Scott + co council tax arrears

kensterscott

Hi everyone,

I received a letter today that. I'm both confused and concerned by.

I had council tax arrears a few tears ago and this was mainly because the council for three years had not given me my entitled discount, they passed this on to Buchanan Clark and well sand I started to pay I was paying every month with no problems.

So today I received a letter from Scott + co advising me I have a 218.24 outstanding payment that must be paid within 7 days or there will be further action.

I have no idea why this has arrived and I'm not sure what to do if I'm honest. I don't want to have to go through the same pain I went tithe last time having to speak to the council to get them to admit mistakes.

Is there any advise, oh im in Glasgow Scotland

G51shopaholic

It is up to the Debt collection agency to prove you owe the money not for you to prove you dont.

Tell them that you do not accept this debt and they should provide proof.

It would also be advisable to pack a couple of pieces and a flask of tea and go down to George's Square and speak to the staff there. Only the Council can call off the dogs!

It is up to you to apply for your discount and this should be backdated but you might find that the money that's being chased is the fees and penalties added on by both the Council and collection agency.

If i remember rightly the excuse they use for this is that you need to pay full council tax until discounts are applied.

Stupid thing is if you overpay they dont give the money back!!!

Good luck

CIS

If i remember rightly the excuse they use for this is that you need to pay full council tax until discounts are applied.

As far as council tax law is concerned the full balance is due until you have applied for and been awarded any reductions (common sense really)

It is up to the Debt collection agency to prove you owe the money not for you to prove you dont.

Not in this case - the liability order confirms (as far as the court is concerned) that he owes the money, it would be for the OP to prove otherwise.

kensterscott

It doesn't say anywhere on the letter it's a liability order.

It looks letter you would receive from a dca only difference with this one is it says at the top sheriff officers and messengers at arms.

I contacted the council who amended the balance in approx may 2009, since I had been paying 100 per month until they agreed to amend the balance then it was reduced down to 50 per month to clear it was a small balance after this.

If this is charges I would dispute this since it was their error which they did confirm at the time since the paperwork had been correctly received. And also why has it taken over 3 years to get in contact since last payments were received for a somethIng that happened between 2000 a 2007 I don't understand how they can do this.

RobertoMoir

G51shopaholic wrote: »

It is up to the Debt collection agency to prove you owe the money not for you to prove you dont.

Tell them that you do not accept this debt and they should provide proof.

This is potentially very bad advice indeed when related to council tax. It's not the same as a normal debt.

DVardysShadow

RobertoMoir wrote: »

G51shopaholic wrote: »

It is up to the Debt collection agency to prove you owe the money not for you to prove you dont.

Tell them that you do not accept this debt and they should provide proof.

This is potentially very bad advice indeed when related to council tax. It's not the same as a normal debt.

Although council tax debt is not the same as normal debt, I wouldn't say that the advice is 'bad' or 'potentially bad'. I would just say that it is easy to misunderstand it.

The misunderstanding revolves around proof of the debt.DCA's cannot just turrn up and demand money without some provable basis for doing so. In the case of a council tax debt, I would assume that proof is derived from a liability order - and this is what I would expect the DCA to provide.

FireWyrm

G51shopaholic wrote: »

It is up to the Debt collection agency to prove you owe the money not for you to prove you dont.

Tell them that you do not accept this debt and they should provide proof.

It would also be advisable to pack a couple of pieces and a flask of tea and go down to George's Square and speak to the staff there. Only the Council can call off the dogs!

It is up to you to apply for your discount and this should be backdated but you might find that the money that's being chased is the fees and penalties added on by both the Council and collection agency.

If i remember rightly the excuse they use for this is that you need to pay full council tax until discounts are applied.

Stupid thing is if you overpay they dont give the money back!!!

Good luck

Council Tax is not a normal civil debt and the same rules do not apply in this case.

May I suggest that you gain a little more experience before offering advice since the course of action outlined above is could be quite disastrous for the OP. Council Tax debts should never ever be ignored and no one should be playing the usual games that they play with other DCAs. For a start, debt collection operatives charged with recovery of council tax bills are in fact court appointed bailiffs and as such have powers similar to the police or other governmental agency. Council tax collections departments are generally inflexible, but are even less helpful if they are not in possession of the facts. Council tax is a priority debt and as such should be paid before all others save the mortgage. One should simply not mess with this situation and should deal with it head on and decisively using letters and visits to the local office as necessary.

RobertoMoir

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Although council tax debt is not the same as normal debt, I wouldn't say that the advice is 'bad' or 'potentially bad'. I would just say that it is easy to misunderstand it.

The misunderstanding revolves around proof of the debt.DCA's cannot just turrn up and demand money without some provable basis for doing so. In the case of a council tax debt, I would assume that proof is derived from a liability order - and this is what I would expect the DCA to provide.

Indeed, I should have explained that better. In my defence I'm running a fever at the moment and can hardly think straight.