UC and Council Tax

lottieholder

I've just been contacted by two friends who are each due in court tomorrow for non-payment of their council tax bills. They tell me that they have had no pre-warning and thought that the CT was being paid as part of their Housing Benefit which is included in the Universal Credit. It appears this isn't so.

One of them went to Citizens Advice last week who advised them that "everybody" was getting these summonses and not to bother going to court.

I feel that this was bad advice and I think they should turn up, state their cases and they will probably get the opportunity to pay the tax in instalments, they can then appeal and apply for the credit which is what they should have done in the first place.

Am I right or have I now given the wrong advice?

poppy12345

I wouldn't advise anyone not to attend a court hearing. Claiming ignorance that you didn't know something probably won't be a good enough reason. They obviously received a council tax bill, which shouldn't be ignored.

Afraid_of_Kittens

Council Tax is excluded from Universal Credit.

Each local authority runs their own local council tax scheme. You have to apply for help directly with the local authority. It is rare to get 100% help now. Even if you are unemployed you may be expected to pay something towards your council tax.

Don't ignore the summons. Contact you concil ASAP and make a payment plan before it gets passed onto a bailiff and costs spiral out of control.

WhenIam64

One of them went to Citizens Advice last week who advised them that "everybody" was getting these summonses and not to bother going to court.

I agree that the advice on the face of it is poor but was that what was actually said?

If there is a summons, there almost all will result in an order to pay. If it has got to this stage, then there would have been a few letters from the council clearly explaining that there was a liability. If your two friends chose to ignore those other letters and failed to seek an explanation of why they were getting these demands, then it will be a tall order in court to defend themselves.

If they now decide not to go to court then what will happen is that the bailiffs will call, adding on an amount to the debt. There will then be an arrangement to pay plus the bailiff fees.

If they go to court tomorrow, admit they were mistaken / misled / whatever they can get an arrangement to pay which is a) affordable and b) will not include bailiff fees. So it will financially advantageous for them to go and seek a payment arrangement.

It may be your friends are hearing what they want to hear, rather than paying attention to the facts/paperwork in front of them.

If they were genuinely told to ignore the summons and not to go, then name and shame.

[Deleted User]

They would of received a council tax bill so they must of known there was something wrong then.

NeilCr

WhenIam64 wrote: »

I agree that the advice on the face of it is poor but was that what was actually said?

If there is a summons, there almost all will result in an order to pay. If it has got to this stage, then there would have been a few letters from the council clearly explaining that there was a liability. If your two friends chose to ignore those other letters and failed to seek an explanation of why they were getting these demands, then it will be a tall order in court to defend themselves.

If they now decide not to go to court then what will happen is that the bailiffs will call, adding on an amount to the debt. There will then be an arrangement to pay plus the bailiff fees.

If they go to court tomorrow, admit they were mistaken / misled / whatever they can get an arrangement to pay which is a) affordable and b) will not include bailiff fees. So it will financially advantageous for them to go and seek a payment arrangement.

It may be your friends are hearing what they want to hear, rather than paying attention to the facts/paperwork in front of them.

If they were genuinely told to ignore the summons and not to go, then name and shame.

Yes. On the face of it, as a CAB volunteer, I find it odd advice, too. On what is said here, I think they should attend

But your point is well made. I know from my own experience that what I thought I said and what the client think they heard can be somewhat different! It can, also, depend on what you have been told and what questions you have been asked. There may just be something "local" going on here. We know a lot about what our council is doing/thinking about things like council tax, for example.

I must say I think it can be hard to comment on some of these threads because of the difficulty in communication and the lack of the full facts. Especially in cases like this where we are not hearing directly from the people involved

OP. Is there any way one of your friends could join here and start their own thread. That would make it easier to get more information and to help

lottieholder

I've pointed the one who contacted me in this direction. I could have done more myself had they told me before today.

Alice_Holt

Not so sure about the importance of attending court.
I may well be wrong (debt is not my area), but I believe once it gets to court, the time to respond to the council and stop it escalating may have past.

As mark said they would have received correspondence from the council, before any court letters.
For council tax, court can be a formality and (I think sometimes) a block order is passed. It is sent to court by a council solely for permission to collect the debt - this is known as a ‘liability order’.

However, it is worth contacting their council before the date to see if the a council employee is present at the court with whom they can arrange an affordable payment plan, which may help to avoid the case being referred to bailiffs. But generally it is all rather too late by that stage.

It is very different from housing repossession where turning up at your individual court hearing is very important. And setting out your circumstances, can prevent an eviction (even at that late stage).

I doubt if you are getting the full picture - most unlikely a council would not chase CT arrears. They need to claim Council Tax reduction asap (limited backdate), and agree a repayment schedule.

It is much preferable to agree an schedule with the council rather than the bailiffs.
If they don't contact the council in time to prevent the liability order coming into place and the debt being passed to bailiffs, then they should get bailiff advice (not answer the door / keep windows locked / and park their car well away from the house, etc).
It would have been much better to respond to their CT letters, and apply for CT reduction. CT arrears will always catch up with people.

https://www.counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/council-tax/liability-orders/
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/dealing-with-urgent-debts/dealing-with-council-tax-arrears/

Edit : I think whether a council rep is present or not at the court (see NeilCr's helpful post below) can vary from council to council. I have a feeling this may not be the case in my area, so advice about attending court may be the same as the OP friends were given. However, they would certainly been advised to contact their council to arrange a repayment plan and to apply for CTr.

NeilCr

Alice

We tend to advise to go (especially at this late stage) because, as you suggest, there is usually/often council representation at the court to engage with

But, I agree. We haven't got the full story here. With respect to the OP's friends it is quite surprising how many people get the court letter but haven't, apparently, received any prior correspondence.

Alice_Holt

NeilCr wrote: »

With respect to the OP's friends it is quite surprising how many people get the court letter but haven't, apparently, received any prior correspondence.

Indeed.

CIS

poppy12345 wrote: »

I wouldn't advise anyone not to attend a court hearing. Claiming ignorance that you didn't know something probably won't be a good enough reason. They obviously received a council tax bill, which shouldn't be ignored.

There is no need to attend in most cases - unless there is a good dispute which is within the remit of the court (of which there are very, very few) then they cannot refuse to grant the order or you want to speak to the council at the hearing to try and discuss it face to face.