Hi.I owned a second property with my husband. We handed keys back to our main home and this property before going bankrupt in Mar 09. The mortgage co appointed an LPA.We are out of bankruptcy now. The council say we are responsibe for council tax from April 10- April 11.on the second property. Is this correct? We now live in rented accommmodation.
This is a big question that has been raised many times and causes lots of frustrations.
any debt incurred after BR is technically yours.
however when you hand the keys back to the Mortgage company they should notify council that they own property but some do not.
Paul and his team at reviva have been having board level arguments with Northern Rock.
The council will (more than likely) hold off legal proceedings against you for non payment for a short time but then you will be trapped between Mortgage provider and council.
contact your OR to see what advice or action they wish to take
Thanks for advice. The council did instruct bailiffs but 'called them off' after we contacted them to dispute the arrears.They have granted a zero balance for now but like you say we think this is only temp. We did contact the OR who first said maybe we will be responsible. We contacted OR again for clarification and he has failed to respond twice.Is the big Q when you 'hand keys back' who does the property belong to? Surely if the properties have formed part of our BR then we no longer own them, the mortgage companies do ? What I forgot to mention is that 'repossessed dwellings' very clearly fall within exempt properties for Council Tax..as do properties in possession of a Trustee in Bankruptcy.This is all very complex. It's not really the Councils that are the problem but the mortgage company not fulfilling their obligations? Do you agree and where do we go from here? We have no idea what is happening with the properties at the moment but they do not appear to be sold 26 months after the keys were handed back and almost 1 year after discharge.
Incidentally has anyone ever heard of someone who has been BR having a BTL property which formed part of the bankruptcy returned to them after the mortgage company couldn't/wouldn't/didn't sell it?
Seems a bit off the wall but I'm sure stranger things have happened in this strange & complex world of BR!!!
Responsibility for council tax ?
Posted - 10 February 2011 : 08:34:16
