Council Tax Summons

ic31420

I have recently received a summons for council tax 2013 - 2014. Full amount + £80 fee.

Two weeks earlier i received a letter asking for £140 or i would be summonsed to mags court.

I paid £250 immediately and intended on forgetting about it until today when I could just pay the full 12 months and be done with it.

The day the summons came I phoned up to ask what was going on.

The council explained the £250 just covered last years tax (for which they had sent me a statement but nothing saying when it had to be paid by - Literally was a peice of paper with the account number, address my name and the amount on it and a DD form).

To cut a long story short I everything due but refused to pay the £80, they refused to withdraw this charge as they stated the summons was correctly issued.

I

a) dispute this as I paid the £140 + some as requested on on the earlier letter.
b) I am asking them to consider this a civil debt and not "council tax" and as such invited them to pursue it in the small claims court.
c) Eitherway I still fancy my chances turning up at mags and either letting them settle before the hearing or letting the mags pick the bones out of it. As I see it the worst that can happen at court is I lose the £80.

Given that I spent Feb/March chasing the council to send me a statement and advise me how much the tax would be I am mildly PO.

It must be said the local cllrs have been most helpful and sympathetic and are seeing the head of collections on my behalf later this week.


Anyways my real question here is will this affect my Credit Rating and if so how long will it take to show?

Everything I read here says No but the council are adamant that it will, I just think they or rather "Lee" is trying to use this as a threat to turn the thumbscrews

Naf

No, CT summons don't result in CCJs and won't show up on your credit file. However, they can apply an attachment to your earnings with your employer and/or decide too send in bailiffs if the court finds in their favour.
You'll be lucky to avoid the £80, but if you pay up the full balance right away and appeal to someone's better judgement before the court date you might get lucky.

matttye

ic31420 wrote: »

c) Eitherway I still fancy my chances turning up at mags and either letting them settle before the hearing or letting the mags pick the bones out of it. As I see it the worst that can happen at court is I lose the £80.

+ prosecution costs and a fine.

CIS

a) dispute this as I paid the £140 + some as requested on on the earlier letter.

Was the £250.0 the exact sum for last years arrears ?

b) I am asking them to consider this a civil debt and not "council tax" and as such invited them to pursue it in the small claims court.

Not going to happen.

c) Eitherway I still fancy my chances turning up at mags and either letting them settle before the hearing or letting the mags pick the bones out of it. As I see it the worst that can happen at court is I lose the £80.

You would have to convince the magistrate that the amount shown on the reminder notice was paid in full before the court summons>

If you paid £250.00 just after receiving a demand notice for last years council tax and that was the actual amount owing from last year then you will have a hard time convincing the court that £140.00 was actually for this years council tax.

CIS

The council explained the £250 just covered last years tax (for which they had sent me a statement but nothing saying when it had to be paid by - Literally was a peice of paper with the account number, address my name and the amount on it and a DD form).

Any council tax demand notice issued to you would give you at least 1 instalment date - the only caveat to this would be if you had already had a court summons in respect of that particular period; in which case there wouldn't be an instalment date as you would have already lost the right to pay by instalments.

ic31420

CIS wrote: »

Was the £250.0 the exact sum for last years arrears ?



Not going to happen.



You would have to convince the magistrate that the amount shown on the reminder notice was paid in full before the court summons>

If you paid £250.00 just after receiving a demand notice for last years council tax and that was the actual amount owing from last year then you will have a hard time convincing the court that £140.00 was actually for this years council tax.

Last years sum due was £265

I have not had a demand for last years just a statement and a blank DD mandate. Nowhere does it state when it must be paid, nor does it offer payment options. There isn't even a phone number or address on either the DD form or the statement!

I received the demand "for 2013-2014 for £140" on the 20th and the payment of £250 shows on my bank statement as the 22nd.

Summons issued on 8/5.

As said I paid the £265 from last year, council accept that no payment deadline was specified on their statement which is the only correspondence I have had from them in respect of last years fee. It should be noted i only moved into the district in Jan hence why that amount was due. I suspect had i not started chasing the council to pay them through feb/march then they would have not bothered.

As mentioned had I received a demand for 140 (2013-2014) & 265 for (2012-2013) then I would have paid at least £405.


As typing...
Local Councillor has just phoned to tell me the Summons has been cancelled and was cancelled when I paid in full, the £80 fee will be cancelled from my account and that they service manager has agreed that they "could have done better".

Reason for withdrawal of the fee is that I acted in good faith and in accordance with their requests/demand notice. Apparently the manager will be in touch to explain further.

Genuinely impressed by local Councillor.