Council tax and dishonest housemates - small claims court?

[AlrightTreacle]

Hi everyone and seasons greetings!!

 

I'm hoping you all can help me with this, on behalf of my boyfriend who was in a really terrible house situation earlier this year.

 

I won't bore you with too much of the details in context, but he lived with what he thought were 3 good friends, however for various reasons they fell out shortly after/during moving into their new house around about March 2009.

 

Two were students but had to drop out of uni because they were using student loans to pay their rent and not their fees, thus they were technically not liable for council tax. I am not sure if the council has updated their records to reflect this. My boyfriend and the other housemate were the only ones liable for council tax on record, although at the time they were all supposed to be splitting it equally amongst them.

 

After an intense few months (July 2009 I think), he had to move out because - without getting too personal - they are completely inhuman, irrational and pretty much psychotic!!

 

The £500 deposit he paid for the house itself was not given back to him, because they all ganged up and said that he owed it to them for bills. So, the girl who replaced him did not pay him the deposit and the agency didn't have to return it either because it was a joint tenancy. The kind hearted (too kind sometimes) guy that he is, he said fine, as long as it got him out of the house.

 

6 months later and it's obvious that once again they used his money not for bills, but to fuel their ridiculous unemployed, takeaway and drugged up lifestyle, as they managed to get his new address so that a council tax bill of £800 could be sent to him.

 

I'm not sure of the details such as the date of the bill, but it was for £600, and had £200 added as a late charge. Apparently it has been taken to court twice, although this is the first he has heard of it because he was not made aware of the letters in the first place. The bill has his name and the third (non student) housemate's name on it.

 

How on earth does he get out of this mess?? It isn't his bill to pay in the first place, but how do you prove it? Someone suggested that a small step in this would be to remove the £200 surplus, because he wasn't told about the bill initially, thus it is unfair to add a late charge. He is talking about going to small claims court, but who knows what this would involve?

 

I doubt this has any legal standing, but they did all force him to sign a silly 'contract' stating what the £500 would be used for, and it details the bills that they were supposed to pay with it. I'm pretty sure it said council tax on it and all four housemates signed this.

 

Would really appreciate your advice on this one, these vindictive girls caused a lot of personal problems for him and more than anything I want to see him move on and leave that messy past behind! :-|

[Surfer01]

Bumping it up for you!

[barracad]

It isn't his bill to pay in the first place, but how do you prove it?

 

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by this - is the bill for dates when he was there, or not? If the bill covers a period when he was living there, then clearly he is liable. If he's given his housemates money which was supposed to be paid for council tax and they've spent it on something else then that is a seperate issue - the key thing here is that unless he has paid the council tax directly to the council, then as far as they are concerned he is still liable for this. He needs to contact them immediately to discuss this, as ultimately if he doesn't pay the consequences could be quite serious, it could even go as far as imprisonment for not paying council tax (although this would be an extreme measure).

[Surfer01]

In hindsight he should have obtained a receipt showing that the money was to be used for paying utilities including council tax.

If there is a proof of a deposit receipt maybe the OP should consider a small claims against the former housemates.

Unfortunately we got caught by a landlord many years ago who kept our deposit on the flimsest of excuses and at the time we had no recourse. In the eighties £250 was a lot of money to loose!

[AlrightTreacle]

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by this - is the bill for dates when he was there, or not? If the bill covers a period when he was living there, then clearly he is liable. If he's given his housemates money which was supposed to be paid for council tax and they've spent it on something else then that is a seperate issue - the key thing here is that unless he has paid the council tax directly to the council, then as far as they are concerned he is still liable for this. He needs to contact them immediately to discuss this, as ultimately if he doesn't pay the consequences could be quite serious, it could even go as far as imprisonment for not paying council tax (although this would be an extreme measure).

 

Thanks for your input.

 

As far as I know, the bill is for the dates he was living there. You are right, he is liable because his name is on the bill. The issue is that the housemates used his money for themselves and not the bill. He did contact the council and they basically said as far as their concerned he lived there and he needs to pay it.

 

It's not looking too good is it!

[AlrightTreacle]

In hindsight he should have obtained a receipt showing that the money was to be used for paying utilities including council tax.

If there is a proof of a deposit receipt maybe the OP should consider a small claims against the former housemates.

Unfortunately we got caught by a landlord many years ago who kept our deposit on the flimsest of excuses and at the time we had no recourse. In the eighties £250 was a lot of money to loose!

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

So if there is a proof of deposit receipt, even though it is a joint tenancy, he'd have a chance of getting it back? As the agency at the time said it was for them to discuss amongst themselves, as long as the agency received the correct amount.