Council Tax - Liability Order without summons

Tiglet

I've just been contacted by Equita regarding two Council Tax accounts. They say that Liability Orders have been granted by "the court" in September, but they haven't said which court issued them.  I also wasn't sent a summons in either case.

I'm a landlord, and I'm only liable for Council Tax during void periods between tenants.  In one case, this was a period in 2020 in which the tenant was liable for most of the period, and that I wasn't aware remained unpaid.  I was in contact with them, and trying to establish how much tax was due. In the other, I had only contacted them about three weeks earlier to let them know that I was going to be liable for Council Tax for a few days.  They seem to have been unreasonably hasty in going to court

I intend telling Equita that I dispute the amounts,, complaining to the council about their handling of the cases and contacting the local magistrates court to challenge the Liability Orders on the grounds that no summons was issued, in addition to the reasons I mentioned above.

I haven't decided on this course of action through any knowledge of Council Tax, merely from a sense that they haven't acted fairly or honestly. I'd appreciate any comments or advice from anyone who is more knowledgeable about these sort of things.

Thanks

YBR

Could the letters have been missed owing to having been sent to the property, and not to yourself as the owner? This happened to my father at one time, who found out the hard way that there is no obligation on the council to send letters elsewhere than the property in question.

Tiglet

Another worry - their letter says that they can visit me and may seize my belongings.  However, I live off-grid, and my correspondence address is not where I live (even though I'm on the electoral register there).

Can they still visit that address and harass the person who does live there?  And can I stop them doing that?

fatbelly

I think the key here is to talk to the council to find out what is going on.

It would be good to warn whoever is at the address that they may get a visit to keep external doors locked. They can inform the bailiff that neither you nor your goods are at the address.

Hopefully you can find out what you legitimately owe the council

Tiglet

It would be highly dishonest of them to have sent the letters to the properties rather than to my correspondence address as in one case I gave them my forwarding address the first time I contacted them, and in the other, they contacted me by email to ask for my address.  I wasn't aware that they are not obliged to send letters to another address - that's very informative - thank you!

I would be very keen to avoid having bailiffs turn up at my correspondence address.  Would it be possible to pay the bills (even though I dispute them) and then try to get the money back via a complaint or challenge to the Liability Orders afterwards?  Is that even possible? Do other people do that, and is there any chance of success?

fatbelly

You are better to argue the case before paying. If they've made a mistake they should remove the liability order fees.

Tiglet

Equita say I need to pay *or agree apayment arrangement* by today.

Could a payment arrangement be that I will pay it in full at some point in the future, to allow me to follow the council's complaints procedure (and possibly the court's)? Is that something they tend to do?

MEM62

I recently had a similar experience in respect of a rental property I sold back in May.  The Council obtained a liability order as there was no response from me to demands for payment.  There would not have been as they were writing to the address of the sold property - somewhere that I hadn't lived for over seven years and not owned for 6 months.  When I contacted them, the Council claimed not to have an address for me, which is utter nonsense as they have corresponded with me at my current address on a number of occasions over the years when dealing with the Council and the individual I was speaking to could even see it on old email correspondence. 

You just have to accept that some councils' admin is poor and deal with it. 

Tiglet said:

Can they still visit that address and harass the person who does live there?  And can I stop them doing that?

They can and probably will.  You can stop it in two ways - firstly, by paying what you owe to the council and, secondly, by not using someone else's address.  
    

fatbelly

Tiglet said:

Equita say I need to pay *or agree apayment arrangement* by today.

Could a payment arrangement be that I will pay it in full at some point in the future, to allow me to follow the council's complaints procedure (and possibly the court's)? Is that something they tend to do?

They would say that, wouldn't they?

Their whole ethos is to threaten you sufficiently that you come up with cash. Nothing to do with accessing goods or whether you do owe the money.

In your case they don't even know where you live so perhaps suggest an arrangement where they give the account back to the council and remove their charges

elsien

Is there not a penalty for providing false information on the electoral register and is the person who lives at your correspondence address aware of that?