Court summons over council tax

Whoopsie

This has knocked me for six a bit, so I thought I'd ask on here for some help/advice.

I've just had a court summons through from my local council, over unpaid council tax.

However, reading the summons, this is for £85, for the tax year 2000/2001. Yes, that's right - ten years ago!

We moved in to our house that year, part way through the tax year - so it's clear that the council have miscalculated the council tax due (everything they asked for at the time was paid, no missed payments).

The problem is, neither I nor my wife has ever been contacted about this alleged 'unpaid' amount of £85. No letters, no phone calls, no reminders, nothing. You'd think if this was an issue they would have done something about it *in the last decade*.

But now, out of the blue, I'm being told I have to pay an extra £45 costs for the summons, and if I don't pay everything off now, I have to show up in court (and pay even more costs!).

I haven't spoken to anyone at the council yet (this only arrived on my doormat on Saturday) - what can I do? What are my rights here?

Thanks for any help!

fermi

Give these people a call. See what they say.

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=25_liability_for_debts_and_the_limitation_act

Council Tax

The council should not go to the magistrates’ court and ask for a liability order for Council Tax more than six years after the Council Tax became due.

This is under Regulation 34(3) Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.

Council Tax appears to be ‘due’ when the council sent a demand notice to you which may not be at the same time the Council Tax rate was set. It is important that you check when the demand was sent as this affects when the six year limitation period begins. You can also complain to the Local Government Ombudsman if the demand was not sent out ‘as soon as practicable’ after the rate was set.

GizmoBradwell

Seems this is a nasty habit they have going on. My wife has coucil tax bill for £42 during the time between her last class and graduation, a length of 2 weeks, 5 years ago (no one could of guessed).

And since all those other students moved since then, the council have managed to track down one of their parents who has not moved in the last 5 years. I.E. we have not recieved any corrispondance despite being registerd on the electrol role in the same city.

Don't be a victim, and don't allow it to make you feel like a criminal. You may have to pay it, as will we, but the shody corrispondance is most likely down to a part-timer's bad decision last thing on a Friday before a hot date, rather than the people who actually have the say so and authority in the decisions and responsability to manage these things.

Can they charge students between their last class and graduation?

HappyMJ

GizmoBradwell wrote: »

Seems this is a nasty habit they have going on. My wife has coucil tax bill for £42 during the time between her last class and graduation, a length of 2 weeks, 5 years ago (no one could of guessed).

And since all those other students moved since then, the council have managed to track down one of their parents who has not moved in the last 5 years. I.E. we have not recieved any corrispondance despite being registerd on the electrol role in the same city.

Don't be a victim, and don't allow it to make you feel like a criminal. You may have to pay it, as will we, but the shody corrispondance is most likely down to a part-timer's bad decision last thing on a Friday before a hot date, rather than the people who actually have the say so and authority in the decisions and responsability to manage these things.

Can they charge students between their last class and graduation?

Technically yes but it's not last class it's usually the end of the course and that date will be later than the last class date. It's end of july or sometime in august.

If it's been over 6 years you don't "have" to pay it. A liability order has not been obtained and can never be obtained. The OP has rights in this case and should use them.

GizmoBradwell

HappyMJ wrote: »

Technically yes but it's not last class it's usually the end of the course and that date will be later than the last class date. It's end of july or sometime in august.

If it's been over 6 years you don't "have" to pay it. A liability order has not been obtained and can never be obtained. The OP has rights in this case and should use them.

Thanks for the reply! What's 'OP'? Operations Post?

And the 6 year mark is when the tax was last charged?

HappyMJ

GizmoBradwell wrote: »

Thanks for the reply! What's 'OP'? Operations Post?

And the 6 year mark is when the tax was last charged?

Original Poster

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=op

6 years starts from the date on the bill usually March in the year of the council tax. They can still chase full year bills from the 05/06 year as they would have been billed in March '05. Any changes made during the year 04/05 can still be chased later depending on the new bill date.

K_and_N

Hi OP,

I had a similar problem last year. The council was asking me about 07/08 outstanding council tax bill. Just give them a call ASAP and tell them that you are not aware of this at all. And ask for an email address of the person you speak to and after the telephone call, email him/her of the conversation detailing what was agreed and what's not.

In my case, they waive the summon cost and I paid the outstanding council tax (I could have chellenged the tax but I decided not to because it's a small amount). But to my surprise, whilst sorting that out they found another account on their system with my name and that account has credit balance. So at the end, they refunded me more than I paid them. I had no idea about that credit either.

Sometimes the capability of their system is quite shocking.

Just give them a call and see what they say. Hope your case sorted out soon.

K & N

CIS

Council Tax

The council should not go to the magistrates’ court and ask for a liability order for Council Tax more than six years after the Council Tax became due.

This is under Regulation 34(3) Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.

Council Tax appears to be ‘due’ when the council sent a demand notice to you which may not be at the same time the Council Tax rate was set. It is important that you check when the demand was sent as this affects when the six year limitation period begins. You can also complain to the Local Government Ombudsman if the demand was not sent out ‘as soon as practicable’ after the rate was set.

The amount becomes due when the bill is first issued - if the bill was first issued covering this amount in the middle of 2000 and the OP paid as billed then its unlikely to be an amount which was due at that time as it would be included in the bill at that time.

Most likely its an amount which became due because of a later adjustment and its the date the later bill was issued for that amount which sets the 6 year limit for getting a summons e.g

OP paid the charge from 1 oct 2000 to 31 mar 2001 on a bill issued 1 sep 2000 - the council have until 31 Aug 2006 to issue a summons for an amount due.

In 2008 there is an adjustment and £150 becomes due for the period of 1 oct 2000 to 31 mar 2001 and a new bill is issued on 1 Jun 2008. The council now have until 31 May 2014 to apply for a summons.

The stage at which a bill becomes due was clarified in Regentford V Thanet Borough Council. http://lexisweb.co.uk/Cases/2004/February/Regentford-Ltd-v-Thanet-District-Council