council tax debt forcing bankcruptcy any advice???

[selinajayne]

i recieved a letter today from the council saying my debt had been passed over to solicitors for bankruptcy.

I have been claiming income support for the last 2 years and was suppose to e getting council tax benefit but somewhere along the line the claim has been cocked up.

At the begining of my claim they made a mistake and thought i was not getting income support any more so they stopped the council tax claim. i informed them i was still getting income support and thought the council tax claim was carried on but apparently it wasnt and now they have handed it over to soliciotrs.

can anyone give me any advice on this as i really dont want to be declared as bankcrupt.

[cerberusalert]

Moved to Local Authority, Council Tax and Business Rates Issues Forum.

[Deb T]

What is the level of the debt?

 

Are you still on inome support? and is your council tax now being paid?

[selinajayne]

i think the debt is for 3 years but i have been on income support for 2 years. when i first went on income support they made me pay £11 a month to pay off the arrears i already owed but then they thought i stopped my income support clain so they stopped the council tax claim. i still dont know if they are paying the council tax now apparently its been handed over to the right people at the council but it is also in the hands of the solicitors.

[Deb T]

Yes but the level of debt? i.e amount? As in if it is relatively small amount it is not cost effective to make you bankrupt as that in itself costs a fair chunk of money.

 

Do you own your own home/have realisable assets?

[selinajayne]

we own our home and i think the debt is about £3000

[selinajayne]

to be honest im not sure because they havent told me

[Deb T]

I doubt they'll go for bankruptcy at this stage of the game but if they do there is a process to be followed such as a statutory demand etc etc. If in the unlikely event that they do you should come back here for help.

 

On the letter they sent where they mentioned bankruptcy what did it say? as in was it 'me're passing this on to our solicitors who 'may' issue bankruptcy proceedings against you'

 

Also, you say 'we' is there an income in the house other than benefits that the council may have known about and which would disqualify you from council tax benefit?

[selinajayne]

my husbands off sick and claims income support for the both of us. we have a young baby that he cant care for so thats why i cant work. the letter says they have handed it over to soilicitors to file for bankcruptcy. the thing is they thought we werent on any benefits so have said we owe the full amount but we were on benefits so obviously dont owe that amount

[Deb T]

I wouldn't make any submissions on the debt owed but it sounds like something has gone awry between yourself and the council but....

 

Did not the council tell you how much the debt was that was owed to them when they wrote saying it was being handed over to solicitors?

 

At the same time as this you say you were paying them £11 a month on arrears which at least 1 years was prior to any claim you made for council tax benefit? when did you stop paying them the arrears? Why did you stop paying them? Was there a specific reason? Is this what they are handing over to solicitors?

 

At the same time as this I would of thought the council would have written to you over the last couple of years reminding you of your obligation to pay your council tax? They'e usually pretty quick off the mark when it comes to money owed to them and at about this time every year they send out new council tax bills for April to April, did you not get one last year as this would have shown your alleged arrears? If you were on council tax benefit it would show on your annual statementsbut would also include any areears you may owe and probably when you owed it from/to

 

If you are on benefits that qualify you for council tax relief and your situation hasn't changed since making the initial claim then I see no reason why the council cannot pull your file to help establsih this, if however you came off their radar for a while because of the claim lapsing or changing then there may be some work for you to do to establish just how/when the changes occured etc etc.

 

You're a bit hazy on details, you really should know a little more than you currently do. First port of call would be to the council to establish the details and go from there, In the first instance I would phone them with a view to going to see them and at the same time as this would write to them by recorded delivery asking them to claify the issue and go from there.

[selinajayne]

march 2008 i owed quite alot and had no payment plan, in april 2008 my husband and i went on to jobseekers allowance and started to claim council tax benefit and the council made arrangements for us to pay £11 a month to start paying off our arrears. In june 2008 we changed to income support and the council stopped our claim because we came off jobseekers. They asked for proof that we were now on income support which i sent. In novemebr 2008 we recieved a letter from them saying we owed council tax and they knew nothing about us being on income supprt. we then heard nothing until june 2009 saying we owed all the money and they knew nothing about us being on income support. they asked for proof and a list of all our outgoings which i provided.we heard nothing untill the other day saying they had just "found" our letter with proof of everything and it has now been handed over to the right people in the benefits office but it has also already been handed over to the solicitors for a bankruptcy order and tells me i should call the solicitors. it doesnt say how much the amount is but im assuming it must be about £3000

[selinajayne]

i called the solicitors and council yeaterday. solicitors cant help or tell me anything untill we recieve the hand given letter from them and the council can only tell me how much i owe. i told them i thought i was recieving council tax benefit and it turned out im not. i also told them i had sent e mails and they told me it had gone to the wrong dept so should they have not forwarded it to the right dept or at least told me i had done it wrong in the first place.

