Help with Charging Order

Deva2005

Hi All,

Earlier on in the year our local authority took us to court for an arrears of 0„55k for council tax arrears and were successful.

For a number of years now, I have sufferred with serious bouts of anxiety, stress and depression and have been on and off medication from you GP. The effect of my mental health means my managing of my money is impaired and has led to all the debt issues.

At the time of the council's actions, I had pleaded with them to make a payment arrangement, siting my state of health and the impact the charging order would have further on my state of health.
At this time, I was also out of work and in receipt of benefits, due to this I was not able to attend the court hearing as it was not possible to get to the court.
I submitted a written statement to the court relating to my mental health condition and the effect the order would further have on my stress and anxiety, this was ignored and the order was awarded.

Due to this being at a time when my mental health was and still is impaired, I wonder if there is any mechanism or advice anyone can give me to see if I can get this order overturned and the order removed from the house.

I am in a very, very low place at the moment, trying to deal with everything and just looking for some advice....

Thanks for your attention, and hope someone might be able to help me.

David

fatbelly

So does 0„55k =£550?

This seems odd as there is a minimum amount of £1000 (1k) for councils to apply for a charging order.

As they have already done that, and would not succeed with an order for sale, I would just leave it as it is.

However, for the future it sounds like you should be asking your doctor if he/she would support an application for Severe Mental Impairment. These are accepted more readily since most councils stopped giving 100% council tax support a couple of years ago. Here's one council's page on SMI

https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/counciltax/reductions/Pages/council-tax-for-the-severely-mentally-impaired.aspx

Deva2005

Thanks for the feedback, sorry the amount is actually £5k (five thousand).

The idea that the order is hanging over me is having a marked effect on me though.

sourcrates

david.richards27 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback, sorry the amount is actually £5k (five thousand).

The idea that the order is hanging over me is having a marked effect on me though.

Most charging orders never progress to an order for sale, they are very rare.

Out of every 100 CCJs only 7 go on to get a Charging Order. And the proportion of Charging Orders that then end up with an Order For Sale is tiny.

An Order for Sale will only be granted if there is already a Charging Order that has been made final and if the debt is more than £1,000. Importantly, if the CCJ was applied for after October 2012, the Order for Sale will not be granted if you are up to date with the CCJ payments.

Try not to worry.

CIS

Are you making any payments towards the debt at the moment ?

Craig

Deva2005

Yes, currently the authority is taking a token £5 per week from our housing benefit.

Is it ever possible to get the order overturned, or am I stuck with it?

fatbelly

They're presumably taking £5 from the Housing Benefit against a Housing Benefit overpayment.

So that would be a 'no' to Cis's question

Are you up to date with this year's council tax?

CIS

Yes, currently the authority is taking a token £5 per week from our housing benefit.

That's not for Council Tax arrears. Council Tax arrears cannot be taken from Housing Benefit (and couldn't be subject to a deduction anyway due to the Charging Order).

You could contact the court and ask if they can set aside the order - you'd have to have good reason for leaving it so long though. If successful they would then re-hear the case and you could ask then for the order to be suspended, pending a payment arrangement.

Craig

Deva2005

No, they have made a special arrangement to take £5 per week from the housing benefit and apply it to the amount of CT debt on their books, currently I am just about managing to keep this year's liability under control.

CIS

david.richards27 wrote: »

No, they have made a special arrangement to take £5 per week from the housing benefit and apply it to the amount of CT debt on their books, currently I am just about managing to keep this year's liability under control.

The council have no legal powers to do that - they may only deduct council tax arrears from IS/ESA/JSA/UC and PC.

Craig

National_Debtline

Hi there,


The charging order is the councils way of securing the debt rather than using other enforcement options, such as bailiffs, which they may have deemed inappropriate due to your health. If there is a payment plan in place then the charging order will be removed when it is cleared in full. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely to get it removed before it has been paid, I am afraid.


Ensure you check the details of your payment arrangement with the council, it is strange for them to take council tax arrears from housing benefit, but if you gave them consent and there are no other applicable benefits that may be how it is being done. I have to say, I am a bit confused how you are getting housing benefit (a benefit for rent) when you live in a mortgaged property. It is sometimes applicable to have an element of housing benefit if there are ground rent/ service charges costs - can you clarify?


Laura
@natdebtline