Coucil Tax problem

tranmereforever

Hello all

A friend of mine has a real problem and I dont know what to suggest so I thought I would see on here if anyone knew anything

Basically she hadent recieved her council tax bill for the three months after renting her property so she called them giving them her move out date and asking for a bill, when none arrived she emailed them who replied they had no record and asking for the dates again which she did

She was then sent a form to fill out with the dates, again she did this and sent it back

However, rather than a bill she has been sent a court summons for 2 weeks time for a bill dated until March 09 when she moves out end of November, the council are saying they never recieved anything from her (however she has the sent emails saved/copies of the letter etc) and are saying that there is nothing she can do unless she pays it all in one lump sum (over £2k)

She cannot afford to do this and has asked if they will let her pay it in installments which they have refused

She has asked them why they have never called her if they hadent recieved the files and they just said "its not there problem to chase people"

She has also asked that the court action be temporarily stopped why she contacts her letting agent to get them to send an end date comformation (as shes now into the month to month part of her contract - it expired in August) but they have refused this also

Any advice on what to suggest for her to do? after all it was her who chased the council for the bill in the first place

tranmereforever

sorry to bump this but she has just rung me very upset about the whole situation and i dont know what advice to give to her really

**Amy**

Hi

This sounds extremely unfair of the Council, especially if she has copies of the emails sent etc.

I would speak to one of the debt charities (National Debtline www.nationaldebtline.co.uk) or CCCS (www.CCCS.co.uk) as they will probably know exactly where she stands.

Hope this helps a bit?

x

dancingfairy

I would suggest she contacts National Debtline or goes along to her local CAB.
Also I think she should probably ask for a copy of the council's complaint procedure and complain to them.
If the worst comes to the worst she may have to go to court and stand up for herself but I can't see them siding with the council and giving her too much grief to be honest.
Please tell her not to worry - I am sure it can be sorted out.
df

dancingfairy

She really needs to see if she can get the correct info from the council as well - the figures sound ridiculous - and get her to check she gets the single person discount (if she does).
Also does her mp have a local surgery she can get to and get them involved on her behalf?
df x

riversmummy1

i have had problems with council tax, they are very quick to go to court over these things. The thing is her best bet is to go along to the court hearing.
I dont quite understand- does she accept she owes this money? If she does, then she should get the money together- if she missed 3 months of paying the CT then she needs to pay it as it is owed. Then when she goes to court she can explain the story, and offer the money that she has and ask the rest to be in installments. The CT people are harsh, i have dealt with them before over unpaid CT and basically i had bailiffs on my doorstep refusing to go away until i had paid about £400 of the £1000 owed with a promise of £200 epr month for the next 3 months. And i think they thought that was good & reasonable.
they do 'have the right' to demand full payment of the years bill if you fall behind on payments, this was our problem. late with 2 payments so suddently had the whole years worth to pay! But the court willa ccept for this to be split until march on a monthly payment basis they often do that. they will charge court costs though, but you cant avoid those charges now.

tranmereforever

thanks for the responses have passed the debtline number to her

riversmummy I accpet what you are saying but how could she have paid anything if she didnt have a bill?, she still hasent got one until November so she still doesnt know how much she should be paying

RAS

Hi

She should find out where the ward coucillor has their next surgery (usually one every fortnight) and attend that with her paperpwork. They can query what is going on and stop the action. if there is not enough time then ring or e-mail the councillor.