Council tax summons

epitome

I don't know the best board for this to go on but this seemed the most appropriate

I pay CT by installments I always pay 2 or 3 months at a time in advance, sometimes I forget and they send me a reminder when I have missed it by 2 weeks, and then I pay off 2 or 3 months again in one payment.

I got a reminder in July, I paid off July and August 2 days before the August payment was due. meaning I had to pay off September by the due date, but I forgot.

The councils reminders to me are always worded
"Our records show that you have an excellent payment record, however, due to what must be a slight oversight on your behalf you need to bring your payments up to date." And I always pay up and pay them more than what I actually owe them.

This bit is important as it shows the timelines they use for reminders:
I missed the payment due for 15/07/2014 and they sent a reminder on 23/07/2014 with a deadline for payment 05/08/2014,

The July letter says "You must pay in FULL NO LATER THAN 05/08/2014 or you will lose your right to pay by installments."
They also stated the "FULL amount" was the "July amount" so by saying pay in FULL they meant the FULL July Amount not the remainder of the year.

I paid on 13/08/2014 for July and August. and nothing was communicated to me in return.

So it is with regret, that I have missed September payment and did not recieve a reminder and so now on 01/10/2014 I have received a court summons. The council obviously did not send a reminder, because if they had, it would have been dated about 23/09/2014 with a due date of 05/10/2014 (today is only the 04/10/2014).

They also did not send me any letter (in August/September) informing me I had actually lost the right to pay by installments and to please pay the remainder of the full amount owing for 2014/2015

I now have a summons to pay the full amount plus court fees of £43 before 07/11/2014

I have no problem in paying off the full amount, I was going to do it today online but I am having internet problems so I intend to do it tomorrow online.... but I think the council has taken a disproportionate action against me and taken court action where none was necessary.


I owe £xxx in outstanding CT charge and £43 court costs

I am going to pay the £xxx tomorrow and then call the council customer services to dispute the court charge,

The letter says I must pay off both before the court date otherwise the court proceedings will continue.

I work full time M-F so would be unable to attend a court but I have half a mind to pay off the CT and go to court disputing the court charges for
* Disproportionate Action or Vexatious Litigation
* That no reminder was given (provable)
* That no notice was given that I had lost the right to pay by installments
* No demand for the remaining year amount was given to me.

Can anyone offer some help please?
And on going to court, do the courts of justice realise that the working man cannot attend to challenge an infringement of his rights Monday to Friday... and would want to be heard on a Saturday or Sunday?

sourcrates

You will only receive two reminders in any council tax year, followed by a final demand.
That is all they are required to give you by law, some councils are more lenient than others, but with the cuts to budgets etc, they are a lot more pro-active now in starting court action to get what's owed, sorry, but I don't think you have any cause for complaint.

epitome

sourcrates wrote: »

You will only receive two reminders in any council tax year, followed by a final demand.
That is all they are required to give you by law, some councils are more lenient than others, but with the cuts to budgets etc, they are a lot more pro-active now in starting court action to get what's owed, sorry, but I don't think you have any cause for complaint.

Well I only got one reminder (July) (which I paid) and I did not get any final demand.

sourcrates

epitome wrote: »

Well I only got one reminder (July) (which I paid) and I did not get any final demand.

As I said, some councils follow different rules, but the maximum number of reminders is two, they can be funny beasts some of them unfortunately, its good that you are in a position to be able to pay it off really, you could complain, you may get somewhere, or they may just respond saying tough !!!, maybe worth a letter !!

epitome

sourcrates wrote: »

maybe worth a letter !!

Indeed...........!

CIS

The July letter says "You must pay in FULL NO LATER THAN 05/08/2014 or you will lose your right to pay by installments."
They also stated the "FULL amount" was the "July amount" so by saying pay in FULL they meant the FULL July Amount not the remainder of the year.

I paid on 13/08/2014 for July and August. and nothing was communicated to me in return.

