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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Very cross about this....

38 replies

strikethemdead · 30/01/2008 16:13

Just got back from the school run to find a Bailiffs letter through the door, used to this as it is a rented house and the last tenant was a scummy woman who NEVER paid anything... Any way this one has DPs name on it so I open it and it is saying that a bailiff has been and this is a "notice before removal" for outstanding council tax almost £800. Seems this has been ordered by a magistrates court!!!! This is the first thing we have had about this and.............. EXCUSE ME but the council tax is a Direct Debit and has been paid EVERY MONTH.

Can't decide who to yell at first the twat at the council office who probably can't even bloody read or the nasty little man whos name is on the letter.
Why anyone would want a job as a bailiff is beyond me, scum of the earth.

Called DP and he said (as I already knew) its a mistake.

God I wish the fecking bailiff would drop dead, causing stress to decent people.

OP posts:
loopylou6 · 30/01/2008 16:15

well if i was you, i would take amazing pleasure in phoning them up and telling them you are going to sue them for slanderous behaviour

tiredemma · 30/01/2008 16:18

I would be cross also- but the bailif is only being sent there on behalf of the council. The council should really get their facts right first.

I hate debt being left- its a major bug bear of mine. Someone left debt at this house and im pissed off with similar things happening. It really annoys me to think that someone has just left a debt for someone else to deal with, so you have my sympathies.

Lots of debt left at this this house, Ive lost track of the bloody phonecalls I have had to make.

lucyellensmum · 30/01/2008 16:23

YABU

I havent got quite so far as a baliffs letter yet, however we nearly have. We are having a real problem financially at the moment and fluctuate between just managing to keep our heads above water and being scared of losing our house. We often just don't even open the letters and stick our heads in the sand.

This is hard enough for me, without knowning that people consider "people like me" Scummy and not "a decent person".

I am sorry, but it was a mistake, these thigns happen, what is there to be stressed about? Phone them up, put them straight, end of story. It is stressful when those letters are not a mistake and keep on coming. THEN you can talk to me about stress! But then i suppose if i were a decent person and paid all my bills on time, this sort of thing wouldnt happen

Kimi · 30/01/2008 16:24

This happened to my mum, her council tax is paid and she owes NOTHING but some f*ckwit at the council send a bailiff round, my poor mother was out of her mind with worry and it took agae to sort out.

I have come to the conclusion that the council employs the brain dead that McDonalds wont.

lucyellensmum · 30/01/2008 16:24

Also, from the other point of view, we are trying to establish a business, and its bloody tough. If someone doesnt pay us, we may have to consider debt collectors. It works both ways. It is a job.

loopylou6 · 30/01/2008 16:25

LEM, there is a difference betweens truggling to pay your bills, and having no intention of paying them...i dont think anyone called you scummy

Hecate · 30/01/2008 16:25

Sometimes people who find themselves in financial difficulty are decent people too.

loopylou6 · 30/01/2008 16:26

lolol kimi

lucyellensmum · 30/01/2008 16:27

I do agree about the council workers being fuckwits though. They overcharged my parents by £1000 one year, insisting they pay, my parents didnt let me know this was going on as they didnt want to worry me, they had to borrow money for food from a neighbour in order to pay this back - then one day the council realised their oversight and said they would credit my parents council tax account, they downright refused to give them the money! bastards

lucyellensmum · 30/01/2008 16:30

but you could argue that i had no intention of paying, its called head in sand syndrome. I chose to ignore my creditors and landed in a load of trouble, humiliated and spoken to like "scum of the earth". So i am a little sensitive about this sort of thing. I do not claim any benefits, i guess we could, but i believe in supporting oneselves,,but it seems people will always be looking down their noses at those less fortunate, makes them feel better about themselves.

Original poster
strikethemdead · 30/01/2008 16:30

LSM I am sorry I did not mean decent people who are fighting to keep afloat, I have been there.
BUT the people who were here before really were scum, and I have spent the last 2 years putting "not at this address" on countless things.

This one IS in our name so it is not a debt scummy woman ran up, this is some arsehole somewhere not being able to read.
I hate all this with a passion, and how dare anyone think they can enter my home and remove things...go ahead mate if you want a knife in your back on the way out.

OP posts:
edam · 30/01/2008 16:33

Report it to the council, to the bailiff, and to the court so you can get the order lifted - you can't rely on the council doing it. You might need to provide proof ie bank statements.

