Had a bailiff's letter about company council tax

[deanyman70]

Hi im new here and have the same sort of problem!

 

My accountant wound my limited company up a year ago,and the council are still chasing me for un paid business rates,

 

when i took over the company 7years ago the original bill was put in the ltd company name, the lease was sent back and forth between me and the sellers legal teams due to problems in the lease. So it took 3months for the lease to be signed , i was already trading in the property,when the next years BR bill came to my home address with my name on it!

 

Ididnt think any more of it untill we changed to a decent accountant, which she said its not legal for them to change details without consulting me first. But the lease is in my personnel name so the rates bill was changed to my name. I have tried to arguee with the council on this matter but they dont want to know! I had a baliffs letter through the door yesterday and my Mrs is going ape & crying over this!!

 

So would anyone be able to shed some light on this,can i fight it or just roll over and take it? Im not running away from debts,as All the debts were personnel as no one would lend to my ltd company and its cost me tens of thousands so far.

 

Please some one help. Thanks

Edited March 18, 2014 by honeybee13
Paras.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

I've started a separate thread for you, it's better than having advice on someone else's. And I'll put some paragraphs in to make it easier for the guys to read.

 

They should be along over the course of the day.

 

My best, HB

[deanyman70]

Hi thanks, sorry too new to this sort of thing.

[unclebulgaria67]

This may be far too complicated to get advice from any online forum. Who put the lease in your personal name, rather than the limited company ? The local authority would have just put the billpayers details down as they were advised. Why would they have known any different ?

 

I think you need to go back to whoever was dealing with the lease and find out what the local authority were told at the time.

 

This sounds like a right mess and you may have to come to some arrangement to pay something to the bailiffs, as at the moment you are liable, until you have proved otherwise. You should as a matter of urgency speak to a Solicitor about the legal situation and what options you have.

[deanyman70]

Hi thanks for the reply,the conveyancer whi dealt with the lease is no longer around,for whatever reason? I cannot find any solicitors locally to advise they tell me to go toCAB,but chocolate teapot comes to mind, waited 2hours for a guy to tell me he had no idea! My accountant seems to think its illegal to have a ltd company and me getting chased personnaly??

[timewarp3]

When did the business rates bill get changed into your name ?

 

The letter from the bailiff - does it state the limited company name as the debtor or yours ?

 

If you have been paying the bill in your personal (non LTD) name then I think you will have difficulty in proving it was a LTD co debt and as such the bailiff will try and enforce at your home premises.

 

The lease in your personal name should have no bearing on who's name the Rates are in - many people have leases in own name and run LTD companies from the address, The billing authority people usually take you at your word , or ask for a company letter heading bearing the address and copy suppliers bill as proof. I have never been asked for a copy of my lease as proof.

 

I think you had poor advice, the lease should always be in the name of the business operating from the premise and where possible Limited - Limited to protect you from exactly the situation you now face.

 

I would contact a good solicitor - you need to get good legal advice.

 

In the mean time i would try the council again , be polite and seek their assistance , take in a couple of the old invoices and trading proof from the limited company to support your claim that it was trading from the old address for the last 7 years, ( maybe A copy of the Annual return from companies house showing the trading address at the old premises) and see if they will amend the billing details to how the correct details and call of the bailiff, if this fails , ask them politely to contact the bailiff and put any further action on hold while you seek legal advice. - then get good legal advice.

 

Hope this helps

TW

[BazzaS]

Can you show you were paying full council tax at your home address during the same period, to assist in showing that this was a company expense, not a personal one?

[deanyman70]

Hi i have for the last 2 days been trying to find a solicitor to give me advise for this but after numerous calls and 'we'll get back to you' phone calls no one does and when i call them again 'oh we can't help' even though i got their registered details from the Law Society website! Dont think any one has the experiance or knowledge or balls to fight councils??? Iam a paying customer not a free loader so why can't i find some one who knows his stuff???

The bills at our house are residential, the business rates bill was changed to my personnal details in the first year of trading. Tha solicitor who drew up lease etc.... left the company soon after so have no joy with that as in bad advise that i paid a fortune for!!

[Thegreenpimpernel]

Deleted duplicate post!

[Thegreenpimpernel]

Hello

I need to do more research before you put much hope in this, but I recall that it is the person / entity trading from the premisses that is liable for the rates.

Not everyone has a lease. Sometimes a licence to occupy, sometimes a handshake.

The lease is just the 'bog standard' easy way to determine liability in MOST cases, and the council employees are unlikely to have experience beyond that normal scenario.

I'll try and find out over the weekend.

[Thegreenpimpernel]

Who paid the rates bill?

I.e. what account did it get DD out of / name on the cheques?