There's your problem - you didn't pay for July by the 5/8/14 so you lost the right to pay by instalments. No further notification is required before they issue the summons.

Whether you have paid more monies after that date or they have delayed issuing the summons does not affect it being issued (unless you cleared the full years balance in the meantime).

gfplux

Sometimes when you are gaming the system it goes wrong.
I imagine you will have now lost the right to pay by Installments.

chasingfreedom

epitome wrote: »

I don't know the best board for this to go on but this seemed the most appropriate

I pay CT by installments I always pay 2 or 3 months at a time in advance, sometimes I forget and they send me a reminder when I have missed it by 2 weeks, and then I pay off 2 or 3 months again in one payment.

I got a reminder in July, I paid off July and August 2 days before the August payment was due. meaning I had to pay off September by the due date, but I forgot.

The councils reminders to me are always worded
"Our records show that you have an excellent payment record, however, due to what must be a slight oversight on your behalf you need to bring your payments up to date." And I always pay up and pay them more than what I actually owe them.

This bit is important as it shows the timelines they use for reminders:
I missed the payment due for 15/07/2014 and they sent a reminder on 23/07/2014 with a deadline for payment 05/08/2014,

The July letter says "You must pay in FULL NO LATER THAN 05/08/2014 or you will lose your right to pay by installments."
They also stated the "FULL amount" was the "July amount" so by saying pay in FULL they meant the FULL July Amount not the remainder of the year.

I paid on 13/08/2014 for July and August. and nothing was communicated to me in return.

So it is with regret, that I have missed September payment and did not recieve a reminder and so now on 01/10/2014 I have received a court summons. The council obviously did not send a reminder, because if they had, it would have been dated about 23/09/2014 with a due date of 05/10/2014 (today is only the 04/10/2014).

They also did not send me any letter (in August/September) informing me I had actually lost the right to pay by installments and to please pay the remainder of the full amount owing for 2014/2015

I now have a summons to pay the full amount plus court fees of £43 before 07/11/2014

I have no problem in paying off the full amount, I was going to do it today online but I am having internet problems so I intend to do it tomorrow online.... but I think the council has taken a disproportionate action against me and taken court action where none was necessary.


I owe £xxx in outstanding CT charge and £43 court costs

I am going to pay the £xxx tomorrow and then call the council customer services to dispute the court charge,

The letter says I must pay off both before the court date otherwise the court proceedings will continue.

I work full time M-F so would be unable to attend a court but I have half a mind to pay off the CT and go to court disputing the court charges for
* Disproportionate Action or Vexatious Litigation
* That no reminder was given (provable)
* That no notice was given that I had lost the right to pay by installments
* No demand for the remaining year amount was given to me.

Can anyone offer some help please?
And on going to court, do the courts of justice realise that the working man cannot attend to challenge an infringement of his rights Monday to Friday... and would want to be heard on a Saturday or Sunday?

I'm not sure how you are paying 2/3 months in advance. It sounds more like you are paying a month's arrears plus the current month owed? The council get unhappy very quickly and are very quick to withdraw the option of monthly installments. They don't have to offer this and you may find now that you will be expected to pay for the whole year. Also from the information you provided you quoted "You must pay in FULL NO LATER THAN 05/08/2014 or you will lose your right to pay by installments." You then went on to say you paid 13/08, so therefore you missed their deadline? They don't have to then write to you and say right we're withdrawing the installments. They already told you that would happen if you missed the deadline.

Sorry to be harsh but this is an amount which you know is due every month on the same date, you cannot complain that they didn't 'remind' you that you hadn't paid on time.

You cannot mess with the council, they are the fastest to take you to court if you aren't paying properly. They also generally do exactly what is required within the law with regards to reminders/letters. (I know from experience) and not a thing more. As soon as they have done what is required they file for court immediately if you do not start paying properly.

I also personally don't think you have a leg to stand on with them refunding court costs. I would be very surprised if you got that back, but good for you if you do.