Very frustrating, I know.

lucyellensmum · 30/01/2008 16:35

its ok strikemedead. I am just oversensitive. And i think if you have had financial hardship then receiving a letter like this would be extremely stressful. I would make a point of ringing them and putting them straight, make the fuckers squirm. I would be the same if anyone tried to get into my house, they would have to come with the police in tow im afraid.

welshdeb · 30/01/2008 16:36

Check they havent been allocating your payments to her debts

lucyellensmum · 30/01/2008 16:36

i think edam has made a good point there - they really are fuckwits, best inform the courts

Kimi · 30/01/2008 16:36

My mum moved out of her house as she was so scared by this big, rude bloke that turned up demanding payment she did not owe.

I don't think people take in to account how scared some people can be of visits like this. Mum is on a pension and in poor health and was really upset.

The council ARE fuckwits no doubt about that.

We got a letter saying we did not need to pay council tax as DH was in prison!!!! I phoned them up and ask how long he was going to be in for, as when he left that morning he only had a packed lunch with him man had never even had a parking ticket let alone been to prison. Total fukwits the lot of um.

theowlwhowasafraidofthedark · 30/01/2008 16:37

Its very frustrating. This happened to us when we moved house. All sorts of baliffs turning up/sending letters arriving for different unpaid debts.
Try and grin and bear the tedious admin and just be grateful you've never received one that truly is for you

Kimi · 30/01/2008 16:46

We got this in this house too, woman before NEVER paid a thing, gas, electric, water, council tax, boden, vandervelt, [sp], credit cards you name it we have had letters phone calls and a bloke turn up and when I said no I'm not Ms so and so he said I had to show him 3 types of I.D ..... I told him to go forth and multiply.

wannaBe · 30/01/2008 16:52

when we moved into our first house it was a new build but the houses down the road had been renumbered to accommodate the new houses, so the man who had lived at number 8 had had his house number changed to 60 something, but we started receiveing the demands for no 8, even though it was a new house and no-one had ever lived there.

We even had a bayliff round at 8:00 one night when i was at home on my own.

worth bearing in mind that the bayliff is only doing his job and that he doesn't know whose debt it is and what has come before etc - the bayliffs are just given a file and they act accordingly. Personally i couldn't do it but it's a job and someone has to do it, much like many other jobs that I wouldn't want to do for any money (prison officer/army/teacher/parking attendent/cleaning).

I would ring the councel and follow it up in writing. would also check bank account to ensure that the money has actually been going out, as you will probably have to provide bank statements to prove this if they contest it.

greyskythinker · 30/01/2008 17:00

Also lodge a formal complaint with the council. Surely there should have been some prior correspondence re this, and if there hasn't been, there has been a major flaw. Making a complaint will make sure the council are aware, and there may be other people in the same position. Sounds like someone isn't doing their job properly.

greyskythinker · 30/01/2008 17:02

Also complain to your local councillor. At the end of the day, your council tax is being used to pay incompetent staff. There will be costs associated with the court action and bailiffs which the council will have to bear (and in turn tax payers), which could have been easily avoided.

Original poster
strikethemdead · 30/01/2008 17:12

I just texted the details to DP who said he will call them.

I have double locked the door now and I am shaking , part with worry part with rage.

This is in our name so cant be to do with the last tenant, DP banks on line and does not get a paper statement but the money has gone each month and I guess he could ask for a paper statement. This is our 2nd year here and we got a new bill in December for 2008 and no mention of anything outstanding, no letters phone calls or anything so I have no idea where they think we ran up £800 worth of outstanding payments. EVERYTHING goes out by DD rent bills the lot, never had a problem before.

DP is in London today so I don't know what time he will be back.

OP posts:
wannaBe · 30/01/2008 17:20

do you have access to the bank account?

before you start shouting at people you should go online and make absolutely sure that the dd has been going out.

Not saying your dp would do this, but I do knkow someone who thought their bills were going out and they actually weren't, and their dh was intercepting the mail so she never saw any final demands etc.

Original poster
strikethemdead · 30/01/2008 17:26

DP gets texted statements that I see, also he is out before the post and back late so I deal with all the letters and he is not the sort to hide bills or over look payments as he has never had to worry about money.

Someone somewhere has fucked up big time, Kids want to take their wii to their dads place just in case

OP posts:
Kimi · 30/01/2008 17:27

Do the texts come through at 6.00am like ours do

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