This is a long story, so I'll try and cut to the chase.

Back in 2013 we moved into a property.

The landlady who we were renting off asked if she could continue to be registered at the address.

She agreed that she would cover all the council tax bills for the property.

Two years later we received a letter from the council to "the occupiers" asking us when we moved into the property.

We truthfully told them the date.

Two months later, we received a massive bill from the council for two years worth of council tax, backdated to the date we moved in.

We got in touch with the landlady who admitted she had not paid the council tax.

We were now stuck with a £2300 debt when in fact it wasn't our debt.

To add to our problem, the landlady admitted she had been illegally claiming benefits from the property whilst we were living there and she could not admit that she was due to pay the council tax as that would lay her wide open to prosecution.

We contacted the council and explained the situation, but they wouldn't discuss it.

As far as they ( capita ) were concerned, we were liable and they had passed the debt onto Ross and Roberts for collection.

We rang Ross and Roberts, who were in fairness understanding, and they agreed a repayment plan which we stuck to like glue.

In December 2015 I contacted them to make a payment and they gave us a figure which they said was the amount needed to clear off the debt.

I then paid that amount and was told by the lady on the phone that the debt was now paid and we owed nothing more.

They would cease any action against us. We didn't think any more about it

We got a letter from the council saying we were in arrears with our council tax and they were taking us to court.

I went into the offices to talk to them

they told me that there was still £470 owing from the previous liability order and that they'd used my council tax payments for that year to clear this off.

I explained everything about Ross and Roberts, how they said we'd paid it all off, but the woman insisted that they hadn't collected the full amount and had left £470 uncollected. That was why they were using 2016s council tax payments to clear off those arrears first.

After much arguing, they agreed to cease the court action and use the money we had paid for the current years council tax. As for the £470 owing they would simply add it onto the bill and we could repay that on top of the current years council tax over the year.

Owing to financial problems we fell into arrears with the council tax, and because as they put it "you have a bad history of paying" they just sent the matter to the courts and we were given another LO.

When we contacted Ross and Roberts to sort out payments, they told us that there was still a LO for £470 owing which they were treating seperately, and had added £310 costs onto that bill. Not only that, they added £310 onto the amount for that current year as well.

Had Ross and Roberts not told us that we had paid off the full bill, back in 2015, then we would have carried on making all the payments as planned and we wouldn't have been hit with a huge amount of fees, not only for the £470 that they incorrectly didn't collect, but also because that then had a knock on effect for the current year, and owing to us owing the grand sum of £110 for the current year, they whammed us with £310 charges for that.

So if you can understand it,

we ended up paying £620 in bailliff fees for two liability orders.

One for £110 which I accept we owed,

and £470 which Ross and Roberts had themselves told us we didn't owe

it was their mistake when they didn't collect it as they should have done back when we were willingly making payments to clear off a debt that wasn't even ours in the first place as the landlady should have paid it.

You need to go and speak to the council in person, and the CEO. By calling, you are automatically put through to capita, who dont care about your circumstances. They want the money.

Also, did you get anything in writing from your landlady saying she would pay the Council tax?

personally I would drop her in it as well , there is a anonymous telephone number you can call

Also, did you get anything in writing from your landlady saying she would pay the Council tax?

Rather foolishly no.

What we cannot understand though, is if she was claiming benefits at the house, that would include Council Tax benefit. That would mean the council tax for the property for the two year period would have been paid by the benefits office. We surely then wouldn't have had to pay because the council tax was covered for that period.

If however, she wasn't claiming council tax benefit but was registered at that address, then as the property owner, and still residing at the house, she would have been liable for the council tax anyway, not us.

personally I would drop her in it as well , there is a anonymous telephone number you can call

We explained all that to Capita, who being honest, didn't give a flying duck. They just expected us to pay saying that we'd lived there, and therefore we were liable.

What I cannot understand either, is that when it all blew up, within 8 weeks of us being told we owed the money, they had the debt with the Bailiffs.

During the entire 2 years that we were living there and she was supposed to pay the council tax, there wasn't one letter addressed to her from Mendip Council, and not one bailliff showed their face.

How come for 2 years they didn't give a damn, but suddenly when we were truthful and told them we'd been living at the property, they made every effort to get paid.

My suspicion is that the landlady had been claiming housing benefit for 2 years, and rather than do the correct thing and prosecute her, they simply just came after us to get the money back.

What I would like to know, is if she was registered at the property during the two years.

If she was, then we never should have been liable for the council tax anyway because we would have been simply lodgers as she would be the lead name on the council tax bill. We would not have been liable.

Just so you know, Crapita own Ross & Roberts aka Ross 'n Robbers, that's why the the debt was with bailiffs so quickly.

Just so you know, Crapita own Ross & Roberts aka Ross 'n Robbers, that's why the the debt was with bailiffs so quickly.

Yes I knew that. Its a money making [problem] that unfortunately no one can do anything about.

Oh you can if you complain and complain to the right people in the council.

Do you have a tenancy agreement since that stipulates what the tenant is liable for -eg rates, telephone, electricity, tv and wifi. If the rates not in the agreement then the landlord is liable to pay them.

If you cannot find the agreement, then the estate agents who arranged the lease will have a copy.