Husband's ctax debt prior to marriage - bailiffs letter arrived

[alisonwt]

Hi

Hopefully someone can offer some advice.

When my husband and his ex wife left their previous property there was apparently some outstanding council tax that was never paid.

We have been together 5 years and have had no correspondence regarding this in that time.

On Friday I got home to a letter regarding removal of goods to pay a debt of £4000, I believe the outstanding council tax may have been about £300.

Now I have no problem paying the outstanding amount although it was nothing to do with me, as my husband is on disability and therefore has limited funds. I don't however have £4000.

My main question is, can goods be taken that were bought in my name, in my house (the mortgage is still in my name only) prior to him moving in if I cannot sort out paying only the lower amount.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Alison

[dx100uk]

short ans is no!

 

nothing to do with you.

 

he needs to phone the council concerned as being disabled he will be classed as vunerable

did he not have benefits when with them before or is this dis since?

 

something is not making sense here

 

dx

[Bazooka Boo]

In a nutshell NO!

Only goods that are owned by your OH can be taken, they can't randomly take someone elses property.

 

Who are the bailiffs?

 

Are you in touch with the council about this?

 

http://www.bankruptcy-insolvency.co.uk/debt_basics/bailiff-guide.php

 

http://www.stopthebailiff.org.uk/

 

http://www.beatthebailiff.com/

[dx100uk]

thread renamed and moved to bailiff forum

 

dx

[ploddertom]

Is £4000 a typo? If not how do they get it to that?

 

PT

[alisonwt]

I think he was aware that the money was owed and just hoped it would go away. We only got the baliffs letter on friday and I can't speak to the council until they get his authority because it is not in my name and I am at work. I rang the baliff when i got in on friday but just got his answerphone which says they can only speak to the person named on the letter. However the baliff did ring me this morning and when i said he could not just demand money for something we had had no correspondence about he said letters were sent in June. So now, my initial argument that he could not demand money if we hadn't had prior notification has changed to panic that my husband may have just ignored previous correspondence which would make that argument invalid. He has very little in the way of assets so I can argue more strongly now you have backed up what i initially thought which was that they had no claim on my assets, although i was rather worried that all assets still became joint upon marriage.

I shall contact the council when i get home and my husband is present and see what the debt actually was when it left them and when it was handed to a recovery agent.

Thanks

[alisonwt]

i assume it is a collection of baliffs fees and suchlike which they seem able to add on at will. I asked for a breakdown but was told i would have to contact the council

[ploddertom]

i assume it is a collection of baliffs fees and suchlike which they seem able to add on at will. I asked for a breakdown but was told i would have to contact the council

 

Load of cobblers, all you do is write and ask for a breakdown, there is a letter here somewhere in another thread you can use.

 

Providing the Bailiff has not seized any goods or otherwise levied then the maximum they can charge is £24-50 1st Visit & £18-00 2nd Visit = £42-50 in total. There is no waiting fee, scratching your bum fee etc. Don't care if they have made 100 visits they can charge no more. Someone is overegging the pudding.

 

PT

[ploddertom]

The questions you need to put to the Council:

1 - when was the Liability Order obtained and is there only one

2 - how much is it for

3 - what period of time does it cover

4 - how much is still outstanding

5 - are they actively chasing the other party

6 - the date it was passed for enforcement

7 - as OH has been on Electoral Roll etc why has it taken them so long to get round to it

 

Also ask if the can see the account with the Bailiff and if so:

a - the dates of any visits

b - the addresses vistited

c - the charges applied

d - has a levy been made & if so when and waht goods seized.

 

PT

[seanamarts]

To speak to the council on behalf of your hubby, all he has to do is sign a letter giving you permission to deal with this matter on his behalf. You can do this yourself and get hubby to make his mark.

Some thing on the lines of;

 

I. Mr xxxxx xxxxx of (address here) hereby give my permission to Mrs XXXX XXXX of (address here) to act on my behalf in all correspondence with ( council name) & (bailiff company) Whether in writing , by phone or in person.

 

both print and sign and date it.

Have a word with your local MP or councillor to see if they can advise or intervene on your behalf.

[huggys boss]

DOUBLE CHECK THE DATES!!!!!!!

I was in a similar situation, where as, I left my ex and moved into a rented property in a different town. I was a single parent and claimed HB and CTB.

To cut a long story short, met a new man, move to the other side of the country, and got a shock when the Bailiffs where chasing me for unpaid council tax. My ex had not bothered paying it and had not claimed benefit. They could not find him as he had moved away and tried to get me for it all.

 

I had to prove that I had left the property when I said I did (luckily, the council where I had claimed as a single parent forwarded evidence to me), and they adjusted the bill.

 

When it was all sorted (thanks to the guys on here) the council advised me that it is a good idea to tell them if you move to another area because theses circumstances often happen.

[brassnecked]

If you don't tell the council when you move out of a property, they will assume you are still liable, and chase you for what they think you owe.