11 year old council tax bill??

iwanttosave_2

hi i am posting this for some advice for my mum. All of a sudden dhe has had balliffs knocking on the door chasing her for supposed council tax debts from 11 years ago, surely they cant just start knocking on after all this time demanding money, she is just taking their word for it that she owes it (they are the councils own balliffs (jacobs) so we know they are not crooks) but the worst thing was she payed one bill of £196 handed over they money and quick as a flash he whipped out another for £364.

Any help would be greatly recived because she is in a bit of a bind because of course she can't prove she paid them but whos to say its not just some fault in the system.

sleepy

I don't know the precise legal situation. But I used to work (until a month ago) in a London Borough Council Tax department and we were told that we had to write off all debts older than 6 years. Have you/ did she, actually tried talking to the council tax department about it as sometimes these things happen in error.

A couple of months ago I got a call from a woman very upset that she had just recieved a council tax bill for her (now deceased) mum from 5 years previously - the best thing - the bill was for 50p!

stellagypsy

council tax debt is collectable for 12 years......

She should ring the council and see how much she owrs in total then make an arrangement to pay. If they are persuing recovery, they will have the records at the council tax office. Think back - should she have claimed some benefits at this time? Did she move house? There must be a reason it wasn't paid / demands were ignored.

Whe I worked for our local authority, they also used their own bailiffs and only sent them out as a last resort.

Stella

robnye

council tax wasnt around 11 years ago.........!!!!

normski_2

Hello Iwanttosave

I don't beleive that the council would simple send in a bailiff for an 11 year old debt without having previously tried to pursue your mum in some other way in the intervening period.

As previously mentioned I would get her down to the council offices so that everything can be sorted out.

All the best.

Normski

iwanttosave_2

she knows for a fact that they have never contacted her about any debt as she always pays on the first demand, she has not contacted local council about it, the balliff told her this was the end of the road and the counil sold the debt to them i.e no longer the councils problem. I would have thought that you could put some sort of appeal into the council to have it looked at.
if true what stellaguy says about being collectable for 12 years its as though they get the files one a year and check if anyone owes anything before the deadline comes up.

skintchick

Are you sure these bailiffs are legit?.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hey

I thought goverment related debts (poll tax, council tax, benefit overpayments etc) are never written off My SIL has just been caught up with from council tax/poll tax and she owes over £3000 and that goes back in dribs and drabs over the past 13 years :eek:

PP
xx

jen_jen_2

there are two schools of thought on this and it really depends on your council.

the debt ends after 6 years unless the council took "action", in effect this means did they get a liability order. In some areas Liverpool for example they went out and go liability orders on everyone who hadnt paid and are now collecting the debt. (Poll tax by the way) and they can because they began "action" within the 6 years, its just that now they are enforcing the action.

if you council and many didnt did not get a Liability order then no they cannot start action now and get one.

it will be very hard for your mother to prove the debt was paid 11 years ago but she should ask for the date of liability order to check they have one.