Court Summons for Non-Payment of Council Tax

spring_chicken · 13 February 2011 at 2:24PM

my husband and I have been summoned to court later this month for non-payment of council tax. The amount owed is relatively low (£200) but since my husband lost his job in the summer we have been struggling with out finances, and unfortunately have been unable to pay the last month or so of our council tax, we have always paid before, but since hitting financial troubles have fallen behind, yet the council dont care about that, they just summon us to court. Its all a mess, my husband is currently awaiting for a tribunal hearing (he was unfairly dismissed) and life is getting so hard.

Does anyone have experience of being taken to court for non payment of council tax, and if so, what can we expect to happen? We arent refusing to pay, its just that we dont have enough money, its all very worrying and upsetting.

Thanks in anticipation x

CIS · 13 February 2011 at 2:31PM

we have always paid before, but since hitting financial troubles have fallen behind, yet the council dont care about that, they just summon us to court. Its all a mess, my husband is currently awaiting for a tribunal hearing (he was unfairly dismissed) and life is getting so hard.

The council are working in line with the statutory legislation they have to work under with regards to the council tax collection.

The court summons is to gain a liability order - you don't need to physically attend court.

The liability order is given on the basis that you are the person who owes the money and it hasn't been paid - the order cant be disputed on the basis of financial difficulty.

Once the order has been granted the council can start to use formal recovery action to collect any balance outstanding - this can include bailiff action, attachment of benefit/earning, bankruptcy and (ultimately) committal to prison.

For £200 the council can instruct a bailiff so your best bet is to contact them and try to make a payment arrangement with them. This is more likely at this stage as they have the powers to collect the money if you don't keep to an arrangement.

Have you checked if your eligible for council tax benefit. ?

Mrs_Arcanum · 13 February 2011 at 2:36PM

Council Tax is one of the priority debts you must pay & they are generally very quick to add court fees for late or non payment. Paying something and explaining your situation may have avoided this. However unless you now qualify for Council Tax benefit and do actually claim you will have to pay.

Even if you can pay something now it may avoid a court appearance. Though you will probably still have to pay the court fees.

spring_chicken · 13 February 2011 at 2:37PM

we did try to claim, but they aid we wasnt entitled, which I thought strange as we are in receipt of tax credits and free prescriptions cos of being on a low income. We dont have anything of value for the bailiffs to seize, our tv is an old second hand one, our car was made in 1991, its not as if we have anything of value, its so worrying, if I went to court, will I be able to try and arrange some payment plan on the day, it wont be much though as we dont have any money left by the Tuesday (hubby gets paid on a Friday, and we pay the mortgage, gas, electricity and its gone) - my mum has been subsidising us with food and petrol money. Maybe we could offer £5 a week or something

asp746 · 13 February 2011 at 2:39PM

this happened to me a few years go. it's quite informal so don't worry. there'll be a council official there and they'll just want to confirm that you owe the amount and how you're going to pay it back.

last thing magistrates want to do is slap a fine on someone who's already trying to pay or cant' pay. they might do an attachment on your benefits so it comes out of that at £5 per week.

honestly don't worry.

chesky369 · 13 February 2011 at 2:43PM

Contact your local council and try to set up a repayment plan. If you are worried about talking to them, go to your local CAB and get them to call on your behalf.

Mrs_Arcanum · 13 February 2011 at 2:43PM

spring_chicken wrote: »

we did try to claim, but they aid we wasnt entitled, which I thought strange as we are in receipt of tax credits and free prescriptions cos of being on a low income. We dont have anything of value for the bailiffs to seize, our tv is an old second hand one, our car was made in 1991, its not as if we have anything of value, its so worrying, if I went to court, will I be able to try and arrange some payment plan on the day, it wont be much though as we dont have any money left by the Tuesday (hubby gets paid on a Friday, and we pay the mortgage, gas, electricity and its gone) - my mum has been subsidising us with food and petrol money. Maybe we could offer £5 a week or something

Even going and making an arrangement direct with the council ASAP will avoid attending court. It will save you the court visit & the council will be happy you are trying to pay something. They may even be able to help further.

McKneff · 13 February 2011 at 2:52PM

I dont mean to sound harsh, but you cant pay your council tax (as said before, its priority) but you run a car,( its irrelevant how old it is) presumably you have the internet, computer. Do you have mobile phones,
Sell the car, the computer, and anything else you can, they are far less priority than your council tax.

CIS · 13 February 2011 at 2:57PM

last thing magistrates want to do is slap a fine on someone who's already trying to pay or cant' pay. they might do an attachment on your benefits so it comes out of that at £5 per week.

There is no fine from the magistrate - the magistrate simply grants the liability order and the costs charged by the council. In this case he cant refuse the order although if the council agree they may adjourn it to a later date if there's a valid reason.

The recovery rate from an attachment of benefit for council tax purposes is £3.30 p/w - the OP doesn't appear to be on an attachable benefit.

spring_chicken · 13 February 2011 at 3:11PM

asp746 wrote: »

this happened to me a few years go. it's quite informal so don't worry. there'll be a council official there and they'll just want to confirm that you owe the amount and how you're going to pay it back.

last thing magistrates want to do is slap a fine on someone who's already trying to pay or cant' pay. they might do an attachment on your benefits so it comes out of that at £5 per week.

honestly don't worry.

thanks for that, I have been worrying, we get some tax credits as the job my husband does now is low paid, just looked on the council tax benefit calculator page, but its says we arent eligible for help. It is so annoying though, because we have a mortgage, we receive no help towards the cost of that, yet the council tax benefit calculator doesnt allow us to include the cost of our £98 per week mortgage payments, which takes half of the money my hubby brings home each week

spring_chicken · 13 February 2011 at 3:17PM

McKneff wrote: »

I dont mean to sound harsh, but you cant pay your council tax (as said before, its priority) but you run a car,( its irrelevant how old it is) presumably you have the internet, computer. Do you have mobile phones,
Sell the car, the computer, and anything else you can, they are far less priority than your council tax.

without the car my husband wouldnt be able to get to work (its a 30 minute drive each way) - and without the computer I wouldnt be able to work (I work from home) - so they are not luxuries, we have to have them or else neither of us would be able to work at all. I dont have anything of any value to sell, my phone is just a pay and go one (again, needed for work as we need a mobile due to the nature of the work I do) - maybe we both could sell a kidney each?

Court Summons for Non-Payment of Council Tax

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