Never paid council tax!

fatbelly · 30 June 2020 at 7:03PM

Resurrect said:

So do you think this is what she should do?

1. Call the voa & confirm never valued.
2. Call the council & tell them.
3. Appoint a solicitor.
4. Receive bill (27 years x £2k may be = £54k??)
5. Arranging a bridging loan to pay the council. With the solicitor to get an agreement that debt is settled.
6. Sell the house & repay bridging loan

Why would you appoint a solicitor to deal with the council if you're just going to pay any bill they send?

One step at at a time.

Contact VOA

Report back here.

sam121285 · 30 June 2020 at 8:41PM

These things are possible. I didn’t pay gas for 2 years when I bought my new build as I wasn’t registered anywhere. Took two years of constant phone calls and insisting that “yes I do have gas and it works” to various companies before it got sorted. Turns out it was register with the plot number and never changed to the actual house number and street name. I often wonder if I should of just left it and had free gas and how long it would have took for it to be noticed

fatbelly · 30 June 2020 at 9:04PM

Councils tend to be a bit more on the ball with new builds, rather than energy companies, or at least I thought so. After all, they gave permission for the thing to be built there in the first place. You'd think they would follow it through.

I guess the lesson here is never underestimate the incompetence of a local council.

Fatsdom · 30 June 2020 at 10:25PM

I have a hunch the OP will discover that the council tax has been paid, perhaps in cash at the council office or by paypoint. All this talk of solicitors and £50k bills is a bit premature.

That being said, I'm watching with great interest to see what happens!

CIS · 1 July 2020 at 12:07PM

Fatsdom said:

I have a hunch the OP will discover that the council tax has been paid, perhaps in cash at the council office or by paypoint. All this talk of solicitors and £50k bills is a bit premature.

That being said, I'm watching with great interest to see what happens!

Time will tell - it would not be the first or last property that has escaped detection for decades.

CIS · 1 July 2020 at 12:11PM

sam121285 said:

These things are possible. I didn’t pay gas for 2 years when I bought my new build as I wasn’t registered anywhere. Took two years of constant phone calls and insisting that “yes I do have gas and it works” to various companies before it got sorted. Turns out it was register with the plot number and never changed to the actual house number and street name. I often wonder if I should of just left it and had free gas and how long it would have took for it to be noticed

New estates can be a nightmare for council tax - especially so where the plot numbers have been changed during the construction and no-one ended up entirely sure what was what on a development of 50+ houses (that was especially fun to try and sort).

Resurrect · 1 July 2020 at 2:26PM

Thanks for all your replies.

She’s plucking up the courage to call the voa.

She has used the ‘Tell Us Once’ service to update the council tax office of her mum’s death so imagine they will start looking into it also.

Resurrect · 1 July 2020 at 2:33PM

fatbelly said:

Resurrect said:

So do you think this is what she should do?

1. Call the voa & confirm never valued.
2. Call the council & tell them.
3. Appoint a solicitor.
4. Receive bill (27 years x £2k may be = £54k??)
5. Arranging a bridging loan to pay the council. With the solicitor to get an agreement that debt is settled.
6. Sell the house & repay bridging loan

Why would you appoint a solicitor to deal with the council if you're just going to pay any bill they send?

One step at at a time.

Contact VOA

Report back here.

Hi Fatbelly (great username btw!)

Expect it could be a more complex probate matter than just inheriting the house now.

Also expect she’d want a solicitor to get in writing from council that debt is settled for house sale conveyancing & no future claims?

sharpe106 · 1 July 2020 at 2:39PM

Until they actually know what the situation is not much a solicitor can do except charge them for what they can do themselves.

Resurrect · 1 July 2020 at 2:56PM

Ok so she called but they aren’t taking calls blaming coronavirus!

She has messaged them through gov.uk giving the address & asking if the property is registered on the valuation list.

I’ll post again when she hears back.

Thanks all again for your responses. And big thanks to CIS.

MSE Forum

Never paid council tax!

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