Council Tax Arrears

sisko1982

KatrinaWaves said:

sisko1982 said:

CIS said:

sisko1982 said:

we have received this morning a letter from a debt collection agency regarding council tax on my husbands rented out house. We have had no contact from the council to our address regarding an outstanding bill etc. 

It looks like his tenants haven’t paid council tax since they moved in last October. 

Is this our debt to pay? He’s on the council tax here and we have tenancy agreement etc showing the date they moved in and also bank statements showing their regular payments. 

We feel like we’ve lost our chance to fight as we’ve had no notice of this before they’ve gone to debt collection agent. And the first payment needs paying on Tuesday  when we got the letter this morning (sat) and there’s no one to contact anywhere till Monday as it’s a weekend 

It all comes down to s6 and s8 of the LGFA 1992 (slightly different if you're in Scotland).

If the property was rented as a whole, and it doesn't fall under the auspices of s8 of the LGFA 1992, then a non-resident landlord is not liable under s6(2)(f) - there's not enough information in the post however to determine where exactly it falls under ss6 and 8.

The fact that it's been sent to an enforcement agent (not a debt collector) doesn't mean it can't t makes no difference to the technical side of disputing the debt.

After not having to deal with enforcement agents for the last 6 months or so I'm starting to see them raise their heads again, yay.

There may be grounds, depending on what happened, and when, to dispute the liability order itself but that's a longer shot (it would stop the enforcement agents though).

The property is rented as a whole. My husband lives here. We had tenants in it before with no issues. 

Would the council not get the liability order amended when they have accurate details of whose debt it is? 

Do we need to inform the enforcement company that it’s not our debt too? The first payment should be made on 10th which is tomorrow and obviously that’s the first day we’ve got to deal with it due to the weekend etc. 

I have small children I really don’t want them turning up for somethings that’s not our debt. 

Currently it is YOUR debt, because no one has given them information to contradict that. Call them tomorrow, say you will be emailing them a copy of the tenancy as soon as you’re finished on the phone, and ask them to have the contact address for yourselves changed to your home address. 

I’ve already scanned the tenancy agreement in ready to send them. 

It is not our debt to pay and we won’t be making any payments towards it. It is however our responsibility to give them the correct information and prove that it’s not ours. My question was to see whether anyone knew if  the council will deal with the enforcement agency or if we would need to speak to them too. 

sisko1982

KatrinaWaves said:

sisko1982 said:

CIS said:

sisko1982 said:

we have received this morning a letter from a debt collection agency regarding council tax on my husbands rented out house. We have had no contact from the council to our address regarding an outstanding bill etc. 

It looks like his tenants haven’t paid council tax since they moved in last October. 

Is this our debt to pay? He’s on the council tax here and we have tenancy agreement etc showing the date they moved in and also bank statements showing their regular payments. 

We feel like we’ve lost our chance to fight as we’ve had no notice of this before they’ve gone to debt collection agent. And the first payment needs paying on Tuesday  when we got the letter this morning (sat) and there’s no one to contact anywhere till Monday as it’s a weekend 

It all comes down to s6 and s8 of the LGFA 1992 (slightly different if you're in Scotland).

If the property was rented as a whole, and it doesn't fall under the auspices of s8 of the LGFA 1992, then a non-resident landlord is not liable under s6(2)(f) - there's not enough information in the post however to determine where exactly it falls under ss6 and 8.

The fact that it's been sent to an enforcement agent (not a debt collector) doesn't mean it can't t makes no difference to the technical side of disputing the debt.

After not having to deal with enforcement agents for the last 6 months or so I'm starting to see them raise their heads again, yay.

There may be grounds, depending on what happened, and when, to dispute the liability order itself but that's a longer shot (it would stop the enforcement agents though).

The property is rented as a whole. My husband lives here. We had tenants in it before with no issues. 

Would the council not get the liability order amended when they have accurate details of whose debt it is? 

Do we need to inform the enforcement company that it’s not our debt too? The first payment should be made on 10th which is tomorrow and obviously that’s the first day we’ve got to deal with it due to the weekend etc. 

I have small children I really don’t want them turning up for somethings that’s not our debt. 

Currently it is YOUR debt, because no one has given them information to contradict that. Call them tomorrow, say you will be emailing them a copy of the tenancy as soon as you’re finished on the phone, and ask them to have the contact address for yourselves changed to your home address. 

They can not amend the liability order to the tenants as they haven’t billed them yet. They need to bill them and start recovery procedures if they fail to pay their instalments as billed. They can’t just jump straight to a liability order when they have never been billed. 

So what happens with the liability order? Does that get cancelled? This is not something I’ve ever had to deal with before. 

CIS

My question was to see whether anyone knew if  the council will deal with the enforcement agency or if we would need to speak to them too.

The enforcement agents act for the council so the they will only take instruction from them. You can however alert them and ask that they contact the council for an update.

CIS

sisko1982 said:

KatrinaWaves said:

sisko1982 said:

CIS said:

sisko1982 said:

we have received this morning a letter from a debt collection agency regarding council tax on my husbands rented out house. We have had no contact from the council to our address regarding an outstanding bill etc. 

