If a bailiff sees something from your window

dell33

Really sorry to read about your predicament. First thing I would do is take the CC off your DH. Best of luck & hope you can manage to sort something out with your council.

dancingfairy

Hmm - it's a right mess and it sounds like your husband is not helping on this one.
You really are going to need as much proof as possible about the uninhabitable exemption - it can be difficult to get as you a) need to apply for it at the time so you can have insepctors around to monitor it if they want to and b) it has to be really, really uninhabitable -it sounds like you qualify but I don't know enough to be sure and it generally (As far as I am aware) relates to serious structural work. Also it's going to be hard to argue at what point it became habitable again (and the date you are therefore liable from).
In terms of preventing commital proceedings or being seen to be obstructive I would pay the council something (for this years tax - make sure it gets put against the right year) - anything, as much as you can afford as you almost certainly owe something from this tax year. I'm not sure whether you should try and pay something against the previous years or not - if you overpay then hopefully they can either give you credit or roll it forward to pay the next year from which you do owe council tax but whether this would be seen as an admission of not being entitled to an exemption I'm not sure so double check before paying anything against previous years.
You really, really should pay something towards this years though.
If it comes to commital proceedings you need to show that you are at least trying - even if you are paying bits and bobs.
Somebody else metioned paying your half -well I'm sorry, but a bit like mortgages you can't pay your half. Frankly the council don't care if you pay the council tax and he pays the mortgage (or other bills). They don't care who pays the bill as long as somebody pays - my point is even if you sell your car and pay half off you will both still owe the remaining half and the council can chase whoever is on the bill( which may be both of you).
I would be careful with the credit card thing as well - why can't he get a credit card? why is all the debt in your name? I might be seriously tempted to get the card cancelled and concentrate on paying it back or transferring the debt into an account that only you have access to.
I'm not sure why you are paying his mothers mortgage as well - that sounds like a recipe for disaster. You could manage on both of your salaries with one mortgage (assuming you don't go too mad in other areas) but 2 is going to be a struggle I would have thought.
Take Care
df

Jerryjerryjerry

Update. I'm so very grateful to you all for your help, which is why I felt I should seek this thread out and let you know what happened.

Firstly, the bailiffs have been called off. I took the advice given here, and wrote to Equita and the Council and eventually, I was given a percentage off my bill for the first year of buying the house due to it being inhabitable. I had to send photographs (lucky I had plenty), and I had to send all the receipts. I sent the builder's receipts off as well as all the builder's merchants etc.

So that was good.

Also, Equita took the levy off the car. Which was excellent. Then they have said they've been told to put the case on hold.

In the meantime, I got sent an up to date statement from the council and credit card in hand, I phoned the council's payment line. I paid £1,000 to the council on the credit card. And thankfully, they accepted it.

I feel so much happier now that I don't have bailiffs at the door. Once I hear back from the Council, I will then set up a direct debit and never get into this mess again.

Now, my credit card bill is another matter, it stands at over £9,000. I'm in the process of deciding whether to put it onto the mortgage (i know the pitfalls of that, ie.. you end up paying more for longer).... but it would save the sleepless nights. What price sleep?

Or... I could spread that £9k debt over 2 interest free credit cards. Which is probably the sensible and money saving way to do things, but then it would still be around my neck.

Will let you know what I decide.

Thanks again for all your support. It helped a great deal.

Jerryjerryjerry

dancingfairy wrote: »

Hmm - it's a right mess and it sounds like your husband is not helping on this one.
You really are going to need as much proof as possible about the uninhabitable exemption - it can be difficult to get as you a) need to apply for it at the time so you can have insepctors around to monitor it if they want to and b) it has to be really, really uninhabitable -it sounds like you qualify but I don't know enough to be sure and it generally (As far as I am aware) relates to serious structural work. Also it's going to be hard to argue at what point it became habitable again (and the date you are therefore liable from).
In terms of preventing commital proceedings or being seen to be obstructive I would pay the council something (for this years tax - make sure it gets put against the right year) - anything, as much as you can afford as you almost certainly owe something from this tax year. I'm not sure whether you should try and pay something against the previous years or not - if you overpay then hopefully they can either give you credit or roll it forward to pay the next year from which you do owe council tax but whether this would be seen as an admission of not being entitled to an exemption I'm not sure so double check before paying anything against previous years.
You really, really should pay something towards this years though.
If it comes to commital proceedings you need to show that you are at least trying - even if you are paying bits and bobs.
Somebody else metioned paying your half -well I'm sorry, but a bit like mortgages you can't pay your half. Frankly the council don't care if you pay the council tax and he pays the mortgage (or other bills). They don't care who pays the bill as long as somebody pays - my point is even if you sell your car and pay half off you will both still owe the remaining half and the council can chase whoever is on the bill( which may be both of you).
I would be careful with the credit card thing as well - why can't he get a credit card? why is all the debt in your name? I might be seriously tempted to get the card cancelled and concentrate on paying it back or transferring the debt into an account that only you have access to.
I'm not sure why you are paying his mothers mortgage as well - that sounds like a recipe for disaster. You could manage on both of your salaries with one mortgage (assuming you don't go too mad in other areas) but 2 is going to be a struggle I would have thought.
Take Care
df

