Council Tax Arrears over 10 years ago

[Sickboy1412]

Hi I just got al etter in from Renfrewshire Council saying I owe them £1102 from an address that I lived at over 11 years ago.

Now between 1996 to 2002 approx I did have some really bad financial problems and I didnt pay my council tax at the time for a few years.(mainly because they never ever sent me a bill even though I was and did register to vote at this address during this time)

Now in October 2003 they sent me bills for the years that I had failed to pay and I then decided to get a loan out to pay off all the arrears that I belived I owed to bring my council tax up to date

Now they are asking for more money and I thought I had paid off all the arrears in 2003 and my point is how can I check up what I have payed for years 1996-2002 and what I owe so as I know that I deffonatly owe this money.

If I owe it I will pay it but I want to be sure I do owe it and really dont have a clue how to check back to well over 12 years of records?

Also how far back can they chase a council tax debt as Im sure this debt must be over 11 years old

Thanks in advance

[IdaInFife]

Council tax debts do not become statute barred.

I think they only way you would find out what you have paid etc is to send them an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request).

Edit to suit
Subject Access Request - Consumer Wiki

(take out the word banking)

You would need to include £10 and send recorded and they would need to send allinof payment, charges etc that they have for you.


Ida x

[Sickboy1412]

Originally Posted by IdaInFife

Council tax debts do not become statute barred.

Thanks for the reply.

Forgive me but I am not sure what is meant by statue barred

Also I checked out your link and as you said it is based on writing to a bank and I will therefore add my references to the Council.I presume they are legally obliged to send me this information if I ask for it just like the banks

Regards

[IdaInFife]

basically any debts that you have, cause you live in escosse, become statite barred after 5 years which means if you have not paid anything in 5 years then you have no obligation to pay them

BUT

there are some things that are exceptions like secured loans and blooming cooncil tax!

Re the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request). Yes they still have to send all the info just remove the word bank or banking and edit to suit

idax

[postggj]

its true about council tax not bing timed barred
in my research i believe they can not do enforcement action if over ten years old
but please do not quote me on that, some one who specalise in council tax will be able to confirm
i believe the courts call it an abuse of legal process
but like i said
not sure on that one

[Sickboy1412]

Thanks again.

Also whilst you have been answering this I have investigated the procudure with my own Council regarding the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) and have found that they have there own form for requesting access to this information.

I was going to apply for this on Monday with a cheque for £10 but what is putting me off is the fact they want me to send in either my ORIGINAL passport or driving licence rather than just a copy

As you can imagine the last thing I want is to send my passport/driving licence by post to my local coucil only for them to hang on to it for 40 days.

Do you or anyone else know if there can accept proof any other way than this

Regards

[IdaInFife]

They do not need proof if you provide you name address and any ref numbers

They are hapy to ask you for payment with these details so they should be happy for you to ask for details with these

You can still send the template Subject Access Request you do not need to fill in theirs

idax

[Sickboy1412]

Again thanks for you help

[IdaInFife]

No problem


ida x

[Sickboy1412]

Just a quick follow up to all of the above.

As I may or may not have said I reiceved this demand for 11 year old council tax money today.Now in the last 2 weeks I have been applying for a re-mortgage and was wondering if the 2 could be linked in anyway or is this just a coincidence.

Could this have possibly flagged up during this process or am I just being paronoid?

I know there is no record of this debt on my credit file as I have had a recent copy of it posted to myself

[IdaInFife]

co-incidence