Wrongly summoned (Council Tax)

Koios

Hi there,

I apologise if this is in the wrong section, but I couldn't find the appropriate one.

Basically, when I started my job I get paid 1 month in arrears. So in the month of October, it wasn't possible for us to pay our council tax. We called up the council and we agreed to pay 1.5 months in November and in December. All was fine, in November we paid 1.5 months. On 2nd December we, again, transferred 1.5 months which would of brought us up to date. Then on the 6th of December, we received a letter to say we hadn't paid. We called them Monday morning (as they were already closed when we got the letter) and they confirmed that they had the money.

Then, on Saturday we received a letter saying we were being summoned to court for not paying (despite even the court letter itself saying we were actually up-to-date and only owed Jan, Feb and March payments (2014). So, my partner called the council and they basically told us they will drop it if we pay a £55 admin fee. We said no since it wasn't our mistake. I then called up as I wasn't happy with the resolution that was suggested, and magically all evidence of us ever calling in to say we wanted to make the payments for October in 2 halves have disappeared - keep in mind, this was fine all of October and November, it is only when they have made a mistake they can't find any record of it.

All that is on our accounts are cryptic messages from the people we spoke to. For example, one says "Advised to call back once payments have been made". But no knowledge of us requesting to pay in 2 x installments.


Can anyone offer any advice on this? I'm extremely worried about this


Thanks in advance.

uknick

Not knowing your council and its procedures, and assuming what you have posted it the absolute gospel truth (i.e. you followed the agreed payment plan), I'm tempted to say the council will drop any charge after you write complaining.

I can't see them wanting to go to court to argue they have summoned you for doing what they agreed you could do.

To my mind, what undermines their case is they offered to drop the summons if you paid the admin fee. Why? This must mean they don't think you don't owe any council tax or why drop the case? If you don't owe any tax, why ask you to pay the admin charge if you've done nothing wrong?

This does reek of a balls up by your council and they won't admit it.

Koios

uknick wrote: »

Not knowing your council and its procedures, and assuming what you have posted it the absolute gospel truth (i.e. you followed the agreed payment plan), I'm tempted to say the council will drop any charge after you write complaining.

I can't see them wanting to go to court to argue they have summoned you for doing what they agreed you could do.

To my mind, what undermines their case is they offered to drop the summons if you paid the admin fee. Why? This must mean they don't think you don't owe any council tax or why drop the case? If you don't owe any tax, why ask you to pay the admin charge if you've done nothing wrong?

This does reek of a balls up by your council and they won't admit it.

Thanks for your reply. We followed the agreed payment plan 100%. From my last phone call, the man has basically said there is no record on my account of them agreeing to let us pay in 2 halves. However, we've called up when we transferred the money (and evidence of that is on the account, but it's very cryptic (It just says "advised to call once payments have been made"). However, as I've said this payment plan has been find for the last 2 months - so why has it suddenly become a problem?!

I've spoken to the citizens advice bureau and I'm currently writing up a letter of complaint I'm then going to go into my local bureau tomorrow.

The fee to drop the amount is what is also in the letter though. If we agree to pay the £55.00 fee and then we can continue to pay monthly. It also says though, that if we don't pay and we'll then have to pay a £110.00 fee on top of our council tax.

I also don't owe any council tax! We are completely up to date, which is what I don't understand...

CIS

(despite even the court letter itself saying we were actually up-to-date and only owed Jan, Feb and March payments (2014)

Being up to date doesn't stop a summons being issued - the summons takes in to account the amount paid but it also takes in to account when it was paid.

What you need to establish is whether there's was a formal agreed payment plan - there's a world of difference between you saying I can pay at a later and the council saying ok but any non-payment action continues compared to you saying I can pay at a later and the council saying ok, that's fine, we'll halt any action.

Savvy_Sue

CIS wrote: »

Being up to date doesn't stop a summons being issued - the summons takes in to account the amount paid but it also takes in to account when it was paid.

What you need to establish is whether there's was a formal agreed payment plan - there's a world of difference between you saying I can pay at a later and the council saying ok but any non-payment action continues compared to you saying I can pay at a later and the council saying ok, that's fine, we'll halt any action.

I can understand your distinction, but is it normal to initiate action for non-payment when the account isn't in arrears? the letter they've been sent says they only owe Jan Feb and March ...

I know when I worked for a Housing Association we wouldn't have taken anyone to court unless they were actually in arrears with their rent!