Council Tax dispute with ex

ChefBungle

My ex-wife and I co-own our home which is currently unfurnished and unoccupied (we have both moved out of the property, her most recently at the end of June). The house is on the market just now.

We have signed a separation agreement through our solicitors which quite clearly states that payment of the Council Tax on the property is 100% her responsibility. However, the separation agreement was drawn up when she was still living in the property, but was actually signed in August once she had moved out, so as far as she is concerned it is no longer her responsibility.

The council are now chasing payment of Council Tax for the remainder of this year - she has paid it up to the end of June and gave them my name as the "new occupier". I have requested the relevant forms to apply for an exemption (they only do an exemption for 6 months, then a 50% reduction for 6 months, and then a 10% reduction thereafter). I have worked out that if the discount is applied for the remainder of this year, that the outstanding amount will be just under £200.

I received a bill from them around a month ago which I forwarded on to my ex-wife for her to deal with. Last week a final reminder arrived still showing the full amount, so obviously she hasn't done anything about it. I forwarded this final reminder to her as well, clearly stating that it is her responsibility to pay it/sort it out. I have tried calling to ask her as well as texting her, but she won't return my call to let me know.

I have also written to the Council explaining the situation and I enclosed a copy of the separation agreement with the relevant paragraph clearly highlighted.

I'm presuming that the Council (a) won't really care about the separation agreement (b) will chase me for the outstanding payment as I'm the one who's in contact with them (c) will expect me to pay the outstanding amount and then recover it from my ex-wife separately.

Is that correct?

I'm happy to apply for the exemption/reduction myself and pay the outstanding amount (don't want to end up with legal action being brought against me for unpaid CT!), but obviously I don't want to be out of pocket. So if I do pay the CT, can I just deduct the £200 from my next maintenance payment in order to cover it? I don't want to leave her short, but at the same time I have given her ample opportunity to sort it out, and she did sign the agreement saying that she would take responsibility for it.

Sorry for the long post, any ideas/thoughts would be much appreciated!

Emmzi

is it spousal maintenance or child support? how was the amount of maintenance decided?

McKneff

As far as the council goes, you are both jointly as severely liable for council tax. It is irrelevant to them what agreement you have with your wife. So it doesnt matter to them, who pays it as long as they get it.

I see no mention of children, why are you paying maintenance (unless I missed it of course)

ChefBungle

McKneff wrote: »

As far as the council goes, you are both jointly as severely liable for council tax. It is irrelevant to them what agreement you have with your wife. So it doesnt matter to them, who pays it as long as they get it.

I see no mention of children, why are you paying maintenance (unless I missed it of course)

Sorry, just realised I didn't make that clear - we have 2 children and I pay her 25% of my net salary (5% above the CSA recommendation) as well as half the mortgage/building insurance/life assurance.

This 25% figure was agreed as part of the separation agreement.

Emmzi

ok, if the maintenance is for the kids, you can't mess about with that because of a grudge dispute with your ex. For £200 I'd suck it up and move on - much better to have mum and dad being as amicable as possible. Yes, it sucks, but you need to be adult here and it's clear she ain't gonna pay without a fight.

Do you really want to risk a ccj over this?

ChefBungle

Emmzi wrote: »

ok, if the maintenance is for the kids, you can't mess about with that because of a grudge dispute with your ex. For £200 I'd suck it up and move on - much better to have mum and dad being as amicable as possible. Yes, it sucks, but you need to be adult here and it's clear she ain't gonna pay without a fight.

Do you really want to risk a ccj over this?

I take your point, but the agreement does quite clearly say that it's her responsibility, and I feel as if I have given her ample opportunity to sort it out.

Things are not particularly amicable between us anyway, so I doubt this would make any significant difference.

No I don't want a CCJ over it, which is why I'm prepared to pay the bill myself and then reclaim the money from her. If she's got an issue with it then she can speak to her solicitor. I'm guessing all that would happen would be that both of us would end up lodging a claim via small claims court, which would effectively cancel each other out, so her solicitor would probably advise her to "suck it up".

Emmzi

moneyclaimonline then? No need for a solicitor, just a copy of the bill, that you have paid it, and a copy of the agreement wyou drew up about who pays for what.

I strongly advise against changing the maintenance payment; get it back via the courts if it riles you that much.

JimmyTheWig

ChefBungle wrote: »

Sorry, just realised I didn't make that clear - we have 2 children and I pay her 25% of my net salary (5% above the CSA recommendation) as well as half the mortgage/building insurance/life assurance.

This 25% figure was agreed as part of the separation agreement.

You could drop maintenance down to the CSA level until you have the council tax money back. I certainly don't think that you should go below this.

If you are going to do this then I suggest you send her a recorded delivery letter explaining why and how you are doing it.

gadgeteer_2

The agreement was drawn up and signed when she lived in the house. I'm not sure a court would see it as fair that she pays council tax for a jointly owned property which neither of you lived in, regardless of what was agreed. After all, you both have living costs yes?

When I split with my ex, even though I had an signed declaration that she would pay half the mortgage, i was told by my solicitor that a judge would be unlikely to force her to pay as she'd moved out and has living costs. Think the same principle would apply here.

Can you not speak to the ex and offer to just split it 50:50? To me, its not worth the aggro.

hallowitch

you wont have ccj against you

there is no county court judgement against you for council tax its a magistrate court liability order its not recorded against you with any credit reference agency

JimmyTheWig

Hold on, I'm confused.
Did she pay up to the point when she moved out?
When she moved out you've got a 6 month exemption.
So if it sells within 6 months (I know that's far from given in these times) then there is nothing to pay?