[selinajayne]

i have recieved the statory demand and replied to it. i ahve also filled in another council tax benefit claim form and asked for it to be backdated. i got a letter back from them saying they could not back date it as it was my fault i wasnt claiming.

im worried sick i dont want to loose the house and i dont understand how its my fault. i have always filled in any forms sent to me and sent off any proof of benefits but they are saying i havent, why on earth would i say i did if i didnt

[selinajayne]

please help we thought we were recieving council tax benefit but it turns out we werent. the council have now passed it over to solicitors who have served a statory demand.

we are really worried and dont want to loose the house

[RaeUK]

You won't lose your house hunni.

It may pay you to ask to see a member of your councils revenues division to discuss the matter - if you haven't done so already!

Have you had any correspondence in the past that led you to believe you were in receipt of Council Tax Benefit? Do you claim Housing Benefit at all?

Best wishes.

Rae.

[selinajayne]

we own our house so cant claim housing benefit but we do get housing costs in our income support payments.

we were getting council tax benefit but we changed from jobseekers to income support. the council stopped the benefit because they thought hubby had gone back to work, i called them and said we were now on income support and sent the proof they required.

apparently they never recieved it, they sent a letter a few months later and i again replied with 2 emails and said i thought we were on council tax benefit. it wasnt till a year later before they sent me another letter and form which i filled out and sent off, that was in june last year and they are saying they have only just recieved it through a third party (whatever that means) then last week we got the statory demand for insolvency.

i have filled in another council tax benefit form and personally returned it asking for it to be back dated but yesterday got a letter to say they wouldnt back date it as it was my fault

[RaeUK]

Ok, you need far more professional assistance than I can give. I would gather up all the paperwork you have that supports what you say and make an appointment with CAB or some other Welfare Rights people depending on your area.

I'd also draft out a letter highlighting what you say has happened and send both the Head of Revenues and whoever the solicitor is a copy.

I would also - if you haven't already - just pop my head round the door of the forum listings as I'm sure there is a forum on site advising about insolvency.

Good luck and best wishes.

Rae.

Edited March 2, 2010 by RaeUK
type o

[selinajayne]

thanks hun

i have written a letter to solicitors with all the information and proof i have of everything and have appointment with cab on the 11th so hopefully i will get somewhere. its all such a worry

[RaeUK]

I really hope you get somewhere as I can well imagine the worry it's causing you.

Best wishes.

Rae.

[selinajayne]

we have a huge council tax bill because of a cock up. I say its the councils fault they say its my fault.

So as a result i'm left with a huge bill and they are going to file for bankcruptcy if i dont come up with a reasonable payment plan.

I have offered £10 a week as we are on income support at the moment because i have an injury due to a failed operation.

The council have said they are expecting payments of £500 a month!!!!!

If we cant pay that, which obviously we cant, then they will file for bankcruptcy which will mean we have to sell the house.

Any advice would be much appreciated

[cerberusalert]

I'll move you to the Council Tax forum for now.

[selinajayne]

thanks

[Conniff]

You will need to explain the circumstances and how much the arrears are.

[Aviva]

It would be easier if you kept to the one thread about your Council Tax problems rather than starting two.

 

Coniff - the problem is around CTB. They were on this but it stopped when there was a changeover from one benefit to another but OP did not know this. Seems as if the Council was informed that one had stopped but not that another one had started so they stopped the claim as they thought her partner was now working. Then there was info not received, etc so it was not restarted.

 

SelinaJayne - Your last post on the other thread stated you had an appointment booked with the CAB. How did that go? What advice did they give you? You were also advised to get legal advice if possible. Did you do that? I really think that you need some professional help on this since they are threatening bankruptcy.

 

It would also be good to know a bit more about the contact you had with the Council (both the Benefit and Council Tax) depts and vice versa.

[Conniff]

So from reading, this would appear to be the councils fault for assuming something without knowing. I don't think they would like it if I paid £500 because I 'assumed' that it had been cut in half.

 

Bankruptcy isn't a cut and dry thing, if you go to the hearing, the judge will look at all things and if it can be shown that the current tax and something off the arrears can be maintained, then he would be very unlikely to grant it and the council will have wasted more that £1,000 of taxpayers money.