council tax advice required!

asmaarfan

hi,

me and my partner recently split i have recieved a letter saying i am entitled to concil tax benefit and then a day later i have been sent a bill for the last year and a half totalling a MASSIVE £1400 POUNDS which apparently my ex hasnt been paying as far as i know no letters ever came to our house about ct before this what can i do? im on benefits now how do i pay this! can i get any help!!any help appreciated:mad:

rachnbri

The best thing you can do is contact the council and tell them what the situation is. Technically this is a joint debt and you and your ex should be equally liable - in reality they know where you are and it's easier for them to chase you for it:mad:. BUT if you know where your ex is it wouldn't hurt to share that information with them.

If they do try to recover the debt from you, because you are on benefits, they can take a small amount each week from your benefit until it is cleared. DON'T ignore it- it won't go away. And as I know from my own experience (long story!), once bailiffs are involved they are not so amenable to being paid in small instalments.

Good luck sorting it

CIS

MASSIVE £1400 POUNDS which apparently my ex hasnt been paying as far as i know no letters ever came to our house about ct before this what can i do? im on benefits now how do i pay this! can i get any help!!any help appreciated:mad:

First of all - what have you received - copy bill, reminder, reminder #2, final notice or summons ?

It will make a difference to what you need to do.

If they do try to recover the debt from you, because you are on benefits, they can take a small amount each week from your benefit until it is cleared.

Depends on which benefits you get as to whether deductions can be set up - only Pension credit, Income Support and JSA.

Ross01

Unfortunately just because you were living with your partner does not stop the council from chasing you for the full amount. The council can recover the full amount of £1400.00 from either of you. As it knows where you are - they you are the easiest sourse of recovery, and are liable to pay the full amount. You have two options 1 is do nothing in which case this will not go away. Resulting in court costs, ballifs, and even potential bancrupcy. Unfortuantely you owe enough money for the council to commence bancrupcy proceeding against you which is to be avoided at any cost. The second option is to call the council recovery team immediately and arrange to pay the council tax owed in small installments - probably larger installments than you would like given the size of the bill, and it will be a struggle but that is the only option.The sooner you contact the council the better, or the file may be transfered to a " debt collection agency " who will certainly not be reasonable, adding massive charges to your bill and will not negoiate. Alternatively once bancrupcy proceedings have been commenced the council will not accept small payments. Finally at the same time you could try and get the money off your ex. Explain that he could also be chased by the local authority, the balliffs, and he could be made bancrupt. Although they are more likely to chase you - your ex doesnt need to known this.

diddlydum

As a general rule councils will accept fairly small installments from people who are on means-tested benefits, usually about £5[pw will be accepted if you agree for a deduction direct from your benefits. They can deduct from other benefits with your consent.

If your ex-partner hasn't paid when she said she has, then you should give them details of where she lives and works. If she's working they will go after her not you, as she will be able to pay quicker.

Councils would only look at bankruptcy if there are assets they could have, as the cost isn't worth it otherwise, and I think you're painting an unreasonably bleak picture ross.

That said, it won't go away, and it's easier to deal with the council before the bailiffs are involved.

CIS

As a general rule councils will accept fairly small installments from people who are on means-tested benefits, usually about £5[pw will be accepted if you agree for a deduction direct from your benefits. They can deduct from other benefits with your consent.

Unfortunately £5 per week could not be taken from benefits - deductions are at at a set rate of £3 per week and can only be taken from Is, JSA and PC.

In my dept we accept any offer over £3 per week if the person is on IS/JSA or PC but that offer must be paid by the customer and not as a deduction.

Morglin

Before you agree to anything, get some free legal advice from these people:

http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/index.jsp

Lin