Magistrate's court summons

smileyt_2

Hello

I hope this is the right forum to post my query. If it isn't, please could a moderator move it?

Basically, I have had a magistrate's court summons for non-payment of council tax. The details are below (copied e-mails I have sent and received).

I would like to know
(i) have the council followed the correct procedure? I thought they had to send a couple of reminder letters before they could issue the summons?

(ii) Can I ask for the liability order not to be granted when I attend the court hearing?

(iii) Does anyone know if there is a public list of people who have liability orders? I know it doesn't affect a credit rating (I have been googling to try and find info before posting on here)? I just have a horror of my name being on any court list (nb I am not a snob but I just find it upsetting because isn't the Magistrate's court where criminal offences are heard?)

Sorry for the long post. I would be very grateful for any help. I have phoned the CT Dept this morning and paid the account up to date and arranged for the direct debit to be reinstsated from 15 July. I think they have jumped the gun as I only missed April and May's payments and not June's, although they said I have defaulted on three payments. Would this be grounds to say that they issued the summons wrongly?

THANK YOU.


E-mail correspondence copied below.




Dear Sir,

Re: Account Reference XXXXXXXX

This morning I received a Magistrates' Court Summons for non-payment of Council Tax for the 2010-2011 tax year.

I phoned the number given on the summons (907 9400) and explained that I have never defaulted on any payments to Council Tax and have a direct debit set up with my bank for these payments to be made. In fact, this direct debit has been in existence for years now. The adviser I spoke to said that the last direct debit payment was on 15 January 2009 (I have been in receipt of CT Benefit for much of the intervening period) and that because the direct debit had laid dormant for so long, it was my bank's fault for not contacting me to let me know that it was no longer active, and I would still have to pay the full amount and the summons costs.

I phoned my bank and they told me that in fact Manchester City Council cancelled this Direct Debit themselves on 15 January 2009 via a system called the Auddis system! So the reason no direct debit has been paid for April and May 2010 is because you yourselves cancelled it! I have received nothing to tell me that the direct debit was cancelled, ever.

The reason I did not pick up on this is two-fold. Firstly, because I have received no reminders or letters telling me that I was behind in my payments. Secondly, because I have had an appeal which was only resolved on 7 April this year. So I thought that the Council was just taking its time in taking the direct debit payments because this is Manchester City Council and to be honest over the years I have had such a run around from you that it didn't ring any warning bells. (One year I received about 150 letters from yourselves and the Housing Benefit department so a wait of a couple of months for you to get your act together to take direct debit payments really didn't seem at all odd to me.) Plus, of course, I had not cancelled the direct debit so I just thought the money would go out when you were good and ready, and indeed the payments for April and May are there in my bank account, set aside and ready to go.

I did receive one letter saying I owed £294.67 for the year 2009-2010. This was as a result of me being overpaid CT Benefit for that year - this is no-one's fault, it is just because the benefits system is not flexible enough to cope with my constantly changing circumstances, and also the result of my unsuccessful appeal. I expect some hiccups (although they are frustrating) so I do try to make sure I save money where possible in my budget to cover such things. Consequently I was able to make the payment for this full amount on 16April 2010.

I have received letters about an overpayment of Housing Benefit (caused, as above, by the inflexibility of the system and its inability to cope with my changing circumstances, and the result of the appeal decision). I am paying this back out of current Housing Benefit payments. So, I had no reason to suppose that anything was amiss with my Council Tax account because I received no letters about it. Reasonably, one would assume that if I was receiving letters about overpaid Housing Benefit needing to be paid back, then also letters would be sent about non-payment of Council Tax.

If you look at my payment records stretching back years, you will see that I have been honest and paid on time for years and years, and also the amount of correspondence between myself and the Council Tax and Housing Benefits department shows that I have made every attempt humanly possible to inform you of any change in circumstances, sending in evidence where required.

I therefore request that you cancel this summons, including the £74 summons costs, as it is not my fault that you cancelled the direct debit and I did not receive any reminder letters. Really, honestly, if you had sent me reminder letters, do you not think I would have followed them up and asked why you were not taking payments via the direct debit? Look at the evidence of my previous actions - direct debits paid on time, regular correspondence informing of change in circumstances, the extra payment of £294.67 paid quickly. These are not the actions of someone who would then ignore reminder letters! Natural justice demands that you revoke the summons and its costs.

I suffer from depression and it takes me a lot of effort to keep myself balanced. If I could work full time and not rely on the benefits system, believe me I would. As it is, I work part-time because I don't want to rely solely on handouts. I have been in tears for over an hour this morning because of this summons. I have sent a copy of this e-mail to Alistair Cox, one of my local councillors, and to Richard Leese, as I think they should be made aware of the distress your system is causing. This is now going to be a source of anxiety for me until it is resolved.

I await your reply.

Yours faithfully,
AND the reply I received this morning:

Dear Ms xxx

thank you for your email

I have checked my records and as you were informed by the call centre the direct debit had been dormant since 15 January 2009 therefore was cancelled.

You were issued a reminder on 26 February 2010 for the 2009/2010 bill outstanding balance of £294.67 which clearly states your method of payment is cash 10 monthly on the 15 of the month. You subsequently paid this amount in full as you have stated on 16 April 2010 in cash not by direct debit.

