Joint Liability

^Snoop^

Morning all, unable to sleep due to thinking about money problems so thought I'd ask a question or two here.

A good few years ago (1999-2001 or so) I used to live with an ex-partner. At that point I was very young and foolish and somehow we managed to get just over £1000 arrears on the rent, as well as Council Tax of around £800 or so.

I'm currently using Christians Against Poverty to help manage my debt and finances but for some reason have just realised I'm paying off the whole of the debt for the property I lived in with my ex-partner.

The rent debt is with a DCA named Credit Security now, CT direct to the Council I believe. I've just read about Joint Liability and that my ex-partner is also liable for these debts so how would I go about getting in touch with Credit Security and CT to have them contact her for her half as opposed to me paying for all of it, which seems unfair?

I'm no longer on speaking terms with my ex-partner so contacting her to ask her to contribute isn't an option so I'm unsure on what path I need to go here.

Thanks for your time!

RAS

Hi

if there was a period of six years when you contributed nothing to these debts, they MAY be statute barred.

However, joint and several liability means that you are both fully liable for the whole debt, not for half of it.

^Snoop^

Cheers for the reply Ras. Is there a way of checking if they are statute barred? I only started clearing my debts with CAP around November 2008 and I'm pretty sure I didn't pay anything off the debts before then but I can't be sure.

With regards to them being joint and several liability, what's my best course of action if I can't contact my ex-partner? Even if I was able to contact them, they'd duck and dive every way possible to avoid paying anything and I really can't afford to pay it all off myself.

fermi

^Snoop^ wrote: »

Cheers for the reply Ras. Is there a way of checking if they are statute barred? I only started clearing my debts with CAP around November 2008 and I'm pretty sure I didn't pay anything off the debts before then but I can't be sure.

For normal debts, you need to work out when the last payment by you or acknowledgement in writing by you was made.

And then how long the gap was after that.

Link: Factsheet | Liability for Debts and the Limitation Act (England/Wales)

With regards to council tax:

Council Tax

The council should not go to the magistrates' court and ask for a liability order for Council Tax more than six years after the Council Tax became due. This is under Regulation 34(3) Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.

Council Tax appears to be 'due' when the council sent a demand notice to you which may not be at the same time the Council Tax rate was set. It is important that you check when the demand was sent as this affects when the six year limitation period begins. You can also complain to the Local Government Ombudsman if the demand was not sent out 'as soon as practicable' after the rate was set.

^Snoop^ wrote: »

With regards to them being joint and several liability, what's my best course of action if I can't contact my ex-partner? Even if I was able to contact them, they'd duck and dive every way possible to avoid paying anything and I really can't afford to pay it all off myself.

To be honest the DCA will always go after the easiest target. Even if you could give them contact details they may not bother, and if as you say they ducked and dived, then they would just continue after you.

^Snoop^

Cheers Fermi. I'm not sure if I did actually pay anything or acknowledge anything in writing about the debts beforehand, if anything I'll have spoke to debtors on the phone last year but that would've been the six years anyway?

Would it be worth sending a SB letter to Credit Security anyway and leaving the onus on them to produce evidence that I made a payment or written confirmation?

Apologies for all of the questions!