Council tax

wackyjacky06

Hi. I Had a counil tax bill for £143 for the time mpy partner oved back in and out again (another story). I have a plan with CCCS ando told the council that I could not pay it in full. The bill has now been reduced to £63.40. I have had a final demand saying that if I do not pay in full I will receive a court summons with charges added of £63.40. Is this allowed when I have been reducing this debt since Christmas. Many thanks

FireWyrm

Unfortunately, yes. In short, dont mess with the council, they have frightening powers. Basically, if you dont pay it, the matter will be referred to the court who will issue a warrant and a court appointed baliff will call on you to make arrangements and survey your belongings with a view to taking posession of them in order to settle the debt. The debt has already been more than halved which is pretty nice of them, considering.

A couple of suggestions then since you without a doubt, have to pay.

1) This debt is the result of another person living in the house. Although, you as the homeowner are technically responsible, could you ask them for the money?

2) Do you have any family? It's only £63 and someone might be able to lend it to you, but you will have to pay them back.

3) DO NOT USE A PAYDAY LOAN - it will profit you nothing and only get you into more trouble

4) Borrow from a friend.

5) Sell something of value...do you own any gold? The baliff will take it anyway and wont give you anywhere near it's true value

6) Go on emergency 'beans on toast' and use the money you would have used for food to pay the bill.

I would caution you against ignoring this issue and letting it go to court as there will be additional costs involved. The recovery agent will charge a fee and so will everyone else down the line. What started off as £63 could conceivably spiral into the hundreds. If it does get to court, you must attend to plead your case if you can. Someone will be along shortly with better legal advice than I can offer.

Your best bet is to pay it immediately.

RAS

wacky

Council Tax is a priority debt; you should not be paying money to other creditors via CCCS with this outstanding. Ring CCCS now and explain and reduce this month's payment to the level that allows you to pay off the Council TAx immediately.

Otherwise you will find court costs and the Liability order double the debt and then the bailiffs add more fees. As long as you keep them out of the house, this will only BE £42.50max but they routinely add additional fees which they will try to bully you into paying. So this could end up as a bill for £300 very easily, even though actaully they would only be entitled to £200

w1ck3d

Try and talk to the Council as well. Although some might not believe it, they are actually there to help. If you approach it with a I want to pay, but can only do this much ( being realistic ) they should accept payment terms. Mess this up, and they will come down harder than most.

Ex - Council Employee

wackyjacky06

Thanks to you all:j