Hello,

Unfortunatley I grew about £1300 of CT arrears in the last property I was in. I since moved borough (under another council) and started Debt Relief Order preceedings.

For some reason, the council I'm in gavee out my address to the other coucil in another borough, which are now hounding me for my council tax.

So be it, I have to pay it, but they said that on 07/12/09 a liability order was done (I left the property on 19/11/09) so i wasnt even invited to court!

Can this stsand up at all? I didnt even have a chance to discuss this with anyone.

Furthermore, now I am out of benefits and have found the first job in 6 months, they want the nam, address etc... of my employer, plus they want my payroll number!

I have 14 days to send this form back to them with a) those details nad b) an offer.

Should I accidentally omit the company address? I can't afford my comopany to get wind that I am in debt and have court orders against me as it would be frowned upon.

Finally I cant afford to pay them alot as I have some priority debts which I'm paying off:

1) £150 rent arrears

2) £1600 (loan from council to get me settled in a house following housing issues)

3) £110 British Gas

I havent even received my first salary and dont even have time to see what I will and wont be spending on bills etc... Furthermore, I need to get a car for the role I'm in and need to put some money aside for that, will they take this into consideration?

Thanks

Adrian

Just to update this, I've contacted the council and offered £100 / month payments via DD. I've also confirmed that they have my CT dates wrong, they over charged me by 4 months! Anyway, they are happy to sort out the overcharge, but they said that £100 wouldnt be sufficient?

What happens if after 3 or 4 months I have only £300 to go and they take me to court and start charging me for court fees etc... even though I am paying back at a rate I can barely afford?

There are no further court fees that you can be charged unless the case goes to bankruptcy or a charging order. There are fees if a bailiff becomes involved. If you stop paying then the council can issue an attachment order (if they can find your employer) but its likely that the account would go a bailiff for collection.

The Request For Information/Regulation 36 notice you received is a legal document and you can be fined for not providing, in full, the requested information.

Next April when you get your next bill, if you don't pay that as well as pay the arrears, you will get another liability order against you. The councils love those in arrears, they make a lot of extra money from liability orders.

Conniff> The CT arrears are from another council. What surprised me is that at the moment, I come under "Swale Borough Council" in Kent, but "Medway Council" also in Kent got my details from Swale Borough council. Can they do that?

ss002d6252> I've offered them £100 per month to pay off the bill but the lady said that wasn't acceptable. The bill is only £850! She said baliffs would come around, but I'm sure that I can give them the runaround for 8 months lol. I've been good at that so far :-P

Conniff> The CT arrears are from another council. What surprised me is that at the moment, I come under "Swale Borough Council" in Kent, but "Medway Council" also in Kent got my details from Swale Borough council. Can they do that?

ss002d6252> I've offered them £100 per month to pay off the bill but the lady said that wasn't acceptable. The bill is only £850! She said baliffs would come around, but I'm sure that I can give them the runaround for 8 months lol. I've been good at that so far :-P

Luckily I found a way around this. Seeing as I'm unemployed now, you can instruct the "council in question" to contacted your benefits DWP center and attach a "minimum" to your Job Seekers etc...

They need:

Type of benefit

Benefits office you sign at

NI Number

and the amount £3.33 / week is the minimum

You wont hear from them again. BUT on the other hand, they WONT contact you if you start work and your attachment to income falls away.

You wont hear from them again. BUT on the other hand, they WONT contact you if you start work and your attachment to income falls away.

I am a bit confused about what you mean. I work in council housing and have requested and obtained direct deductions from tenant's benefits in the past just like the Council Tax dept do. We most certainly do contact anyone who is still in arrears but who's deductions have stopped because they are no longer on benefits. The money is still owing and we will chase the person and take any legal actions available to us if they do not clear the arrears.

Luckily I found a way around this. Seeing as I'm unemployed now, you can instruct the "council in question" to contacted your benefits DWP center and attach a "minimum" to your Job Seekers etc...

