sons council tax debt and Marston .

[mb135]

HI, My son who has mild  aspergers sydrome but who lives independently has been ignoring council tax payments etc.. and now the council has obtained a liability order to collect . They are using Marston. Currently he is living hundreds of miles away from the address that he accumulated the debt at. 

¬Today the bailiffs put a letter through our door ,saying that they would be coming around later this week to collect goods. Now my son hasn`t lived here for over 15 years, so its rather annoying for us. He is currently at work in Merseyside where he also lives renting a room with a friend(all bills included in the rent.)

My wife rang the number on the bailiffs enforcement letter, and they are saying that my son owes £1400 and that there is no option but to pay all the amount or they will take goods. They don't have his new address at the moment. 

Where does he stand in regards to offering instalments to the council or Marston. Marston are saying no option as its gone too far ????? 

We or he hasnt contacted the council who are due the council tax as yet. And the bailiffs are wanting us or my son to contact them again before 10 pm tonight . We haven't really had time to check out where he stands or infact us.

We dont want bailiffs standing outside our home as its really nothing to do with us from a legal point of view.

Ive attached redacted letter from Marston that was put through our door today.

Thanks ,hope someone can advise as quick as possible.

p.s We will be getting our son to come to some payment arrangement ,but unsure if its allowed now at this late stage ,and would preferably deal with the council than this Marston.

Also the council tax is previous to March 2023 which is when he moved, so most of it is from 2022.

 

Ive also just obtained an enforcement notice with the same reference number but dated 2022.

img012 redact.pdf

2022-11-26 NOE.pdf Final Notice - your belongings will be removed.pdf

[dx100uk]

nothing to do with you ignore the bailiffs totally do not engage with them at all even on behalf of your son.

they are only doing this as the NOE is about to expire and they want to get their fees first by a knee jerk reaction of fright and payment. DONT !!

there is no right of forced entry allowed on CTAX debt so if ignored they will just go away and refer it back to the council.

as they have also not served him DIRECTLY to his correct and current address a notice of enforcement that means their fees will be null and void.

tough luck marstons.

 

now i would get your son or you on his behalf?  to ring the council and come to an arrangement to get it sorted,

i would be quite firmly pointing out to them that the bailiff NOE which is about to expire was sent to an old address and as they are now banging on your door which your son is not registered at trying to get their fees which they are of course not entitled too anyway as the NOE is invalid could they please call them off and remove their fees from the sum.

dx

 

[mb135]

Thanks DX,  we will try and get rid of those fees, as they visited the wrong address, 

ive just learned they seem to have obtained two liability orders ,

how long do they last as they seem to have just obtained one recently but for £140 ,

can the council or Marston combine them under the same £1400 figure.

Its getting confusing , my son has the habit of burying his head in the sand when confronted with bills .

Latest liability order attached.

 

2023-10-05 LO.pdf

[dx100uk]

19 hours ago, mb135 said:

how long do they last as they seem to have just obtained one recently but for £140, LO's do not expire.

can the council or Marston combine them under the same £1400 figure. - for collection purposes yes.

Its getting confusing , my son has the habit of burying his head in the sand when confronted with bills .

Latest liability order attached.

 

2023-10-05 LO.pdf 315.95 kB · 0 downloads

was your son residing at and legally liable for CTAX at the address they state for the dates they state?

you indicated earlier that some of the periods for the earlier LO he was not the properties renter?

was this a share like  student accommodation or what?

 

19 hours ago, mb135 said:

Currently he is living hundreds of miles away from the address that he accumulated the debt at. 

was my reason for the above

[mb135]

Yes he was responsible at the address listed minus the single person discount on all of them.

It was a flat above a shop .

They all refer to the same address, i assume the 140 or whatever is the amount owed from november 2022 (on the previous liability order ) to when he left in March 2023 and moved to his current address in Merseyside , the paperwork is all jumbled up and hard to figure whats what at the moment.

When you said earlier that the NOE was invalid is that because they went to an address he is no longer living at or because they went to our home??

[dx100uk]

a notice of enforcement (@£75 fee to the bailiff) as far as i am aware is only effective at the ADDRESS it was sent to for the person thus named. if one is sent to x address and the bailiffs turn up at y address, that is not on. a NEW NOE must be sent.

i dont think this is coming about 'because' of the recent LO, it might have started 'things' again, but it's because marstons did nothing for almost a yrs from the original NOE (look at it's date!) enforcement (via a NOE) only lasts 12mts, before a new one must be sent to continue enforcement. and anyway that was to an old address.

the bailiff has spotted this when the new LO just came thru, , lumped the two LO sums together (as they can) and immediately tried to find him, picking your address as a likely 'i hope they wet themselves action' by turning up issuing a hand delivered letter @£275 ...(£75+£235=£310 which is the max fees a bailiff can charge for CTAX enforcement) on the back of the almost expired one issued to another address.....you almost fell for it!

sadly depending upon the council CTAX office and who runs it for them (could be outsourced) you might get someone with a brain that already knows the (bailiff) fees are bogus and should be removed... others just dont want to understand and give the usual 'you must speak to the bailiff rubbish..it's out of our hands.

see how you get on.

if all goes well they should remove the bailiff fees added (£310) and allow £PCM payment going fwd in payments to meet the old LO settlement and the new one.

as 146.69+1026.11+310=1482.80 it looks like certainly from the bailiffs side they think they are getting their fess. ..NOT.

why dont you be sneaky and ask the council FIRST what your son owes for both the 2 LO's added together.

if they comeback with 1172 ish. the fees are not registered..