The legality of Council Tax late payment fees

Bloodrose_2

We received a letter recently stating that our council tax payment was late and they were demanding payment in full plus a charge and they had arranged a court date of late August.

The full outstanding payment was sent to them online minus the court charge well in advance of their suggested court date, however we have received a letter today demanding the court charge (which is £74.00) and a list of what basically could be considered to be threats if they do not receive the outstanding amount for the charge within 2 weeks of their letter date.

Please could anybody advise me of the legality of such charges, as I find it absolutely outrageous that they can just bully people like this. They've had their money and on principal I am completely against council tax anyway particularly as the council services in the city in which I reside do not do a very good job anyway.

With that in mind, I have heard horror stories of how these people can be so any suggestions which anybody can give will be greatly appreciated. I have read about people logging FOI requests to ascertain the actual amount the council has paid for these supposed 'costs' and then re-imbursing them for that actual amount but frankly I wouldn't have the first clue on how to do this. I have also thought about contacting the council by telephone, however it always seems to be almost impossible to get through to anybody there.

Many thanks in advance for any help which anybody may be able to offer.

CIS

I work in council tax recovery.

The fee would be a charge for the issuing of a court summons after the reminder amount wasn't paid within 7 days of the date of the reminder.

If the full charge + fees is not settled in full by the court hearing then the council are legally able to apply for the liability order for the costs only if required (and charge extra costs for the liability order).

The fees are legal , they will have been Ok'd by the local magistrates court. The relevant legislation will be the council tax (administration and enforcement) regs 1992.

TBH if you don't pay the fee and the liability order is granted then you need to see reg 36 onwards as it will tell you about the actions which can be taken after the liability order.

Many authorities, including the one I work for, will not apply for a liability order for costs but they are legally able to - recovery is very manpower intensive as you can't automate the full process, its needs human intervention to make decisions along the way.

McKneff

the fee is for the issuing of the court summons, not the court case itself.

If you had sent it as soon as you got it, (i know you said yu sent it well in advance of the court date) but presumably you sent it after the 7 day deadline after the reminder.

No choice I'm afraid - you just have to pay up before you get in even deeper.

Bloodrose_2

CIS wrote: »

I work in council tax recovery.

The fee would be a charge for the issuing of a court summons after the reminder amount wasn't paid within 7 days of the date of the reminder.

If the full charge + fees is not settled in full by the court hearing then the council are legally able to apply for the liability order for the costs only if required (and charge extra costs for the liability order).

The fees are legal , they will have been Ok'd by the local magistrates court. The relevant legislation will be the council tax (administration and enforcement) regs 1992.

TBH if you don't pay the fee and the liability order is granted then you need to see reg 36 onwards as it will tell you about the actions which can be taken after the liability order.

Many authorities, including the one I work for, will not apply for a liability order for costs but they are legally able to - recovery is very manpower intensive as you can't automate the full process, its needs human intervention to make decisions along the way.

To be honest, that all makes a lot of sense, especially as I used to work for a telecomms provider and we did not seek to recover outstanding debt underneath a set amount as it simply wasn't worth it, for the reasons you just mentioned.

If you don't mind my asking though, what is reg 36? I'm assuming that means regulation 36 but I'm not sure what it is a regulation of and where I would find the list.

Bloodrose_2

McKneff wrote: »

the fee is for the issuing of the court summons, not the court case itself.

If you had sent it as soon as you got it, (i know you said yu sent it well in advance of the court date) but presumably you sent it after the 7 day deadline after the reminder.

No choice I'm afraid - you just have to pay up before you get in even deeper.

No actually I don't think that was the case, I think it was because their letter was demanding a payment in full in advance of the court date and including their 'fee' and I paid them the OS balance but didn't pay the fee.

They're basically just chasing the 'fee' I think, however I don't really see it as a reasonable fee to demand as they haven't really done anything.

McKneff

but if it was in full in advance of the court 'date' they had maybe already applied for it so will have incurred costs without you knowing about it.

Bloodrose_2

That was good of them, do you know if it's possible to make arrangements with these people such as to maybe not pay/pay half the fee and setup a direct debit?

CIS

the fee is for the issuing of the court summons, not the court case itself.

The costs are incurred when the court summons is issued. Fees can also be charged for the issuing of the liability order if the council so wishes.

No actually I don't think that was the case, I think it was because their letter was demanding a payment in full in advance of the court date and including their 'fee' and I paid them the OS balance but didn't pay the fee.

They're basically just chasing the 'fee' I think, however I don't really see it as a reasonable fee to demand as they haven't really done anything.

The fee became due on the issuing of the summons -irrespective of whether the court date went ahead or not. Actually running the recovery from reminder to the issuing of the summons costs a lot , its a share of that costs that the charge recoups otherwise the remainder of the council tax payers have to foot the bill even if they have paid on time.

If you don't mind my asking though, what is reg 36? I'm assuming that means regulation 36 but I'm not sure what it is a regulation of and where I would find the list.

Its regulation 36 of the aforementioned regulations (google the 'council tax(administration and enforcement) regs 1992'). It covers what happens from the Liability Order onwards although the earlier regs will cover the issuing of the summons etc.

That was good of them, do you know if it's possible to make arrangements with these people such as to maybe not pay/pay half the fee and setup a direct debit?

Not in my authority (and most authorities)- the fees are non-negotiable if they have been applied correctly.

Bloodrose_2

Thankyou, in that case I will have a think about this then I think and decide the next course of action to take.

Thanks again for all your help.

McKneff

Sorry, but from what people in the know have said on here you dont have a lot of choice.

Think yu just need to pay up and move on.

Bloodrose_2

Well I'll think about it I think, essentially it's legalised extortion and I just really don't agree with it, it's makes me quite angry to think about it if I'm honest.

Thanks for the advice though, it is much appreciated.