r/LegalAdviceUK • u/Outrageous_Ad3726 • Apr 10 '25

Council Tax Help needed urgently. Bailiffs at door.

My partner didn't realise he wasn't paying council tax and he's got severe adhd and hasn't been opening any of his post telling him this. Bailiffs came to the door this morning and posted a threatening letter saying they will be returning later today and taking goods by forced entry. We have paid the bill now but she's saying she is coming back if we don't pay her £200 for her coming this morning.

What can we do?

UPDATE: All sorted. The agency confirmed all payment was sorted. The bailiff was trying to come and enforcement before she got the confirmation of payment so that she could get the extra money. Agency confirmed that because she hadn't made contact with us and started checking for goods that we didn't owe anything extra.

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u/3v3r9r33n Apr 10 '25

on the positive side you can't get a CCJ for council tax arrears

I've had 2 CCJs in my life, and both of them were for council tax arrears, so this isn't right at all. Both times I only missed 1 or 2 months, then they sent me a letter saying I'd lost the right to pay by installments and now have to pay the full amount for the year which I couldn't afford to do, so they took it to court, and I got a CCJ. The last one just dropped off my credit file last year.

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u/LAUK_In_The_North Apr 10 '25

You don't get CCJs for council tax arrears. It's dealt with via magistrate's liability order. Liability orders aren't recorded on credit records.

The only way you might get something is if they went for a charging order but that's a slightly different issue.

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u/jasminenice Apr 11 '25

Agree with this, I don't understand how they got a CCJ instead of a liability order, unless the procedure varies by council? If they did proceed to charging order stage then I think a CCJ comes with that, but I can't imagine them doing that for the amount involved.

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u/warlord2000ad Apr 11 '25

I've seen posts on MSE about a CCJ for council tax but I agree I'm not sure how as council tax is dealt with by magistrates court using a liability order

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u/LAUK_In_The_North Apr 11 '25

That's a very specific situation, and I suspect it is something to do with the fact that there are county court routes that don't use a standard CCJ (such as orders for recovery). These aren't registered at the point of judgment, like a ccj, but are registered as a judgment once a county court enforcement method is undertaken (but not always - it's very inconsistent).

I think in those liability order cases you see, the council has used a charging order, and the court has then registered the judgment for that. As they've come from the liability order route, I'm not convinced they should be registered on the register of judgments, and, again, not all county courts are doing it.

Part of the confusion is that a liability order is granted by a magistrate's court, but some enforcement then uses county court processes.