Hi there,

I am looking for some advice.

Yesterday a balliff arrived at my door asking for £3068 in unpaid council tax bills (and charges!!!!) from my wife from 6 years ago!!!!

Apparently this was unpaid arrears for a flat that my wife had been living in for 4 years.

Now according to my wife the agreement with the landlord was that he would pay all bills for the property. IE The the rent constituted an all inclusive amount, and that seems to have been honoured for every other bill, electricity, water rate etc.

I talked to the council yesterday stating that and that my wife never received one bill (apparently numerous bills/reminders/summons were sent to the original property!!!!!). However my wife never received any bills at the time.

The flat that my wife had was one of two in the house. Post generally went to the other flat as that had the postbox. The tennants of that flat would then post through my wifes door. However not one council tax bill or associated correspondance ever arrived.

The council advised us that Landlord had put the liability in my wifes name on the day she moved in. This seems unbelivable. So my wife became liable for a bill that she hadn't agreed to without anybody checking with her (To my knowledge you can't do this with any other bill you must get identification.)

It seems to me that this is a con. The landlord makes out that the rent is one price to the tennant (which is attractive so they will stay) and then tells the council something else. It then takes six years for them to get themselves sorted out.

I would really like to hear the advice of the forum on this. I am keen to know how to proceed, because as far as I am concerned we don't owe the council 1 penny. The landlord does.

Your help is really appreciated forum.........

Council Tax liability cannot be removed solely by the wording of the tenancy agreement except in a situation where the property is deemed to be a house in multiple occupation.

There was no need for the council to check liability if informed by the L/L as he would have supplied sufficient evidence, tenancy agreements etc , to the council.

In any case your wife is not disputing that she lived in the property so any argument over her name being on the bill is not an issue for the council as they have done so correctly under the info they hold.

I rang the council. No evidence was requested to check liability. Is this allowed. I could not do this for Water Rates (as an example). I would need to provide proof.

Another thing £3068 for the coucil tax on a tiny 1 bedroom flat in Nottingham seems VERY VERY high even for 3.5 years. Could the landlord have said that my wife was responsible for the whole property??????

check Valuation Office Agency - homepage and see if there are two properties recorded or just one - this site will confirm the property details and the banding.

Thanks really helps.

Strange thing here the address for the property is Grd Floor Flat when as the actual address is 35b. I think that the bills have definitely been sent to the wrong address.

I also still strongly suspect that the landlord was withholding all this correspondance so that my wife was never aware.

I need to find out when the first balliff/council tax officers was sent out

You can challenge the council on the address they were using, and they can check with their building control section to see what the correct address actually is.

If it turns out that the mail was issued incorrectly and the council were culpable, they will have to withdraw the court summonses and if the debt is more than 6 years old, they cannot proceed through court again.

You say that the L/L may have been holding back the mail. This is possible, but how would he have got it if it was issued to the Gnd floor flat (unless he lived there).

The L/L would not need to provide proof when he initially registered your wife. Some council's ask for proof as a matter of good practice, but there is no legal requirement. As far as I am aware however, there is a legal requirement for a tenant/owner/agent to inform the council of occupation within 21 days of said person occupying.

Personally I think the council will have all of the bases covered. If so, I would go through the council's complaints procedure and then go to the the ombudsman if not happy. The ombudsman will conduct a thorough investigation and any areas of bad practice from the council will be highlighted. In the meantime you may need to make an affordable arrangement to prevent further costs or bailiff visits.

Good Luck.