CCJ for ex-landlord's council tax. Help filling out an N244

GaudyStevenson

Hey hey,

Got an email from a debt collection agency that had a CCJ attached to it with an old and wrong address. This is for an alleged council tax debt of 1,200, relating to student accommodation I rented in 2022, long story incoming:

I've lived in this room in a 4-bed flat in Wales as a student and was exempt from council tax. After I graduated I learned that my landlord lets people stay on for an extra council tax charge each month. This seemed to me to be quite reasonable so I agreed with my landlord to do this for 12 months. I haven't heard anything from the landlord about it since then, and I tried to see if I could pay the council tax online as I thought it was now my responsiblity, but found out I couldn't even login to the council pages as I wasn't the flat owner as no council tax-paying responsibilities were transferred to me. I therefore figured my landlord is still paying the tax as the owner, and they'd get it from me retrospectively as one bulk payment at the end of the year, and I was fully ready to do this.

I found out my landlord was expecting me to pay around 1.650, a year's woth of council tax for the whole flat at 150/160 a month. I thought this was aboslutely ridiculous when I was just renting a room. A 4-bed flat with a council tax of 150 a month should be 35-40 for each room. I remember contacting Citizens' Advice and the Council about this and they told me the same thing and that the landlord was responsible for paying council ta. I told my landlord I would pay 425 instead (12 months at 40 a month). The landlord disagreed (and ended up keeping my deposit which was 425 which I thought it was reasonably fair for the council tax I legitimately incurred) so I considered the matter settled.

The landlord hired debt collectors and gave them my info without my consent (not allowed as I'm technically an EU citizen. Each agency I informed of this stopped contacting me afterwards) and I understand they kept sending letters to an old address of mine, which was an address I lived at in 2021, was my last known address before moving and is the same address the CCJ should be issued for.

Except the CCJ has the address wrong. It's addressed to John Doe, 38 Street Name instead of John Doe, 28 Street Name. So not only is the address old, it's not even written correctly.

From advice elsewhere I learned that because the landlord knew I moved out, and I was "there to be found" (up-to-date details on electoral register, banks, utilities, etc.) they used the wrong address (CPR 6.9(5)) and so the claim form is defective which should be a mandatory set-aside under CPR 13.2.

Also because it's been more than four months (the deafult judgment itself is dated 22/08/2024) (CPR 7.5) the claim is dead, and should be struck out.

Had a browse through the fines register and the CCJ pops up only if I put in the wrong address (38 Street Name) and it doesn't come up either on Transunion or Experian.

I think I should probably send an N244 but I'm not sure how to fill it out, or what sort of evidence do I need to submit, so I'm wondering if anyone has any advice. I drafted a statement but I'm not sure if it will suffice.

GrumpyDil

I won't comment on the CCJ but one point to note is that council tax is charged on the entire property rather than per bedroom. This means if you were the only non student in the property the council tax for the entire property becomes due not for 1/4. Probably should have clarified the exact amount before agreeing to staying on after you had finished your studies. 

fatbelly

If I'm reading this correctly it's the landlord who is the claimant

He can't claim payment of council tax as that can only be levied by the council

So it would be interesting to see what he put on the particulars of claim.

Of course you haven't seen that because he used the parking company trick of starting a claim at an address he knew to be wrong, then miraculously finding the right address once he had the default judgement.

How the parking boys deal with that is in their newbies thread so my advice would be 

To look at that

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou

and to ask the court for the particulars of claim

teaselMay

It sounds as though you were liable for all of the council tax if the only non student in the flat, but what followed doesn't make a deal of sense, paying that council tax shouldn't have involved your landlord, is he avoiding declaring it as a multi person rental to the council?

GaudyStevenson

GrumpyDil said:

I won't comment on the CCJ but one point to note is that council tax is charged on the entire property rather than per bedroom. This means if you were the only non student in the property the council tax for the entire property becomes due not for 1/4. Probably should have clarified the exact amount before agreeing to staying on after you had finished your studies. 

This is wrong. I never became liable to pay council tax as it's the landlord's responsibility. This is a clause they shoud have put in the tenancy agreement if they knew they were going to let non-students in addition to students. As the landlord has failed to do that no debt has ever existed between me and the coucil and the landlord remained responsible for council tax payments.

GaudyStevenson

fatbelly said:

If I'm reading this correctly it's the landlord who is the claimant

He can't claim payment of council tax as that can only be levied by the council

So it would be interesting to see what he put on the particulars of claim.

Of course you haven't see that because he used the parking company trickvof staring a claim at an address he knew to be wrong, then miraculously finding the right address once he had the default judgement.

How the parking boys deal with that is in their newbies thread so my advice would be 

To look at that

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-o ld-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou

and to ask the court for the particulars of claim

Thanks I'll try that. Nothing was acutally served properly though. Some debt collector sent me the CCJ to my email today which I never consented them to use, this is dated 22/08/2024 and they never served me the claim.

GaudyStevenson

teaselMay said:

It sounds as though you were liable for all of the council tax if the only non student in the flat, but what followed doesn't make a deal of sense, paying that council tax shouldn't have involved your landlord, is he avoiding declaring it as a multi person rental to the council?

That's the thing, it's an HMO that they're liable for council tax on. Nothing about me becoming reponsible for council tax as a non-student was in my contract, if anything it said the council tax is the landlord's responsibility. So the landlord kept paying council tax to the council and figured they'd claim then claim it from me.

sourcrates

Are you certain this CCJ is real?

You wouldn’t expect debt collectors to have a copy of it in an email, it just doesn’t smell right to me, is there anything registered on your credit report about this?

Who is this debt collection agency, what’s their name?

fatbelly

The op said it's on the register (of fines and judgements) so it's real but has been obtained by an abuse of process.

Get the guy in front of a judge and watch him get his backside kicked.

GaudyStevenson

sourcrates said:

Are you certain this CCJ is real?

You wouldn’t expect debt collectors to have a copy of it in an email, it just doesn’t smell right to me, is there anything registered on your credit report about this?

Who is this debt collection agency, what’s their name?

The email came from someplace called Redwood Collections. The form is just titled Judgment for Claimant (in deafult). It has a County Court stamp or logo rather, no signatures anywhere as far as I can tell.

Nothing comes up on my actual credit reports when I enter my correct addresses. I did a Register of Fines search for the incorrect address and it came up there.

GaudyStevenson

fatbelly said:

The op said it's on the register (of fines and judgements) so it's real but has been obtained by an abuse of process.

Get the guy in front of a judge and watch him get his backside kicked.

The claimant in the CCJ seems to be a solicitor so perhaps they provided it to the debt agency?