Reposession and council tax liability - help!

suziewin

Hi,

As you may remember I went BR in January 2008. I owned a property which I left last year to try and sell as vacant posession which then eventually formed part of my BR estate this year. The house is has since been reposessed. The OR said in January he would write to the council so ensure I was not liable for council tax. I have this morning recieved a bill from the council for the next 6 months - naturally I wet myself in shock! I rang RLTU who now have my case and spoke to someone there who said that I am liable for the bill until the house is sold. I am confused as I thought the house does not belong to me anymore so how can I be stung for a bill????

Please help - I have severe sleep deprivation due to looking after a newborn son and I cant take this. I am on MA - prev incapacity benefit so have no money to pay such a bill and am really concerned.

Richard_S

Hi Suzie,

Local authorities are swines to deal with, but they do in the end have to follow the rules, and your O.R is probably the best person to deal with that once you've got some of the facts. We had problems with two different councils; one domestic and one business, but we did get it resoolved eventually.

My understanding is:

• Any unpaid council tax at the date of your bankruptcy order will be included in your bankruptcy.
• You are liable for council tax after the date of your bankruptcy.
• If you'd moved out of the property then you're not liable for council tax, because a charge can't be levied on an empty property.

Obviously, the timing of your bankruptcy, and the date you actually left the property are crucial in calculating, how much, if any of the charge you are liable for.

If you left the house in January, at about the same time as your bankruptcy then you don't owe anything, or very little, but persuading the council might take some doing.

Please post again if I haven't made that clear,

Regards

Richard

kpac

Hi, suziwin,
This is the 1st time i have ever posted,as i have been looking at posts for the last year.I rung the council when i left my propery to tell them that the proprty was a vacant property,and to set up a new one,as they had rehoused me.
If you take some info to them about the date you had moved,i think i read somewhere that you dont pay if the property has been empty for 30 days??
Im sure someone here will know,or look on your council website.
Hope you dont mind me asking,but has the or sold you property yet?
As we our or has took ours,what with the house sales at mo,not gonna get much.
Also if anyone else knows,if the or can take your other halfs share of the house,im thinking he cant,so if thats the case how do they recover the rest.
Hope this make sence and i hope suziewin this might help you.

kapac-x-

suziewin

Hi,

There was no arrears in CT when I went BR.

I left the property in Feb 07 - got 6 months waiver then paid 50% of remainder as got discount due to home being empty. Went Br in Jan 08 - the OR wrote to them and it seems I was granted another 6 month waiver. In the meantime the house has been under action to be repossessed. More digging as found it to be today at 12pm when I officially get evicted! Hurrah. However the bill I recieved is for the next 6 months (not arrears) which I am not in a position to pay. They have generously given me another 50% discount though.....

I phoned RTLU as they are now dealing with my case - should I speak to my original OR instead???

Richard_S

suziewin wrote: »

Hi,

There was no arrears in CT when I went BR.

I left the property in Feb 07 - got 6 months waiver then paid 50% of remainder as got discount due to home being empty. Went Br in Jan 08 - the OR wrote to them and it seems I was granted another 6 month waiver. In the meantime the house has been under action to be repossessed. More digging as found it to be today at 12pm when I officially get evicted! Hurrah. However the bill I recieved is for the next 6 months (not arrears) which I am not in a position to pay. They have generously given me another 50% discount though.....

I phoned RTLU as they are now dealing with my case - should I speak to my original OR instead???

Hi Suzie,

I don't know if different councils have different policies, but we didn't pay anything for our house when we moved out. We advised them of the date and they sent an amemded bill up to the date we left. There was no question of a 50% discount; that only applied to a commercial property in our case.

I would definitely ring your original O.R because you do sometimes get conflicting information depending on who you talk to at the O.R's offices.

RAS works for the Insolvency Service, if she doesn't post on your Thread it may well be worth sending a P.M.

Richard

debt_doctor

Hi,

This comes under the exempt dwellings regulations. You have a temporary exemption whilst the property is empty but still in your ownership. As soon as a court decides to give possession to the lender ( at the time of the possession order, not the actual eviction date ) then the property becomes fully exempt without time limit until the property is sold to a new owner.

It is your local council who you need to speak to.

DD

suziewin

Sorry havent been able to respond earlier - will speak to the council on Tuesday. I will let you guys know how I get on. Cheers