Please help, massive council tax arrears! SCOTLAND

pinklipy

Hi everyone,

This is my 1st post so please take it easy on me. I am in a big mess and I know it's entirely my own fault. I have recieved a letter from the council saying i owe just under £13000 in council tax arrears. This is correct and yes I do owe £13000 dating as far back as 2001 when I was only 16 when the mess all started, from then on I have always just added each bill on to the other and paid a payment plan through scott & co at £111 per month (never clearing any debt) and never paying my up to date council tax bills either.
So I called them to see what was going to happen and he said as I am a home owner (I jointly own 2 property's) I can either put in a proposal for a payment plan but it would need to be in the region of £400-£500 per month plus keep up to date with current council tax bill or they would take me to court to make me bankrupt. I am extremely upset and worried about all of this, I cannot go bankrupt as I think i will loose my home? but I also cannot afford to pay £400-£500 per month.
Could I put in a proposal of £300 per month and keep up to date with current tax bills, will this likely be accepted/declined?
I would also like to say I am a single mum working part time and I am also due baby no2 in January, so will be on mat leave soon. My kids dad helps us financially aswell.

Any guidance would be appreciated and I hope some one can help me, thanks in advance.

RAS

pinklipy wrote: »

yes I do owe £13000 dating as far back as 2001 when I was only 16 when the mess all started.

Before we go any further, you are not liable for Council tax at the age of 16 years. Have you made sure the Council exclude you from the accounts for the period you were too young to pay CT?

And why are you taking advice about CT debt from bailiffs; there entire purpose is to freak you out and make ypou pay more than you can afford.

pinklipy

First of all thanks for replying,
I have looked at the letter again and it would seem I have only been charged £53 for the 2 years when I went from 16-18 so that's correct and I still owe £13000. it was Edinburgh council that I spoke to regarding the debt not a baillif or debt company.

Boris_Allen

The Council Tax system is so unfair and unjust. If only we all had the cojones to stand up together and refuse to pay until it is cleaned up...

pinklipy

First of all thanks for replying,
I have looked at the letter again and it would seem I have only been charged £53 for the 2 years when I went from 16-18 so that's correct and I still owe £13000. it was Edinburgh council that I spoke to regarding the debt not a baillif or debt company.

pinklipy

Sorry "newbie" here, didn't mean to send the same post twice

Eager_Elephant

Do you have any equity in any of the properties?

Being made bankrupt does not always mean losing your home - could you please explain a bit more about the two properties you have?

Is Scott & Co the bailiff company who were collecting the debt or are they a Debt Management Company?

Could you post a SOA? When you have Council Tax arrears you should be paying no other debts apart from rent/mortgage, electricity, gas and TV Licence.

One we have some more info we will be able to comment further.

pinklipy

Sorry,

Scott & co are A bailiff company who the debt was passed onto over the years who I was paying, I think they are sherif officers. But now the council have reviewed my account and realised that I owe thousands.

The 1 st property was inherited by myself and my sister when I was 16 (she 21) a few years later we remortgaged it so it has a mortgage on it but their may be some equity in it, it is currently rented out to tenants. The 2nd property is my family home which myself and my ex bought together so both names on mortgage. I don't think their is any equity in the house.

What is an "SOA"?

I must be very niave but I did not realise untill now how important council tax was! Over the years I have not had any guidance regarding council tax and didn't think it was that big a deal since every year they just kept adding the balance on to my acount and letting me pay £100 per month.

Thanks

Eager_Elephant

A SOA is a statement of affairs, a list of income/expenditure - if you can do that it will help so we know what you can offer. There is a template on the site so you can post directly on here.

I think the reason it has not been picked up before is because as your accounts pass to Scott & Co they pile them all up so you start paying each one back after the previous once has finished whereas if they had returned them to the council they would have had to look at your account.

Maybe the council are having a purge on bad debt and yours has come out - I wonder how many more people owe that much??

The council will not want to waste money on making you bankrupt if they are unlikely to get anything in return so if you have no equity it would not be worth their while.

Once you have posted a SOA we can comment on it and the offer can be made to the council, if they won't accept it you will need to take it higher as really it is the council's fault for not dealing with this before so you should be given a chance to pay this.

I think it might be worth trying to get a valuation on both properties so you know for definite if there is any equity.

RAS

You can do a Statement of Affairs here http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html.

As a newbie you are not allowed to post links, so you need to "Format for MSE" and then remove the link to MSE at the bottom, before it will allow you to post it.

Can you make plain in the title to your thread (go to advanced edit) that this is in Scotland, as the law is very different there.

pinklipy

Thanks so much for replying eager_elephant.

The man i spoke to at council seemed to imply that something new had come into place and that a lot of people would be receiving these letters (maby a new Scottish law). Someone else I know also received the same letter today for £9000 so it must be happening to a lot of people.
I know I owe the money and need to get this sorted and should of done years ago but it was made so easy for me just to keep adding new accounts on, at one point scott&co only requested I increase my payments by £1 so to me it was never deemed as important. This is 10 years worth of council tax and all of a sudden I get a letter for immediate payment of £13000.
Where can I find a template for income/expenditure on this site? I have done one myself and it looks on paper that I have around £400 spare per month. I am 100% up to date with no missed payments on either mortgages and all other bills.