Need help with Council Tax Debt from 08/09 & 09/10 (Scotland)

tibercov83

Hi,

I've just received a letter from Walker Love advising that a Summary Warrant for recovery of arrears of Council Tax has been passed to them for collection.

They are asking that I pay a total of £786 in the next seven days. The debt relates to years 08/09 and 09/10 and belongs to an old address.

I'm really worried about this as they state they can arrest my wages and bank account if i don't pay. I just wondered what options are available to me? I mean i'm kinda struggling as it is and could not afford to pay this off in full. I also feel that i may have grounds to contest the amount as I was not working for the full 09/10 period where the bulk (715.95) of the debt relates to.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

National_Debtline

Hi

Once the council have a summary warrant they would then need to issue a charge for payment, giving you 14 days to pay the debt. They can only use forms of diligence such as arresting wages and bank accounts if the 14 days expires on the charge for payment. As the debt is so old there’s a possibility a charge for payment may have already been issued if you didn’t know about this until now.

To prevent them from being able to use any diligence you can apply to the sheriff for a Time To Pay Order (TTPO), which is a payment plan based on how much you can afford. Diligence can’t be used as long as you keep to the payments.

You would apply for a TTPO on a sheriff court form called DSA2, this factsheet goes into more detail:

www.nationaldebtline.org/S/factsheets/Pages/03%20SCOT%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx

If you have other debts which you can’t afford a Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) might be a good option for you. That’s a scheme where you make one affordable payment per month to an approved money adviser and they distribute the money to creditors on your behalf. The advantages of a DAS are that no interest can be added to credit debts, no diligence can be used, and it can include council tax. This factsheet explains DAS:

www.nationaldebtline.org/S/factsheets/Pages/22%20SCOT%20Debt%20Arrangement%20Scheme%20%28DAS%29/Default.aspx

In terms of contesting the amount you could request a breakdown of the debt from the council, and raise your concerns with them. If you still disagree that you owe the amount but they continue to ask you for payment you could use the council’s complaint process and then contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman:

www.spso.org.uk

James
@natdebtline