Bailiff Help (Not my debt!)

Ms_Speculatrix

Bit of back story:
My partner has a large unpaid council tax debt caused by a business failure and basically ignoring the letters. *sigh* They are for domestic not business council tax fees. He paid a huge debt off to Ross and Roberts Bailifsswhen he was working last year & long before we moved in together and thought that was an end to it. However, further liability orders had been made and part of the debt passed back to Ross and Roberts. Don't even get me started on their tactics, we all know how it works so no need to even go there.

When contacted this second time by R&R we understood the outstanding debt to be around £300 so I made an arrangement to pay R&R in instalments myself which so far I have done, but a couple of months ago we found out he owes around £2000+.

I am not named on any of these liability orders as I never resided in the property to which it relates, the debts were run up long before we even met so I know that this is in no way legally my debt and I am not legally obliged to pay it. I have had a statutory declaration drawn up to protect my own goods should R&R gain entry and also to prevent them from stealing my car from outside and they have a copy of this. (My partner did not move any of his own furniture etc into this house for various reasons).

Anyway we visited the council last month and have arranged to pay them by standing order direct but they are refusing to call back the outstanding from R&R. I simply cannot afford to pay the 2 amounts, in fact I have had to reschedule a personal debt to pay this one!! At the moment my partner is not working and only have my (low) income plus tax credits.

I am wondering now where I stand if I just stop paying the bailiffs? The lady at the council said (unofficially) that I could do that and then they would send the bill back to the council and I could pay the lot off via the lower instalment agreed with them. Obviously if I do this we are then going to start getting bailiffs hassling us at home and to be honest I could really do without any hassle from the thugs R&R seem to enjoy employing especially as I actually paid my own council tax!

As this is not my debt, the goods in the house are mine and my daughter's (aged 17) and this house is not even the property to which the debt relates having been incurred long before I even met my partner, do I have a case to remove the implied right of access to the bailiffs or the ability to argue that they are harassing me/my daughter for a debt that isn't ours because when they start ringing/calling the house bearing in mind that we do have a right to the quiet enjoyment of our home.

I'd be grateful for any insight into where to go from here. Regardless I cannot pay both the council and the bailiffs I just don't have the money.

Ms_Speculatrix

Just a quick note to say that this is not a deliberate cross post although it is also on the consumer rights board at the moment. I have asked for the admin to delete that one, I posted it on the wrong board.