Council tax - who is liable 30 November 2005 at 9:52PM in House buying, renting & selling 13 replies 1.1K views

tempest42

My Partner is unable to sell the house she used to share with her ex partner (they are both on the morgage) as he refuses to sign, the buyer is being very good and waiting) thing is the council wont as now its had its 6 months free for being empty they now want some money and are only chasing us. Any suggestions or help gratefully recieved.

[Deleted User]

If they're both on the mortgage then I'd think that both your partner and her ex are liable for the bill. Does the council send correspondence to the house? If it is, then it shouldn't matter who it's addressed to, they should both be liable. But I am no expert, speak to your solicitor. In the meantime, I'd give the council a call and ask that they address correspondence to the ex as well. Good luck!

jonesMUFCforever

Is there any furniture in the house?
If it could be proved that the house is still unoccupied you may get the council to defer payment. Ask them and see.
As a last resort you could agree through your solicitor that any outstanding council tax be paid from sale proceeds when house sells.
Does not matter who is on the mortgage its irrelevant in this case both of you have joint and several liability to pay.

calleyw

I had this problem when I owned a house with a friend (not no more I might add)and i got a bill for council tax after I moved out and I paid half of the bill and asked what would happen now I had paid my half of the bill.

And the person seemed to say does not matter if I had paid half or not as both of us had joint liability as we both named on the bill. So even though I had paid what I saw as my half they would still come after us both.

Yours

Calley

tempest42

Looks like a solicitors job then .....

Robert_Sterling

Joint and several liability means that the council can get the tax due from either one of you and then you are left to sort out among yourselves how much each one of you should actually pay.

Students in shared accommodation should avoid joint and several liability for gas,electricity,water,council tax bills, rent ....

rozeepozee

Curious to know what happened on 25th November, Rob?

tempest42

Now the council has issued a summons for a liability order, any advice appreciated.

irnbru_2

If you believe that your partner (and her ex) are exempt then you'll have to defend the liability and refute the charge.

Your council should be able to provide you with the list of qualifying exemptions.

A former flatmate was supposed to pay the council tax. When the three of us moved out, I got landed with the bill and had to stump as I couldn't prove she'd paid it.

tempest42

The council refuse to change the tax to his name, the house has had a buyer for 8 months yet he wont sign for the sale, it could have gone through months ago but he says he wants more for it.

tempest42

Got the solicitor to ring them (litigation solicitor), they have now held of on any further progress till the sale has gone through, and the cost will come out of the sale. Arnt council's bullys, been pleading with them for months for a result like that, and he got it in seconds.