attachment of earnings applied despite not liable. pls help

sadwithoutmynelson

hi, could somone please please help?
the first i heard was through my employers that they had recieved an attchment of earnings and have to comply. i found out the next day, it was a council tax bill relating to somewhere i rented for 2 years, about 1 1/2 years ago. the rent there was inclusive of all bills, including council tax. the tenancy agreemnet was drawn up at an estate agents and clearly shows this. the council have got a copy of this.
i rang the court department as directed by the council. they have said that i am liable and the attchment of earnings still stand as i was the tenant!!! so i have paid my rent at that shambles of a property and now i have to pay the coucil tax out of my earning for over 2,500???
i went to the cab, which was a total waste of 3 hours. they were not able to offer much advice other than to go to the neighbourhood office? i have spoek to the council who said the tenancy is an agreemnt between me and the landlord. despit the tenancy saying he is liable for all bills, because i am the tenant, i am liable for teh bill. they said my best bet is to as the landlord for payment and set up an arrangemnt whereby he pays me and i pay the council tax.
This is extremly unlikely as teh landlord would not want to spend a penny. we also departed on bad terms and do not have any contact.
but my question is, is this right??? can anyone help me? am i expected to use my wages to pay for somewhere i lived one and a half years ago and carry on paying for 2 years till it gets to 2500 when i paid my rent??? apparently he has made no council tax payments.
i am alos furios as this has made me look very unprofessional at wor. im very upset and have recieved no helpful information. can anone please help???

[Deleted User]

sadly you are liable for this council tax,and will have to pay as you were living in the house you are liable for the c/tax if the LL didnt pay it as arranged.

sadwithoutmynelson

can i not do anything? not take teh landlord to court or something? seems so unfair as i paid my rent in full every month which was supposed to include teh council tax. this means im paying more than i should. can i not somehow make the landlord pay or liable as this is so unfair.

sadwithoutmynelson

i was paying 650 pounds a month, way over the rental price around here, to cover all bills and council tax.....
now i have to pay more money???

Fire_Fox

Didn't you ever receive a council tax bill when in the property? If you still have a copy of the tenancy agreement then, yes, you can take the landlord to the small claims court. This attachment of earnings presumably comes on top of a CCJ or similar? Do you know nothing of this? If so you can get the CCJ set aside on the grounds you were not given the opportunity to defend it. Contact the court about that. You will still have to pay the council tax as council tax is the legal responsibility of the occupant (unless the landlord lived with you?) but you won't have a black mark on your credit file.

sadwithoutmynelson

the first i have ever known about this was on thursday when my employers informed me that an attachemnt of earnings was going to be added to my next pay. i had no idea till tehn as i moved from taht property one an a half years ago. when in the property, i didnt get a council tax bill and didnt worry as my rent was to include all bills. i still have the tenancy whcih was drawn up though an estate agents. i lived alone in teh house....
if i take him to a small claims court and he still doesnt pay, does this mean he will get a ccj, and il still be paying? thanks. incredibly distressed.

Fire_Fox

sadwithoutmynelson wrote: »

the first i have ever known about this was on thursday when my employers informed me that an attachemnt of earnings was going to be added to my next pay. i had no idea till tehn as i moved from taht property one an a half years ago. when in the property, i didnt get a council tax bill and didnt worry as my rent was to include all bills. i still have the tenancy whcih was drawn up though an estate agents. i lived alone in teh house....
if i take him to a small claims court and he still doesnt pay, does this mean he will get a ccj, and il still be paying? thanks. incredibly distressed.

I know it's easy to say but there is no purpose in panicking: try to be logical and take things one step at a time. Do everything in writing, keep copies and use recorded delivery and keep the receipt.

You have to pay this council tax bill, it is the law that the resident is responsible and this overrides your tenancy agreement. First thing to do is to find out why you have an attachment of earnings - which court has ordered this and what has been decided in your absence - do you have a CCJ? Contact the court and ask how you go about setting the judgement aside as you did not know there was court action. They must have sent paperwork to the wrong address.

Secondly find out from the council when they sent council tax bills out and to what name and address they were sent. Bills and reminders must have gone out, there is a reason you did not receive any of them. Why do the council have a copy of your tenancy agreement? That would suggest you did previously have contact about the council tax owing.

Thirdly work on getting the CCJ set aside on the grounds you didn't get bills and you didn't know about the court action. I *think* the council then have to try to take you to court again to get payment. Before this happens you need to ask to make an in-house payment plan to pay off the debt. That way you have time to pay, hopefully no court costs and no black marks on your credit file.

Fourthly once you know exactly what you are going to have to pay, write to the landlord and inform his that he owes you the money and give him two weeks to pay or you will initiate legal action. If no joy, take the ex-landlord to the small claims court for the full amount including any costs. You will need his correct address for this, so that he can defend it. He should lose and should have to pay you, tho this may be by installments, that is for the court to decide. He will basically pay you back the rent that you overpaid for the council tax, he is not going to pay the council tax directly.

sadwithoutmynelson

thankyou firefox. i shall action this all tommorow. financially it is a very challenging timd which i why i am further distressed. but i shall follow the steps you have advised. thankyou.

Fire_Fox

No worries, if you have any further problems best place to post is Debt-free Wannabe on a case like this.

Soot2006

Just wanted to say good luck,. as this sounds like a nightmare. You'll get some good advice on this forum!