Council Tax Summons Help

Bilbous

Ok firstly not sure were to post this so sorry if in the wrong place.

Ok a quick rundown of the situation.

Roughly 3-4 weeks ago we received a letter about non paid council tax for around £200. We rang the number on the letter and explained our situation (will go into detail about that at the end) and that we could pay %50 now and the other %50 at the end of the month.
To say they were vague and unhelpful is an understatement but we paid %50 regardless.
Now today we received a letter telling us we are being issued with a summons for non payment, we rang them and explained we would pay the remainder of the outstanding council tax in 2 days time but were told unless we paid the £80 charges on top we would still be taken to court.

Now our circumstances are as follows.

Until November last year myself and my wife were unemployed, and my wife got a job. We were awarded X amount in working tax and child tax credits and a certain amount of help with Housing costs. We had no letters for council tax so assumed we were getting that as well.
In April my wife got accepted for a new job and expected to start in a couple of week so handed in her notice hoping to have a weeks holiday before starting the new job. However as it turns out the new job took a while longer to start so she was out of work for 4 weeks. During this time we never claimed jobseekers or anything else as we felt it would be a waste of time as by the time it was sorted she would be in her new job.

We explained all this to the council on the phone but they have said that unless we also pay the £80 costs we will be at court.

I have bitten the bullet slightly and paid the final outstanding amount with a little help from parents, but I am loathe to pay the £80 extra for the purpose of one letter. They refuse to waive the £80 even though the outstanding amount has been paid.

Any advice on this or are we best just paying the £80 and forgetting the whole sorry story??

Thanks for any help and advice.

vax2002

Ask them to provide a "case" number for the court, not a reference number a court case number, when they can not provide one that refers to a court case ask them what stunt they are trying to pull.

Bilbous

I just rang and they gave me a hearing number.

DVardysShadow

Turn up to the hearing then. If you have to pay for it, you might as well get some sympathy from the beaks for having your and their time wasted.

nottoolate

Bilbous wrote: »

We explained all this to the council on the phone but they have said that unless we also pay the £80 costs we will be at court.

reasonable costs i presume

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/613/regulation/34/made

5) If, after a summons has been issued in accordance with paragraph (2) but before the application is heard, there is paid or tendered to the authority an amount equal to the aggregate of—

(a)the sum specified in the summons as the sum outstanding or so much of it as remains outstanding (as the case may be); and

(b)a sum of an amount equal to the costs reasonably incurred by the authority in connection with the application up to the time of the payment or tender,

the authority shall accept the amount and the application shall not be proceeded with.

if part (b) is unpaid they can presumably proceed to court for those costs

Bilbous

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Turn up to the hearing then. If you have to pay for it, you might as well get some sympathy from the beaks for having your and their time wasted.

That was going to be my next question. Would we incur further costs by going to the hearing?

CIS

if part (b) is unpaid they can presumably proceed to court for those costs

That's correct

That was going to be my next question. Would we incur further costs by going to the hearing?

You won't.

I have bitten the bullet slightly and paid the final outstanding amount with a little help from parents, but I am loathe to pay the £80 extra for the purpose of one letter. They refuse to waive the £80 even though the outstanding amount has been paid.

To be truthful there's nothing in what you have said which would stop the summons being legally issued - the magistrate cannot consider your personal circumstances, anything regarding council tax benefit or mitigating circumstances why the monies were not paid, its not in their remit.

The magistrate would consider whether a) you were the person due to pay, b) whether the bill and reminder were issued correctly and c) whether it has not been paid as due (there are some other considerations but they are not relevant in this case).

I just rang and they gave me a hearing number.

Ignore Vax2002, they have a vendetta against anything against council tax - by stating they have given the relevant hearing number for the court you have (once again ) proved Vax wrong. There's nothing wrong with people being objective but when they give you misleading information the only person it harms is the person looking for advice.

Bilbous

Thank you CIS, so I guess i should pay the extra ah well no harm in asking and it is a stupid rule with no leeway given by the councils for genuine cases.

CIS

ah well no harm in asking and it is a stupid rule with no leeway given by the councils for genuine cases.

The problems is finding the genuine cases amongst the scammers - this can be very, very difficult so many councils stick to the statutory legislation covering council tax and wont budge .

chanz4

I wouldnt pay the extra, goto court and state that you had an arrangment. Also state that yes you owe the money, however they had agreed for the payment plan and the last payment was due the end of this month. Still pay as planned, ask for the costs not to be awarded

CIS

I wouldnt pay the extra, goto court and state that you had an arrangment.

The OP appears to have discussed an arrangement but it doesn't appear it was accepted by the council.

To say they were vague and unhelpful is an understatement but we paid %50 regardless.