Council tax baliffs demand 11 years after leaving property any help??

[stewartt]

Hi all

first time on here and in need of help.

I received a baliffs letter today regarding a liability order that has been granted by a magistrates court for unpaid council tax from a property that I lived in and left 11 years ago.

Obviously with so much time gone past and never receiving any letters in that time of any money owed I am somewhat perplexed at receiving this out of the blue, with no other correspondence between myself and the council.

When i left the accommodation 11 years ago I handed the keys into the housing office and was told everything was ok, They had my forwarding address of where I was moving to and as far as I was concerned everything was paid and upto date and have heard nothing since.

To receive a baliffs letter 11 years on, out of the blue has stunned me and it is for an amount I can not possibly afford, obviously being so long ago I have no records of anything from so long ago.

What do I do??

I have been told by a friend if I contact the baliffs directly, then they will not even speak to me about the details and just demand money, so I thought I would ask here first.

Kind regards

Stewart

[ploddertom]

Re: Council tax baliffs demand 11 years after leaving property any help??

Get on to the Council and ask when the LO was obtained? Ask to see a copy of it & all info they have sent to you about it.

[stewartt]

Re: Council tax baliffs demand 11 years after leaving property any help??

Thank you, just an update of what ive done this afternoon.

Contacted Liverpool city council to see when the demand was for, and they said 2001-2003
I explained that in May 2001 I moved to Manchester and was actually paying them council tax, so how could they ask me to pay council tax for somewhere I wasnt even living?
The lady then asked me if I could provide proof, and send it to them.
So I rang Manchester city council who straight away said 'Why has it taken them all this time to contact you?' she then said that their current detailed database in Manchester only goes back to 2004, but she would be able to see not so detailed details of my record.
She then confirmed my first payment to Manchester Council was made on 30/6/2001 and she also confirmed all payments after that to when I left there.

So I have now sent an email to Liverpool Direct with these dates and provided an email address of where they can get the same information.
from Manchester. Gov.

Although Liverpool Councils initial reply is an automated reply saying that they will reply within 10 days, do I need to now inform the baliffs?? or just leave it with Liverpool city council??

Thanks again for your help, this is all rather worrying.

[ploddertom]

Re: Council tax baliffs demand 11 years after leaving property any help??

If it were me I would be badgering Liverpool to call off the Bailiffs whilst they look at this. I would also be tempted to inform them you will be billing them for the time, inconvenience & distress this has caused you. I've seen something similar in the last few days either here or in another place, if I find it I'll post the link for you.

[ploddertom]

Re: Council tax baliffs demand 11 years after leaving property any help??

2 related posts & both about Liverpool - note the dates on the 1st post

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...m-17-years-ago!!!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...m-22-years-ago!