You cant instruct the council to take council tax by attachment of benefit - you can request that they do but they dont have to. (I setup a dozen or two every week for council tax arrears). If they agree to the rate is fixed at £3.30 p/w.

Once we are notified by DWP that the attachment has ceased then we will contact the person again within a couple of weeks of being informed of this.

Thats contrary to what both Shelter and CAB have told me. If I can prove that I have no disposable income (which I can quite easily), the minimum they can accept is £3.30... If they refuse and take me to court and a judge sees that I made an offer based on my income they'll get laughed out of court

You can't squeeze blood out of a stone...

Conniff> The CT arrears are from another council. What surprised me is that at the moment, I come under "Swale Borough Council" in Kent, but "Medway Council" also in Kent got my details from Swale Borough council. Can they do that?

 

ss002d6252> I've offered them £100 per month to pay off the bill but the lady said that wasn't acceptable. The bill is only £850! She said baliffs would come around, but I'm sure that I can give them the runaround for 8 months lol. I've been good at that so far :-P

It looks to me as if you are deliberately making an attempt to avoid paying your council tax.

A liability order is just that, it's a courts endorsement of the fact that you owe council tax and gives the council powers to collect that owed tax. Because you managed to move home without letting the council know your new address don't mean you have got away with it.

They don't have to accept any offer you make them, but they will try and come to some arangement to pay off the arrears. If you prove awkward and non cooperative, they will just send in the bailiffs or use one of the other powers they have.

I'm not sure what relevance this '8 months' has, but once a liability order is granted, that debt stays with you for life and they can collect it as and when they catch up with you.

Thats contrary to what both Shelter and CAB have told me. If I can prove that I have no disposable income (which I can quite easily), the minimum they can accept is £3.30... If they refuse and take me to court and a judge sees that I made an offer based on my income they'll get laughed out of court

They've advised you wrongly (I work in council tax recovery and have undertaken professional courses in this area) on both counts.

The option for recovery action after the Liability Order is granted (providing its covered in the council tax (administration and enforcement) regs 1992) is purely the council's decision. They are given a list of possible options and they choose the one they feel is the appropriate one - IF a person has no income but a benefit that can be attached (JSA, ESA, IS, PC) then most councils will attach it as a method of recovery but there's no requirement to do so.

If it goes in front of a magistrate for committal then they can order a payment scheme or they may jail a person (irrespective of income) if they feel it meets the relevant criteria.

what if I'm disputing the amount as they took quite a few years to contact me about the amount which I aparently owe whilst I wasn't in the property. I send them a letter (witha copy of proof of address)(which is a letter from the DWP showing dates I was in my new address)

I left the property on 1st Jan 07, and claimed a new hosing benefits and JSA at another jobcenter 100 miles away under a different address yet I was charged until April that year?

If they are claiming money for a property that you were not resident in, then they must adjust that amount.

Refering to the title of your thread, documents can be served on the last known address so if you didn't notify them of the change of address, then it is resonable for them to assume you are still there and charge the appropriate amount and apply for a liability order for that amount and send it to that address.

Oh Bugger....

I moved in with my parter and it was her house solely in her name so I didn't even bother registering at the new council at all. Only proof I would be able to get is an affidavit from the person who transported myself and my belongings, proof that an employer was communicating with me at that address (who was around the corner from me) and proof that my GP surgery was changed to around the corner from the new house.

Aparently all of this isn't good enough.

And I'm happy to pay my CT arrears... Just not the amount that they expect. I only expect to pay for while I was there :-\

Then take all that stuff with you to court and my betting is that as soon as she/he sees you turn up with it, it won't get through the court door, it will be cancelled.

You should go to the court anyway as you aren't liable and she will give the biggest intake of breath when she sees you and utter 'bollox'.

Which court do I go to? Reason I ask is because if it's the one in Nottingham I was invited to, thats over £80 of travel away! WHo do I speak to at the court anyway?