County court summons for council tax. Oh god.

TakeAwayKing_2

Yesterday I received a court summons for unpaid council tax. And to say I am scared is an understatement!!

I have been out of work for six months and my partner has been out for two.

I started working four weeks ago and am paid weekly. My partner got a job yesterday and starts on Monday. So things are looking up, this just needs to be dealt with.

My payments to the council re council tax are a bit behind. I didn't have enough to pay the September instalment on the 1st September due date and had been planning to pay it this coming Wednesday the 9th.

I think all bar one of my payments so far this year (since April) have been a week or two late as I have been struggling. I spoke to the council about it in May when they demanded the full amount from me and they agreed again to start taking payments monthly. I know they must be getting mightily peed off at me.

Last month I got another reminder asking for payment of the full amount up until the end of March next year and very very stupidly (I realise that now) I didn't speak to the council about it, I just went online a paid a month's instalment (paid August instalment on around the 20th August)

I have now received this court summons for the full amount up until 31 March 2016 due to appear in three weeks.

I know this is all my fault and I should have spoken to the council again when I got the last reminder but I was scared. As I am now.

Is it too late do you think to call them today and ask if I can pay them september's on Wednesday and then on the 1st of the month now my partner is working and we will be ok?

fatbelly

Magistrates Court, surely.

Yes, keep engaging with the council. They may well still want the liability order to 'secure' their position. But there is no reason why they should not enter into a payment arrangement with you rather than use any enforcement method.

I would expect them to want the debt cleared by end-March so if you can afford a monthly payment of total balance /7 then all should be well, and nothing to worry about.

Have you checked if you can get council tax support? And does your council offer exceptional relief? It may be completely buried and confusingly named like this one, so you'll have to ask.

https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/advice-and-benefits/benefits/council-tax-support/exceptional-relief/?altTemplate=ie7Standard

TakeAwayKing_2

Sorry, yes, magistrates court. I am in a bit of a flap.

Thank you for that. I will check the link.

Yes I can pay the whole amount by the end of March and I know I should have done the grown up thing and discussed that with them when I got the last reminder, rather than stick my head in the sand, make a month's payment and hope that would be enough ....

God I feel sick.

dancingfairy

You only get a certain number of late or missed payments before the council will issue the court summons (I think it's 2 missed payments) at which point your right to pay in installments is cancelled (as you have now discovered).
You have nothing to lose by speaking to the council. They *may* cancel the summons but obviously they may well have shelled out the cost for this already (approx £90) so you may have to pay this. It depends on your council and how flexible the person you spoke to is. The councils will have been messed around a lot before by people with no intention of paying and who come up with a different sob story each week so you may have your work cut out for them to be sympathetic.
If it does go to court, it's the magistrates court so you will not end up with a CCJ. You will however have to pay costs (around £90). In court it is pretty much a rubber stamping process - does x owe this money? have they been billed correctly? then they get the liability order. There is little/no point attending this hearing (unless you can prove they haven't billed correctly/you are not the correct person etc).
Once the council have the liability order they then have a range of options to enforce it, they can call in bailiffs, they can attach benefits or earnings and I think there may be a couple more options.
Contd in next post.
df

TakeAwayKing_2

Is the liability order a court order demanding that I pay them or will it allow them to come to my home at the end of September after the court hearing or something?

dancingfairy

Your council may well insist that the process goes ahead and will almost certainly get the liability order. Once that has been granted you need to get the council to either accept a payment plan (on the understanding that if you mess up again they are likely to call in the bailiffs which could end up costing you a lot more (and are a lot more hassle)) or you ask them to attach your wages (there is a set percentage they can take from your wages and they have to allow you a minimum to live on).
Obviously if you can persuade the council to cancel the liability order and save any costs then this is preferable so give it a try first.
df

dancingfairy

They *may* appoint bailiffs, and the majority of councils will probably consider this the first option as bailiffs are remarkably good at collecting the money and it means they don't have to get too involved then. But as said above the council have other options which would be better if you can ask them to use them.
However, bailiffs can be busy people so don't expect them to come the next day!
There is lots of help on the national debtline website so I will try and post you a link.
df
edit: factsheet here: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx
Read the factsheet above so you have an idea of what's what and then phone the council and see what they say.

CIS

If you contact the council then it's unlikely they won't accept a payment arrangement that clear by March 16 - they will however almost certainly continue with the application for the liability order.

Each council will have their own policy as to what they'll accept at this stage so you need to speak directly with them however the simplest option for the council is to obtain the liability order and agree the payment arrangement.

fatbelly

fatbelly wrote: »

Yes, keep engaging with the council. They may well still want the liability order to 'secure' their position. But there is no reason why they should not enter into a payment arrangement with you rather than use any enforcement method.

I would expect them to want the debt cleared by end-March so if you can afford a monthly payment of total balance /7 then all should be well, and nothing to worry about.

CIS wrote: »

If you contact the council then it's unlikely they won't accept a payment arrangement that clear by March 16 - they will however almost certainly continue with the application for the liability order.

Each council will have their own policy as to what they'll accept at this stage so you need to speak directly with them however the simplest option for the council is to obtain the liability order and agree the payment arrangement.

Singing from the same hymnsheet!

TakeAwayKing_2

Hi all. And thank you for all your advice and support.

I called the council in a bit of a flap and managed to arrange a payment arrangement with them whereby if I make septembers payment next weds and then payments going forward on the first of the month (as I should be anyway) they will be happy.

I asked what I needed to do about the hearing.

I was told "don't worry about that"

Phew

CIS

TakeAwayKing wrote: »

Hi all. And thank you for all your advice and support.

I called the council in a bit of a flap and managed to arrange a payment arrangement with them whereby if I make septembers payment next weds and then payments going forward on the first of the month (as I should be anyway) they will be happy.

I asked what I needed to do about the hearing.

I was told "don't worry about that"

Phew

Did they say they were withdrawing the application though ?