council tax problems

ggordster

Hi,

I started part time work (16 hrs. p/w) last October and when my revised council tax bill came in i was asked to pay £122 on the 10th of Dec/Jan/Feb unfortunately because of the date i am paid i have paid each instalment late thus received a late payment letter 3 times on the 10th Feb when the last instalment was due i phoned my council tax dept to say i will pay £60.00 of the £122 now and was it ok to pay the remainder on the 28th when i get paid the lady advised me that she couldn't stop any more letters coming out but i could clear the debt on the 28th feb.
When i got home from work this fri 25th i received a court summons which incurs a £65.00 court fee now i owe £127 before the court date of 11th march even though i was going to pay the £62 on Monday 28th.
When i pay the £65.00 on Monday surely the court fee wont be needed as it wont have to go to court. The council have said the whole £127 has to be paid so i just see it as the council squeezing more money out of me.
I have never once said im not going to pay i just needed more time as £122 council tax a month on a part time wage is alot of money.
Does anyone know if there is anything i can do???

lvm

Think you would have probably been entitled to council tax benefit if you're on a low income although as far as I'm aware they can refuse to do anything about this now because you haven't notified them before.

I'm guessing you're in England but when I didn't pay council tax bill for a while (around 5/6 months), it was only passed to Scott & Co to collect (with some sort of charge - not sure how much). It just seems very strange that they have gone straight to a court summons.

Are you sure it's definitely a court summons and not a council ellected debt collector? Expecially for such a low amount. If it had gone to a debt collector they would have 99% accepted your late payments anyway. In fact, the council would probably have amended your due date in line with when you are paid - I know Edinburgh Council has 4 different dates you can choose from.

For your situation I'd assume not much you can do now but pay the full £127 but I'd make sure for next year you have the direct debit set up (over 12 months if you need to) for a day of 2 after your pay day. And check out if you're eligible for any benefits.

ggordster

Thanks for that. :j
That figure was with council tax benefit it was only because they squashed it into 3 monthly payments why it was so much.
I only wanted 17 days grace to clear the £62.00 i thin they have taken it too far it is definitely a magistrates court summons it has a date and time for the hearing.
Do you think citizen advice will be able to do anything?

CIS

Ive replied to your PM.

The CAB have no more power in the matter than you have. From experience they often do more harm than good.

FLAPJACK

Can you not ask the Council to bill you at 12 months instead of 10? I have heard that this can be done....

ggordster

i will ask about the bill being spread over 12months when i get next years bill. Because i only started work in October it couldn't be spread over any longer as the bill needs to be paid by Feb.
i just find it really frustrating that my last instalment has now cost me £187 instead of £122. It would of been cheaper to pay the whole amount on my credit card and have interest put on it.

dancingfairy

I would write to them and complain especially as you had been in communication with them and were merely paying late.
However, a lot of people routinely pay late/not at all and the council have to be seen to be doing something about later payers. I believe they can issue 2 late letters and then can take it to the magistrates court and get a liability order. If you paid before the date of the liability order you may be able to succesfully argue your case but the system is not clever enough/flexible enough to help those that want to pay but are struggling but to differentiate between those that are playing games/refusing to pay at all unfortunately.
df

CIS

I would write to them and complain especially as you had been in communication with them and were merely paying late.

That will hold no water. The law is clear on when payment is due and the council have acted in accordance with this.

If you paid before the date of the liability order you may be able to successfully argue your case but the system is not clever enough/flexible enough to help those that want to pay but are struggling but to differentiate between those that are playing games/refusing to pay at all unfortunately.
df

Even if the Council Tax is paid before the Liability Order then unless the OP can persuade the council to waive the costs then they are fully recoverable by way of the Liability order.

ggordster

CIS wrote: »

That will hold no water. The law is clear on when payment is due and the council have acted in accordance with this.

Even if the Council Tax is paid before the Liability Order then unless the OP can persuade the council to waive the costs then they are fully recoverable by way of the Liability order.

i dont see the problem if i pay the £62 council tax theres not really a need for a court case

CIS

i dont see the problem if i pay the £62 council tax there's not really a need for a court case

Once the summons is issued the council can recoup any costs which have been incurred/will be incurred in the recovery process by adding them to the balance due - this is quite legal - and then recovering that amount via the liability order. You can in theory attend the court and dispute the costs but the magistrates will have been consulted in advance when the fees were set to agree they are reasonable and they have no objections.

The council do it this way so that the costs are recovered from those for who they have been incurred rather than spreading the cost over everyone's council tax.

Gothicfairy

I have a payment plan with my local council ( over 12 months) and it does say more then once on this one bit of paper that if I miss a payment or if I am late twice then it will go to court.
I thought most councils did that now as they were having to struggle to chase money owed and I also think that the staff are trained to take the payment etc but can not cancel any action as it is not their place..I mean how would they know you are going to pay them when you said ?

I am not saying you wouldn't have paid but I can just imagine the amount of stories they must hear every day from people trying to get out of paying their bills.
Harsh though I will give you that.