How to appeal a Council Liability Order

[fbnts]

Hi,

 

Chesterfield Borough Council obtained a liability order against me some time ago after lots of arguments with them.

 

I have now got further developements on my case, IE think I have grounds to prove I am not liable.

 

I have wrote to the council and their response is "in the opinion of our legal department you are liable and therefore we are not prepared to ammend our records"

 

I am now stuck paying this liability order yet dispute that I am in fact liable. How do I appeal their descision? I presume I can't take them to the small claims court but how do I get an impartial party to say who is liable?

 

Tom

[patdavies]

AIUI, a liability order is granted to a council by a Magistrates' Court - they cannot make it up for themselves. What the council's legal department say is an irrelevance.

 

Your course of action would seem to be to appeal the magistrates' decision

[sequenci]

you can challenge a LO on the following grounds.

 

• the local authority has not followed the correct procedure; and/or
  
• you have paid the maount owed; and/or
  
• you are not the person names on the summons; and/or
  
• the claim is time barred

hope this helps

[fbnts]

Hmm, I can't challenge it directly as non of them apply - It sort of comes under the 3rd point, I am the one on the summons, but I belived I should have been.

 

this is the other thread which was more general about my situation:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/landlords-tenants/56811-who-liable-me-personal.html

 

Tom

[sequenci]

call BDL on 0800 197 6026 if it is business related mate.

 

they are really good! (and free)

[malcouk]

I have a similar problem although it is basically that I have a 2nd property (empty and being renovated). The local authority are aware of my home address but have been sending correspondence to the empty property. I advised them that I have not been receiving the correspondence, they have acknowledged this and they now have instructed the bailiffs to my home address. I do not know any amounts/dates/court details. What is my best move. Is the liability order valid ? or having not sent notice to my home address, of which they were aware, have they not fulfilled their obligations. ?

[maisierider2008]

I have a similar problem too. The council have traced me after 10 years (new system using credit files to trace) and enforced a liability order from 2001 for outstanding council tax (some of it for an address after I had moved out!). They have said on the phone that they sent it out (in 2001) to my old address and therefore I didn't ever receive it.

 

The baliffs have been instructed and my 7 days runs out today (although they have been nice actually and understand the situation). I don't have any of the paperwork to challenge this (eg receipts, bank statements al;l destroyed after this long). As instructed I am leaving messages with the manager at the council and not getting a response, all of the time the clock is ticking for the baliffs attendance at my property.

 

I feel that I can't do anything about this! What would be the next course of action here? Is the liability order valid? How do I challenge the council and sort this out?

[maisierider2008]

Any advice on the above message please? I'm feeling a little worried about having people come around to my house and not being able to do anything about it. Thanks in advance...Claire

[malcouk]

Ever feel that you are alone, unsupported or maybe looking in the wrong place ?

[labrat]

keep hanging out im sure someone will be along to help soon..

 

not sure if it applies to liability orders but there is a stickyed thread somewhere on debts over 6 years old...

 

may be worth looking for that while you wait

[thecteam]

think i rewad on here that if it is a debt to the government local council being part of that i would think. it is 15yrs they can claim a debt upto.

 

im in the same boat right now. the local council had a liability order granted. i know i paid it off to them. the order was for the council tax year 2003/04.

just last week i had a letter saying i owed it. told them i think your wrong. can i have a copy of all my council tax payments from date of start in 2001 till the present days payment.

 

so far i have had nothing. he seemed to pull it up on the screen quick enough.

 

i know i paid it off as i had been to court over it. nothing has ever shown up on my CRA Report for it in all this time. why is that then. can't a council default you then. they are quick enough to sell your info to the CRA's

[Conniff]

A liability order, as with any court order, does not become statue barred after six years.

 

Don't do any more telephoning the council, write to them using recorded delivery mail and ask them for your payment record. You can then ask the bank for back statements to cover those years, you will have to pay for the statements.

It is unlikely that your bank will have statements going back that time, but they might so it is worth a try.

[a1taff]

I have recently been made aware of a liability order for council tax made in 2002 and refute these claims although the Council say I am still liable even with time-barring. One technicality I was wondering about is the name the order is against, so for example, my name is Mr. Stephen. initial. Surname, the order was against a Steve Surname, is it worth querying this as a technicality?

[maybelline]

councils - what is it with them and liability orders???????????? my council wants to pursue a liability order even though I have offered to pay (only one month missed in error) before the hearing date, they have had all the other payments on time why so determined to mark peoples cards!!!!

[maybelline]

you can challenge a LO on the following grounds.

 

• the local authority has not followed the correct procedure; and/or
  
• you have paid the maount owed; and/or
  
• you are not the person names on the summons; and/or
  
• the claim is time barred
  

hope this helps

 

curious, what is the 'correct procedure' for local authority?

[sequenci]

Not sure although I would imagine the place to start looking will be here:

 

Results within legislation - Statute Law Database

[maybelline]

thanks alot sequenci, I have found my answer in the link provided:)

[sequenci]

Great! Sorry I couldn't locate it for you, I'm currently at work so multi-tasking (which I'm rubbish at!)

[Tenacious]

sequenci, great information. Thanks.

[whymenow]

Hi to all watching, been a while since my last msg, basically I called Barnet Council to speak to their recovery officer, he was a bit confused about my case, as he brought it up on his computer he was humming and haring and said ,'This is going to be a nightmare.' My answer to that was ,' A nightmare for who for me?' To my shock he said ,'No a nightmare for me.' Meaning for himself. I asked why? he went on to say that he had received a series of e-mails from the previous tenant at the address blaming liability for the tax on me, so it would seem that anybody can call up the council and say oh chase this person for council tax but don't chase me for it and the council pounces on their next victims. It turns out also that there was another tenant who was actually claiming benefits (housing benefits included) who stayed at the address after the guy who blamed me for liability , therefore if yet another tenant who lived there and who claimed housing benefit then Barnet council should have paid their own council tax making the property exempt from council tax charges while that person lived there. So maybe that's why the recovery officer seemed somewhat bemused. He advised me that if I could prove my address at the time of the charges then I should be OK and not liable for the £1400 odd , which jumped to £2000 from the time I opened the liability notice to the time I spoke to Barnet council, which was the very next day. Well luckily I didn't have a shredder and hoarded a large amount of bills such as old council tax bills ,car documents etc. from 2006 which I sent copies of to Barnet council. All this happened at the beginning of Jan 2011, I have to wait till at least April 4th 2011 coz they are installing a new computer system at the council, so haven't heard from them yet , i'm sure I shall be hearing back from them soon.

[Conniff]

,'This is going to be a nightmare.' My answer to that was ,' A nightmare for who for me?' To my shock he said ,'No a nightmare for me.:

 

This is probably the reason it has gone the way it has. You brought it to their attention, they looked at it and thought 'sod that, make her prove it, we can't be bothered with all this.'