Bailiff for council tax debt

PUBLISHED: 09:22 07 November 2017 | UPDATED: 10:15 07 November 2017 Tom Horton The council have been accused of 'seeing who they can squeeze'. Archant Town hall bosses have been accused of ‘seeing who they can squeeze’ by sending out demands for council tax arrears stretching back as much as 13 years. Angry residents claim in some cases they are being threatened with a visit from a bailiff unless they settle their debts in a little over a week. The Post has seen bills the council has recently sent out including one for arrears accrued in 2004 by Christopher Jones. The law states liability orders must be issued within six years of the date on which they are due. The demands sent out by the council claim liability orders were issued at the time - but some residents who have not been contacted for years dispute whether the town hall ever told them money was owed. Christopher, who owes £700, said he is “disgusted”. Some residents suspect the council, … [Read more...] about Town hall bosses in Barking and Dagenham demand council tax arrears stretching back 13 years

PUBLISHED: 07:00 02 November 2017 Emma Bartholomew A view of Hackney looking towards the town hall in Mare Street. Hackney Council is consulting on increases to council tax. Picture: Melissa Page Archant Hackney Council has seen a backlash within the Labour Party over plans to increase council tax contributions for some of the borough’s poorest people. Mayor of Hackney Phil Glanville: 'Council tax changes not an easy decision.' Picture: Gary Manhine/Hackney Council The council is consulting on whether to change its council tax reduction scheme, which it says has become “too costly to administer” at £25.5 million a year for its 32,000 recipients. The proposal is to reduce the 85pc reduction for working age residents by 5pc by April. The contribution of a single parent with four children at school living on jobseekers’ allowance and child tax credits, living in a band E property, could rise from £3.50 to £6.43 a week, for example. And a … [Read more...] about Scrap plans to cut council tax benefit, Labour Party tells Hackney Council as consultation draws to a close

Councillors have written off tax debts of over £170,000 after saying there is little prospect of them being paid. They agreed to give up chasing council tax debts of £35,197.87 including where people have died, absconded or been declared bankrupt.And taxes owed by businesses of £135,835.55 dating back up to five years have been written out by Hartlepool Borough Council. John Morton, assistant director finance and customer services, told the Finance and Policy Committee: “We do have very effective recovery arrangements such that after five years we will have collected 99.3% of all council tax and 99.5% of all business rates.“Members can also be reassured that the council writes out relatively low amounts of debts that are non-recoverable.”He added: “For council tax the proposed write outs relate largely to people who have died or bankrupt cases, and for business rates the proposed write outs relate largely to sole trader bankruptcies and limited … [Read more...] about Hartlepool council writes off £170,000 in unpaid tax debts

0 Have your say MORE and more people are suffering serious financial hardship due to this Government’s austerity policies. Almost a decade of cuts to tax credits, housing and disability benefits have combined with insecure work, low wages and zero-hours contracts, along with the high cost of credit to bring family finances to breaking point.All added up, UK households now owe an average of more than £15,000 in unsecured lending from credit card firms, banks and other forms of household debt. Cashing in on misery, like a predator hunting its prey: the bailiffs. Unregulated, and making profits on the backs of the most vulnerable.Of course, businesses and government have a right – and often a duty – to seek money that they are owed, especially from those who are simply refusing or making no effort to pay for products and services. But everybody should abide by a code of decency which is too often ignored and rarely enforced on rogue … [Read more...] about In My View with Rachel Reeves MP: Rogue bailiffs prey on victims of austerity cuts