Council Tax help please

scattyaly

We have this morning received a council tax summons for the cost of £331.31 + costs of £60.00, we are not sure why...........we are up to date with all our monthly payments, and they are now requesting the full amount by 1st december, we were two weeks late with one payment, but it was paid within the correct month this was due to me being hospitalised. not sure why we have had a summonds can anyone advise or help please

Beetlemama

For what period is the bill? it should say on it from-to so you can check it is this year, also make sure it's for the correct property, so it's not an old bill they're chasing you for.

With regard to the summons, if this is for 2011/12 and you believe you are paid up to date, you will have had a reminder for the missed payment (that you later caught up) and I expect a Final Notice - at the point the final notice was issued, they will have removed your ability to pay by installments and issued you a full bill for the remainder of the year, payable by a date specified on it.

Most likely you are going to say you didn't receive these and you didn't know there was a problem, the council tax office aren't that interested in that since every one says that, their legal obligation is to send them out to your last known address (if you haven't moved, your current address).

I would contact them on Monday and ask them to check the account so they can see it's up to date - the summons would have been issued correctly if the reminder was sent and the Final Notice and you did not clear the balance, but they will often remove the summons if they can see the account has been brought up to date and you state you did not receive the final notice, and you are willing to set up a payments by direct debit.

They dont have to, but it's kind of hard to go into court with a paid up account and tell the magistrate that the customer is not paying their bill and they need a liability order to recover the money.

Make sure you are up to date though, usually if you don't pay by Direct debit they want it by 1st of the month, so I would expect you to be able to show you have made 8 payments of the correct amounts April - November 2011.

CIS

We have this morning received a council tax summons for the cost of £331.31 + costs of £60.00, we are not sure why...........we are up to date with all our monthly payments, and they are now requesting the full amount by 1st december, we were two weeks late with one payment, but it was paid within the correct month this was due to me being hospitalised. not sure why we have had a summonds can anyone advise or help please

Being 2 weeks late may be the answer, if the council were quick on a reminder and you didn't pay within 7 days then the full years balance becomes due. Fail to pay that and a summons is issued. The fact payment was later made in the same month would not prevent this happening.

The only way to find out why the summons was issued is to speak with the council and ask them until then we can only give you possible reasons - the one I've given above seems the most plausible at the moment but there are many other possible reasons.

McKneff

Surely you get more contact from them before an actual summons that the amount is owed, ie reminder, final demand, etc

scattyaly

Hi thanks so much for your response, we did receive a letter saying we had lost the right to pay monthly but have not received any other form of communication from them (this is not a lie its the truth), but we are completely up to date with the full amount except the next two months installments one due 1st dec (when we are to appear in court for the summonds) and the installment for January. our installments are normally £138.00 and I have been paying £140 per month, I do however admit they have not been paid on the 1st of the month because we dont get money until about the 8th hence the late payments, but every single month they have been paid and the summonds is for this year 2011/2012 thanks again for your help in this

scattyaly

honestly...................we have not received reminders or anything of the sort and no final demand, I am really confused, I am willing to pay, and do pay monthly, also does anyone know if i pay before the date of 1st December, does this mean I still have to pay the £60.00 summons fee??

CIS

Surely you get more contact from them before an actual summons that the amount is owed, ie reminder, final demand, etc

The minimum is 1 demand and 1 reminder. They documents have to been issued before the summons - note that they as long as they are posted then the council have issued them correctly even if Royal Mail dont deliver them.

Hi thanks so much for your response, we did receive a letter saying we had lost the right to pay monthly but have not received any other form of communication from them

This sounds like a final notice.

scattyaly

oh poo just going though all my paperwork, in case thankks again for your help

CLAPTON

scattyaly wrote: »

Hi thanks so much for your response, we did receive a letter saying we had lost the right to pay monthly but have not received any other form of communication from them (this is not a lie its the truth), but we are completely up to date with the full amount except the next two months installments one due 1st dec (when we are to appear in court for the summonds) and the installment for January. our installments are normally £138.00 and I have been paying £140 per month, I do however admit they have not been paid on the 1st of the month because we dont get money until about the 8th hence the late payments, but every single month they have been paid and the summonds is for this year 2011/2012 thanks again for your help in this

well
if the payment is due on the 1st and you pay on the 8th then you have lost the right to pay monthly

I'm afraid you need to re-organise your finances so you pay on time each and every month

Beetlemama

scattyaly wrote: »

we did receive a letter saying we had lost the right to pay monthly

This was what they call a "Final Notice" - if you read it, it's going to say something like your full balance is due within 14 days and you can no longer pay by installments.

Move to the second part of my first answer, contacting the council and asking to go on DD. They might, but then again they might not.

The next step if they don't is to agree a repayment plan (summonsed arrangement or special arrangement) - which is pretty much just like paying your installments but includes the costs too.

I'm not sure what the charge will be, you said you'd been paying £140 a month and your insm was actually £138, which would leave two installments (Dec/Jan) being £138 x 2 = £276 (minus the 16 you have over paid = £260) - but you said the bill was £331.31 plus £60.00 costs. There might have been arrears from a previous year and if you are not paying the amount as billed, it's likely your first payment went to pay off an old debt, but I would have expected you to be summonsed before November if that were the case.