A former landlord has been ordered to pay a council tax demand dating back nearly 20 years.

Deen Adam, who owned several properties in Birmingham, was shocked to open a letter from an agency working on behalf of Birmingham City Council, demanding he pay £514 for alleged missed payments in 2006 by former tenants who lived at the address in Runcorn Road, Balsall Heath (pictured), reports the Birmingham Mail.

In the letter, debt firm Equita wrote: “You have been sent this notice of enforcement because you have not paid money you owe. A liability order was issued by the court for non-payment of council tax due to Birmingham City Council on 16/08/2006 for a period up to 08/12/2006.”

Adam questioned the timing of the letter and told the paper: “The property I owned had tenants in at the time. The council should be contacting them for the non-payment, not myself, the ex-landlord.

Landlord

“I’m no longer a landlord and I’m suffering with long-term health issues and in receipt of disability benefits. How has it taken the best part of 20 years to discover this cold case?”

Birmingham Council says the former landlord is being held liable because information he provided conflicted with other tax records.

A spokesman tells LandlordZONE: “As we were unable to establish the validity of the lease or the occupation of another individual, we therefore held the landlord liable for an empty period.”

It has now asked for more details, he explains. “We are awaiting this information, and this is why Mr Adams is being held liable - we would welcome him to get in touch and we will help by discussing this further.”

It confirms that as long as an authority obtains a liability order within the six-year Statue of Limitations period, a debt can be chased indefinitely.