Council Tax

positivestep_2

I got a Liability Order for my council tax for the year 2008/2009. I also got a letter through my door last year saying that a bailiff had paid me a visit (thankfully I wasn't home!!).

I thought that if a Liability Order is issued that I would not be liable for any council tax for the whole of the year (ie April 08 - March 09) if included in the bankruptcy. Have I got this wrong?

I did pay council tax for the first 2/3 months of the year.

I received a letter this week saying that I need to pay council from the day after I was made bankrupt to March 09 - is this correct please?

Dodger61

A lot of councils vary on their proceedure, but I had a liability order which was written off after my BR. You will have to pay for your council tax after March 9th, all debts are written off before then, but after you need to start afresh by paying the bills after this date.

peachyprice

Positivesteps, this in one of the grey areas of BR because all the councils seem to treat it differently.

Some you have to fight to get your CT included in BR if a liability order has been issued. In theory councils are exempt from being included in BR but all they can do once you're BR is send bailifs, but bailifs cannot take anything that in your household that is essential, but anything that is not essential the OR has first dibs on, so the bailifs cannot take anything IYSWIM. You may have to wait for things to take their course and for the bailifs to pass the debt back to the council, then the council will give up and write if off. You can call the bailifs and tell them you are BR.

Some councils wipe out CT for the whole year you are BR, others don't, so obviously yours don't and yes, it's correct that you will be liable for CT from the date of your BR but they should adjust the amount they are including in your BR accordingly.