Daughter Summoned

tesuhoha

My daughter lived with her boyfriend in a one bed flat. At the end of the lease they split up. She made sure all the bills were paid up to date, including the council tax. She phoned the council tax office and gave them his new address which is a room in a grotty house and her new address which is here with us.

She has just found out that her ex has been sitting on half a dozen letters asking her for different amounts of council tax and the last one summons her to court on 14th July for non payment. How can she prove she has never lived there?

Colincbayley

tesuhoha wrote: »

How can she prove she has never lived there?

Never lived where? The flat she shared with her then boyfriend or the grotty little room?

It is not clear from your post as to which property the council are chasing her for.

ekkygirl

When did they split? Shewill be on the electoral roll at your house or maybe have a mobile phone bill or bank statement at your address.

tesuhoha

Colincbayley wrote: »

Never lived where? The flat she shared with her then boyfriend or the grotty little room?

It is not clear from your post as to which property the council are chasing her for.

Sorry I broke off quickly as had to go out. The council are chasing her for the property that the boyfriend now lives in. Thats why I asked how she could prove she has never lived there.

They broke up at the end of May.

tesuhoha

I'm afraid I don't have a lot of details yet. She phoned me in a panic as she is round his place collecting the letters and its in the next county. She will be home later.

DVardysShadow

tesuhoha wrote: »

Sorry I broke off quickly as had to go out. The council are chasing her for the property that the boyfriend now lives in. Thats why I asked how she could prove she has never lived there.

They broke up at the end of May.

OK, looks fairly straightforward to sort out, unless the council are going to be particularly bone headed.

She did tell them they were both moving out of the flat. She told them that she was moving to yours and that he was moving to the room. They have obviously misheard and not taken on board that she has moved to yours. She has proof of the phone call, in that they have the bf's address and presumably the correct date of moving out of the old address.

So the only problem is that the council have misunderstood. As this involves a new address, I would say it is more for the council to prove that she does live there rather than for her to prove she does not.

She should approach the council ASAP and explain it all - preferably in person - and if they don't accept her explanation she must go to court - hopefully with you present to testify she lives with you. If they do accept the explanation, she must ask for a letter to be produced there and then to withdraw the summons. If they won't do that, then she should still turn up at court.

Magistrates are probably getting used to and a little fed up with trigger happy councils going for Council Tax enforcement at quite short notice and without having all the facts straight. In the last 2 years I have been summonsed once after paying up to the end of a tenancy and threatened with court once as a result of not recieving a bill but sending the same installment as the previous year together with a request for the bill.

Lance

If she is registered at your address from the date they split, or there abouts, then that is enough to show she lives with you.

tesuhoha

Apparently not even the boyfriend is liable for the council tax. It is supposed to be inclusive in the rent. The owner is the one who is liable but they don't have his address, only a mobile phone number. She is unable to get to the council as she works in the next county and doesn't drive. She isnt due any time off so is going to write a letter.

Fire_Fox

tesuhoha wrote: »

Apparently not even the boyfriend is liable for the council tax. It is supposed to be inclusive in the rent. The owner is the one who is liable but they don't have his address, only a mobile phone number. She is unable to get to the council as she works in the next county and doesn't drive. She isnt due any time off so is going to write a letter.

If the house the boyfriend lives in is an HMO the landlord is liable for the council tax, if not the tenants are liable whatever the AST says. however that is a red herring for the ex-BF to deal with. Your daughter needs to send a recorded delivery letter to the council and probably the court too, reiterating the contents of her earlier telephone conversation. It's usually possibly to e-mail the council from the website. Presumably you have added her to your council tax bill? In which case that can be used as evidence along with addressed bank statements.

DVardysShadow

tesuhoha wrote: »

Apparently not even the boyfriend is liable for the council tax. It is supposed to be inclusive in the rent. The owner is the one who is liable but they don't have his address, only a mobile phone number. She is unable to get to the council as she works in the next county and doesn't drive. She isnt due any time off so is going to write a letter.

Well, this is what got her into the mess in the first place - sorting out not only her own council tax but the boyfriend's as well - it was all misunderstood and now she has a battle to fight over her own council tax. If she must fight the battle of the boyfriend's council tax, she would do well not to do it in her own name. Boyfriend must do any phoning, she can write letters, but they must be in the boyfriend's name and he must sign. If she does not do this, they will be after her forever.

tesuhoha

I'm really sorry but what I have told you is wrong. I just repeated what she told me but I have now managed to see the correspondence myself and know the true situation.

The correspondence is in respect of the flat they shared. There is one outstanding bill of £13.08 up to 21st May when they moved out of the flat. This she agrees is payable by them. Apart from that there are two court summons one in his name and one in hers both for the sum of £761. There is no bill for this amount so I dont know what it represents.

They lived at the flat for six months and she is adamant that they paid all the council tax bills whilst they lived there. She is going away for the weekend tomorrow but she is going to phone the council tax office from the train to find out what this money represents. I can't imagine that they owe this much for a one bed flat when they paid the council tax bills while they lived there. The boyfriend is from Eastern Europe and has considerable difficulties with communication. He did not tell her about the summons before because he did not realise what they were. So she feels the responsibility for sorting it out lies with her. Court date is next Wednesday due to the delay in her finding out.