old council tax nightmare (its a long one)

[schrodingers cat]

hi folks
about ten years ago my mother started getting dementia and as i was unemployed i started helping her a task that gradually took more and more of my time.at the same time some bright spark at the dole office decided if you was more than a minute late for signing on your claim would be cancelled and you would have to start again this also applied to council tax benefit and as a claim takes months to be sorted out and i was continually late to sign on i found myself making new claims every fortnight none of which was ever completed and all of this time my council tax bill was increasing
As my mother got worse i found myself unable to cope with all the trash coming through the letterbox so i ignored it.i even got things saying you have a letter to be signed for at the post office i ignored them too
one day a few letters came and i opened them to find out it was bayliffs and i owed about £4000 in tax so i promptly ignored them too,not long after i had to move in with my mother and become her primary carer and all was shoved to the back of my mind
i dont think under the circumstances i should be billed for council tax as i was unemployed even though i could not meet their rules to sign on
but i doubt that would save me
Does anyone know if the debt will still be collectable by them or does the statute barred rule apply
i have not been on the electoral role since then and have not advertised my addresses so dont know how the situation stands and i`m reluctant to find out incase it brings a s**t storm to my door
thanx
S.C

[questioning]

copied from the Limitations act 1980
The Limitation Act 1980 states that most debts can become ‘statute barred’ after 6 years (12 years for mortgages and secured loans). This means they become unenforceable – you still owe the money, but the creditor can no longer take action to recover it.

This can only happen if:

• the creditor hasn’t contacted you (at your last known address) or taken action (e.g. court action) in that time
  and
• you haven’t made payments or acknowledged the debt in that time.
• 6 years for most debts
  Most debts can be declared statute barred if they’re left ‘untouched’ for 6 years. You may be surprised to hear that this includes Community Charge or Council Tax debts.

[Conniff]

As bailiffs are involved which means it has been to court, I believe the limitations act wont apply.

Unless the council let the debt run for more than the six years (unlikely), then they cannot apply for a liability order after the six years.

[questioning]

Yes quite, I'm sure the council didn't let it run for 6yrs before taking court action but you never know, obviously the OP will know that.
I was surprised to find that the council tax is included though as the council often get out of lots of things so I thought that CT may have been exempt.
I haven't personally had any involvement with non payment of CT luckily.
Good luck OP.

[Conniff]

You will need a breakdown of the years that are unpaid and the date that the liability order was issued.

Ask the council for that information and post it on here and then we can see what is to be done.

[schrodingers cat]

Originally Posted by Conniff

You will need a breakdown of the years that are unpaid and the date that the liability order was issued.

Ask the council for that information and post it on here and then we can see what is to be done.

hi folks and thanx
i would imagine it did go to court and that was what the recorded delivery letters were about but as i didn`t collect them i dont know
when i left the address in question the windows were smashed by the local kids and were boarded up so i would imagine if the bayliffs did visit this was noted and no further calls or correspondence was made.i have not been contacted further in 7 to ten years
Nobody has contacted me to date this is just me putting feelers out in case so i wont go through the above steps just yet but will surely be back if they appear
thanks again for your help i`ll click your scales
S.C

[lyndseyjane]

Hi All

Council's are governed by the 6 year rule so they have to bring the matter before the Magistrates' within 6 years of the debt falling due. Once they have the Liability order there is no time scale in which to collect they debt by.

As long as the Council served documentation at the "last known address" then it is seen by the Magistrates' as good service even though you may have moved and not collected your mail.

As you're not on the electoral register they wont be able to pick you up from that.

Most Council's do have a write off policy. Generally if the bailiff returns it as absconder and the Council either passess it out to a tracing agency ior does the work themselves and they're unable to locate the person then they will write the debt off.

if you have any querie PM me

[xxorlsxx]

Hi, Also you can speak to a welfare rights officer at the CAB they are really good and may be able to write off the debt.

[schrodingers cat]

now thats what i wanted to hear.i was under immense stress at the time and also unemployed if you could call caring for someone unemployed i`d always hoped that if it came to the crunch a court would look at the circumstances but i`ll leave that untill the axe falls
thanx
S.C

[adamrao]

Hi S.C

Please keep an eye on the post. As council knows where you are, bailliff can start knocking your door. It is very unlikely council was unware of your 'arrears' in last 6 years, see you mentioned about bailiffs is involved means council or its nominated debt collection agency has got a judgement against you. But dont be stressful this is the time to act.

Please dont forget to reply to court and let it know your then and current financial position. I've witnessed quite a few cases when megistrate courts have written off old council tax debts on the basis of person's financial incapability.

One of my friends igonred everything and burried his head in sand. The total demand was more than £5000 and costs (though the costs were more than his actual CT bill) CT first tried to bankrupt him - failed - then took him to magistrate court expected to send him behind the bars. He told court he couldn't pay due to casual work he had in those particular years, couldnt claim benefits due to less or no information, now he is self employed and cant pay the amount. He can and is paying the current CT but cant afford to pay the previous one. He also provided some paperwork he had from those years and current financial statement (income and expend. form).

Result - Court wrote off his debt.

The best remedy has already been suggested to you. See your local welfare rights or CAB. Even Debt advisor can also deal with the case.

(please make sure your current liability is covered by council tax benefit - as you are a carer and you mother is a main housing and council tax claimnt you will not be classed as non dep so no effact on housing and council tax benefit).

[Conniff]

Originally Posted by schrodingers cat

now thats what i wanted to hear.i was under immense stress at the time and also unemployed if you could call caring for someone unemployed i`d always hoped that if it came to the crunch a court would look at the circumstances but i`ll leave that untill the axe falls
thanx
S.C

Afraid the courts wont be interested in anything other than your 'liability' to pay. If you were on benefits etc and were entitled to a reduced or no tax, then they would, otherwise it is just rubber stamp and issue.

The courts don't even look at the names, it is just a big spreadsheet and is stamped at the bottom meaning all on the sheet are liable.

Just in case you had a worry about credit, council tax arrears or liability judgement does not get recorded on any credit reference agency file.