Council Were Negligent When Suing My Minor Son. I Need Help From A Legal Professional.

[UKPerson1]

Basically, my son was 16 years old when he owned a business. He ran up a debt of £600 in business rates. Now, when the council tried to enforce this upon him, this was done illegally. First, they did not apply a litigant friend as he was a minor, thus tried to directly sue him for failure to pay.

However my concern is, when they summonsed him to court, they did not follow the civil procedure rules (contrary to MOJ) which state that if a minor is to be summonsed to court, there must be the appointment of a child litigant friend for it to go to court. The council did not appoint one and subsequently got a judgement out upon him. The CAB and my MP agreed this was not correct, and they breached the civil procedure rules as a minor could not be directly sued for debt without a friend in law.

The council state now because he is 18 they can enforce it. However, because the judgement was illegal is there any cause of action?

[sherrardk]

I think you (and your son) should take this on the chin (and he will have to find a way to pay the debt back) but I am still slightly bemused as to how your son was trading from rented premises and you didn't think this was odd at 16 years old.

[black_cat51]

i am not saying your son is ignorant, just ignorant of the law, and by default that also means that if he was a minor, YOU should have known/advised him therefore you were ignorant of the law too. Exactly the same thing as you are accusing the council (who are of course just fallible people too) of. It's ok for you to be ignorant of the law, but not them so it seems

[sandyRoe]

The court would take into consideration that he's a student now and give him plenty of time to pay his debt. He needn't worry, the days of debtors prisons are long gone.

[UKPerson1]

Where was my son ignorant of the law?

The lease was voided. There was no ignorance here. I and he knew this from the start. There was no ignorance here.

The council did not inform the court my son's age, and they did not comply with the civil procedure rules, which they must do as this is a civil case not criminal. They also threatened my son with prison at age 16 which scared the life out of him. They failed to tell him the provisions for sending someone to prison for debt. There is too much professional negligence here.

[UKPerson1]

Thank you sandyroe for your kind comments.

He literally has £0 as he is a full time student, and as a single parent I cannot afford to give it to him. I only just pay for food each week!

[black_cat51]

so if he knew about the law, why did he sign a lease, when he knew he couldn't? why did you let him if you knew he wasn't supposed to? why didn't he know he'd have to pay business rates? why didn't he pay them if he knew he was supposed to?
I am honestly not trying to be rude, i'm just trying to understand your point of view, which seems to be that everything is the council's fault, no personal responsibility from your son or you

[UKPerson1]

1. He knew he could sign a lease. You can, but you can void it when you are a minor, which he did.

2. He did know he had to pay business rates. He did pay until he couldn't.

I respect your comments and thank you for taking your time out black_cat however, I believe that this is being looked at from a moral point of view as opposed to the legal point of view. I'm trying to say the council was illegal, where as the posts i'm getting concerns being moral

[UKPerson1]

Yes, the landlord did get his rent.

[black_cat51]

i suppose that's because no-one (so far) on this post knows the answer to your legal question. However, answering at least keeps the post in the "latest post" box so that someone who does know the legal answer in detail will see it.

[UKPerson1]

In fact the annual rent was paid upfront. My son inherited money from his grandfather, and he lost it all in the business.

I forgot to mention I live in Southampton.

[UKPerson1]

I do see the moral arguments.

If I had money I would defiantly seek a solicitor, I do not.

The CAB told me that the council acted incorrectly. I'm just very confused on where to go from here.

[black_cat51]

well you either need to 1)pay for legal advice or 2) resign yourself to the fact that the debt will have to be paid and negotiate with the LA a payment plan.
I presume you are in the UK. I didn't realise you could sign a lease when you were 16, as you say

[woofgang]

not just a moral opinion....if your son was running a business, then he should have paid a business rate, that's not a moral judgement. It may well be that the council went the wrong way about enforcing that but that is a separate issue. As PP has said, if that judgement is set aside on the grounds that the procedure was wrong then there doesn't seem to be anything to stop the council doing it again and getting it right this time.
If you decide (or your son decides) to go to court and argue this, its likely to cost you much more than the 600 quid owed. Again practicality and not a moral judgement.

[UKPerson1]

I am indeed. I am in Southampton.

The owner knew my son. He gave him a lease, knowing that my son would be able to void it in law. This is not the problem here, it's the external source of business rates which is the crux of my complaint.

Until I can get legal advice. I've asked my son to write a letter to the council. However, i'm concerned how they will take it. My son is not on any level refusing to pay, he simply cannot as he is a full time student and has no source of income what so ever. Any assets in my house are legally mine, and I have invoices and receipts to prove that, so I don't want baliff's knocking on my door. I don't want it to seem to the council that my son is refusing to pay this, because he is not.

[UKPerson1]

My question concerns the council activity and not my son's ability to pay the business rates. He did until he no longer could. Simple as that.

[black_cat51]

but he is!
so now you are acknowledging that he needs to pay, and is going to when he can afford to? then all the stuff before about having it set aside is just irrelevant

[UKPerson1]

Your completely wrong there. I never said that he has refused to pay.

I am questioning the legality of the council, and due to their illegal activity the judgement should be put aside!