Equita Council Tax letter

keanelover

Hi there

I hope I am on the right forum, apologies if not. I'll try and keep this as factual as possible.

I bought a property in 2008 which I then ended up renting out in 2009. I moved to a house in a different borough and notified my existing Council of the new address. I asked my estate agents to pass on any letters etc. I moved again in 2010 and thought no more of anything as i always pay my accounts and bills when I move. I kept the rental property up until last year and then i sold it. Again I asked the estate agent to pass on any mail to me if anything crops up, maybe that was foolish expecting any estate agent to do me any favours!

fast forward to this month and my old landlord contacts me to say there are a stack of bailiff letters stating I owe £550 for unpaid council tax! Arrrrgggg this is news to me, I pay my council tax every month without fail. Anyway I called The council to find out for what period etc and the debt is from between tenants from 2011 and also another short period from last year when tenant moved out and then the property sold (11 days worth) i have no problem with paying this and have since paid the council the amount owed.

My issue is with the bailiffs, they are expecting me to pay the amount regardless of the circumstances, I no longer live at the address they have for me and haven't for 5 years. Its quite clear i don't live there as the property is empty and in the process of being sold. I am currently on maternity leave so have very very little money, I am happy to pay whats due to the council and have done so but don't think its entirely fair when I knew nothing of this debt. Do these bailiff companies use any means to look for other addresses for the debtors, I.E will they eventually track me down?

I have attempted to speak to them on a few occasions to explain the situation and all they can say is that i can set up a payment plan. I don't think this is reasonable really and would like to know if I can just ignore their letters considering they have no address for me now.

Don't shoot me down please, this has all come as a bit of a shock as I am so blimmin organised with my finances and i hate bully tactics like this!

Many thanks for reading

andyfromotley

Well the council were reduced to employing a DCA to recover this debt, presumably they don't work for free?

It sucks but i don't see that they have done anything wrong, i wouldn't ignore it as it may well come back and bite you on the bum.

keanelover

Hi there

The council actually had an up to date phone number for me and have done for all of this time, this is what confuses me, I gave them a forwarding address and a phone number and yet this happens. I understand that I was only living at my forwarding address for 12-18 months but are you supposed to notify this council of every forwarding address to infinity? I have resigned myself to paying it but they lump everyone in the same category of avoiding paying and this is not the case at all.

OH and I was under the impression the council sells the debt?

Thanks,

Anyone else?

poppasmurf_bewdley

To clear up matters, have you paid the council everything that was owing?

keanelover

I have now yes, as soon as I knew what was outstanding for what periods then I paid, £246 via their online payment facility.

poppasmurf_bewdley

If you have paid off the council, then they should have called the bailiffs off.

I'm pretty sure you can safely ignore anything the bailiffs say or want as the debt has been settled without them.

National_Debtline

Hi keanelover


Can you clarify exactly what figure the bailiffs want from you? Does it reflect the £246 you recently paid to the council? If not, it may mean the council has failed/forgotten to call them off after receiving your payment - in which case, you may need to give the council a nudge to ensure this gets done.


Once the council has called them off, it means that any sort of "contract" between you and the bailiffs is severed and if the bailiffs still want to recover their fees at that stage, it is the council they would have to bill for them.


Dennis
@natdebtline

keanelover

Hi there

Thanks for getting back to me. To break it down, the original debt from the council was £246,00 which I have paid this week.

The bailiffs want £235 + £75 which I have not paid as i wanted to find out where I stand.

Also another question, was the legislation different in 2011? I was under the impression that empty unfurnished properties in 2011 were exempt from council tax?

Thank you very much so far

poppasmurf_bewdley

keanelover wrote: »

Also another question, was the legislation different in 2011? I was under the impression that empty unfurnished properties in 2011 were exempt from council tax?

Thank you very much so far

Each council normally has its own rules for this. If you still have the original CT bill, it should tell you on the reverse all the conditions that need to be met for being exempt.

keanelover

Well I will look into it, however, I think if I can get this situation resolved without the need to pay the bailiffs I will be happy, really don't want that with a 10 week old baby!

CIS

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Each council normally has its own rules for this. If you still have the original CT bill, it should tell you on the reverse all the conditions that need to be met for being exempt.

Pre April 2013 the Class C exemption existed (on a national basis) for properties which were unoccupied and unfurnished. Council's had no powers to vary it.