Bailiffs....I need advice asap please

[Dumbfounded212121]

Hello all I have and changed for this.

So I'm not far off murdering my dp. Many will say LTB but that's not going to fix my problem for tomorrow. I will deal with him later.

Dp has a debt to do with business however it is in his own personal name. Business rates. The company hasn't been doing very well recently and he has struggled with this and paid as and when he can. The bailiffs have been sent round to his place of work and left a letter saying they will be back to remove goods. Do called the number and said look I can't pay all. Can I pay a bit and set up a payment plan with you. Bailiff said I will give you until Friday (3 days ) to get what you can and if you are lucky we can agree something to let you pay it off by new year. Well we still won't be able to pay it off by then. As the council want the years business rates up front even though we are only a few months in arrears.

So they can't take anything from his work as he has proof the business owns everything not me. This so try as in finance in companies name and business rates in dps name. So the belief said I will come and you can show me your proof but then I will be coming to your house. He has our address. So I have some receipts for the tv and laptop to prove they are mine. But no receipts for anything else.

What can he take.... Can he take the tumble dryer, dishwasher?we have a spare fridge in the garage, sofas? My jewellery? Nothing worth much.

Thanks in advance. I know not aibu. But i am desperate and don't know what to do tomorrow. I'm more worried about the effect on my kids rather than stuff. Please don't bash me or dh. Times have been hard and the council didn't listen when we tried to sort it out before.

Thank you. To be honest even if I did open the door we don't really own any luxuries. If his car wasn't on finance I would just hand that over and be done with it! I'm really not trying to avoid it. Just wasn't sure how to handle a baliff in a way that we can actually pay it!

Oh and I fixed my loo!

In regards to them coming to your house. They can't break in. They can only enter through an open door or window or if you invite them in. Leave them on the doorstep.

They won't keep coming back either. Usually they will once or twice then give the debt back to the company.

Please get in touch with somebody legal - bailiffs don't have the power people seem to think they have at a residential premises

Thank you. I didn't know they HAND it Back to the council
If they do this. Will they send a letter to say so or would it then be for the council to send the I formation

I don't understand my autocorrect today...

My old business was located in a sizeable high street property yet fully exempt and my new premises on an industrial estate are exempt also. Please check that you are liable for business rates - as a small business you may be exempt.

You mentioned earlier that you were still waiting for a re-valuation by the Valuation Office. It should be taken into account that you have argued the rate and it's them dragging their feet, not you. Get your paperwork filed into a dossier chronologically, do everything by email and get everything from the debt collector in writing. Photocopy the whole lot & send it to the Ombudsman and/or your MP. You may get no where on the re-valuation, but it is worth a try.

There is such a whole can of worms here. Have you had proper legal advice? Have a look on the Landlord Zone forum. They have an active commercial sector.

Iaimtomisbehave1 , she isn't the one in debt! Her partner is. Your lack of empathy is astounding!

Thanks knees. That's really good advice. That's ok Susanne. Inwasnt looking for any empathy. Not should I receive any. I'm not saying I am Is wrong. Just pointing out I never asked for sympathy. I mention I am pg as someone asked.... anyways. She is a business owner so obviously knows what she is talking about. So I have come to the conclusion that dp will offer what he has and try to sort a payment plan again. If they don't accept that then they can come to the house. I won't answer. They can hand it back to the council if they wish and then we will try a payment plan again and if we can pay anything early we will. We will pay it. Doesn't matter how but we will. We have never not wanted to pay it! After years why would we do that in purpose.... And yes we are having another baby. But like I said that doesn't change anything or make anything harder as I mentioned above.

And I have arranged to call the debt advice line I was web chatting with earlier tomorrow morning. And I will find all the relevant documents as knees suggested and get back into contact with the VOA. Just spoken to do and told him everything you ladies have said and he said ok. We will do what we can tomorrow to correct it. Which is what we wanted to do anyway. He is my partner I'm not shifting the blame on him solely. I have tried hard to help resolve it. No one's hurried their heads in the sand! We just haven't been listened to

So I have just checked online as I don't have his letters here. And the traceable value is 23,500. Which is very high and it used to be lower according to dp. I need to look at all his VOA communication again and I think maybe start from the begining and sit down with him again. Either way we will fix it eventually.

Rateable not traceable

Empathy oh goodness

Do we not all donate extra to charities at Xmas. Figures show we do

Jeez she is pregnant and dealing with bailiffs. That alone is enough for basic human empathy

@Dumbfounded212121

Move your stuff now before they claim it please

@Dumbfounded212121

Haven’t read all 6 pages so apologies if this is repetitive. What I would say is that they often employ heavy handed tactics to scare you into paying what you can - I don’t necessarily object to this, the rest of the world has to pay business rates etc so I have little sympathy for those who choose not to pay. I have a close friend who has been a bailiff for some time, they routinely claim a van is at standby, ready to claim any property etc. there is no van, there never has been a van, not in the 8 years they have done the job - it is merely a tactic to inspire action. They are simply looking to reach an agreement for you to be able to pay what is owed, make an offer, they will make a counter offer and an agreement will be reached.

