hi there. had a stat demand from connaught/1st credit set aside with the kind help of people on this forum... the thread is here... http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/dca-legal-successes/174441-connaught-stat-demand-help.html as you can see, I won the case as they never turned up and had nothing to support their claim that the debt was mine. however, 1st credit never paid the costs i was awarded and have now contacted me again about this debt... this time, with what is purported to be a notice of assignment from the original creditor, HSBC. I really don't know what to do.. is this possible that they can resurrect this issue?? am i vulnerable to this attack? any advice would be very welcome...

hi there. had a stat demand from connaught/1st credit set aside with the kind help of people on this forum... the thread is here... http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/dca-legal-successes/174441-connaught-stat-demand-help.html as you can see, I won the case as they never turned up and had nothing to support their claim that the debt was mine. however, 1st credit never paid the costs i was awarded and have now contacted me again about this debt... this time, with what is purported to be a notice of assignment from the original creditor, HSBC. I really don't know what to do.. is this possible that they can resurrect this issue?? am i vulnerable to this attack? any advice would be very welcome...

The other route I am looking at is, what can they do to recover? I am on low income self employed and all that I own is either necessary to live or related to my self employment.. And they don't know where live... make any difference?

What!? They can levy distress... what does that mean? The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 45 (5) The person levying distress on behalf of an authority shall carry with him the written authorisation of the authority, which he shall show to the debtor if so requested; and he shall hand to the debtor or leave at the premises where the distress is levied a copy of this regulation and Schedule 5 and a memorandum setting out the appropriate amount, and shall hand to the debtor a copy of any close or walking possession agreement entered into. (6) A distress may be made anywhere in England and Wales.

Oh no, another section seems to say that they can send the summons to your last known address... That's unfortunate... and seems rather unfair if they had over 2 years to have sent it to my address when I was there... Is this right? The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (2) A summons issued under regulation 34(2) may be served on a person— (a) by delivering it to him, or (b) by leaving it at his usual or last known place of abode, or in the case of a company, at its registered office, or © by sending it by post to him at his usual or last known place of abode, or in the case of a company, to its registered office, or (d) by leaving it at, or by sending it by post to him at, an address given by the person as an address at which service of the summons will be accepted.

Wow, I love legislation... this is really interesting... This bit is about liability order and says about costs reasonably incurred can be added. I don't think my costs were reasonably incurred... I'll keep looking... The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (7) An order made pursuant to paragraph (6) shall be made in respect of an amount equal to the aggregate of— (a) the sum payable, and (b) a sum of an amount equal to the costs reasonably incurred by the applicant in obtaining the order.

I still don't know what to do about this.. Anyone have any advice? Why do I have to pay £100 in costs on a court summons that was not even sent to my current address.. Also I have now found out that they owe me just under a hundred pounds for last year's council tax. Could they not have offset that and stopped the need for court proceedings. This all seems very unfair. I have the money and am prepared to pay - but feel I should only pay what the council tax is, not bumped up costs of £100! I never had a chance to defend myself in court. Any thoughts?

Very interesting. Thanks for the info and thanks for pointing to the law so I could check it for myself. That's brilliant that you know all that - we all should. If you might have any ideas how to make this right, please let me know. They still don't know where I live, should I get in touch? And is there any way they will take off the extra fees they added for court stuff. Maybe I shouldn't have to pay those? Whenever I have liabilities I am happy to pay them, and am up to date on all council tax since then. Seems sneaky to take it to court after having told them I had moved out. Nice one again, much appreciated.

Also, can i do anything to reduce the liability incurred due to the court costs they have added? If I have to pay anything, surely it should just be what they are claiming I owe from council tax. THey didn't give me a chance to attend court so I don't think I should pay the court costs. What do people think?

Thanks for the answer.. much appreciated. So if i am jointly liable then I do owe the money.. This doesn't seem to make sense - why is this so, and where does the legislation say this? It seems unfair that I should be pursued for a liability that is clearly not mine - what is the point of council tax benefit if it doesn't help you reduce your costs? Is there anything to challenge this - perhaps in the way they haven't followed this up until I've left the address?

hi there. basically i just got picked up post from my old address (moved out about 5 months ago) and in my mail were two letters from the council. One was a court summons date as it is alleged I missed a payment of roughly hundred pound from 2007 in relation to council tax. The other letter is a demand for that money, dated after the first letter, and also explanation that bailiffs have been instructed to follow it up. Firstly, I no longer live at that address so it isn't urgent but I am surprised that this issue has come up now when it relates to an old date and also that they proceeded with a court procedure without my knowledge. I did inform the council when i moved out. The amount has already doubled due to "court" costs which is worrying. Also this amount relates to a period when I was sharing a house but had full council tax benefit. I did argue this point at the time and told the council I didn't think it was my liability to pay my housemate's tax and they then dropped the issue... I did not hear anything more about it since then until now. I was wondering if anybody has any advice as I want to put it right but don't feel I owe the money or have been treated fairly. And I don't like the idea of bailiffs turning up at my new address. Any ideas on this - it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Bit of an odd one, if you rent a 3 bed house (tenancy solely under your name) and 2 of the rooms you rent out to lodgers.. do you receive LHA 3 bed rate less the income you make or a shared accomodation rate? If anyone can help and point to the relevant legislation that would be much appreciated..

I just thought it is interesting that all the banks have to abide by the banking code - but this seems to be of the opinion that unless you have given permission, it looks hard for the banks to keep on processing your information... Here is an excerpt from the banking code about personal information... 11 Your personal information Confidentiality 11.1 We will treat all your personal information as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer). We will not make your name and address or details about your accounts known to anyone, including other companies in our group, other than in the following four exceptional cases when we are allowed to do this by law. • If we have to give the information by law. • If there is a duty to the public to make the information known. • If our interests mean we must give the information (for example, to prevent fraud). However, we will not use this as a reason for giving information about you or your accounts (including your name and address) to anyone else, including other companies in our group for marketing purposes. • If you ask us to make the information known, or if we have your permission. also a section on CRAs: Credit reference agencies 13.5 When you open your account or apply for a card, we will tell you when we may pass your details to credit reference agencies and the checks we may make with them. 13.6 We may give information to credit reference agencies about the personal debts you owe us if: • you have fallen behind with your payments; • the amount owed is not being disputed; and • you have not made proposals we are satisfied with for repaying your debt, following our formal demand. 13.7 In these cases, we will give you at least 28 days’ notice that we plan to give information about the debts you owe us to credit reference agencies. At the same time, we will explain the role of credit reference agencies to you and the effect the information they provide can have on your ability to get credit. 13.8 We will give credit reference agencies other information about the day-to-day running of your account if you have given us your permission to do so. 13.9 If you ask, we will tell you how to get a copy of the information that credit reference agencies have about you, or their leaflets that explain how credit referencing works. You should contact the customer service teams at the following organisations: Experian Ltd Equifax Credit File PO Box 9000 Advice Centre Nottingham PO Box 1140 NG80 7WF Bradford Check your credit report - Experian UK and Ireland - the information services company BD1 5US Online Credit Report and Credit Check Services - Equifax Callcredit Plc PO Box 491 Leeds LS1 1WX Callcredit We may also ask you to give your permission to use the information held by credit reference agencies to check identity for anti-money-laundering and fraud purposes – this does not affect your credit history.

Any more ideas?

thanks aa99 and tedney. that is really useful info, will look at the thread you suggested and the IC complaint form.. thanks so much!