Please help, massive council tax arrears! SCOTLAND

Hiddenidenity

I think maybe you should get some real advice reguarding both the council tax and the tax returns.
Cant really add to what most people have said tho sorry

CIS

The council will have a hard job proving no renovation ever took place. And i have bought renovation properties were this 6 month free renovation period has been used and there was no work ever done.(the council were not interested in rectifying it either)

Its not the councils job to show your not entitled, its the claimants job to show they are.

Hiddenidenity

CIS wrote: »

Its not the councils job to show your not entitled, its the claimants job to show they are.

This is correct, Having work done on a house previously i had to prove it was in a state of renovation before they would give the 6 months free period.

And tbh lying isnt going to help this situation is it :cool:

dancingfairy

Hi - I think you need to get some proper advice.
What I would do is make a repayment you can afford. There is really not a lot of point promising something you can't deliver as you'll only get their back up.
A debt charity or the CAB should be able to help you to prepare a reasonable SOA that clearly shows what you can afford to pay.
It seems a bit mad at this stage to be thinking of bankruptcy. As far as I can tell you've had one letter that says you owe x - please pay. You're now going to set out a repayment proposal which hopefully they will accept - if not then it's back to the drawing board. As far as I can tell the only person who's actually mentioned bankruptcy is one person in a telephone call who may have just been trying to scare you into paying. I would assume that the council would rather have an agreement that someone will stick to rather than the costs and hassle of trying to make you bankrupt. Also I think it is rather unlikely they will make you bankrupt without you even knowing about it and having a chance to respond. Also you don't even know what would happen in bankruptcy - you appear to be making a lot of assumptions.
Start at the begining - draw up the budget and make a repayment proposal and see how things go.
I have no knowledge with regards to the housing issues - you should also seek advice on this and perhaps if you are not sure declare anyway but I would deal with the most pressing issue first which is the council tax.
Best of Luck
df

googler

If the arrears from 02-06 were on the inherited house where you stayed on your own (?) and 06-11 are on the house that you bought jointly with your ex (?), then isn't the ex jointly liable for the CT for the period he was resident in the family home?

(Rhetorical question - I'm off to google it)

EDIT

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/localgov/ctlde-00.asp#2

What if there is more than one liable person?

People who are joint owners or joint tenants are jointly liable for the one council tax bill for the dwelling. Spouses of liable people are also jointly responsible for paying the bill provided they are living together in the property, whether or not they are joint owners or joint tenants. This also applies to a man and woman living together as husband and wife.


.... which suggests to me that the joint owner (the ex) is liable jointly for the arrears for at least the time for which he was resident. Also, there's the single person's discount -

The full council tax bill assumes that there are two adults (persons of 18 or over) living in a dwelling. If only one adult lives in a dwelling the council tax bill will be reduced by a quarter (25 per cent).

This would apply to the period after the ex left.

dancingfairy

Indeed I think I made that point earlier. However the council will go after the easiest target - perhaps the OH had fobbed them off or has dissapeared.
df

googler

dancingfairy wrote: »

Indeed I think I made that point earlier. However the council will go after the easiest target - perhaps the OH had fobbed them off or has dissapeared.
df

Sorry - 6 pages' worth, it's easy to miss something. But the OP says the ex is providing financial assistance, no?

pauletruth

mmm lets think folks.
she has two houses can manage her credit cards has remorgaged a house has a buy to let and has another normal house morgage. yet she does not think she had to pay council tax or report income of roughly 4800 a year to the tax man.
how would she have got either morgage with ccj/sheriff court reports on her credit file. why would the council wait 10 years before coming after her no sherriffs officer is going to let that go onfor ten years. why would they except £110payments when that would not even clear a years tax. all this just does not add up. then there is the boyfriend that took out a morgage with her and is obviously around but she is claiming single person allowance.
so if she is for real then she isgoing to convince the tax man that the £24000 was writen off by losses that seems alot of losses.
could this thing be a troll.

adi_clarke85

googler wrote: »

If the arrears from 02-06 were on the inherited house where you stayed on your own (?) and 06-11 are on the house that you bought jointly with your ex (?), then isn't the ex jointly liable for the CT for the period he was resident in the family home?

(Rhetorical question - I'm off to google it)

EDIT

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/localgov/ctlde-00.asp#2

What if there is more than one liable person?

People who are joint owners or joint tenants are jointly liable for the one council tax bill for the dwelling. Spouses of liable people are also jointly responsible for paying the bill provided they are living together in the property, whether or not they are joint owners or joint tenants. This also applies to a man and woman living together as husband and wife.


.... which suggests to me that the joint owner (the ex) is liable jointly for the arrears for at least the time for which he was resident. Also, there's the single person's discount -

The full council tax bill assumes that there are two adults (persons of 18 or over) living in a dwelling. If only one adult lives in a dwelling the council tax bill will be reduced by a quarter (25 per cent).

This would apply to the period after the ex left.

Only works if the ex was named on the bill, they can't just add someone to the liability.

adi_clarke85

sleepless_saver wrote: »

This is a bit alarmist. You can't be imprisoned in Scotland for council tax debt, and if the OP gets some proper advice it should be possible to avoid bankruptcy.

Maybe, and so is being allowed to accrue 10 yrs of council tax.

I wasn't aware of not being able to being imprisoned in Scotland, my background is in England.