Please help, massive council tax arrears! SCOTLAND

pinklipy

Sorry was at my sisters for a bit an have no signal their at all so just caught up. My sister is not trying to set me up as someone said, for what? My council tax arrears have nothing to do with her and just because she has 2 business's does not mean she has spare ££ to help me out, her credit is poor so has no way of buying me out.
Everything iv said is 100% true it is not a "troll" not even sure what that means?
The inherited property was remortgaged (in my name) to release £ to pay off other debt and as a deposit on my house, this was 5/6 years ago and unpaid council tax does not go on my credit score as I was paying the sherrif officers. Why would I be on here to lie? It is only this year that the council have changes theirinds in regards to debt, clearly a lot different from in England.
Yes my ex is liable but only for 1 year where we lived here as a couple but the tax bill has only been sent to me and all the othe years are correct and with the 25% reduction. And yes he does help us financialy as he pays half the mortgage and for our 4 year old.
You can only be imprisoned if you have refused to pay council tax, I have alway had an arrangement that every years council tax got added on to an my payments increased slightly each year by betweenn £1-£10.

Thanks

pinklipy

P.s
I did do a SOA today on the phone with the people at the debt advice line which she is sending me out to take to citizens advice and that resulted in me being able to afford £300 per month and keep up to date with payments. The problem is that my circumstances will change in 2 months time and so will my income/expenditure.

freebyfifty

pinklipy wrote: »

To googler:

Honestly nobody I know actually pays their CT properly at all, everyone kind of bumps it then pays it through sherrif officers at a lower rate than their actual monthly amount. Everyone is in debt to council tax (that I know), supposedly tho a lot of people in Scotland will be getting these letters as it would seem the council have had enough. In Scotland we don't use bailiffs, sherrif officers are the equivalent but they are definatly not as extreme as it seems to be in England and they certainly wouldn't remove goods from your house, their actually quite nice so maby that's why paying CT is more "relaxed" here, well untill now anyway.

I can't help it.......I'm sorry I don't want to offend you..... BUT
paying Council Tax is NOT AND IN NO WAY more relaxed in Scotland. EVERYONE i know pays via DD the full amount and on time. I don't know how you have got away with not paying the full amounts each year for so long. It took less than 6 months for them to catch up with me!
I'm sorry but I took real exception to that statement.

What I did was to phone the Sheriff Officer's office and came to an arrangement with them of £90 per month and kept up to date with the current year CT. I remember them being both polite and helpful both on the phone and when they appeared at my house.
This was a long time ago though and I didn't owe them nearly as much as you do.
I also know someone who has had an their wages arrested for non-payment of CT and they owed less than a year too but also a long time ago.

Be honest, if your tenant owed you that amount of money you'd want it back too. They are only trying to get what they are owed and because I'm a Scottish CT payer, what I have been subsidising (if what you say is correct) for years!!!!

I would take the advice on here and do an SOA and work out the maximum you can afford both now and when you're on mat leave.
Get this off your mind and out of the way before the baby comes, you'll have enough to worry about then

Good luck

rising_from_the_ashes

OP, I had "problems" with CEC many years ago (also dealt with by the same dca) ... moved house, paid the outstanding ct bill and forgot about it. Fast forward 4 years, got a demand for that period, couldn't prove I'd paid (changed banks, no statements etc) and I ended up having to repay it (learnt my lesson & I now keep everything).

They were going to take me to court too and I was offered a free session with a solicitor who would represent me/negotiate with CEC.

She was fab, agreed a reasonable repayment period and it didn't end up going to court - not sure if that's still available but may be worth asking.

I am a bit confused as to how it's been able to build up over the years and just keep getting passed to S&Co tho' - did you not receive CT bills before the beginning of each new financial year?

As others have said, posting up your SOA would be useful and would certainly generate some advice - especially with your earnings reducing soon.

Good luck

pinklipy

Thanks for the replies, with regards to it building up all these years all that really happened was I would receive a council tax bill that would state I had lost the right to pay monthly so pay in full, which i couldn't do so then it simply got passed on to scott&co who would then call me and ask me to increase my payments, between £1-£10, this happened every year the exact same for the last 10 years. Like I say I never had any hassle or threats or demands it was exactly as I have just stated untill last week when I'd received the letter for the full amount. I actually wish they had been far more stricter with me years ago so it wouldn't have gone this far.
I am in no way trying to get out of paying it or even moaning about it, I want to pay it and like I say avoid it going any further but with such a high amount of debt I'm not even sure if they will give me that chance. I think i am going to skip going to the CAB for now and Put in my letter of proposal to the council tomoro as that's what the debt advice lady reccomended And take it from their.

Freebyfifty, I didn't mean to sound passive about council tax but I think it's easy to see how I didn't realise it was a priority untill now when they just let me carry on for 10 years simply adding onto a massive bill with little repayment amounts, 10 years is long time so why would I think any different. I'm not making excuses I'm just trying to say that I don't think the council should of let me carry on like this for 10 years then send me a letter asking for full payment within 14 days out of the blue. Just to be clear (again) I know this is entirely my fault not trying to blame council and I want to get this debt cleared.

Thanks everyone

pinklipy

If anyone is still looking:

Just as a footnote, once my proposal is accepted (positive thinking!) I will have to change my lifestyle, where on this site will I find help/tips on being thrifty with any ££ I do have? Or tips on Xmas/birthday/clothes/food spending?

Thanks to anyone that replies :-)

freebyfifty

Try the Old Style board under Home & Play (I think)

mildred1978

pinklipy wrote: »

If anyone is still looking:

Just as a footnote, once my proposal is accepted (positive thinking!) I will have to change my lifestyle, where on this site will I find help/tips on being thrifty with any ££ I do have? Or tips on Xmas/birthday/clothes/food spending?

Thanks to anyone that replies :-)

Again, if you post up your SOA you'll get help with that.

pinklipy

Well Christmas savings this year are already out of the window as already have over spent hugely. When my proposal gets accepted (fingers crossed) I will re-do an SOA and re-post for help/advise/tips.

Eager_Elephant

Hi I am still here but had nothing to add yesterday.

I think some people on here would benefit from reading a publications from July 2006 on the Scottish Parliament website which talks about changing Council Tax Recovery and how it differed from England - it mentions that it is not seen as a priority as once it is passed to The Sheriffs Office they have to collect and don't use the same powers as bailiffs. Unfortunately it takes a while to change law and this is what they have been doing and so now as the collection powers have changed this is why people are being contacted but of course the council have years of Council Tax to collect and it is not going to be quick for them.

If you can get an appointment with CAB next week it would be beneficial before you make an arrangement with Council Tax as there may be other options than a straight forward arrangement such as DAS - this will protect you from the foibles of the Council Tax Department.
Even if you made an arrangement with them now they will want to review it constantly to make sure they are getting the most from you and of course you always have the risk that they will make you bankrupt whereas under the DAS they are not allowed to take further action once you are under the scheme.

Whichever way you decide to go I hope it works out for you.