I am £1200 in Debt because my flatmate has not paid the council tax!

bombata

Yesterday I received a letter with a court summon because apparantly I owed Tower Hamlet Council £554.93 Pounds. I was quite surprised about this, since I arranged with my flatmate to pay her £50 a month and she just pays the council tax.

I mentioned this to my flatmate and she said she is going to sort it out. However I am moving in 3 weeks, because I bought a flat in the same Borough so I thought I call up the council.

They told me we owe:
£441.63 from the year before
£554.93 from last year
£212.86 from this year

That is £1209.39

Since my name is on the bill they said they will be after me too. I know my flatmate does not have the money to pay for it all at once, but I don't want to pay it because I PAYED IT TO HER ALREADY!

I do not want to leave the flat, break contact with her and then find myself chased for the debt. I only have a standing order into her account with the subject line "Rent & Council Tax" - no other receipts.

Is there a legal letter she can sign before I leave to clear me of all debts? So I can give that to the council?

chez000

When two or more people have a joint tenancy they all have joint and several liability for the council tax.

Each tenant then can be pursued for the full amount of the council tax not just a share.

I dont think that there is any letter your friend could sign but if she entered into an arrangement with the council and kept up the repayments I doubt that they would continue to pursue you for the debt.

the council will probably be fairly open to an installment plan but they will probably want the arrears cleared before next april

Burlesque_Babe

both people have to be named on the bill for it to be joint and several liability (unless the rules have changed since Iworked in Council Tax many moons ago!)

If only your name is on the bill (again, unless policy has changed) then you need to make an arrangement with the council and pursue your flatmate for the money.

There won't be anything that she can sign to give to the council unless she is willing to be named on the bill and you be rebilled. I can't remember though if that will change if a liability order has been issued.

Do you currently have the 25% discount if you are the only named person?

chez000

keren29 wrote: »

both people have to be named on the bill for it to be joint and several liability (unless the rules have changed since Iworked in Council Tax many moons ago!)

If the tenancy was in joint names then both would be liable for the council tax.

If only your name is on the bill (again, unless policy has changed) then you need to make an arrangement with the council and pursue your flatmate for the money.

There won't be anything that she can sign to give to the council unless she is willing to be named on the bill and you be rebilled. I can't remember though if that will change if a liability order has been issued.

Do you currently have the 25% discount if you are the only named person?

The 25% single person discount would only apply if the OP was the only person in the flat who had to pay council tax, that is as her friend was living with her she would not be entitled to the discount.

If her friend did not have to pay council tax, eg because the friend was a stundent, then she would be entitled to the discount.

Burlesque_Babe

ahhhhhh, policy must have changed then Both had to be named on the bill in my day.

The problem used to be that if there were more than 2 liable adults in the property (ie a house share and all were working) then only 2 names went on the bill. If there were arrears, the 2 named tenants used to come in any say why aren't the others being chased and it had to be explained that only 2 people were named - they had chosen to be the registered residents and they had to talk to their housemates to come to an agreement over payment but sorry, recovery action would continue against the named 2.

Yes, with the 25%, I suddenly had a thought that if the OP had originally lived in the property on her own, got the 25% discount, the friend moved in and they didn't realise, then they would lose that discount if the flatmate was added to the bill and any back dating took place.