Hi there. He hasn't trusted himself to get a credit card in the past. However, this year, he has been talking about getting one. I am against him getting a credit card as he doesn't see it as spending money. He is one of those people that can't be trusted with plastic and I don't want to be a part of a couple who are in debt.

Oh and believe it or not, the reason we are paying his mother's mortgage is because he remortgaged her house. He didn't tell her or myself. As it came out very embarrassingly during an argument. One day, she was complaining about our house taking so long to finish (like what it has to do with her, I don't know!)... and I angrily told her that we had very very little money and had to save for two months at a time to get one job done at a time. ie.. we saved for 3 months to get a painter in! etc. etc.

And then it came out. I said, "and it doesn't help that we have to pay your mortgage!"

She was shocked. And then my husband had to come clean to the pair of us.

I can't tell you how embarrassing that was.

Jerryjerryjerry

P.s. I cut up the credit card last week, and then when I realised I could pay the council tax by credit card, I had to re-order a new one! So i'm now going to cut this one up. And leave it at that.

RAS

Jerryjerryjerry wrote: »

Oh and believe it or not, the reason we are paying his mother's mortgage is because he remortgaged her house. He didn't tell her or myself. As it came out very embarrassingly during an argument. One day, she was complaining about our house taking so long to finish (like what it has to do with her, I don't know!)... and I angrily told her that we had very very little money and had to save for two months at a time to get one job done at a time. ie.. we saved for 3 months to get a painter in! etc. etc.

And then it came out. I said, "and it doesn't help that we have to pay your mortgage!"

She was shocked. And then my husband had to come clean to the pair of us.

I can't tell you how embarrassing that was.

So he is a fraudster?

And you want to stay with him?

You really really need to take legal advice about protecting yourself if he is this bad.

Personally, I would be navigating an exit strategy.

Jerryjerryjerry

RAS wrote: »

So he is a fraudster?

And you want to stay with him?

You really really need to take legal advice about protecting yourself if he is this bad.

Personally, I would be navigating an exit strategy.

I don't think it was fraud... as I think his name is on his mum's mortgage. How else could he have remortgaged?

I will ask him tonight, to clarify.

hallowitch

Good result well done did they say why the levy on the car have been removed



if the levy on your furniture still stands you Will have levy and van fees for that
make sure the bailiffs fees are legal before you pay them
send for a breakdown of bailiff fees

again well done great result for you

RobertoMoir

Jerryjerryjerry wrote: »

I don't think it was fraud... as I think his name is on his mum's mortgage. How else could he have remortgaged?

I will ask him tonight, to clarify.

Thanks for keeping us updated by the way, it's good to know your bailiff problems are sorted out. It's nice to know how people got on with our advice and its useful to know what tactics work so we can keep on suggesting them ;-)

Looking at your reply to RAS, I think you said your mother in law didn't know that your husband had mortgaged her property? In other words he mortgaged her property without her knowledge or permission? If that's not fraud then I'd like to know what is. I'm sure the lender would take that view at least, and I would have thought your M-I-L would be less than happy about this too.

I don't want to be all preachy about this and I certainly don't want to tell you what to do but it sounds like your OH has serious money issues, possibly including some stuff that you don't know about if you don't know where the money from this extra mortgage "went". If I was in your shoes I'd be quite worried that my partner and I might be in an even more precarious financial position than I thought.

RAS

Jerryjerryjerry wrote: »

I don't think it was fraud... as I think his name is on his mum's mortgage. How else could he have remortgaged?

I will ask him tonight, to clarify.

Even if they were both on the mortgage, you need both signatures to re-mortgage a house. So had mum signed the re-mortgage paperwork (and understood what she was signing)?