Hi All - hope someone may be able to help.

We have had visits from Bristow & Sutor bailifs ref: an alleged council Tax bill of approx £160, (including their charges).

The alleged Bill is for my wife, for an address she left in 1999. The year they are claiming for is 1999/2000.

This was before we married so should have been in her previous surname. They claim a liability order has been made - but have provided no evidence. Nor have they provided a Bill. We have had no communication from the council concerned, at this new address. We have lived here for 4 years and nothing untill Bristows & Sutor turn up.

Whats the best course of action?

The guy that came yesterday took the details of my car that is in my name and not the wifes name. I can not be held liable as i was never resident at that address - nor am i named on any alleged order. What would happen if they tried to take the car? Is there anything i can do ?

The bailif also started knocking neighbours doors even after it was confirmed to him that my wife lived at this address.

Any ideas on our best moves?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Ohhhhhh B&S.... i had dealing with these over a 7 year old council tax bill. I had no warnings or anythign- they just turned up.

To cut a long story short - i wrote to the council asking them for a copy of the original bill and the liability order - they could not provide any of these. I sought he advice of a solicitor. I also wrote to the ombudsman as i felt i had been treated very unfairly. The council tried to use the excuse that i had "disappeared" - this was not true - i had moved into a COUNCIL house and had been paying CT since! The ombudsmen said that the council had not taken the correct steps. They should have informed me they wanted payment BEFORE sending in bailiffs and they were also rapped for taking so long and not being able to produce ANY relevant paperwork.

My advice would be wrote to the council - aske them for the liability order and the date it was issued and a true copy of the original bill (they sent me one but it was in my married name - i had been known by my maiden name for 6 years so that was proof it was not geniune!)

Also see if you can get some advice from the CAB or a solitictor. Tell B&S that the account is in dispute and they SHOULD hold off any further action till its sorted. Also write to the Ombudsman and complain.

I got my bill written off due to incompetence onthe councils part - but be careful if this happens. They tried to bill me for the same thing last year. Its only when i faxed them a copy of the letter proving it was written off (the council claimed they had no record of this surprise surprise) that they left me alone. Keep EVERYTHING.

This might help - this is what i wrote to them:

Dear Sir/Madam

I have been contacted by Bristow & Sutor with reference to the above account at XX xxxxxxx xxxxx, Xxxxxxx, who have made unreasonable demands for payment of this debt, therefore I am requesting a full breakdown of the debt owed.

Please could you also provide details of when the final demand for the debt was sent and confirm when the liability order was obtained.

I would also like to know why there has been a prolonged and unexplained delay in recovering this amount as this debt is from 2001/2002. I have had no correspondence from you whatsoever regarding this debt since moving to XX Xxxxxx Xxxxx 5 years ago.

With this in mind I shall expect a response from you in 7 days before I escalate this to a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Yours sincerely

Also this might be useful too:

Whilst the six year rule applies to the right of a billing authority to obtain a liability order under reg.34(6) Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 SI 613, there is no express time limit for the collection and enforcement of local taxes once a liability order has been obtained.

Nevertheless, some justices (guided by their clerk to the court) considered the overriding duty is to exercise discretion reasonably.

Some are concerned that with debts going back more than 6 years (even if the billing authority can demonstrate recovery throughout) could be considered an abuse of legal process. Three years is the maximum period over which a committal postponement should run R. v. Newcastle Upon Tyne Justices ex parte Devine (QBD) (1998). Orders requiring more than three years to pay become irrecoverable.

I quoted the above in my letter to the council - they were quite surprised i knew about this.....

Thanks for that - will have a good read through.

Looks good though. We have never recieved any communication at our current address from the council, and we have been here 4 years.