Council tax in dispute passed to debt collectors

RAS

DjangoUnchained said:

As soon as she recieved the letters she emailed them asking for a breakdown as we feel the tax is too high anyway and there were 2 other people sharing the house, but they are asking her for the full amount.  

Council tax is a joint and several liability, which means all those resident are equally liable for the full amount. Since they've found your daughter, they can chase her. It's her responsibility to extract any shares from her ex-housemates.

And yes, at every stage they add fees which means that even a small debt ends up with the same added costs as a much larger one. 

One thing your daughter should check is the dates for which she is being charged. When did term officially end (this was on the exemption letter provided by her university), and what date did she leave?  Does this tally with dates on the liability order? 

CIS

DjangoUnchained said:

My daughter who was a student and paid council tax accordingly, when her course finished she stayed at the house until the end of the summer. it was not until she left she recieved a demand for the extra time she was living there. This is not in dispute but she disputed the extra £100 they added on for late payment. She has been writing to them to request that this is deducted but they have responded without answering her question.
Today she has recieved a letter from a debt collector who has added on another £150.   Im looking for advice on what to do. have no problem paying the council tax owed but dont want to pay debt collectors or their costs. Should i call them and tell them so (on her behalf) or just ignore and deal with council. 

They won't be debt collectors, they'll be enforcement agents acting under a magistrates' liability order.

They cannot add £150 for a single liability order - the first fee is £75 for each order and the second fee £235. The other fees involved is likely to be the cost of the summons and liability order, which the council can add to the balance and pursue in the same way as they can for council tax.

Providing the enforcement agents have followed the required process (which isn't onerous) then the fees are valid and the fees are set in statute. The enforcement agent fees can be pursued through the civil courts if need be and providing they can show the fees were added under the relevant statutory provisions then the chance of the court not finding in their favour is very low.

The fact that she was sharing with others in immaterial unless there was some reason she should not be liable (which is a totally different argument). Council Tax is a debt were all liable parties are both jointly and severally liable so any of the parties can be pursued for anything up to the full outstanding balance - there is no requirement for the council to apportion the charge in any way.

DjangoUnchained

CIS said:

DjangoUnchained said:

My daughter who was a student and paid council tax accordingly, when her course finished she stayed at the house until the end of the summer. it was not until she left she recieved a demand for the extra time she was living there. This is not in dispute but she disputed the extra £100 they added on for late payment. She has been writing to them to request that this is deducted but they have responded without answering her question.
Today she has recieved a letter from a debt collector who has added on another £150.   Im looking for advice on what to do. have no problem paying the council tax owed but dont want to pay debt collectors or their costs. Should i call them and tell them so (on her behalf) or just ignore and deal with council. 

They won't be debt collectors, they'll be enforcement agents acting under a magistrates' liability order.

They cannot add £150 for a single liability order - the first fee is £75 for each order and the second fee £235. The other fees involved is likely to be the cost of the summons and liability order, which the council can add to the balance and pursue in the same way as they can for council tax.

Providing the enforcement agents have followed the required process (which isn't onerous) then the fees are valid and the fees are set in statute. The enforcement agent fees can be pursued through the civil courts if need be and providing they can show the fees were added under the relevant statutory provisions then the chance of the court not finding in their favour is very low.

The fact that she was sharing with others in immaterial unless there was some reason she should not be liable (which is a totally different argument). Council Tax is a debt were all liable parties are both jointly and severally liable so any of the parties can be pursued for anything up to the full outstanding balance - there is no requirement for the council to apportion the charge in any way.

seems like she's better off paying it now then.  She'll just have to stop buying 6 pairs of shoes this month. I think she will still call the council anyway to query why she wasnt notified and why they didnt respond to her queries but just passed it to the enforcers.

fatbelly

Check the dates and the added costs are correct first, though.

DjangoUnchained

they have added (council) £125   and the baillifs have added £75 compliance fee. Is this correct?

fatbelly

That sounds more like it. One compliance fee, one liability order fee, one summons charge (they do vary around the £100 mark.

The bailiffs will add £235 if the compliance letter is not paid off within ‘seven clear days’ .

DjangoUnchained

Think she better pay it, then hassle the council with SARs and anything else to get some redress lol

CIS

DjangoUnchained said:

Think she better pay it, then hassle the council with SARs and anything else to get some redress lol

In the vast majority of cases just asking the council will get the information, rarely is it needed to use any other provisions.

DjangoUnchained

We spent an hour on the phone to the council today, arguing if she was the only one liable she should be liable to recieve 25% discount, plus they had got various facts wrong. Upshot is theyve agreed to escalate the complaint and take the debt back from the enforcers. I should get a confirmation in 5 days, Not releshing the baillifs turning up next week so im still not sure what to do.

fatbelly

DjangoUnchained said:

We spent an hour on the phone to the council today, arguing if she was the only one liable she should be liable to recieve 25% discount, plus they had got various facts wrong. Upshot is theyve agreed to escalate the complaint and take the debt back from the enforcers. I should get a confirmation in 5 days, Not releshing the baillifs turning up next week so im still not sure what to do.

So are you saying that they've recalled it from the bailiffs while they look into the complaint? Or just instructed the bailiffs to put a hold on it?

Was she the sole (non-student) adult in the property for the time she's being billed for?