I have been contacted by the solicitors who are dealing with my council tax arrears and they have demanded £100 on or before the 17th March.I ahve sent them a statement of means form as I cannot afford this amount but they are refusing to back down on their demands stating that legally they do not hav to offer an agreement at all and will seek a liability order if I refuse to pay their offer and seize goods and belongings.

I am really scared by their aggressiveness but more so having to let someone take my things if I refuse.

I need to know if there is anything I can do to stop this as soon as possible as I only have until monday to pay.I have tried seeking advice from the insolvency agency which one of you kind people out there advised me to visit but they have failed to ring me back on 3 occasions now.

Please,please can someone out there help.I really am desperate for a knowledgable person to advise me on what my best course of action is.

I have started proceedings to seek help with 3 or 4 of the companies moneysupermarket advise regarding debt help but I doubt that any one of these will contact me before monday.

I thank you in advance for any help at all but I am down to my last fingernail now so I really do need advice quickly.

Thanks again

ouch sounds very nasty indeed

How much in arrears are you and why,council tax is something nobody should be in arrears with unless you are unemployed or have vices which they generally spend more on and think about other things such as council tax later.

To be honest its classed as a debt so they should really be acting like this,they do have to accept some form of repayment of the arrears over a period of time,same as you would if you were suddenly stund for a big tax bill because they got the sums wrong like they do on child tax credit.

How much is your normal bill and what have you proposed to pay towards the arrears,you really need to pay something ,cut back on leccy for a bit ro something,i dont understand why you are in arrears perhaps you can explain a bit more so i can help

We are in arrears because of all of our other debts and this was one of the ones we had the stupidity to "put to one side and deal with later" and the later became much later until we had completely forgotten about it.We basically did the stupid thing of burying our heads in the sand and hoping it would go away.

We are in arrears to the sum of £310 but they are threatening to add another £155 in fees if we do not pay or ignore their demands.I have recently taken a career change which involves weekly pay and as we are already living beyond our means I offered £10 weekly or £40 monthly,which,to be honest is still cutting what we have mighty fine but they flatly refused this and demanded 1 payment of £100 and 2 of £105 over the next 3 months which I cannot afford.

Will they have to take this to court? because surely if they do and I hand in an I and E form the courts will see that we are living beyond our means and will accept a reasonable offer,wont they?

I am at my wits end so a big thank you for replying so quickly.

Normal bill is £88 pounds monthly by the way (forgot to add that)

so are you offering to pay the normal bill aswell as paying towards the arrears??

£155 IN FEES IS EXCESSIVE i think that will be the costs of taking action cos they dont charge late payment fees on councill tax do they??

Forty pound a month towards the arrears sounds good to me but im not the one controlling this sadly,why not try getting hold of your local councillor on this,access the website of your local council and you should be able to contact him,because as i said on previous thread if you are offering repayment and can prove that the offer is suitable based on your earnings then they dont have a leg to stand on.

Is this the council contacting you directly? I have never heard of councils passing such debts over to collectors, they usually do it themselves. In most areas you will just get a court summons and a magistrate decides. Even then, they offer you a deal before the case is heard.

No axis,the council have passed the arrears to a solicitors called Bristow and Sutor.The £310 we owe is what we haven't paid for the council tax year ending this April which they want in instalments we can't afford.They have threatened to obtain a liability order if I do not pay their demands.I'm afraid I do not understand what a liability order is but I have been told that only the court can send in bailiffs now,is this the case?

It has been passed to the solicitor because we defaulted on the agreement we had made with the council.

Hi Red

The council have passed the bill to the end of this financial year (April) to the solicitor (Bristow and Sutor) because we defaulted on the agreement we had with them.So all we owe is the £310 and we have to restart paying the council for the new financial year at the beginning of April this year.I just don't have the means available to pay the instalments they are demanding.As I said in my previous thread though,I do not understand what a liability order is and whether or not they have the ability to send in the bailiffs if I have made a reasonable offer.

Thanks

hi mate sorry took a bit to get back on been to a funeral of sorts today.

To be honest your best bet is getting onto to the cab who can liase with the council if they wont listen to you,to be honest your position hasnt been helped if you have defaulted on a agreement already made with them,for now id pay what you can afford so they cant turn round and say you have not paid,

A liabilty order is something the council gets issued via courts to seize goods for unpaid tax such as the hugely inflated council tax,then a court appointed or councill run baliff can seize goods so they can auction them off.

Id phone the cab tommorow and get them to liase with the council because if you offering to pay over a period of time at a rate more suitable then that should be fine,but as you have defaulted already you might have a hard time getting anywhere.

iceman --- A liability order is needed before any action can be taken to commence recovery proceedings against you including bailiffs or the seizure of goods, or attatchment of earning orders.

This would be applied for to the Magistrates by the Solicitor seeking the arrears, if no order has been already made against you.

Try not to worry too much action by bailiffs is not automatic, the court has other choices where there is hardship and you are genuine, but do yourself a favour and attend the hearing you will be able to put your case for leniency forward to them.

Or better still contact your Council direct to make an amicable arangement to re-pay the arrears, before a liability order is issued, it will save you the costs being awarded against you.

Click Council tax arrears in the link below for info :

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/

DebtsAndArrears/DG_10013198

To be honest with all of you it looks like I'm screwed.

Just been on the Bristow and Sutor website and they are not a solicitors they are a Civil Enforcement Agent.So it looks like this has already gone to a stage where I can no longer do anything about it (I think!!).

It looks like I will just have to yield to their demands but try and appeal to their better nature and ask for a bit more time to make the first payment.

Thank you to all of you that have given me advice though,it has been greatly appreciated.

GOOD LUCK!!

Dont waste your breath with appealing to the councills better nature cos it doesnt exist!!!

Dont pay what you cant afford though pay what you tried to offer and then they cant say you made no effort to pay your arrears!!

Contact the cab and get some help with it ,

Hi Red

Thanks for all your advice.

Its not the councils better nature I'm appealing to,it the Enforcement Agency.

The only reason I defaulted was because I took a new job where I was only earning £150 a week whilst I was training.I have passed my training now though and will start seeing the benefits come the end of the month.

Just hope these people will be sympathetic of my situation though.

Thanks again.

doubt it just as bad as the council they get paid to recover debt,no debt recovered no contract to recover!!

I would use what good goverment rights you have and sort it out as its a debt which if you have no means of paying what they want then they are duty bound to agree whatever you can afford to pay.

I wouldnt worry about the letters send em a financial statement and pay what you can and stick to it.

They are bailiffs. If they visit your house do not let them in. You are legally entitled to refuse them entry. Once you let them in I think they can later force entry and take goods. You really need some expert advice. Will look around and see what I can find.

Moggieb,

Once again a big thanks,I have e-mailed Bristow and Sutor overnight stating that I didn't think I had a leg to stand on and agreeing to pay what they wanted,with one condition.That they allowed me until at least the end of the month to make the first payment.

They have flatly refused this offer now and have stated that if payment is not in the office by 20th March they will cancel the agreement offered and bailiffs will be instructed to visit the house.

What can I do to appease a bailiff,if it gets that far,will they be interested in an I and E form?

I have no intentions of letting them in though!!!!!!!

I would also love to be a real nasty **CENSORED** in an e-mail back to them as they have been nothing but aggressive and petulent since this started,but I don't know what sort of grief this could land me with.

Once again I thank you all and look forward to hearing from you soon.