HELP! Tricky Council tax problem - liability of 4 housemates

lailulelol

Hello all,

I am currently in a tricky situation. I have received a final reminder
to pay council tax relating to a tenancy from 3 years ago when I lived
with 3 other people. At the time I was mistakenly under the impression
that our rent of the property cover council tax. How I was wrong!

The reminder asks to pay a sum for the 1st half period of our tenancy
before 1 May. Else they will get the old bailiffs on us. Fine, I am
happy to pay my share. However after calling the council today I was
informed that you cannot slit-pay the council tax (I shouldn't be
surprised). Also if I were to pay the full amount then they would stop
chasing for the tax. Seems a bit unfair considering I am the only one
so far half decent to offer to pay share of it. (Note apparently all 4
us have received this reminder letter).

On top of this, when asking if there was tax to pay for the 2nd half
of the period of our tenancy, they stated that yes there was tax to
pay however this periods tax has already been refereed to the bailiffs
incurring more charges! It doesn't make logical sense to me that the
period 2nd half period has gone to the bailiffs before the first half
period (note the periods were split because there was a change of one
of the tenants half way through the tenancy. Moreover I never received
a final reminder letter regarding this 2nd period!!

Anyway, am I in contact with these old housemates? No, but I have
chased them to see if we can pull together the money...no response
from them so far. 1 of the 3 has now moved abroad somewhere in the EU
and the other 2 are not the greatest of human-beings and are unlikely
to pay their shares. On top of that the these 2 were also on and off unemployment benefits during our tenancy (which they didn't inform me of until 2/3 of the way into the contact. I am quite sure they didn't request any Council Tax Reduction for this period of unemployment as Council tax hadn't even been set up properly by the household.

Wow, with reflection, everything you think could go wrong has gone wrong and more!
Any advice? Help!

lincroft1710

You are a "victim" of Joint and Several Liability.

The council can legally pursue any of the joint tenants for the whole bill. If that tenant wishes his co-tenants to reimburse him for their share of the bill, then it is his responsibility to obtain payment.

Advice - pay the bill