no need to let bent bailiffs profit off your financial difficulties.

I would advise her to speak to the council. They will be able to explain what her options are/ how to sort this

OP i think ur friend needs to contact the council first to see about setting up a payment plan. As at the end of the day her name was on the bill so she owes the money.

Your friend could sue her ex flatmate for the money later.

My darling parents used to jilt the bills fairly often, resulting in bailiffs at the door. I used to tell them (without letting them in of course) that we lived in a fully furnished flat and did not own any of the contents. I'm not sure if they would investigate this further but it always seemed to work for me. X

I'm so glad we don't have to deal with these scumbags in Scotland.

Hi. Sorry if I wasn't clear. It is my friends debt because its an old council bill which got behind. Stupidly her previous flatmate dealt with the bills and my friend had her head in the clouds.

She called the council this morning who said that any payment plans are now out the window and they won't except any kind of payment. She rang the baliff up was very nice and said she has two months to pay the now £1,100. Totally her cock up and a harsh lesson learned. That's her holiday this year.

An expensive lesson to learn. I had bailiffs show up in my previous flat as the LL had not paid their council tax. The bailiffs were v nice about it - much nicer than the LL!

I'd still say go to the CAB. I'm not a Money Advisor but I deal with basic prep of debt cases and know that MA frequently set up payment plans for CT arrears. Sometimes creditors take more notice of CAB payment plans than when individuals approach directly, it's worth a try if she's struggling with the amount.

From what I understand from your posts, she shared a property with someone, was paying them rent and the rent wasn't paid to the council? She needs to let the council know that it is under dipute. I would advise that she contacts the CAB too, they were pretty good to me in similar circumstances

Sorry, didn't see your last post. Glad she's getting it sorted. The bailliffs will generally accept a payment plan, but she'll have to submit a budget to prove how much disposable income she does/doesn't have

haha, think its funny that someone said because the bailiffs are a private company they are more likely to be dishonest, because civil servants would never be on the fiddle............................. yeh right

I dont get why the bailiff was such a surprise. They dont just turn up out of the blue, you get letter after letter before it gets to that stage and a court summons too. If the bill was in her name then she will have been sent all these, and could have dealt with it much sooner.

Go to the CAB. They will contact any debtors on her behalf. They've helped me out in the past and have been fantastic. Also, they will advise her that the vast majority of charges that bailiffs add are completely illegal and you don't have to pay them.

Is it a court appointed bailiff?

If so, the courts will let her pay instalments.

If not, she can tell the council she can only do instalments and they have to accept it. If not, they will need to take legal action and explain to the judge why they have not accepted an instalment plan. He/She will not be amused! It is still not a crime to be in debt. She will need to provide an i&e

If it's a joint debt, she needs to pass on the ex flat mates details but be aware that she is fully liable for the whole debt if ex flatmate doesn't pay at all.

So the bailiffs are trying to charge her £500 on their own account? They can't do that. They have no legal right to charge her this month and she doesn't have to pay it.
Also (this worked for me) if she has internet access, she should log on and make payment direct to the council online. They can't refuse or send the payment back. A lot of council staff are not fully aware of the law re debt and council tax (the ones who answer the phones are usually low paid, low status, got a script to say and no authority to divert from it) and private bailiff companies rely on people's ignorance of the law on debt to extort money from them under false pretences.

I'll give her that online tip. Thanks.