To ignore bailiff

[Thebrowntrout]

Anyone got any experience of this, I have bailiffs coming round for unpaid council tax and I don't owe it.

I'm waiting for it to be referred back to council, does anyone know how long this normally takes?

Listen to the advice you are getting from CAB or any other debt advice charities you may be involved in. A lot of people can give you advice or criticism of the situation but most of us will be going on what we think we know, not what we actually know.

With respect Tequila that isn't what CAB have advised me to do.

Whereas I am happy to pay.

So have you paid anything then?

You keep saying 'I'm happy to pay' but yet you don't seem to have done so.

Trout I understand this is a shit time for you.

You need to get to the council in person pay the £80 and get it sorted. Waiting for the baliffs to send the file back is passive (and could look like doing nothing). You are allowing the situation to continue by waiting for others to resolve it. Get stuck into the issue, get to the council in person and try and resolve it.

Re your question, how long will it take for the file to get sent back - this is a 'how long is a piece of string' question - you need to understand that the baliffs have purchased the 'debt recovery opportunity' and spent time and effort on the file - its not in their interests to pass you back. You need to take control of this yourself.

The council absolutely will not speak with you once the issue is with a debt company. They have massive contracts with these companies and rely heavily on them.

I had to ignore the bailiffs for over a year. In that time the fine went from some £1,200 to over £4,000.

Trout I understand your frustration, you will go in circles for a long time with this i'm afraid. Mine took about 18m to settle. I did push it with the legal dept of the council though, trying to get my case sent to court earlier.

No one likes to think the council can make mistakes but I assure you they do. When this is all sorted make sure you have it all in writing. & very good luck.

Also be ready for random phone calls and letters years down the line. I got a call in 2008 (issue resolved in 2002) saying I owed money still. Err, no I don't.

We had this. Moving house, called council up to arrange final bill. Paid it, moved house.
Years and several house moves later bailiff/collection person turns up at our door. Council had given us the wrong amount on our bill and had spent years tracking us down for an extra £17!!!! which had also inflated by hundreds due to bailiffs fees.

Don't know their arse from their elbow. We phoned the old council who didn't have a fucking clue what we were on about, cleared the debt and called off the bailiffs.

Oranges, and thatrabbit what you don't seem to appreciate is that the council will just keep referring you back to the bailiffs.

If it was as simple as 'whoops, there's £80' I would have done so months and months ago.

Thanks again Agatha, it's horrible isn't it?

I am really hopeful their narky letter the other day 'threatening' to refer me back to the council is a sign the end is nigh - I hope so!

CAB advice is good, and will be legal etc yes.

But, I'd want to rid myself of the hassle and stress of bailiffs turning up at all hours and so would try and settle the debt direct at the earliest opportunity (and that's why I did what I did in the same situation)

However, if you're happy to live with the stress then that's up to you.

OP - your posts are a bit contradictory, originally you say that 'I have bailiffs coming round for unpaid council tax and I don't owe it' and later on you say that you do owe £80 - which is it?

Are they court appointed bailiffs? or not - because I know you've had CAB advice and they are really good but worse case if they are court appointed and they can't recover the money they can ask for a prison sentence.

Anyway if your sure you don't owe it and you just can't stop the bailiff coming round - then don't answer, or if you do by mistake just don't engage with him at all.

I had a bailiff turn up as a complete surprise, ex had incurred a lot of parking tickets with the local council and not paid them, i was so shocked i just screamed until he left - was much younger then.

hope it's over soon then - but get your evidence together

www.businessdebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx

Id pay that £80 asap (get receipt) op but suspect you also owe some fees now. You also at risk of being arrested. I couldnt find anything on my internet search about passing it back to the council. Hopefully someone be on soon to help there. From watching cant pay, wont pay council tax debt should never be ignored.

Ah, okay. So you 'cleared the balance', called them to confirm and they said "yup, all paid, nothing to worry about here", then out of the blue 14 months ago you got a letter from a debt collector saying you still owed £80 from that financial year, and costs on top?

