joint name council tax debt

[White Sox]

Help!!
I have received letter from Bristow & Sutor for unpaid council tax when I was with my x partner I paid him half C/T every month but he wasn't paying it so the council caught up with me but couldn't locate my x .
I explained that I had just started working for myself and am currently receiving housing benefit and council tax benefit in full and I tried to set up a regular payment with them but I just could't afford it as I didn't have enough money coming in so now the debt is with Bristow & Sutor for the whole amount which I am not certain is correct... They want 10 weekly payments of £303 .
I rang them and tried to arrange a £30 per month payment but they wouldnt accept this and said it would have to be £556 per month which I obviously don't have. Then they told me that the enforcement people would be coming round I don't know what to do and I can't sleep as I am so worried, Please does anyone have any advice???

Thank you

[Kati]

Re: joint name council tax debt

tagging [MENTION=92682]lgfa92[/MENTION] [MENTION=26498]ploddertom[/MENTION] [MENTION=9189]bizzybob[/MENTION]

[ploddertom]

Re: joint name council tax debt

Unfortunately with Council Tax the Council can chase either partner & if they cannot find your other half will look forward to you paying it all. I agree it may not be fair seeing as you thought you had been paying previously. As no payments have been received then the Council are within their rights to seek enforcement action which in this case involves Bailiffs.

You should have had from B&S a letter entitled Notice of Enforcement. For this you will already have been charged a Compliance Fee of £75 on top of the debt owing. The letter should also give you a date by which you are supposed to contact them to pay in full or to make an arrangement. Can you tell us the date on the letter, the date you received it & the date by which you are supposed to contact them?

It does look as if they are trying to demand unrealistic amounts for payment this maybe because the Council are insisting the debt must be cleared in 3/4 payments or they are trying to engineer an Enforcement Visit whereby they can charge you £235 for visiting.

- - - Updated - - -

Do you know:
a - how much the Council say is owing
b - the dates they are claiming for
c - when the Liability Order was obtained
d - how much if anything has been paid

The Council should be able to answer those questions.

[White Sox]

Re: joint name council tax debt

Hello Ploddertom

Thank you for your reply.

There are 5 separate amounts each with a £75 compliance fee .
The total amount is £3334.99.
The dates I'm unsure of but I think dating back from 2013.

I want to sort this but I have a low income and they won't accept my payment offer. I have no belongings of any value, TV not worth more than £50 tops! no car and the equipment I use for work is a total value of about £400 but if they take that then that will be my only source of income gone.

I was paying the council for this debt when they came to visit me, I only stopped when I lost my job and was then in receipt of benefit.

I have no one who can help me with this debt and as they won't accept my offer of payment now all I can do is wait for them to come round and take everything I own.

Now I understand why people commit suicide over debt .

Even if I got another job I couldn't afford £556 per month unless I didn't pay everything else.

I'm scared for when these people come round.
Unfortunately I trusted my X that he was paying it when I paid him half.

What will happen when they come round and see I have nothing worth taking?

[lgfa92]

Re: joint name council tax debt

Hello Ploddertom

Thank you for your reply.

There are 5 separate amounts each with a £75 compliance fee .
The total amount is £3334.99.
The dates I'm unsure of but I think dating back from 2013.

I want to sort this but I have a low income and they won't accept my payment offer. I have no belongings of any value, TV not worth more than £50 tops! no car and the equipment I use for work is a total value of about £400 but if they take that then that will be my only source of income gone.

I was paying the council for this debt when they came to visit me, I only stopped when I lost my job and was then in receipt of benefit.

I have no one who can help me with this debt and as they won't accept my offer of payment now all I can do is wait for them to come round and take everything I own.

Now I understand why people commit suicide over debt .

Even if I got another job I couldn't afford £556 per month unless I didn't pay everything else.

I'm scared for when these people come round.
Unfortunately I trusted my X that he was paying it when I paid him half.

What will happen when they come round and see I have nothing worth taking?

If an enforcement agent visits the property and decides there's nothing worth taking then they can come to a payment arrangement, chase the other party or return the case to the council.

If they send it back to the council then they do get the option to take further enforcement action (i.e committal to prison) but the fact your on benefits should be taken in to account. The court would expect that an attempt is made to either take deductions (for an attachable benefit) or make an appropriate payment arrangement before they make a committal application.

What you could try to do is to contact the local authority and ask that they either intervene and instruct an arrangement or they withdraw the case from the agents.

In the meantime the enforcement agents will have been instructed by the local authority not to refuse any payments (as it reduces the debt) so , even if they won't make a formal arrangement, then they should not refuse a payment which is made (if they do then you should advise the local authority of it).

I would also recommend you look at applying for a S13A discretionary relief (google it) as it can help with your outstanding arrears - it is appealable to the valuation tribunal if you're turned down.

Craig

[ploddertom]

Re: joint name council tax debt

The fees to date are correct as they are allowed to charge the Compliance Fee for each Liability Order they are enforcing. As they are dealing with them altogether then they may only charge 1 Enforcement Fee if & when they visit.

In my view you have 2 scenarios:
1 - if they visit and you are absolutely positive you have no goods of value then I would let him in to see for himself as to satisfy the debt he would need to take Control of some £25k-£30k worth of goods given auction values are so low. And in any case the majority of household items are exempt anyway. If this happens he should return the debt to the Council for them to deal with in another way. Any fees should be removed if this happens.

2 - write to the Council explaining the Bailiffs are demanding unrealistic sums as payment. Address your letter as a Formal Complaint to the Council CEO with a copy going to your local Councillor(s) should you still live in the same Council area. Enclose an Income & Expenditure breakdown that proves you can only afford small payments. You should also ask that the Council halts enforcement while they look at your situation. If successful then the Council can instruct the Bailiffs to accept what you have offered or could pull it back to deal with themselves.