Council Tax lies and fraud.

trowe87

Ok,

So i had a slight issue with my council tax when i first moved into my house, obviously it usually takes awhile to send out a council tax form for the yearly amount they want. So i spoke to them and got my account information and started paying off a weekly amount like i was at my previous address.
A month later i get my bill and put it in the drawer continuing my payments. Eventually i get a letter saying i haven't paid my monthly installment of some stupid amount! I've been paying a set amount each week which was no way near the amount they said i should be paying a month.
I have no phone so i emailed them once a week for the next three weeks, then i got a final demand letter.
I managed to get a specific email for a council member so sent them an email once a week for two weeks, then i finally got a response!
The lady said i had to pay more money to get my account paid off by march 2014 but my ability to pay by installments was void now! I went through everything and figured out how much i needed to top up my weekly payments by to get my CT paid off by March 2014, i then emailed her back and told her everything and said i was paying it now and it would be paid by end of march 2014 so no issues etc. I also asked about my university letters for discount and she replied a few days letter telling me to send them in but no mention about the payment plan.
I continued paying the new amount for three months and today get a court summons!!!

Now this court summons seems as fake as anything to me! It has no court seal at the top, the signature looks like its been photocopied on.
I emailed the same woman (got a response same day!) This is her response:

Further to your email of 7.10.2013 I am writing to confirm that a final notice was issued dated 21.06.2013 withdrawing your right to pay by instalments, the full balance of £1086.67 was due to be paid, as you were not paying the bills in accordance with the instalments requested in our bill of 12.03.2013.

If you had wished to pay weekly payments you should have ensured that the full monthly payment was on the account by the due date.

The summons has been issued correctly.

We are now able to make a weekly arrangement with you that will be secured by the liability order that will be granted in court on 28th October. You do not need to attend the court and a copy of the arrangement will be posted today.

Kind Regards

Now as far as i was concerned i had already been paying a payment plan! How can they send me their fraudulent court summons 2 and 1/2 months later! Despite me still paying the weekly payments... Because they want a liability order? Why!? When i am still paying anyway! Makes no sense to me at all!
She also tells me the liability order WILL be granted.... How would she know that? I'm sure if i went to court and saw an actual magistrate not the fake council members only court hearing, they wouldn't bother granting an order as they can see i'm paying and it would be paid off by march 2014 so there would be no point!
Of course i'm not able to attend court anyway its over 15 miles away from me and i can't drive, so i have no chance.

Can't wait until i ask for a legitimate liability order from the court as i know i won't ever get one!

Can someone tell me what is the point of them desperately wanting a liability order despite me making my weekly payments?

Voyager2002

Surely a wind-up!

The court summons is genuine, and unless you want the liability order to be granted then you do need to attend. A fifteen-mile walk is unpleasant, but preferable to a liability order. Or you could see if there is a bus, or borrow a bicycle, or...

marliepanda

So you carried on paying an arbitrary weekly amount instead of using your bill to work out what you should have been paying. You got into arrears and missed multiple monthly installments.

You have lost your right to installments. You will have had many chances to sort this out. You need to start doing what they ask you too as so far you haven't done things correctly.

trowe87

I didn't miss any payments i paid everything i told them i would. I did not expect my bill to be several hundred pounds different to the year before. So i just paid what i normally did, as soon as they told me this was wrong i arranged a correct amount and continued paying and now have this court summons because they want a liability order.... For what? I've paid the correct amount to cover my council tax for almost 3 months now! There is no reason for a court summons!

marliepanda

No you didn't. You got the bill (that is them telling you the right amount) and carried on paying what you felt like.

Why you thought the bill would be the same in a different house makes no sense. All houses gave different bands and amounts will be different.u

You ignored the bill. What else are they going to do? You are clearly still massively behind. You cannot choose your own repayment schedule. If you had brought the bill up to date when you first realised then maybe they would have reconsidered. But you carried on with your own payments, which the council clearly hadn't agreed to) and will be in arrears until the last payment no doubt. They won't allow that.

trowe87

The woman informed me the bill has to be all paid by the end of march 2014 and that my new weekly payments were fine, however they NOW want a liability order... Just because? This is 2 1/2 months later. They request for example £150 every month in installments, this is paid by the end of every month with my new weekly payments so i am now completely up to date and it will be paid by the end of March 2014 as she has instructed me it has to.

trowe87

And no i didn't expect the bill to be any different... Same size house... Same road.

Gigglepig

trowe87 wrote: »

And no i didn't expect the bill to be any different... Same size house... Same road.

It is understandable that this is confusing, but unfortunately you now owe them money. It seems you have two options, Either pay in full immediately or you need to follow the instructions they give you regarding downpayment to the letter.

It might be an expensive lesson but it sounds like this has gone too far now for you to negotiate or stop it, unless you can pay back in full immediately and ask them to withdraw?

It sounds very clear at you owe rhem the money, so the court appointment could be just a formality they council goes through after having been owed money for a while - to make sure they recover the debt and also their costs (it will have cost them time and money to chase this debt, and they might want interest? ) If you go to cab they migh be able to advise what the court appointment means.

trowe87

The council woman has literally told me she knows i'm paying, the payments are fine there is no issue with the account and the council wants the liability order just in case.

That makes no sense to me, also the woman who emailed me today said:

We are now able to make a weekly arrangement with you that will be secured by the liability order that will be granted in court on 28th October. You do not need to attend the court and a copy of the arrangement will be posted today.


But i had already made the payment arrangement with them months ago! That i paid every week... She says the liability order SECURES the payments!?
None of it makes sense to me.

marliepanda

What woman? Do you have anything she said in writing?

As far as the council are concerned you clearly are not up to date. If, for example, you were £120 in arrears with 6 months left. You cannot simply pay an extra £20 for 6 months. You will be £100 in arrears, then £80 etc. You'd have to pay the £120 as soon as you found out.

Right now, regardless of the fact it 'will' be paid off in time, you're in arrears and council tax won't allow that.

trowe87

I have the emails from the first woman, i then rang an spoke to a second woman so i do not have this in writing.
I understand then when for example the £150 is due on the 1st of every month i am in arrears until the end of the month when i have paid it. I simply cannot afford to pay it all on one day, i can only pay the amounts weekly. But i cover it at the end of every month it is due. This was fine when agreed 2 1/2 months ago.

Regardless of this my only question is, if there is already an agreement in place for payments, which i have been sticking to why are they now trying to get a liability order to as she said "secure" my payments!?