Council tax and bailiffs

[nomoneyno]

I have no money. Zero, zilch.

I'm putting all my money into rent, energy, travel and food. I have nothing left from my wages after this.

My house is all electric and heated with storage heaters.

The bailiffs are coming to my house within the next 5 days to take away good due to not paying my council tax. They've been before and said I have to pay £200 a month. I can't afford this

As to not drip feed.,
My exdp left me with crippling debts (dv relationship and all bills were in my name, he had control over money and didn't pay anything for a year) trying to pay what we already owed has spiralled and I have no way out. I'm scared to wake up, I'm scared to open my door.

I already have an attachment of earnings on my wages

I don't want to live like this anymore. It's no life. What's the point?

www.turn2us.org.uk/

capuk.org/

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

OP have you tried the above ?

My family have bought my children a couple of presents for Christmas and they're under the tree. Are bailiffs allowed to take these?

@alexdgr8 yes. Citizens advice have said about getting a debt relief order but I haven't got the money to pay for it

I've put my washing machine on eBay so hopefully I will have the money for it soon

Op,have the bailiff's entered the property before?
Do they have the specific court order to enter?
If not,don't let them in.
If you've been independently advised to get a DRO, see if family can help with the £90, or if any charity grants available.

Also agree, Step change, Citizens Advice, it Christians Against Poverty all good places for free independent advice .
And they can check you're liable for each debt too: was your ex financially abusive? If so,bring this to debt adviser's attention,too

DO NOT LET THEM IN

Bailiffs cannot enter your home unless they have a court order

They have been in a couple of months ago. I looked through the peep hole but didn't see anyone so I opened the door and he put his foot in the doorway

I can't ask family. Both of my parents are off work sick with cancer, I don't drive so I get the bus to them on my days off to help them, that's another cost I can't afford but I cannot leave them

Are you getting the single person discount?

If they have an AoE, how they fuck do they justify sending bailiffs as well?!

@PrincessofWellies I do yes. My exdp had full control over my wages and I thought he was paying all of the bills. He wasn't until he left and I started to open the letters that I realised what was going on

So that part of the council tax is being taken out of my wages from 4 years ago. Which leaves me with not much wages, so then I couldn't afford to pay for the council tax for that year. Then another attachment was added etc..

Now I have an attachment of earnings and I owe £3 to the bailiffs, I think a lot of it is bailiff fees and court fees

My exdp was in charge of everything. Was the whole 20 years I was with him, I don't know how to get out of this mess.

I'm now metered for electric so I don't have to worry about large bills coming in

@CottageEmo it's different years. I can't afford to pay this years either because of the attachment of earnings so it just continues to spiral out of control

I owe £3k not £3 sorry

You can pay the fee in instalments over a few weeks. I had to apply a few years ago after a very similar situation to you.

@Shlomping1234 does it get any better? I feeling like I have no way out at the moment

It does eventually. Most of the debts were my exes. We'd agreed to enter an insolvency agreement but he pulled out at the last minute. I then discovered he was having an affair and I left. I went for the DRO as I was struggling to pay.
I'm now debt free and he's up to his eyes again with his AP.
Definitely contact the citizens advice, I found them very helpful.

This happend to my brother a few months ago, he basically hid the entire time, if u keep ignoring it what eventually happens is they take a minimum payment a month out of your wages, they contacted my brothers employer in the end won’t say who but a top supermarket and they take it out of his salary he doesn’t even see it I think it’s about £10 a month, the council will take any minimum payment as long as it’s being paid they don’t care how long it takes, as for the future you need contact them as you maybe be entitled to a full discount in council tax.

If anyone has any questions on not paying their bills I will try and answer what I know about the process, I was in court 3 weeks ago with my brother who is in debt with rent, council, electric, gas, insurance and basically everybody!

wish you luck, you get feel through it x

YOU WILL GET THROUGH IT 💐

They've already got an arrestment of earnings in place and they're expecting you to pay a separate £3K? that seems outrageous that they can employ both methods.

Read this www.breathing-space.uk/?pb1=BBED783F1F86417E9066C572F9898385&pb2=115ced1c&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BSv2&gclid=Cj0KCQiAj4ecBhD3ARIsAM4Q_jHUQfZsZFvYnJmG0zYPlGx_JajFCRhB-f7BK5AnBT-JYEhSrIxw4rIaAhDREALw_wcB

Do you act as cater for your parents at all, is there any carers allowance you could claim to at least help out with the bus fares? I know carers allowance is pitifully low but anything would help.

Many years ago I found myself in a similar situation to yours, the baliff tricked his way past my then 12 year old who answered the door and started listing two tvs in the living room, (portable on top of a recently broken large tv) even though the portable was borrowed.

My mum was so angry she typed me up a letter something like this

Dear bailiff due to the ending of an abusive relationship last year, my daughter found herself without the necessary furniture for her home, so myself and my husband lent her some spare items including....bla bla bla. If you touch so much as a piece of paper from her address I will take you and your company to court for theft of my property along with compensation for whatever reason.

The bailiffs would have known by her job title she had some knowledge of contract law. so they left, handed the debt back to the local council who removed the bailiffs fees, I then paid by attachment of earnings tagged on the end of the previous years attachment of earnings. Not sure if this would work nowdays, might be worth trying if you have a friend/sibiling you trust to do this for you?

I really feel for you op, that must be a horrible situation to be in. I'm sorry I don't have any advice other than asking to pay in small instalments.

I got a letter today to say my council have taken me to court over £55 and have now added an extra £120 on top of the £55. Can see how it could get very out of hand.

Ffs. I remember this feeling very well - my ex did similar. Things I didn’t even know about were in my name - he somehow got 3 mobile phones?! I was only part time NMW!!!

Call StepChange. Get Breathing Space set up.

I owe the council tax, a years worth of water rates and I have a debt on the electric meter thanks to my ex.

We were getting tax credits when we split and I was put onto universal credit. Then I received a letter saying I was overpaid by tax credits so they take it out of my UC.

It's just never ending.