shared house and owing money help!

dowie · 28 Feb 2010 at 17:03

Noufas said:
i do not have the time/resources/will to do something like that though.

it will cost you £20 quid (IIRC) and a few hours of your time...

as opposed to losing a few hundred quid

then again if a couple of hours of your time is worth more than that then quit winging as £200 isn't really much to you anyway...

Gaidin109 · 28 Feb 2010 at 17:12

The householder (you) is responsible for the council tax. You could try risking a court appearance. As for bailiff, they cannot take anything without a liability order given by a court. You should have been to taken to court before this is issued. So I would get back in touch with the council and the bailiff, get the liability order information and approach the court to find out why it was issued without you being informed.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/DebtsAndArrears/DG_10013198

PhillyDee · 28 Feb 2010 at 19:22

Happened to me. Except I had moved out a year and a half previous, the remaining ones from the house share had gave them MY new address (Despite me being paid up, and someone else ripped the cash off who moved at the same time) The best I could get out of the council at the time was to pay my 'share' as it were. This took many weeks back and forwards to CAB. However, this was difficult to get them to agree and it never went as far as yours.

Surfer · 28 Feb 2010 at 19:58

Cyanide said:
The problem is there's no other way around it now. It's past the point where you can ring up and pay in installments or some other arrangement. It MUST be paid, in full, soon. If it isn't it's only going to get worse and the OP's the only one responsible for it. The other people don't live there any more, it's no longer down to them to pay it and that's how a court will see it too unless you've got a signed contract from when they lived there saying they'd pay their bit. You need to find that money somehow or you'll be facing really serious consequences. The fact that it's already gone to bailiffs is a very bad sign and that'll show on your credit file for the next few years.

I've just had to fork out £200 for mine when they finally took off my partners student discount that I told them about last year. I've not worked since November and have absolutely no money so I had to borrow it from family to stop them taking it any further.

The only way you can do it is to pay it yourself and then try to get the money out of them later. Delaying payment of council tax will simply not work.

Sorry but this is very poor advice. :mad:

Cyanide you are scaremongering and not helping!

OP do this.

Step 1. Goto CAB, see what they say.

They will help you and can contact the debt collection agency on your behalf to pay in installments. ****Only what you can afford**** Do not worry.

alernatively

Step 2. Goto Consumer Action group Forums

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/

start a thread on there asking for help and expressing your concerns.
Someone will help you.

Are you 100% sure it is a bailiff/officer of the court who is sending you letters? I very much doubt it is......

Because if it is just a debt collection agency then they have zero powers to inflict CCJS or whatever else they may be threatening!!

Secondly no they cannot take anything from your house. You are in no way obliged to open the door to them. In fact DO NOT open the door to them. if they contact you by phone and try to get you to pay in full whilst threatening you with all manner of unpleasantness DO NOT PAY - hang up!

Just tell them to send you a letter - dont deal with them on the phone.

Finally do not worry - debt collection agencies spam these letters out all the time. Thats not to say you should ignore it because its CT debt so you need to deal with it.

Malakite · 28 Feb 2010 at 22:21

Surfer said:
Sorry but this is very poor advice.

Cyanide you are scaremongering and not helping!

OP do this.

Step 1. Goto CAB, see what they say.

They will help you and can contact the debt collection agency on your behalf to pay in installments. ****Only what you can afford**** Do not worry.

alernatively

Step 2. Goto Consumer Action group Forums

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/

start a thread on there asking for help and expressing your concerns.
Someone will help you.

Are you 100% sure it is a bailiff/officer of the court who is sending you letters? I very much doubt it is......

Because if it is just a debt collection agency then they have zero powers to inflict CCJS or whatever else they may be threatening!!

Secondly no they cannot take anything from your house. You are in no way obliged to open the door to them. In fact DO NOT open the door to them. if they contact you by phone and try to get you to pay in full whilst threatening you with all manner of unpleasantness DO NOT PAY - hang up!

Just tell them to send you a letter - dont deal with them on the phone.

Finally do not worry - debt collection agencies spam these letters out all the time. Thats not to say you should ignore it because its CT debt so you need to deal with it.

The problem is that council tax usually falls under the remit of the Sheriff Officers not just some random debt collectors. Sheriff Officers have more powers than your run of the mill collectors and actually can claim possessions/arrest wages/etc. However this is very rare.

OP just contact the agency that is now dealing with it. Set up a payment plan on what you can afford. They will not refuse (anything you pay is more then they are getting at the moment), it may take a bit of haggling as they will want to wring every penny they can out of you (it's their job) however talk through with them what your disposable income is per month and set up a manageable payment plan.

Once this is done you have some time to go through the channels to reclaim the money from the people who do actually owe it. However do not just bury your head in the sand as you will take the blame.

Wej · 28 Feb 2010 at 22:32

Malakite said:
The problem is that council tax usually falls under the remit of the Sheriff Officers not just some random debt collectors. Sheriff Officers have more powers than your run of the mill collectors and actually can claim possessions/arrest wages/etc. However this is very rare.

Except that you live in Scotland, and if the op lives in England, it works differently. Bailiffs in England do not have the same powers as Sheriff Officers...

Noufas · 2 Mar 2010 at 03:08

Surfer said:
Sorry but this is very poor advice.

Cyanide you are scaremongering and not helping!

OP do this.

Step 1. Goto CAB, see what they say.

They will help you and can contact the debt collection agency on your behalf to pay in installments. ****Only what you can afford**** Do not worry.

alernatively

Step 2. Goto Consumer Action group Forums

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/

start a thread on there asking for help and expressing your concerns.
Someone will help you.

Are you 100% sure it is a bailiff/officer of the court who is sending you letters? I very much doubt it is......

Because if it is just a debt collection agency then they have zero powers to inflict CCJS or whatever else they may be threatening!!

Secondly no they cannot take anything from your house. You are in no way obliged to open the door to them. In fact DO NOT open the door to them. if they contact you by phone and try to get you to pay in full whilst threatening you with all manner of unpleasantness DO NOT PAY - hang up!

Just tell them to send you a letter - dont deal with them on the phone.

Finally do not worry - debt collection agencies spam these letters out all the time. Thats not to say you should ignore it because its CT debt so you need to deal with it.

thanks for this post

also yes i live in london and the name of the company that sends the letters is equita.
when i have talked to them over the phone they were VERY rude, and were telling me to talk to the bailiff that was responsible for my account.
that person was demanding that the amount should be paid in full at that time, he hasn't talked to me since i gave him my flatmates number and told him that she is responsible for this bill, but i have found a hand delivered letter outside my door last week.
I will be waiting on one more letter from them, then ask from the other flatmate (her brother) to pay on his sister behalf. if all that fails i will then arrange to pay the money in a way that i can afford then threaten them with legal action.