It looks like his tenants haven’t paid council tax since they moved in last October. 

Is this our debt to pay? He’s on the council tax here and we have tenancy agreement etc showing the date they moved in and also bank statements showing their regular payments. 

We feel like we’ve lost our chance to fight as we’ve had no notice of this before they’ve gone to debt collection agent. And the first payment needs paying on Tuesday  when we got the letter this morning (sat) and there’s no one to contact anywhere till Monday as it’s a weekend 

It all comes down to s6 and s8 of the LGFA 1992 (slightly different if you're in Scotland).

If the property was rented as a whole, and it doesn't fall under the auspices of s8 of the LGFA 1992, then a non-resident landlord is not liable under s6(2)(f) - there's not enough information in the post however to determine where exactly it falls under ss6 and 8.

The fact that it's been sent to an enforcement agent (not a debt collector) doesn't mean it can't t makes no difference to the technical side of disputing the debt.

After not having to deal with enforcement agents for the last 6 months or so I'm starting to see them raise their heads again, yay.

There may be grounds, depending on what happened, and when, to dispute the liability order itself but that's a longer shot (it would stop the enforcement agents though).

The property is rented as a whole. My husband lives here. We had tenants in it before with no issues. 

Would the council not get the liability order amended when they have accurate details of whose debt it is? 

Do we need to inform the enforcement company that it’s not our debt too? The first payment should be made on 10th which is tomorrow and obviously that’s the first day we’ve got to deal with it due to the weekend etc. 

I have small children I really don’t want them turning up for somethings that’s not our debt. 

Currently it is YOUR debt, because no one has given them information to contradict that. Call them tomorrow, say you will be emailing them a copy of the tenancy as soon as you’re finished on the phone, and ask them to have the contact address for yourselves changed to your home address. 

They can not amend the liability order to the tenants as they haven’t billed them yet. They need to bill them and start recovery procedures if they fail to pay their instalments as billed. They can’t just jump straight to a liability order when they have never been billed. 

So what happens with the liability order? Does that get cancelled? This is not something I’ve ever had to deal with before. 

If an adjustment removes all your liability then the order becomes a moot point, there's no balance to be enforced under it and it has no effect.So, as long as the balance is removed, there's nothing to be worried about.

macman

sisko1982 said:

CIS said:

sisko1982 said:

we have received this morning a letter from a debt collection agency regarding council tax on my husbands rented out house. We have had no contact from the council to our address regarding an outstanding bill etc. 

It looks like his tenants haven’t paid council tax since they moved in last October. 

Is this our debt to pay? He’s on the council tax here and we have tenancy agreement etc showing the date they moved in and also bank statements showing their regular payments. 

We feel like we’ve lost our chance to fight as we’ve had no notice of this before they’ve gone to debt collection agent. And the first payment needs paying on Tuesday  when we got the letter this morning (sat) and there’s no one to contact anywhere till Monday as it’s a weekend 

It all comes down to s6 and s8 of the LGFA 1992 (slightly different if you're in Scotland).

If the property was rented as a whole, and it doesn't fall under the auspices of s8 of the LGFA 1992, then a non-resident landlord is not liable under s6(2)(f) - there's not enough information in the post however to determine where exactly it falls under ss6 and 8.

The fact that it's been sent to an enforcement agent (not a debt collector) doesn't mean it can't t makes no difference to the technical side of disputing the debt.

After not having to deal with enforcement agents for the last 6 months or so I'm starting to see them raise their heads again, yay.

There may be grounds, depending on what happened, and when, to dispute the liability order itself but that's a longer shot (it would stop the enforcement agents though).

The property is rented as a whole. My husband lives here. We had tenants in it before with no issues. 

Would the council not get the liability order amended when they have accurate details of whose debt it is? 

Do we need to inform the enforcement company that it’s not our debt too? The first payment should be made on 10th which is tomorrow and obviously that’s the first day we’ve got to deal with it due to the weekend etc. 

I have small children I really don’t want them turning up for somethings that’s not our debt. 

Don't worry. Bailiffs won't be interested in small children, they don't fetch very much at auction. Your car would be the most likely target for them.

macman

sisko1982 said:

apologies for lack of response. 

They moved in the day old tenants moved out. The tenancy agreement has them down as being responsible for the utilities.

I am presuming the council will have tried to make contact With occupier at the address first so that must have been ignored by them. 

Here’s hoping it’s an oversight by the tenants and not deliberate 

To state the obvious, Council Tax is not a utility, it's a domestic property tax. If your tenants are from overseas, or just first time renters, they may simply not be aware of it.

sisko1982

Spoken to the council. They were fab. 

They have taken all tenants details etc and will take the debt up with them.
i can’t fault how they were to be honest. Such a relief after a weekend of worry. 

They were also adamant it was the tenants responsibility to inform them not ours but obviously in future we’ll be making sure we tell them ourselves. 

We changed our correspondence address with them too so thank you to whomever of you suggested that. 

Many thanks for all your advice