Context; I am 20, and my parents have got a Outstanding Council Tax bill from years ago, that we never got a notice for to pay.
Just today got a Bailiff at the door; No notice at all of his arrival in the past week. He has also knocked down the Outstanding Council Tax from 800 to 400 which I have never heard of a Bailiff doing. Parents made big mistake of letting him in but he didn't make a list of items nor offered us an agreement for the goods. He went into my room and said they could take my Xbox and PC despite me owning them. He went downstairs and refused to leave, and rang up the removal van straight away, they haven't been yet so I suppose that's a bluff. He also didn't have any documents on him and vaguely showed his phone which had a document open to show how much we owed I assume as he looked down and read the numbers. All he had was an ID Badge too, and apparently he "didn't need a warrant to come in and search" which made us feel intimidated, me the most as I use my devices for working at home (Xbox is worth so little as it's broken and 7 year old anyway), but I cannot prove ownership of them. I cannot tell if this is real or not, but my dad said he is going to refuse to let them in, and not answer his phone calls, but I am a little afraid that he could go to court over this.
Obviously, as there was no notice of enforcement it means they cannot recover the fee, and they also need some sort of proof of permission to search the house which they didn't provide. they also gave me and my stepmum a huge distress and as this is the first time I've had to deal with this I ended up having a panic attack so that kind of breaks the whole Harassment Act since they caused alarm, distress and intimidation towards us.
Is there any advice on what we should do from here? I have even helped my parents send a Notice of Removal of Implied Rights of Access to the company but I'm afraid it could be too late.
Council tax Bailiff help
Re: Council tax Bailiff help
Before a council may instruct bailiffs to attend, they must apply for a liability order, and request a summons to the debtor to appear before the court to show why he has not paid the sum outstanding.
This step may only be taken after the council has served a reminder notice on the debtor or, served on the debtor, whom a liability order is to be applied for, a final notice.
The law is Regulation 23(1)(c) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 and Regulation 33(1) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
You (your parents) can make a formal complaint and ask to suspend the enforcement for breach of these regulations.
Before attending, the bailiff must also give a statutory notice of enforcement under paragraph 7.1 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
A bailiff deducing a liability from £800 to £400 is unheard of. They are not authorised to vary a liability order.
The bailiff only went into the bedroom to get your backs up, they have no intention of taking video game consoles. It's just to cause annoyance.
Bailiffs are trained to avoid laptops, because that lands the creditor whom they act for a big bill for damages because IP and data are not defined as "goods" that a bailiff can take into control. Last year, One individual bailiff, executing a writ, took a MacBook, and it cost the creditor £2700 for its replacement. New for old, plus, the old one turned up when it was switched on at a pawn shop premises and transmitted its location, and was recovered. The client now has two MacBooks at the bailiff's expense.
A removal of an implied right of access does not work on bailiffs because the liability order is authority to "enter premises", but bailiffs like to interpret that to mean breaking and entering with a locksmith. In 2016, a bailiff paid out after he was caught trying to hire a locksmith to break entry to a property, and the locksmith went to the police.
You need to establish whether the debt is genuine, so the council is the first port of call. See how much is owing and ask for a copy of the liability order. If they cannot show a liability order (under paragraph 26 of Schedule 12) then there is no enforcement power.
When you have established whether a liability exists, then your parents have a raft of options open to them.
This step may only be taken after the council has served a reminder notice on the debtor or, served on the debtor, whom a liability order is to be applied for, a final notice.
The law is Regulation 23(1)(c) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 and Regulation 33(1) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
You (your parents) can make a formal complaint and ask to suspend the enforcement for breach of these regulations.
Before attending, the bailiff must also give a statutory notice of enforcement under paragraph 7.1 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
A bailiff deducing a liability from £800 to £400 is unheard of. They are not authorised to vary a liability order.
The bailiff only went into the bedroom to get your backs up, they have no intention of taking video game consoles. It's just to cause annoyance.
Bailiffs are trained to avoid laptops, because that lands the creditor whom they act for a big bill for damages because IP and data are not defined as "goods" that a bailiff can take into control. Last year, One individual bailiff, executing a writ, took a MacBook, and it cost the creditor £2700 for its replacement. New for old, plus, the old one turned up when it was switched on at a pawn shop premises and transmitted its location, and was recovered. The client now has two MacBooks at the bailiff's expense.
A removal of an implied right of access does not work on bailiffs because the liability order is authority to "enter premises", but bailiffs like to interpret that to mean breaking and entering with a locksmith. In 2016, a bailiff paid out after he was caught trying to hire a locksmith to break entry to a property, and the locksmith went to the police.
You need to establish whether the debt is genuine, so the council is the first port of call. See how much is owing and ask for a copy of the liability order. If they cannot show a liability order (under paragraph 26 of Schedule 12) then there is no enforcement power.
When you have established whether a liability exists, then your parents have a raft of options open to them.