Dodging council tax bailiffs

mookie77

Due to an administrative mix up (direct debit went wrong) I failed to pay the council tax for a property I let out for a period when it was vacant. Tennants have since moved in and are paying the council tax.

My oversight came to light when bailiffs turned up at the property last week. The tenants were able to convince them that they were not liable. It seems the tenants were not passing on the council demand letters to me/the letting agency and bailiffs letters were either not received or not forwarded (I haven’t been able to interrogate them about this yet).

Now I fully accept I am liable for the council tax and want to pay it, but now a liability order's been issued and it’s been passed to the bailiffs the council aren’t interested. However I would like to avoid the bailiffs’ charges if at all possible which amount to £310 for sending out a letter and visiting the property. I don’t live at the property, none of my possessions are there and they do not know where I actually live. What happens if I ignore the bailiffs? I’ve heard mention of the debt getting “passed back to the council”, but what steps do they go through to get there. What’s the process? Or should I just pay up? I’ve always managed to avoid this kind of problem so I have no idea what to do.

NB I’m not a buy-to-let landlord, this is the only house I own and I rent it out because I couldn’t afford to live in it myself!

IAmWales

They'll get your details from the Land Registry. Any work they have to do to trace you will add more costs. Contact them and resolve the issue.

If you have a mortgage on the property, do you have consent to let?

mookie77

IAmWales wrote: »

They'll get your details from the Land Registry. Any work they have to do to trace you will add more costs. Contact them and resolve the issue.

If you have a mortgage on the property, do you have consent to let?

This is the only property I own so I doubt they'd find me on the land registry and how does consent to let (which I have btw) have any relevance?

If I contact the bailiffs they will demand the whole amount. I know this already. What I'm asking is if there's any alternative to paying their charges?

Sarastro

mookie77 wrote: »

This is the only property I own so I doubt they'd find me on the land registry and how does consent to let (which I have btw) have any relevance?

If I contact the bailiffs they will demand the whole amount. I know this already. What I'm asking is if there's any alternative to paying their charges?

There are sites about what they can and can't charge and how much. So, you might be able to negotiate, but I doubt you can avoid. Don't let it go on any longer. Call them, get it sorted. My brother in law just had a debt turn up from 1999...

PasturesNew

Council tax is the one they are prepared to send 80 year old ladies to prison for. You'd best just get it sorted really because the longer it goes on, the heavier the costs etc .... and it could end in tears.

CIS

It doesn't on the face of it sounds like the Local Authority have done anything wrong nor have the enforcement agents. The enforcement agent fees are statutory and not open to negotiation so there's no requirement for them to accept anything other than the full payment.

mookie77

Seems like nobody can answer my question, or am I not explaining myself well enough?!

I am not claiming that the LA or bailiff's have done anything wrong. I accept have been remiss and actually want to pay my council tax to the council. The bailiff charges are in line with statutory fees. But I do not want to pay the bailiffs anything!

I know they can send people to jail for not paying CTax, but it's not the bailiffs who prosecute you is it? There must be a point at which the bailiffs 'give up' and and pass the problem back to the council. What I was hoping to find out was what steps the bailiffs will take between where they are now and passing it back to the council? The bailiff has been to the property, the tennants have successfully proved that they are not liable for the debt. I'm not worried about them knocking on my door as I don't live at the address in question, they don't know where I actually live (I currently have no registered UK address), they won't be able to 'recover' any of my property. Can anyone tell me what they will do if I just ignore them? I'm trying to decide at this point whether it's worth the hassle of trying to avoid them till they give up.

National_Debtline

Hello mookie77


There is no hard and fast rule that determines how long bailiffs will hold on to such a debt before deciding to return it to the council - individual local authorities may have their own approaches and understandings with the enforcement firms to whom they contract this out.


Some people who've been in your position previously will have attempted to make payment to the council directly. We've heard of mixed results arising from this approach, and again, it may depend on the policy adopted by this particular council as to whether they accept these direct payments, and also how they distribute any funds they receive.


Our reading of the current bailiff legislation is that strictly speaking, only bailiffs should handle the debtor's payments. Therefore, if you make a payment directly to the council, the council should (in theory) pass the funds to the bailiff for them to process. The bailiff should then apply the distribution rules, which are as follows (again, according to the current legislation):


- The bailiff will first receive their compliance fee i.e. £75.



- After that, the bailiff and creditor (the council in this instance) will receive a pro-rata share of what’s left.


I hope that is of some use, even if I can't give a definitive answer to your question about timescales.


Dennis
@natdebtline

mookie77

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hello mookie77


There is no hard and fast rule that determines how long bailiffs will hold on to such a debt before deciding to return it to the council - individual local authorities may have their own approaches and understandings with the enforcement firms to whom they contract this out.


Some people who've been in your position previously will have attempted to make payment to the council directly. We've heard of mixed results arising from this approach, and again, it may depend on the policy adopted by this particular council as to whether they accept these direct payments, and also how they distribute any funds they receive.


Our reading of the current bailiff legislation is that strictly speaking, only bailiffs should handle the debtor's payments. Therefore, if you make a payment directly to the council, the council should (in theory) pass the funds to the bailiff for them to process. The bailiff should then apply the distribution rules, which are as follows (again, according to the current legislation):


- The bailiff will first receive their compliance fee i.e. £75.



- After that, the bailiff and creditor (the council in this instance) will receive a pro-rata share of what’s left.


I hope that is of some use, even if I can't give a definitive answer to your question about timescales.


Dennis
@natdebtline

Thanks, that is really useful. When I called them the council were unwilling to take payment now they've passed it to "enforcement". Then again, that was the the miserable person/minion I got on the phone, maybe a letter would get more traction...

00ec25

mookie77 wrote: »

Thanks, that is really useful. When I called them the council were unwilling to take payment now they've passed it to "enforcement". Then again, that was the the miserable person/minion I got on the phone, maybe a letter would get more traction...

drop the attitude and then next time the "minion" may be more helpful.

mookie77

00ec25 wrote: »

drop the attitude and then next time the "minion" may be more helpful.

thanks for the advice, I was joking btw, the conversation with council person was very friendly, polite and respectful.

Anyway, I've found an online payment portal on the council website, you just punch in the CTax account reference number and how much you want to pay and card details. I may just send money covering the amount owed for council tax that way, follow up with an explanatory letter to all parties, and see where that gets me.