I am being chased for Council Tax I don't owe!

emd1987

Hi everybody hope you are having a nice day :beer:

To cut a long story short, I entered a tenancy agreement and I did not end up living in the house, my Dad did. He *surprise surprise* did not end up paying the Council Tax. It amounts to around £600. I got a letter recently from a debt collection agency doing the usual your house will blow apart and you will be sentenced to 900 years in prison then beheaded if you do not reply to this letter within 7.9 seconds of reciept etc. etc. etc.

I immediately rang my Dad who went down to the council office and they put a Liability Order on him for the owed Council Tax. He has since been paying this from his JSA.

I then got another letter... prison, hung drawn and quartered etc. etc. etc. so I rang the debt collector and advised him that it was not my debt and if he would like to check my record of paying Council Tax and the fact that I have now lived in Nottingham for 4 years, not Liverpool, where the bill is from, he is welcome to. In addition to this I told him I could show him tenancy agreements from Nottingham, a letter from the landlord confirming I did not live at the property and that I just did not transfer the Tenancy to my Dad, Council Tax exemption forms (as I was at university) in addition to the photocopied Liability Order and deducted payments from my Dads JSA. He rang his head office and was advised Liverpool City Council have withdrawn the application to recover the owed money from my name and my Dad was in fact paying it. We said goodbye and that was the last of it... I assumed.

Yesterday I recieved another letter (around 4 in total now) telling me the same old story that I would be savaged by rabid poodles if I did not pay them immediatley.

What do I do?

Thanks in advance!

Tixy

I would write to them and set out all the facts (as you did in the phone call).
Unfortunately phone calls don't always have the same effect, or actually get anything changed. You might also want to cc your letter to the council and the local councillor for where the property is.

emd1987

How's this? I grabbed a bit I copied and pasted off the forum too!



To whom it may concern,

I am writing as the conversation I had with your employee last month clearly, has fallen on deaf ears. I did not live at the address in question during the time the Council Tax debt was accrued. My father **** was the sole person who was in residence at the property as I have lived in Nottingham since 2006 as a student. I have the tenancy agreements, council tax exemption forms, university tuition fees, course timetables and degree to prove this fact. As I advised your employee Liverpool City Council have been aware of this which is why they have granted a liability order to be placed on my father **** which consequently means he pays the debt out of his Job Seekers Allowance. I have also attached, for your consideration an email from the lettings company outlining that they were aware I did not live in the property and my father did. This situation, seemingly simple to understand to the common man is obviously something yourselves cannot fathom as you are still harassing me by sending me unwanted mail and threats in regards to this.

Additionally you seem to be under the impression you can come into my property and remove goods. Please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make such an appointment with you.

There is an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v Sheppard & Short Ltd [1959] 2 QB 384. per Lord Evershed M.R.).

Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and, if you do so, you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance.

As your employee advised me Liverpool City Council already instructed yourselves that they have withdrawn the application for the recovery of this debt.

Yours sincerely,

emd1987

Email from lettings company


Yes I do remember you and can not forget your father

The council will have to get in contact with us and I can confirm that your father was living there and did take over from you but I cant do with with tenancy agreements as you never told us at the time.

regards

emd1987

Can someone please help

emd1987

BUMP


I don't know why nobody is helping me

Tixy

Hi Emd

Did you send the letter you has posted in post #3?
Have you heard anything from them recently?

emd1987

No I haven't sent it yet as I wanted the people of the forum to tell me if it was ok or not... lol!

Last letter I got was last week, after I'd already spoken to the guy who said they'd been advised to stop trying to retrieve the money.

Thanks for replying Tixy!

Cerisa

If there are any more problems, go to the CAB. The benefits office were chasing me for money I did not owe. It was amazing how quickly they backed off once I invoked the Citizens Advice Bureau.

emd1987

Thanks, will do!

DarkConvict

Its simple you don't owe the money, and you have proof and confirmation of it, as tixy says phone calls don't work very well and you often have to resort to sending them a letter.