You were then sent an opening bill for 2010/2011 on 15 March 2010 which also clearly states that your method of payment is cash on the 15 of the month and lists payment amounts and due dates. (I received this) Finally a reminder was sent to you on 1 May 2010 (I didn't receive this) which also clearly states that your 15 April 2010 payment had not been made and was in arrears, and you made no contact with the Council Tax Service with regards to this.

As a result of this the summons was issued correctly (was it?) and therefore will not be withdrawn but if you make a payment of £201.49 to bring your account up to date and agree to pay £66.00 per month from the 15 July 2010 up to and including the 15 January 2011 then as a gesture of good will I will remove the summons costs from your account.

Please contact the Council Tax Service if you agree to this payment plan and with your preferred method of payment within 7 days from receipt of this email to avoid further recovery costs being incurred.


Yours sincerely




Manchester City Council
PO Box 147
M15 5TU
Tel: 0161 907 9400
Please reply to: ctax.enquiries@manchester.gov.uk

RAS

Hi

Go and speak toyour local councillor at their surgery and they will have more luck sorting this than you will have on your own.

CIS

I work in council Tax recovery.

1) You can only dispute the Liability Order if you are not liable, already paid or the Summons/Demand Notice/Reminder have been issued incorrectly (there are a few other defences which are applicable for you). Any other argument regarding Discounts, Exemptions, CTB etc are a defence against the Liability Order.

2) Its not a public list and a Liability Order wont affect your credit rating.


If you missed April then a Reminder would have been issued, if this wasn't brought up to date in 7 days then then a Summons can be issued, the same goes the May payment.

From the information you've posted the Summons is correct, council tax notifications are issued on the basis that postage is proof of receipt.

I phoned my bank and they told me that in fact Manchester City Council cancelled this Direct Debit themselves on 15 January 2009 via a system called the Auddis system! So the reason no direct debit has been paid for April and May 2010 is because you yourselves cancelled it! I have received nothing to tell me that the direct debit was cancelled, ever.

Its very unusual for a Council to close a DD as its the preferred method although if keeps bouncing they will do so rather than deal with a bounced payment each time. You need to determine why the council closed it but it isn't a defence against the order. As they have advised, the start of year Demand Notice shows the payment method and the payments due and its the reponsibility of the payer to ensure payments are made.

mjm3346

The DD was inactive for over a year and under the general terms of DDs it would have been cancelled and it would have been refused if the council had tried to use it.

NorthernLas

SmileyT - I think the important part of your message is the part where you say you have paid and have set up the direct debit for the other payments. The council will not take you to court and will not charge you.

If you are still worried, send an email to the council asking them to confirm the court summons and charge will not be progressed.

It seems that you have had a lot of changes in the last year and what with missing the payment method being cash and the reminder being mislaid in the post, this has added to your stress. You have dealt with the problem, I would forget about it and don't spend further energy stressing about correct procedure.

DVardysShadow

smileyt wrote: »

... I would be very grateful for any help. I have phoned the CT Dept this morning and paid the account up to date and arranged for the direct debit to be reinstsated from 15 July. I think they have jumped the gun as I only missed April and May's payments and not June's, although they said I have defaulted on three payments. Would this be grounds to say that they issued the summons wrongly? ...

Am I right? You have already paid up to June?

Then you are up to date and i see no grounds for the council to continue.

Write and ask for a statement of your account and whether the summons has been withdrawn

CIS

SmileyT - I think the important part of your message is the part where you say you have paid and have set up the direct debit for the other payments. The council will not take you to court and will not charge you.

If you are still worried, send an email to the council asking them to confirm the court summons and charge will not be progressed.

The way I read is that SmileyT has paid last years payments as a lump sum but its this year the summons is for as it was for cash payments and not DD. The summons has been issued for non-payment/late-payment of 2010/11.

CIS

Am I right? You have already paid up to June?

Then you are up to date and i see no grounds for the council to continue.

Write and ask for a statement of your account and whether the summons has been withdrawn

If they have been paid outside the timelines given then the Summons can be proceeded with as the right to instalments has been lost.

The reply from the council indicates that this years has not been brought up to date which is why they ask for an initial lump sum of £201.49.

mjm3346

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Am I right? You have already paid up to June?

Then you are up to date and i see no grounds for the council to continue.

Write and ask for a statement of your account and whether the summons has been withdrawn

The right to pay by instalments will almost certainly have been removed because of the missed payments so the account would only be up to date if the full year has been paid for.
The council will not enforce the summons if a payment plan has been agreed to but will probably go to court to get it anyway.

DVardysShadow

CIS wrote: »

If they have been paid outside the timelines given then the Summons can be proceeded with as the right to instalments has been lost.

The reply from the council indicates that this years has not been brought up to date which is why they ask for an initial lump sum of £201.49.

mjm3346 wrote: »

The right to pay by instalments will almost certainly have been removed because of the missed payments so the account would only be up to date if the full year has been paid for.
The council will not enforce the summons if a payment plan has been agreed to but will probably go to court to get it anyway.

OK, I take the point.

Council indicate they will waive the summons charge, which I think is right - but to waste money on continuing with a summons??? Barmy.

CIS

Council indicate they will waive the summons charge, which I think is right - but to waste money on continuing with a summons??? Barmy.

If they dont secure the Liability Order then theres a delay in collecting the money of the OP stops paying and there's the extra cost to the tax payer of having to secure a summons again.