In debt because of mail theft

A question about : In debt because of mail theft

My partner has previously hid mail from me to hide debts, it's nearly lost us our home. A year ago the bank told me I was 6months in arrears on the mortgage, debts from the council had been transferred to our mortgage, I manged to scrape the money together to pay it off.

Yesterday I found a letter from the bailiffs on the doorstep saying we owe Ј600 for council tax, when I rang them they said there were a total of ten cases against us totalling Ј11000. All for unpaid council tax stretching back 10 years.

My partner admits previously hiding leters about council tax but swears that since last years incident she hasn't hid anything.

We do have a catflap so it is possible someone else has been stealing my mail, if that's the case what can I do about it?

I've already boarded up the catflap and installed a locked mailbox inside the flat to catch the mail. So from now on my mail should be safe from both her and any suspected mail thief.

I have to call the council tomorrow to offer them a payment plan as an attachment of earnings so the money comes straight from my wages each month.

Can I go to the police about it? I don't see what they can do but the fact I've reported it might hold some weight with the council.

Also, what is the likelyhood of the council accepting the payment plan, we effectively ignored them for a decade.

I can't believe I didn't notice we hadn't paid any council tax all this time although when I found out about my partner hiding mail a year ago I did call them and part of the debt we had then was Ј2500 of council tax which they said was settled, they didn't mention anything about any outstanding debts.

Is it also worth getting to go and see a doctor? I think she has serious problems and I don't know what to do about it.Again, this might hold some weight with the council.

I've been told that council tax debts cannot be transferred onto the mortgage, is that true? I'm also scared that I could actually be sent to prison, I can't afford to pay back any more than Ј200 a month.At that rate it'd take 5 years to pay off.

The bailiffs are very unhelpful, they just say they need it paid off in full or they'll keep sending baliffs round to our house. When I asked them what they would do if they couldn't get i they just said we would carry on incurring charges for the visits but they didn't threaten transferring the debt to the mortgage or further prosecution/prison.

I've also read that the bailiffs can only charge you for 2 visits, is that true?

A lot of questions hey?

Thanks very much, Kevin

Best answers:

• ...also....I've just checked my credit report, there are no new ccjs on there since last year although the date on the court order is way back in 2002.It's also via the magistrates court rather than the county court, not sure what difference that makes.
  one more thing, the bailiffs letter I found yesterday wasn't even posted through my letterbox, they just left it on my doorstep, I think I'll file a complaint about that.
• Ask the council to produce a copy of this liability order, not a letter explaining it, a signed by a magistrate with explained signature liability order and a court case number for the case, not a hearing number.
  You will have more chance of them sending a set of dentures for a chicken.
• So the most likely solution is a charge on the house, that means that when I sell the house they take the money out of the profits right?
  I'm the sole earner in the family, I have 3 young children, they can't send me to prison can they?
  What if my partner confessed and went to the police? They'd send her down wouldn't they?That's why I was thinking about her going to to see the doctor.
  Vax2002, what would I do with the liability order once I have it?
• right, so as I see it all I can do tomorrow is offer them and attachment of earnings along with a charging order on the house.
  If they don't accept that then my only options are :
  - sell the house and pay them off
  - my partner fesses up and goes to jail, they'd still be wanting their money though surely?
  - I go to prison, again, they'd still want the money and so I'd still have to sell the house right?
  What is the process required to send either of us to prison?
  It says here on the findlaw.co.uk site :
  You can be sent to prison only if the magistrates believe that you 'won't pay' rather than 'can't pay' your debts (that is, you have deliberately refused to pay, or you have chosen to spend the money on other things you didn't truly need).
  If this is the case, the court will probably make a 'suspended committal order'. This means that the magistrates will set an amount for you to pay each week or month. You will be sent to prison only if you miss any of these payments. If that happens, you will be sent a warrant to be arrested and brought before the magistrates. You cannot be sent to prison without another hearing, although you may be put in police cells overnight.
  Now I know my partner has been hiding mail but she says we haven't had a suspended committal order made against us and I certainly haven't been arrested. So surely they have to offer us a suspended committal order before things can go further.
  What I can't understand is why they haven't made an attachment of earnings years ago, I can see that I was stupid to not have noticed that I wasn't paying council tax. I assumed she was taking care of it, she has worked for most of that period after all and I paid most of the other bills so in the absence of any letters I was none the wiser.It's only come to light in the past year that she's been hiding mail. How the hell can they wait 10 years before chasing it up seriously? Sorry, I'm starting to rant.
  Thanks for helping CIS
• From memory, going to jail does not mitigate the debt, so isn't really useful - as for finding a court willing to use this sanction will be unusual, espacially will most criminal offenders being made to stay at home!
• Royail mail will retain your post at the sorting office until you collect if you request this I believe. Of course if its addressed to more then one person that still allows for that possibility
• Your partner is still hiding the mail, so this has to be adressed first. The council will have sent dozens if not more letters regarding this, it is unlikely they have all been stolen through a cat flap. The thief would have to be stealing the mail every single day to get them all. Have you never had mail for 10 years? I think you would have noticed. I also assume your partner was the one dealing with the council tax payments, hence the need to hide the mail. You are not the first and wont be the last to have a partner spending the bill money, you need to take control of the finances or it will happen again.
• Well yeah that's obvious to me too. A year ago I got all mail redirected to my parents, the only things I couldn't change were the mortgage stuff and the council stuff. I didn't know then you could redirect straight from the royal mail, I called all the utility firms etc individually.
  So, at the moment any bills from bailiffs, solicitors etc still come here. There's a locked postbox on the back of the door and the catflap is boarded up. Don't have a cat anymore anyway.
  Having said that she can still intercept the postman so I'm definitely going to redirect from royal mail.
  As for addressing the problem with my partner, what can I do? I can take her to the doctors maybe, to me it's a mental problem, to inflict this sort of thing on your own family.the courts might well see it as culpable neglect though.
  For the moment though I'm concentrating on getting this 11k debt sorted somehow.
• When I spoke to the bailiffs yesterday they said that back in march 2011 we had payed them Ј300 cash at the door and arranged a payment plan with them. Now this is news to me and is obviously my partner trying to sort it out !?!
  anyway, no subsequent payments were made and she reckons we haven't had any contact from them since.I find that hard to believe, they sent a bailiff to the door collected Ј300 and then put the whole thing on the back burner for over a year even though no more payments were forthcoming?
  Having said that I'm certain no bailiffs have visited my house in that time, I doubt I'd have a car if they had.
  Between the bailiffs leaving letters on the floor outside my house, my partner lying to me and croydon council being unable to send a letter recorded delivery or just call me in ten years I can't see what I was supposed to do?
  Actually I do, I should be coming home from work every day and calling up all and sundry to check I don't owe them anything.
  btw found this today, interesting reading :
  insidecroydon.com/2012/02/03/mead-says-hes-proud-of-croydons-50m-uncollected-tax/