Court summons for paid council tax

stirlingblue

Hi,

I had an unpaid council tax amount which I agreed a payment plan on. I slipped on the plan and stopped paying and had a liability of over £1,000.

I panicked in the whole situation and basically hid from it. I didn't open any letters and stupidly hoped it would go away. I recently paid of the amount in full when I came into some money but have had a phone call saying that even though I am now fully paid up I will be receiving a court summons as I ignored the letters.

Why is this happening? If I have now paid in full what can I expect to happen?

sourcrates

Hi,
You would just defend the claim on the basis the account has been paid, hence there is no case to answer.
You must respond to the court in a timely manor, as strict timescales will apply.

You may have to pay the fee associated with the court action, i am unsure on this point, as at the time of the court action been triggered, you still hadn't paid the account, but the court papers will tell you more about this.

CIS

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,
You would just defend the claim on the basis the account has been paid, hence there is no case to answer.
You must respond to the court in a timely manor, as strict timescales will apply.

You may have to pay the fee associated with the court action, i am unsure on this point, but the court papers will tell you more about this.

In the first instance you need to speak to the council and find out when the summons was issued compared to when you cleared the balance.

99% of similar cases I deal with are either the payment crossed as it took a few days to clear or you paid the balance but not the court costs. The council can pursue for just the costs if the balance was paid after the summons was issued.

stirlingblue

Thanks for the quick responses, I haven't yet received the summons but have been told one is in the post.

Do I have to attend court in person or can I send a letter response explaining that I've already paid? I can't believe I was so stupid, will I have any sort of record (ie criminal/credit) for doing this?

CIS

Do I have to attend court in person or can I send a letter response explaining that I've already paid? I can't believe I was so stupid, will I have any sort of record (ie criminal/credit) for doing this?

You don't need to physically attend the court but in the first instance it's the council you need to speak with if you think it's been paid and should not be proceeded with as they can stop the case progressing to the liability order application. Most queries like this can be easily solved in a couple of minutes of speaking to the council.

You won't get a criminal record or anything on your credit record for this.

teeni

However if you do appear in court and explain the payment had been made and any mitigating circumstances to why you missed the payment you may find that the costs are not awarded.

CIS

teeni wrote: »

However if you do appear in court and explain the payment had been made and any mitigating circumstances to why you missed the payment you may find that the costs are not awarded.

The court can make a decision not to award costs but they have no powers to consider mitigating circumstances regarding the issuing of the summons or liability order itself. If it gets to a point of arguing over the costs only then it's more than likely an issue that could have been sorted before it gets to the liability order hearing.

In nearly 10 years I've known only a handful of cases where the court have granted a liability order and costs have not been awarded - even those cases were because the council agreed to drop the request for costs rather than the court refusing to award them.