Council tax benefit and bailiffs- Help!

handyman27

I never trust council staff, as there are some staff so negligence and for thier mistake we have the court and summons cost.

Last time i paid my council tax which i paid through pay zone and it did not appear on the council tax system and i had the recipet to proof it.

Even though the payzone never made the payment to council, the council never reimbursed the court summons cost.

fluffymovie

That is not really necessary Handyman. I work for a council and have tried to give you the best advice on the way forward in your thread and you then say that you never trust council staff. Not really fair.

We work to legislation which can be given to customers when requested. We don't sit and decide to mess with people's lives for no reason.

A customer only goes to summons after a bill has been unpaid and a reminder (normally more than 1).

If the costs are considered incorrect, they can be waived so the OP needs to seek advice with CAB

aimee0763

Faye449 wrote: »

OMG help.
Apologies if this comes out in garbled splurge but I am freaking out.

I lost my job over the summer last year, went to the job centre and signed on and was informed that I would be entitled to council tax benefit and that they would, and I quote "contact the my local council and sort it all out" I naively assumed this was all fine and that they had done it as I didn't hear anything and yesterday I opened a Final Notice from a Bailiff for £751!

This is the first thing I heard from them even though, when I called the council in a flap this morning they insisted they had tried to contact me in November last year.

Council are sending me benefit form to complete today but are saying they may not be able to back date anything as its nearly the end of the council tax year- is this right?! They also said they couldn't request the debt back from the bailiff??

I called the bailiff and explained what had happened and he said that basically it was tough I had to pay him and then try and claim the money back from the council but I don't have £751 to give him.

I am FINALLY starting a new job on monday so will be able to start paying properly but am just in such a state about this I can't think straight.

Does anyone know what is going to happen to me??

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read my splurge.

Make an offer that suits you and one they can't refuse please don't worry it's nothing you pay what you can afford council or not. They are not going to do anything you need to put in writing that you will sort this out as soon as possible. I've dealt with these sort of things all the times whether very large companies or small

hope this help

aimee0763

fluffymovie wrote: »

That is not really necessary Handyman. I work for a council and have tried to give you the best advice on the way forward and you then say that you never trust council staff. Not really necessary.

We work to legislation which can be given to customers when requested. We don't sit and decide to mess with people's lives for no reason.

A customer only goes to summons after a bill has been unpaid and a reminder (normally more than 1).

My council took me to court a few years back because of rent arrears which was their mistake when i made an offer of £10 she wouldn't accept it she wanted £20 i flatly refused she file for court then got the cheek to ring me 2 weeks before the court to accept my offer of course i decline and the court ask me to pay £2.00 instead then she never turned up for court she sent a young colleague which looks like he wanted to cry and run shortly after the council lady got sacked because she took 19 other council tenants to court it cost my council a lot of money.

septemberblues

RobertoMoir wrote: »

Only if they are unable to complete a levy.


It's entirely possible that the person you replied to's daughter paid the bailiff £600, which was a mixture of (correct) bailiff fees, court fees and the actual debt itself. .

Yep, sorry for wrong story, I asked my daughter last night and she confirms that £600 was the FULL amount, broken into - £300 ct arrears, then court fees and bailiff's fees. The bailiffs never actually met my daughter, she paid with a credit card over the phone. She had moved from her last address and stupidly didn't inform the council of her new address either, so the council kept sending her letters at the old address, which she didn't recieve until after they went to court.

The funny thing is the people who moved into her flat after her were "friends", they didn't pay any council tax or tell her there were letters arriving for her:eek:. Don't think they are friends anymore

fluffymovie

aimee0763 wrote: »

My council took me to court a few years back because of rent arrears which was their mistake when i made an offer of £10 she wouldn't accept it she wanted £20 i flatly refused she file for court then got the cheek to ring me 2 weeks before the court to accept my offer of course i decline and the court ask me to pay £2.00 instead then she never turned up for court she sent a young colleague which looks like he wanted to cry and run shortly after the council lady got sacked because she took 19 other council tenants to court it cost my council a lot of money.

Right.... But we are talking about Council Tax now aren't we? I work for HB and I come on here in my spare time to see if I can use what I know to help people, Yes, not all people who work in Ctax or any council department are great at their jobs but this doesn't mean that everyone who works for a council deserves to be lumped in.

My understanding of Ctax is that when a bill is issued by the council, the law considers it has been received even if it hasn't. This is unfair of course but then again, for post to go missing on more than 1 occasion to a safe address seems unlikely. If the OP has got evidence that they have had issues with the post, they may have a case to have the costs removed.

RobertoMoir

aimee0763 wrote: »

Make an offer that suits you and one they can't refuse please don't worry it's nothing you pay what you can afford council or not. They are not going to do anything you need to put in writing that you will sort this out as soon as possible. I've dealt with these sort of things all the times whether very large companies or small

hope this help

While its unlikely to happen, you can actually go to prison for non-payment of council tax, this isn't the same thing at all as a rent issue.. That prison thing isn't some theoretical concept by the way, it has actually happened once or twice. To tell someone "they are not going to do anything" seems a little unwise to me considering that. While there is no need for anyone to panic, we should all take all claims of council tax arrears of this kind very seriously.

CIS

My understanding of Ctax is that when a bill is issued by the council, the law considers it has been received even if it hasn't. This is unfair of course but then again, for post to go missing on more than 1 occasion to a safe address seems unlikely. If the OP has got evidence that they have had issues with the post, they may have a case to have the costs removed.

Council Tax documents are served under section 7 of the Interpretations Act 1978 under which proof of postage is proof of receipt.

I work in council tax recovery and nobody ever receives the documents which are posted whereas the actual number of peope who dont get documents in reality is minimal. Having to prove delivery of every document would be impossible to administer.

pingupenguin

hi everyone sorry to butt in but....

i recently had a similar situation with council tax but i did deal with the bailiffs and it was a big mistake as i let them in. dont let them in and it will be refered back to the council hopefully and at the end of the day this isnt a normal bailiff as he is working as an agent of the council and tangled in a lot of specific laws (yet he will lie as much as possible to get the money) CONTACT the national debt line or your CAB

i have got my self into a better position by going to the council office in person. mine is in the back room of the local tourist centre. i will have the debt paid by next week. shout from the hills and they will listen to you. if you have to contact your local councilor or if they are really unresponsive go to the local government ombudsmen.

sorry it was a long post

alwaysonthego_2

pingupenguin wrote: »

i recently had a similar situation with council tax but i did deal with the bailiffs and it was a big mistake as i let them in. dont let them in and it will be refered back to the council hopefully and at the end of the day this isnt a normal bailiff as he is working as an agent of the council and tangled in a lot of specific laws (yet he will lie as much as possible to get the money) CONTACT the national debt line or your CAB

i have got my self into a better position by going to the council office in person. mine is in the back room of the local tourist centre. i will have the debt paid by next week. shout from the hills and they will listen to you. if you have to contact your local councilor or if they are really unresponsive go to the local government ombudsmen.

sorry it was a long post

If you do not deal with the baliliff it is not always referred back to the council, it can go straight back to court and they can be a warrant made for arrest if it is that bad. I have know for this to happen, though the client was not arrested as I managed to sort it out for him, but don't assume it will go back to the council.