Council Tax / Baliffs

gareth336

A friend of mine owed £150 council tax and this debt has subsequently been passed on to a group of Baliffs who are now charging £280. Apparently the baliffs are turning up at his house tomorrow if it isnt paid, so as a last resort he's asked me to pay it for him.
Is this standard practice for councils to pass on the debts to baliffs like this? Is it legal for them to then almost double the debt? Is there no way I can get the debt back down if I offer to pay it today?

My friend has been unemployed for around 6 months now and by my understanding shouldn't even be paying council tax, though through his own fault he hasn't even registered as unemployed. Am I right in assuming that if he registers himself properly then he wouldn't have to pay council tax in future until he regains employment?

Thanks

lincroft1710

Providing council have followed proper procedures in magistrates court, they can pass debt to bailiffs. Whether £130 "fee" is "fair", I can't say but the amount doesn't seem unusual.

Unemployment does not cancel out council tax liability. He may be entitled to CT benefit but this is not solely dependent on income, £16,000 or more savings usually means no benefit.

Can you do your friend a favour and give him a kick up his rear end so that he will stop being an ostrich and remove his head from the sand. He's already "lost" £130, he needs to get in touch with council re possible benefit and register as unemployed.

CIS

The initial bailiff fees for the first 2 visits come to £42.50, its likely the remaining fee is a 'van fee' for the bailiff attending to lift goods.

A bailiff we use charges around £110 for the van attendance so I would expect that's what it is for .

We issue accounts in my authority to the bailiff if no response (or a non-suitable response) is given to the regulation 36 notice (usually called a request for information form or similar)which is issued when the liability order is granted.

Once the Request For Information form has gone the tax payer has 14 days to provide the information, usually failure to do so will result in the account being issued to a bailiff. If the form is returned and the offer of payment is insufficient then council can also issue it to a bailiff.

The rules governing the issuing of an account to a bailiff are covered in regulations 45-47 of the council tax (administration and enforcement) regulations 1992.

My friend has been unemployed for around 6 months now and by my understanding shouldn't even be paying council tax, though through his own fault he hasn't even registered as unemployed. Am I right in assuming that if he registers himself properly then he wouldn't have to pay council tax in future until he regains employment?

As lincroft has already pointed out, not everyone can get claim full council tax benefit even when unemployed. The best thing he can do is claim council tax benefit ASAP towards his ongong council tax charge.