£6000 cardiff council tax debt/arrears, wales

[jondavid]

hello

i am in coucil tax arrears now totalling £6200.

 

the council tax (cardiff) have recalculated my council tax after removing the single person discount for my residential property. they have backdated it to june2005.

 

1. i disagree with the backdating removal date, and more importantly can they backdate that far?

 

also with the recalculation that has more than doubled the c.tax arrears from £2865 to £6200, and i had a visit for bristow and suitor bailiff (they did not enter the house, no walking possession).

 

Unsummonsed Debt £3349

Liability Order (summonsed) Debt £2865

 

there is currently no repayment plan and they sent the case to the above bailiff.

 

i have paid something virtually every month to the (admittedly small)total of £700 from feb 2012 to now. to show i am not avoiding paying.

 

i now have two tenants, and am able to pay 300 a month.

 

I have decided to pay the 300 a month direct to the council. hoping this will encourage them to return the case handling to themselves

 

2. i need guidance on how to proceed.

 

3. should i ask for legal help with eg arranging repayment, from the cab legal team

 

4. who else should i ask for assistance

 

5. how do i get the case returned to the council

 

thanks in advance for any help you give

jon

[jondavid]

also, what is the difference between Unsummonsed Debt and Liability Order Debt pls, thanks

jon

[ploddertom]

Why have you had SPD removed?

[jondavid]

they believed my father was living here(the c.tax is in his name), however he lived in london.

he llives aboard now, so the council say i have to send them his util bills, bank statements for the period.

[revshelp]

A Liability Order debt has gone through the 'recovery' process including the Magistrates Court, and this allows the council to take a number of steps to reclaim outstanding arrears, namely bailiff, attachment of earnings/benefits, bankruptcy, charging order, or ultimately possibly jail. Where as the un-summon's debt is payable either as a lump sum or more likely instalments, but this may also end up in court if you don't keep up with payments.

 

To get the debt recalled from the bailiff you need to get the agreement of the council, who would only do this if you pay off the bailiff's costs first. Its important to try and keep paying the unsummonsed debt first to stop additional costs being added, even though perhaps the LO debt can be seen as more of a priority because of the action they could take. (NB. if the bill was in your fathers name when the LO was granted then this will become void, if they're now billing you for the same period.)

 

With such a large balance I would suggest preparing a statement of Income and Expenditure and send this along with a letter/email offering a monthly repayment, there are free templates on the interment but organisations like CAB, Christians Against Poverty, Shelter, etc can all help - i'd advise against going to a debt management company as they charge you for a service you can get freely from charities or do yourself.

 

Its obviously important to sort out the SPD issue and getting hold of the necessary evidence asap. If the council are still not persuaded you can take the matter up with the http://www.valuation-tribunals-wales.org.uk.