Council Tax Liability Order Imposed without my knowledge!

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "29/11/2013 - 18:31":

If you seek appropriate advice I think you will discover that it is sufficient that the court process has been served (posted) to the address stipulated in the councils application to the court. However you may discover the court will reconsider matters where there has been a genuine mistake or they have been misled by the council. Professional advice is essential in this matter.

If you think Swindon is bad, Try Lambeth Council. Loads of their Council workers are parasites !!!! . They do not do their job, low IQ, cannot understand/fails to understand issues keep life easy for them, give conflicting information, and pass the buck onto other departments.

Most people out of frustration give up & pay up. This only encourages their practises. I have been trying to resolve my mothers Council tax issue since 2007. Files & files of correspondence/copies have been forwarded. tribunal has come in my mothers favours, Bailiff's have been at my door.

I have informed the Council that I will pay the correct & bonafide amount . It all falls on deaf year.

From bitter experience Councils are arrogant, civil servants that think that they are above the law – they are not!

Please ignore the comment that seemed to suggest that you forget it! The more people that forget the small things the more bolshie these bureaucrats become.

In my experience the earlier comments are correct, write never talk, and even if they call you say that you are not willing to discuss the matter over the telephone that they should put their comments in writing to you – this is evidence after all!

If you have evidence that you notified the authority of your current address, the court must throw out whatever case/finding they have arrived. The same is the case if the authority miscalculated their claim. In effect there was no case to answer or the evidence was false and the court following due process must dismiss the case.

Now here’s where you need the courage of your convictions. If a case has been brought incorrectly and you have sufficient evidence to prove this, issue a writ against the council in the small claims court to recover your costs. Most council tax matters are dealt with by lowly civil servants in the council tax department. Whereas a writ against the council should be dealt with by their legal department, who will probably ironically be much easier to deal with and settle your claim. With any luck they will have suitable words with the council tax department too.

Often, a letter from your solicitor will test the resolve of the bureaucrats. This does represent value for money if you are cutting holidays short and becoming as stressed as it sounds. To keep costs to a minimum, prepare a good case file for the solicitor. Present them with only the relevant facts, not the brown paper envelope full of receipts that you give your accountant! If the matter still ends up in court it may be possible that the solicitor can claim their costs against the council particularly if maladministration can be proved.

With regard to the Ombudsman or Mr Pickles is concerned, don’t waste your time, central government bureaucrats are ten times worse than the ones in local government.

Get a solicitor and take them to court, they haven't followed due process. Otherwise your credit history will be affected. The councils don't listen to reason and usually act like robots.

Wolfie I'm not sure if this has been resolved or not - if not follow Zulfiqar's advice and seek legal help immeidately. if the webiste manager allows I strongly recommend Tony Jones at Hadgkiss Hughes & Beale on 0121 707 8484. Phone him.

and regards
Neil Gammie

The obvious (but probably not to the Swindon half wits) is : what is the address of the property for service of notices relating to the property? The title at the land registry states the address for notices. If it is a company or a land lord it should state the company's or landlord's home address.

If the papers are not served at that address I believe they will be a nullity. End of.

If however, the landlord/company address is stated as the let property address, and your solicitor knew it was not for your occupation, get a new solicitor!

The liability order is a decision of the Magistrates Court, so IMHO you would have to appeal the decision to the court.

Yes, agree with above comment if you have to appeal. In fact to be correct, you are setting aside because of non service. You will need to show you've got an arguable defence (legally that isn't the case, but Magistrates Courts tend to be a bit short on law)

I suggest that you tell this council that (if its correct -see my previous post) you'll apply to the court to set aside the order AND that you will be asking for costs.

Although it is a court order, the reality of life is that a council can (and many do) apply to the court to have a liability order set aside if they've got it in error.

Costs focuses even the most idiotic council officer. Not good for the record when they're selecting who goes next

Hello and thanks for your comments - I could not respond over the weekend because I could not login to my account.

Anyway, to answer some of your questions:

1. I had informed Swindon Borough Council of my correspondence address by telephone (lesson 1), however, it is noteworthy that they recorded my company's name during that call but not my correspondence address.
2. The costs imposed were £60.00 in costs plus another £40.00 after the court hearing.

I am aggrieved that I can be taken to court without ever knowing anything about it - luckily, I became aware of the Liability Order just before Bailiffs had been instructed to attempt to recover the costs from my new tenant.

What have I done next? I have written to Swindon Magistrates' Court explaining the situation and asking for an Annulment of the Costs associated with the Liability Order. I have also paid Swindon Borough Council the full amount but also advised them that this was without prejudice to claiming damages. I also suggested to Swindon Borough Council that they refer this matter to a senior manager for review because I intended to claim damages for their actions.

See where it goes from here. I did contact a local Solicitor, but they thought that the sum involved did not warrant taking action. Shame really that some people only seem interested in the money.

Its the money that the Council that is after also. Solicitors are worse of the lot under the pretext of noble profession they are the biggest c...k.. around. They are not there to with hold the rights & the principals of right from wrong or fair justice.

I am saying this even though my father was a lawyer. They no