Hi Guys,

I have a story for you, so bear with me.

19th Sept 2008 we left the house we rented having been in a long term and heated dispute over various issues with the landlord having lived there for over 10 years.

We had paid our Council Tax to KBC right up to when we left, and even sent them a letter to say we where leaving the area.

We where then effectively homeless for 8-9 months, we came down to Sussex so my wife could be close to her little sister who is medically in a very bad way.

So we stayed in a "Winter let" Until 1st Jan 2009 in a holiday caravan that was 3 feet deep in rain water, then we moved to another holiday let for 2 months in a house in Hastings. The lady who owned the caravan invited us back and said if I did some key maintenance to that and her other caravan on the holiday site, we could stay for free until she had a holiday booking.. Which we jumped at and we took great care of both her caravans, she was a really nice lady and I felt duty bound to do whatever I could for her.

During that time Kettering Borough Council called me and sent letters to the site (and we got into trouble for that, no mail rule on a holiday site apparently) telling me I owed them just over £200.

I politely told them to leave me alone and explained the situation, they said that Ctax is a priority debt, and I explained that I failed to see how I owed them the money and actually I have some rather more priority issues at the moment, and whether I owed Ctax to somewhere I used to live was rather low priority to finding a home for my family.

So we found a home, not what we wanted, in fact we can't stand it here, but it's better than a caravan again (I was a VERY stressed bunny in that van).

KBC have now sent thier Bully Boys, Rossendales, before I joined here I just made a payment of about £26 and agreed a payment of £100 over 2 months..... Which was fine then, now jobs have gone, savings have gone.

So Bully boys told me they are coming to collect my stuff after charging me £110 + Vat (Yeah right, I've read up on here what they can and can't do, they can stick their Vat right where it came from thankyou very much).

So I sent the standard "Got no money can you freeze for 6 months" to KBC via email and Recorded post. And got the following back.... I feel there MUST be room for futher negotiation, and can I REFUSE to deal with the bully boys? WE DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING WE CAN OFFER THEM, I made it clear and sent a balance sheet, so they know what I have coming in and out.

Not only that but we paid the Ctax right up to when we left, so I don't really see how we owe them anything.

Dear Mr *EDIT*

Thank you for your email regarding your Council Tax arrears at *EDIT*

Although I can sympathise with your current financial situation I am unable to hold payment on this account. Council Tax is classed as a priority debt and as such needs to be collected as non payment can ultimately result in committal to prison.This debt relates to the 2008/2009 Council Tax year and so should have been paid during that financial year.

As you are aware the debt is currently with Rossendales our external bailiffs. Due to your situation I have contacted them and requested that they make a more lenient arrangement with you. In order to discuss an alternative arrangement please contact Rossendales on 0845 644 4100. If you fail to contact them to make a new arrangement the current arrangement that is in place will continue and the bailiffs will seek to recover the payments for the agreed instalments of £100.

Due to your circumstances I would advise that you contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Welfare Rights office to discuss your financial situation.

Regards

*EDIT*

Billing & Recovery Officer

Income & Debt

Kettering Borough Council

Municipal Offices

Bowling Green Road

Kettering

Northants

NN15 7QX

Web: www.kettering.gov.uk

Please feel free to contact the *EDIT*

bailiffs read these forms could you please remove anything that could identify you(your previous address) for your own safety

I'm not bothered, I don't live there any more, and plan to be as noisy as I can about this anyway, and only have the one "set" of Bailiffs to contend with, who already know that address and my current address via Experian "Credit expert", where they paid for my address information 4 times, so it's public info anyway, so if I remove it all I can't do a name and shame.

I would prefer advice on how to deal with this matter properly, rather than in my usual Cavalier methods.. I'm happy to deal with my online identity myself, but thank you for your concern

if you know the a/c details etc pay the council direct via internet banking and bypass the bailiffs.

they cannot refuse itthat way

even £10 will show willingness and p'haps placate the situation.

dx

I would be happy to make a token payment, but do not feel I owe them any money, I paid right up until I left the area and let them know I had left.

ok sorry then you need to sar them and find out why they did not ack your leaving letter or if they ever got it

dx

DX, THANKYOU, the SAR will screw them to the floor effectively, until they have provided ALL the information they have on me and my wife (I'll add £10 for her as well) from 1994-2008, they can't do a thing... I'll bet they don't have the complaints I made back in 1996 about the light that was out at the end of the path that went thru our village LOL.

No, really, thankyou, this is just what I needed for what while I lived there was a real pain in the butt of a council, if I do really end up owing them this money, then at least I would have made them work for it.

Gary

Twice you have said you had paid up until the time you had left and yet you paid them £26 and made an agreement to pay more.

As bailiffs are involved then they have obtained a liability order from the courts.

When you receive the sar as advised by dx, if it shows outstanding amounts, do you have receipts of any kind to show you did pay up until the time you left the tenancy?

I normally paid them via internet banking, so I could get receipts of a sort, yes