General Chat

In November last year I posted a thread about the previous owners of my flat Mawkit and Clarty. Then we had just had the sheriff court bailiffs on the doorstep after Mr Mawkit for 10 years of unpaid council tax in four different properties in the city. Yesterday I came home to find a letter which Mr Owl had opened without looking at the name. It was for Miss Clarty a different council are chasing her for unpaid council tax for a property in their council area from July of last year (When we moved in to the flat) to the end of this tax year. They are a married couple aged 33 and 29 both as bad as each other. Mr Owl and I can prove our ownership of our flat from the Scottish land registry but the whole thing still has me worried though.

Under both English and Scottish law the responsibility for paying council tax rests with the current owner of the propetrty. That includes arrears!

For that reason the solicitors doing the conveyancing for the buyer have a duty to check that council tax has been paid and for any arrears to be paid out of the sale proceeds. If that haas not happened then your solicitors have been negligent. They should themselves pay the arrears and seek such remedy as they can from the counter party. If they refuse to do so then you have an open and shut case to sue them in court.

In the meantime though the problem of the arrears rests with you. Unless you take steps for recovery expect trouble.

They are arresting Mr Mawkit’s earnings for the unpaid council tax that he owes. Miss Clarty’s unpaid tax is not for the property I live in.

its not true that you are responsible for previous owners debts

if you google for info its states it on several websites

Thank you Shirley

Of course you are not liable for the previous owners debts. However if a creditor has registered a charge against a property then that must be discharged at the time of sale. Council tax is regarded as a debt of the property. Outstanding arrears if any should be dealt with at sale time. If not then the council is within its rights to pursue the new owners. That can only happen through negligence of the conveying solicitor.

Hi Tawny,
The fact that they are 'arresting Mr Mawkit’s earnings for the unpaid council tax that he owes' indicates that they believe you! :-D
It may be useful to contact the Council where Miss Clarty owes Council Tax, and explain that she no longer lives there.

Shame it wasn't dealt with at the time of sale, but there's no point in giving 'advice' after the event, is there! :-D :-D

If the council is unable to recover its tax from Mr Ms earnings then it can recover them from the current owner OR register a charge for the unpaid tax against the property. The council must recover the whole debt within 12 months otherwise it will either have to pursue the current owner or register a charge.

At one time some councils were very lax about recovering unpaid council tax. Since the Treasury Solicitor has seen to it that unpaid tax is deducted from the block grant attitudes have changed. Similarly so have Housing Associations.

Debts can be written off taxes due against property, private or business, never.

This is the sort of thing that commonly happens when using a cheap convancing firm or d-i-y.

Tawny sounds like you are dealing with it, albeit very annoying to have it there in any form. It's awful when "official" advice/information is worded in such a way as to confuse at times.

English law on the collection of property taxes goes back to the C 12 when they were called fines. Contention over collection was an important part of the Stephen V Matilda Civil war and later on an issue for Simon de. Montfort. Sometimes you can find ancestors documented in books of fines (avail on Ancestry) especially if they paid late.

None of the essential tax collection principles have changed very much although many more people pay of course. A French man (Colbert) once said that the art of taxation is to pluck from the goose as many feathers as possible with the least amount of hissing.

A cash purchase at a discount where the seller seeks to hide the proceeds of sale from the bankruptcy court or divorcing partner can give rise to this kind of mess.
Yes. cash purchase of high value items Inc property is legal in the UK and is usual for properties in the Bishops Row. Hampstead.

You always wanted to know that, didn't you?
Very.....erm.....irrelevant :-S

You never know it might come up in a pub quiz one day or trivial pursuit.....

:-D :-D :-D :-D

or 'how well can you Google'

Mr Owl and I will see what happens and take it from there. We have contacted the council demanding money from Miss Clarty to let them know she no longer lives here and hasn’t since July. They have been playing the system for years. Mr Mawkit was claiming he lived here alone for years even though Miss Clarty was living here too so they were getting a single person discount on some things.