I hope you get through this ok, it doesn’t sound like you are primarily responsible for this debt although you no doubt likely profited from the non payment of what should have been paid

Mum to be honestly I'm not looking for sympathy

Hiroo. Thank you. We are not 100% innocent no. But we have tried very hard to pay it and sort it and they have just made it difficult to do so when we have asked for help and advice. But we will be making an offer and some sort of payment tomorrow.

@SusanneLinder

How many times do we say to women on here that they are in a team and if their husbands/partners are earning then that's family money. You're a team. You handle things together. But when the partner is in debt, it's suddenly nothing to do with Her? They jointly own or rent a house, the jointly pay bills, they jointly have kid, the jointly decided to add another kid. Whilst being thousand in debt, and it's the kind of debt you can get rid of or agree to pay back a smaller amount. However they set it up, her partner put it in his name not the companies, so it's a debt he personally owns. That affects a patnership and should absolutely affect the decision that partnership makes. She's pregnant and facing bailiffs but they knew they'd eventually he facing bailiffs and choose to get pregnant, so it doesn't garner sympathy. It's a choice they made knowing they were being chased for thousands of pounds and would eventually need to face it. Being pregnant wasn't forced on them so it should have no bearing on the situation, yet it was mentioned as if it should have an affect. I think telling bailiffs "but I'm pregnant" is a very pathetic thing to do.

You had an agreed payment plan, and tell behind. In that situation, I would have immediatly increased my working hours to increase my earnings to help my partner pay it off. If you have joint finances then it doesn't matter who pays it. If you don't then he could pay it back to you without bailiff pressure. But, a pregnancy and then a newborn will have an impact on increasing working hours. You also plan to sell the business and then just hope he gets a job... decision making and long term planning doesn't seem to be a strong skillset in this household. So I just hope you tighten the purse strings dramatically and get this paid off. You don't want to be in the is situation again in a year, trying to keep 4 kids away from interactions with bailiffs and the upset and confusion that causes.

*can't get rid of

I am. I am not disagreeing with you. I never planned on telling the baliff I am pregnant.....others suggested that. It's not relevant so I wouldn't tell them. Have you actually paid any attention to what I have written. I am NOT looking for sympathy. We are a team. Never said we are not. And I have done my best to sort it out directly with the council who were not interested. And yes he will get a job after. Our house outgoings aren't that high. That's never been the issue. So yes when he sells the business the debt will 100% be paid off. As I said before. And he will get a job. Doesn't really matter what as long as we pay our bills etc. But you will ignore what I am saying and keep saying I want sympathy for being pregnant. I don't. I just want to resolve it in a way that it can be paid. I'm not disagreeing with your statement about decision making. Ok. But i am not looking for sympathy or trying to dodge paying anything. Far from it.

Hi OP, as your partner is self-employed and the debt is related to his self-emploment I suggest you call Business Debtline, they are a charity similar to Step Change but have in-depth knowledge of debts related to business and self employment (irrespective or whether the debts are in your husband's name or not).

They are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Good luck with it all!

Dumbfounded I want to wish you good luck. I hate the way some people on this site judge others. You sound like a hard working couple with a small business. I have a strong work ethnic and am not a soft touch,but you deserve sympathy for your situation (albeit you don't seek it). Hopefully tomorrow will bring you and your husband some way to move forward.

@Dumbfounded212121

Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of this just know that they will come at you with heavy handed tactics they will rarely see through - please try not to worry too much. They will likely settle for an offer way less than what you owe and I hope you can then move on and both (your DP primarily) learn to not risk what seems like a really good life in such a negligent way. Try not to be too rattled with it all and if in doubt just say thanks and that you need a little time to consider what has been asked of you - nobody can deny you of that

Thank you jayfee. He has the business for a while but the last year or so has been patchy but we have managed to pay everything else fine. But the business rates went haywire as it was changed. The council were not interested And the VOA have taken longer than expected. No one accepted any paymebts we tried to make when we had the money to do so. So yes maybe we are very much in the wrong but we have been trying to sort it. I think if I'm being bashed for this. How would that couple with 21 kids be bashed if something happened to their business.... that is quite a lot of children!

Financialy stable people planning and having kids - fine.

Already having kids and losing job/business falling apart - it happens, that's why we have a safety net in the welfare system and should also save when we can.

Actively conceiving whilst in the throws of financial stress, with no guaranteed job and a current plan to give up the business? Hmm....

It's very hard to believe that no one wanted the money. But you can usually pay it online when you could, so could easily have just made payments to bring the total debt down and kept a record of it.

I'm sorry, but ending up in the position if having bailiffs come at you means you or your partner weren't on the ball with this, or simply mucked them around so much with defaulting a few times that they don't want to engage with you any more.

OK