Does the 6 Year Limitation apply to Council Tax Demands?

Sheffield_Tiger

Notice I said "Demands" and not "Debt"


I have today received a demand for council tax for 1 month in 2004 giving me 14 days to pay for a bill that has taken 7 years and 2 months to send out!!

Now, what makes this worse is that this bill is addressed to me and someone who shared the house at that time. Long story but essentially he moved out, failed to inform the benefits office - I INFORMED THE COUNCIL TAX BENEFITS and the landlord informed the housing benefit, payment duly stopped and we expected a slight overpayment to need paying back - oh no - they wrote several times to him at this address, I returned the letters, so that cancelled the entire claim. They issued me with a bill for all his council tax benefit for 2 years - a bill which I ended up paying via a payment arrangement and this was all settled IN FULL.

They haven't sent me ANY communication regarding the particular account under the names of that person and myself since then.

I seem to remember reading something somewhere about a debt being unenforceable after a set period of time, something like 6 years, if there has been no communication? Anyone know if this is true and applies to Council Tax?

Note that I AM NOT TRYING TO AVOID A GENUINE DEBT - I have settled this in full previously, even though I think that to claim back those LEGITIMATELY CLAIMED benefits to another person from ME was wrong in the first place. It's about the principle of the thing - it's £50, I could pay that tomorrow no worries - but why should I? And what makes the council just "decide" that I owe them £50 and must pay it now without delay despite it taking 7 years to send out the bill. If I were in financial difficulty an unplanned bill like this with a demand for instant payment would be a total nightmare.

It's just that if the 6 year thing is correct, then that's more straightforward than trying to get any semblance of "sense" out of the Council Tax offices and trying to argue my case with them, which would no doubt end up in court.

I just don't think suddenly writing to people after all this time is fair at all and am extremely cross

nottoolate

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act

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.

CIS

A court summons cannot be granted if applied for more than 6 years after the amount become due but the amount only became due when a council tax demand notice was first issued for that amount. They could however keep chasing you for payment even if they cannot enforce it.

You need to establish at what point the demand notice for which the outstanding balance was first issued as that is the key point in this. Whether the council issued the bill as soon as practicable depends on what information they had and when they acted on it.