Help, liabilty order granted, court a fast

[in-need-of-advice]

Hello

This is my first time here and I have had a good read around the different topics but as i am starting from knowing nothing, I figured it best ta ask.

##The Local Authority took me to court 06/2011 despite the fact i phoned them explained I was out of the country as my mother was ill and asked for an adjournment, they said no and my friend who has been ascting as my advocate regarding all this madness on and off forthe past 3 years went to court on my behalf, the judge adjourned the hearing untill last week 07/2011 ( note i was charged the £70 foe the adjourned hearing despite giving the Council plenty of notice I couldnot attend)

I was told in 2008 that I would not have to pay c/tax or rent (I am on benifits) as soon as the Council had the confirmation that there own inspector had deemed my property uninhabitable from Jan 2007. as I had had no use of a kitchen since 2006, extensive mould growth ceilings collapsing cockroach infestation not to mention numerouse other issues including structal, I have had to eat out, sleep all over the place, throw clothing away due to mould etc, which has caused me exctreem finincial hardship, espically as i had to pay some of the legal fees re the direpair untill my legal aid ran out. i was told by the council bring in the letter of condemnation and we will sort it out my advoctate sam is my witness, we went away got the information returned it to them, the reply I recieved was where do you live then, I stated I am still in the property as The council had not rehoused me refused to allow me to go to a b & b and I had to wait as I have no where else to go, they said if you live there it can not be uninhabitable PAY !!!!

In 2010 they took me to court and the judge told them off :-))) as they had no paper work relating to the property and ordered them to return in Sep WITH the relevent paper work, I thought yes at last, but instead a week later i recieved a letter saying they can confirm i am liable, that they had adjourned the hearing " but as a measure of goodwill, I have withdrawn the summons and costs against you for that particular hearing"

I was eventuall moved out in Nov 2010 and back in in Jan 2011 (I am still not able to live in the property as the work wasNOT done) which brings me back to my origonal paragraph ## I attended the court although had recieved no official notification only word of mouth from my advocate, we went through the normal talk to there staff and the man was obvisouly sympathetic to my plight he said I think you should show this to the judge. When after hours we was called into the court room

THIS IS WHERE I DESPERATLEY NEED ADVICE/ SUGGESTIONS - Sam (my advocate is my advocate as I am 60 this year I am of poor health and drove tubes untill I was medically retired off due to a heart condition, I am not a man of words and pen and paper, I get confused and tend to panic when put in a position to speak up and end up jumbling things up) We entered the court with the council tax woman on the front table i was directed to the back table and Sam was ushered into the public gallery, the man that led us in the court said Sam could not give me the evidence file she had in her hand, but she passed it to me anyway, The council Tax woman took her oath spoke a load of figures n jibberish in fact I believe she was summing up all the cases of the day because when she gotto the end she said Except this one case your honour-- which was me. She then went back to the table and spoke to the judge from there about I get benifits bla bla I am liable, The judge then looked at me and asked if I would like to take the stand, I requested that i wanted Sam my advocate to talk on my behalf, (I was already in a fluster), they asked if she was something which ment a solicitor or such like she said "no but" and she was silenced and told she therefor had no right to speak in the court room. I tried to explain that I am contesting the liabilty order due to the fact that i can not live in the property, I was told that is a housing issue and not forthe court, I again said I wanted Sam to speak and the judge said i could be sworn in ( please note I was never sworn in) and be witness we both said yes and the council tax woman objected saying its not Sams property or benefits and she sees no reason for her to provide any witness thing, the judge agreed with her, She then went on to say that the council had made me several offers of alternative accomodation, at which point Sam shouted "Thats an out and out LIE and the evidence to Proove it is in that folder" she was not told to be quiet or to leave the court, it was simply ignored and the council tax woman went on to something different as if it had never been said!!!!!! I asked the judge to take the evidence folder I had and please look at the case, He replied I do not need to see that you have admitted you get benefits for the property therfor you admit liabilty, I said No I dont your hounour, again I was shouted over and told "do you or do you not get benefits for that property ?" I said "yes but" he said there are no buts you are admiting liabilty, Liability order granted.
The day after the hearing I recieved a letter fromthe council tax informing me of the hearing date it had been written and 2nd class posted 2 days b4 the hearing despite having ovwer a month from the adjournment.

I know I am on a tight time scale to appeal to the courts and I did email them monday still waiting a response, But I desperatly need to know what to do next

I am sorry for the lenght of the post but this really is not the half of it, If anyone can help advise steer my in the right direction PLEASE I would be So Grateful, if you need any more details I have it all here

Thank you for taking an hour to read this

in-need-of-advice

[enegiss]

i wish it was easier for you, unfortunately, to give advice would be a term that people wont use here, as it could make it seem as if they where offering legal advice, which would raise eyebrows in the statute world where they and you are functioning, ime sure someone will point you in a right direction of study that would enable you to raise yourself to a higher position. peace and light

[in-need-of-advice]

thank you ,
Can I please re phrase !!!!!! Any POINTERS as to where I should look next Retract the word Advice from my post Sorry very new to this :-)

ANY POINTERS WELCOME asI really do not know where to look next

Thank You

[knightron]

it sounds like you need to start asking under what jurisdiction is the court acting?...And under what authority they are obtaining the liability order?..If it is in Criminal jurisdiction they need to say who is making the claim and who is the injured party to the claim, you need to be asking why a Magistrate is hearing a Tribunal, wihout asking you whether you wanted their services.. They will try to say this is where it should be heard, however a magistrate sitting in a court of law under their Oath cannot do so because it is a civil (financial) agreement issue between you and the council. I always ask is it illegal to be in debt?..Of course it isn't Illegal other wise the whole country would be in magistrates court..

Inform them that you are unable to understand what they are proposing, and that you do not want to use their services they are offering..
Once you have found out what jurisdiction they are claiming, we can see what needs to be done to get remedy for the situation..

Please don't construe this as legal advice as I am not qualified to give it..I am just telling you what I might do if I was in similar cirumstances...

[huntingross]

they said if you live there it can not be uninhabitable PAY

When they put it like that, they are right, what you mean to say is it is not fit for habitation.