Have you asked the council to provide you with a full statement of the account, alongside copies of dated letters they have sent you pertaining to the debt. Same with the debt collection agency it would have been passed to before the bailiffs.

I think they need to be able to show that they have made reasonable attempts to contact you to obtain payment.

Tequila, nice snide dig there.

No I am NOT happy to live with the stress however, i do not have £970 to give to the knob bailiffs.

However I do have £80.

You see that is EXACTLY what the bailiffs want. They WANT you to be so miserable with fear and stress and sick with worry that you'll sell your car or take out loans at extortionate rates to make it go away.

Not happening. Not here.

I was 3p short of a train fare 7 years ago, tried to pay via card. Now I owe them £1200 apparently. Moved around a few times and didn't get letters, but they tracked me down somehow. Can you get the car registered in someone elses name?

Guys, you can't just pay the £80.

As PP have explained more succinctly than me, they will not deal with you once it's gone to the bailiffs.

This is not me being obtuse; I have begged tried very hard to persuade the council on this matter.

The CAB seemed absolutely cast iron sure I would not be getting a custodial sentence; I have to trust them, I suppose.

The debt collectors have bought the debt. They will not "refer you back to the Council". The Council have written you off their books completely (probably with a great sigh of relief).

Not happening. Not here.

Fine, keep ignoring it and watch the fees rise. They don't have to 'pass it back'.

I'm sure they can dig their heels in just as much as you are.

Trout, then go to the council, with cold hard cash and present it to them. Prove that you're willing to pay. If they refuse to accept, fine. But you refuse to leave until they put their refusal in writing.

For some reason you don't even seem to want to try that. Yes, it's awful, I sympathize, really. But you have to take control of this yourself and get it sorted out.

It's ok for CAB to tell you to wait it out and ignore, but it isn't them sat at home petrified of a knock on the door.

you owed it.......then didnt owe it ....im confused....ask council for a statement for the last 4 years....then if you are up to date let them take you to court....it will be up to them to prove you owe it.....if you dont you will be okay.....also court bailiffs are different than debt collection agencies bailiffs....get their paperwork and check that too

They will refer it back to the council because that is what they did with me. Hang on in there op and have evidence that you have continuously contacted council to try and pay it for when it gets to court

All in all it took about 18 months though. Also council tax debt does not appear on your credit score either.

www.dealingwithbailiffs.co.uk/stopcounciltaxbailiffs.htm

I thought you said that the council had agreed to take the file back? And therefore understood this was a timing issue that you could push along by making sure the council got the file back/took your funds. If the council have not said they will take the file back and refused your payment direct, then assuming you have evidence that they confirmed years ago you were paid up in full, I would have thought court was the best option for you now. However I do not have enough experience of this to know so agree with PP that you need to stick with the advice you are getting from CAB, with whom yu have shared the full story.

I wish you the best and it is a shit situation all round

Flogging, your advice is the absolute opposite to what I was told at CAB.

Oranges, ditto.

Tequila are you reading here what I am saying - I and other people? They will not deal with you once it has passed to the bailiff!

I am very sorry if I sound sharp.

However I am a bit baffled as to why some of you just want to give me a hard time, to repeatedly insist I have been ignoring this £80 for years wilfully, to make all sorts of dire threats about what will happen - I suppose you could be correct but it wasn't what I was told and the CAB deal with this all of the time I should think .

I am really NOT someone who breaks the law or who avoids paying bills and tax etc.

But I do feel I am being reasonable in pointing out that the way his debt has been managed is unreasonable in itself I suppose. It's causing a huge amount of stress/anxiety and I can see how, if I had £1000 going spare I'd be tempted to pay it; however I don't so it's tough luck really.

heres a bit of advice ....speak to someone at STEPCHANGE DEBT CHARITY....or look online.....might give u some useful advice

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(3) If, before any goods are seized, the appropriate amount (including charges arising up to the time of the payment or tender) is paid or tendered to the authority, the authority shall accept the amount and the levy shall not be proceeded with.

Above taken from the Council Tax Regulations here