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.

That's the thing. We spoke to the baliff the other day and made an offer butt he wanted more and said we have 3 days to sort it. Not much will change in 3 days. He will tell him this again make the same offer that we can afford. If they don't accept it then they can give the debt back to the council or court...although we have never had anything from court and then we can set up the payment plan with them.

I know they don't have to. But we have made an offer if they don't accept it what can we do.

Have you tried to find their debt recovery policy to see if they are breaching it. Because if they are you can take this to your local mp and the councillor who leads on this area of the council and the leader of the council

I will check. Thank you

If you didn’t have any letters from the court and wasn’t aware there was a court order then ask the bailiff the name of the issuing court (which they have to tell you) contact them and make a statutory declaration to say you didn’t receive any letters, didn’t know about the case and didnt have an oppourtunity to settle this before it was passed to the bailiff

www.google.co.uk/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-samsung&source=android-browser&q=rossendales#lkt=LocalPoiReviews&trex=m_t:lcl_akp,rc_f:nav,rc_ludocids:9294293173102410719,rc_q:Rossendales%2520Ltd,ru_q:Rossendales%2520Ltd

Thanks tantrums. According to the rossendales reviews we are not the only ones to be given straight to the balifs....

I get what you are saying OP, you’ve done everything right and made an offer
All I’m trying to say is if you do what other posters are suggesting and refuse to enter a discussion with them, start filming them and talking through a letterbox it looks as though you are hiding something

I'm not going to ignore them. Dp will speak to them when they attend and if they come to my house I will also. But i will not let them in. I will go.outside.

I was just trying to explain how it looks. If you have no seizable assets and they see that it will get sent back to the court. But they really aren’t going to take your word for it
If you didn’t know this had gone to court, and you have never contacted the court about it and you didn’t attend the hearing you can have this taken from the bailiff and given back to the court without having to speak to the bailiff though, once you file the paperwork for a statutory declaration which you can do over the phone or online the case goes on hold and the bailiff isn’t allowed to contact you any more or they could lose their certification

Ok thank you for the information

I would still not open the door. As soon as you do they will put their foot in the doorway and gain entry

Speak to them through a window or letterbox

It’s illegal to put their foot in the door so if they do then make a complaint

Good luck today, hopefully you can arrange a sensible payment plan and keep your business going and your heads above water.

Rossendales are employed by local authorities to collect business rates and council tax when it gets to the bailiff stage. Personally I would call the business rates section at your local council and ask to speak to the officer directly. They will try and fob you off saying it's in the bailiffs hands but (when I worked in council tax a few years ago) they can ask for the case to be returned in some cases. Good luck

Be careful when going outside. It can be easy to forget to lock doors and even though they shouldn't put their foot in the doorway or stop you closing your door, there are badly behaved bailiffs out there. How do you prove they have behaved badly?

Thank you all

Dp is at work now. Hopefully they turn up early to get it sorted

Firstly, is the bailiff a court bailiff?
Does he have a warrant?
If not, do not let him in. Ensure all windows and doors are securely locked. Bailiffs do not have the power to enter your property if securely locked unless they have a warrant. They will need to produce this warrant.
If bailiff can’t gain access to your property then they will return debt as unsuccessfully collected and that will bids you some time. It’s an awful situation to be in.
If you can hide some time then I would immediately call Credit Fix and ask for their help. They can and will very quickly set up a debt repayment plan which is affordable. Once they are involved bailiff will need to stop any contact as will council.
I would call credit fix straight away as they can advice you as well. CAB is generally only part time and incredibly slow and long winded. I used to date a bailiff, but not a court bailiff.
Bailiffs work on the basis of panicking you so you go the extra mile to pay debt.

Do not go outside to them. Once you’ve opened door or window they have the right to enter. Talk only through letter box. This is really important.

I would hide jewellery and things with friends to be honest.
I know it's naughty but I would.
I've had to make a formal complaint about rossendales in the past. We used to rent and the previous tenant hadn't paid their council tax. Even after I'd proven I was not that tenant, through email; our council tax bill (paid), our letting agreement, they still came round.
I showed them our lease they were already in our flat, being thuggishly rude and started going through everything and even went through my knickers drawer as apparently that's where women hide their good stuff.
They also were going to take my car. Which proved was mine and not the previous tenant.
I had to call the police who kicked them out.
Bailiffs just want the money and they don't care about the rights and wrongs.
My complaints got nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. Even though what they did was illegal.

Game that is bad. It wasn't even close to being your debt! We have never said we don't owe anything. We do. Just need affordable payments. My neighbour down the road is a police officer. Not sure if she's home today though. I have read the reviews and rossendales are very bad for this. Actually I had a similar situation to yours a few years back. Our previous landlord never paid his mortgage. We paid it rent on time but he failed to pay the mortgage. Had baliff turned up I let them in and proved we were the tenants they were happy and left and were very pleasant. We had to move though as he and his house repossessed

@iaimtomisbehave1 I think it’s fair to say you’ve made your point. Op is in a desperate situation and has asked for advice, NOT a scolding or to be humiliated. So many people in this country have debt that sometimes becomes unmanageable. Op has not said she isn’t intending to pay. She’s clearly had a tough time and when going through tough times, it isn’t always easy to see an easy way out or to make the most perfect decisions.
I appreciate you’re defending yourself, but really, the best form of defence is not attack.
If you have nothing supportive or positive to add to this post, then please just go about your day. Debt is a horrible thing to endure. Very few people think, I know, let’s get into debt this year.

Hang in there OP. If no court order and not court bailiff, you should be fine.

@Op you don’t have to explain yourself to @Iaim in the slightest. I’ve been FD of a multimillion pound b2b company for 9 years & several other companies alongside it. There are ups and downs in businesses & the vast vast majority of businesses fail. Over the course of 9 years the amount my business has lost to bad debtors is over a million pounds. The amount of Clients going bust in the past 9 years is in the hundreds. There is absolutely no reason for anyone here to try and shame you for debts owed.

There has to be a court order.
I wish people would stop saying things that they don’t really have any info about
If there’s no court order they are just debt collectors with no power whatsoever but that’s not the case is it?

Seriously just find out the issuing court, file a declaration over the phone and it’s done, you don’t need to Walt for the bailiffs

Unless you did attend court, or you contacted the court about this actual court fine you can file a stat dec and the case goes on hold until it’s sorted

There’s no point keep saying “only talk through the letterbox” and “they have to send it back to the court” because it’s not helpful. Just call the issuing court and if you don’t know who that is call the company and ask as they have to tell you