Court Summons For Late Council Tax Payment

Voyager2002

Conan1Sett said:

Yo,

I've been summoned to the Magistrates.

I pay my Council Tax over 12 months. I was short by one payment by £10 one month and I've been summoned. I plan on telling them that I can make the late payment and current payment on one of my paydays this month (of which I have two extra, plus extra income from a PT job I've recently began) so I have the money.

The problem is they're demanding the full amount for the entire year's council tax. That is around £750 for me, plus around £60 for a liability order and £20 for some expenses. Would they really demand the full amount ultimately or would they allow me to realign with my previous arrangement? I've got a second source of income this time, after all.

They've mentioned some pretty scary things like baliffs and custodial sentences etc. Whilst I think the latter very unlikely it still feels like slightly hot water. 

Anyone been in such a situation with "the man?" 

They should not take such action unless a number of payments have been missed.

Note that they will only send one reminder, so it is probable that you have missed more than one payment but do not realise it.

Once you have missed more than one payment you have lost the right to pay in installments. At this point you need to contact them and agree a payment plan, and of course stick to it.

macman

OP, you needed to engage with the LA before the hearing. If you turn up early at court and speak to them then it is still possible to make an agreement/payment, but if you let it go into the courtroom then they will get a liability order unless you have evidence of an alternative arrangement.
Surely you could have paid the o/s £10 once you got the reminder?
And of course you will incur the court fees.
To avoid this arising in future, it's better to put your CT on DD so it cannot go into arrears.

Conan1Sett

MovingForwards said:

I'll expand on my initial reply, as it's obviously not clear enough.

First time I attended the court and I agreed a payment arrangement with the council rep I saw.

It's not actually a magistrate you're in front of, the council borrow a room in the court building, stick council employees in and they discuss it with you. It's just a giant meeting room with desks in. The council rep talks about the debt, asks what happened for the bill to not get paid, I explained, told them how much I could pay (I had split the council tax balance and court costs over how many months were left before the new bill year and that was what they accepted).

I agreed to pay an amount each month to clear the remaining council tax balance and the court costs that they added on.

I paid them via direct debit and was given the same choices of dates to pay as everyone who hadn't been taken to court.

Second time I received notification of the hearing date I called the council and made a payment arrangement over the phone. I agreed to pay an amount each month to clear the remaining council tax balance and the court costs they added on. (Again, I had split the council tax balance and court costs over how many months were left before the new bill year and that was what they accepted).

I paid them via direct debit and was given the same choices of dates to pay as everyone who hadn't been taken to court.

Both times I had to pay the court fees, via instalments with the remaining council tax for the year and it was a monthly payment by direct debit.

I was able to have normal direct debits set up for the following years bills over 10 / 12 months when the new council tax bill was generated.


If you agree a repayment plan with them, you don't need to attend court, however they will not cancel the court costs as those have been incurred raising the liability order etc; I tried that with the second one.

So let me see if I understand...

I shall phone the council tomorrow and explain that I have setup a monthly DD for 12 monthly instalments. With that, they will take from my account the required amount of CT plus these fees I have incurred? With that arrangement in place, I won't need to turn up to court? They will simply cancel the hearing and that isn't going to count as a no-show with the Magistrate?

macman

What time is the hearing? I suspect you've left it too late to deal with this by phone now and need to go to the court and speak to the CT manager or rep before the hearing. They won't 'cancel the hearing': liability orders are done in a batch process and there will probably be dozens of others on the list. Hardly any defendants ever attend to oppose them.
If you do a no-show then they will issue a liability order by default.

Conan1Sett

macman said:

What time is the hearing? I suspect you've left it too late to deal with this by phone now and need to go to the court and speak to the CT manager or rep before the hearing. They won't 'cancel the hearing': liability orders are done in a batch process and there will probably be dozens of others on the list. Hardly any defendants ever attend to oppose them.
If you do a no-show then they will issue a liability order by default.

Well I only got the letter on Friday and the hearing is at 1400 on the 20/09. Is that too late to stopper things?

I plan on telling them, via phone tomorrow, that I can pay on the 9th and then every month after that. 

macman

I may have misread your post and thought that the hearing was tomorrow?
Yes, speak to them tomorrow and come to an arrangement-but I  would pay that £10 immediately, if still outstanding. Once you've paid late, promises to pay in future will be less credible. Why don't you set up a DD, then you will avoid paying 'just a few days late'?
CT is a priority debt, it trumps everything but rent or mortgage payments.

MovingForwards

Conan1Sett said:

MovingForwards said:

I'll expand on my initial reply, as it's obviously not clear enough.

First time I attended the court and I agreed a payment arrangement with the council rep I saw.

It's not actually a magistrate you're in front of, the council borrow a room in the court building, stick council employees in and they discuss it with you. It's just a giant meeting room with desks in. The council rep talks about the debt, asks what happened for the bill to not get paid, I explained, told them how much I could pay (I had split the council tax balance and court costs over how many months were left before the new bill year and that was what they accepted).

I agreed to pay an amount each month to clear the remaining council tax balance and the court costs that they added on.

I paid them via direct debit and was given the same choices of dates to pay as everyone who hadn't been taken to court.

Second time I received notification of the hearing date I called the council and made a payment arrangement over the phone. I agreed to pay an amount each month to clear the remaining council tax balance and the court costs they added on. (Again, I had split the council tax balance and court costs over how many months were left before the new bill year and that was what they accepted).

I paid them via direct debit and was given the same choices of dates to pay as everyone who hadn't been taken to court.

Both times I had to pay the court fees, via instalments with the remaining council tax for the year and it was a monthly payment by direct debit.

I was able to have normal direct debits set up for the following years bills over 10 / 12 months when the new council tax bill was generated.


If you agree a repayment plan with them, you don't need to attend court, however they will not cancel the court costs as those have been incurred raising the liability order etc; I tried that with the second one.

So let me see if I understand...

I shall phone the council tomorrow and explain that I have setup a monthly DD for 12 monthly instalments. With that, they will take from my account the required amount of CT plus these fees I have incurred? With that arrangement in place, I won't need to turn up to court? They will simply cancel the hearing and that isn't going to count as a no-show with the Magistrate?

You call the council tomorrow.
Apologise and tell them why you've missed payments.
Make an offer to settle the whole bill, by way of monthly installments. 
You need to calculate the outstanding balance plus court costs and divide that over 4 or 6 months to clear it all.
Hopefully the council say yes.
You then tell them you won't attend the hearing as an agreement has now been sorted out, apologise again and thank them for agreeing to instalments.
The council will write to you confirming the agreement, but it will still look as if it's come from the court.

If the council don't agree to your instalment offer, you'll have to attend the hearing; although I doubt they will reject it as you'll be one less person they have to deal with on the day.

macman

It won't really be 'one less person to deal with on the day'. As I mentioned before, the liability orders are processed on a batch basis. If you have 40 people on the list, the odds are that maybe one will turn up to defend the claim on the day. The other 39 won't appear, the claim is undefended, and their names are read out and the liability orders granted by default. It's a very brief process.

Conan1Sett

macman said:

It won't really be 'one less person to deal with on the day'. As I mentioned before, the liability orders are processed on a batch basis. If you have 40 people on the list, the odds are that maybe one will turn up to defend the claim on the day. The other 39 won't appear, the claim is undefended, and their names are read out and the liability orders granted by default. It's a very brief process.

I tried phoning the LA yesterday and it went to voicemail everytime. I left a message but they haven't got back to me yet. Do they even bother returning the call?  

TBagpuss

In that case, write to them, keep a copy.

Set out the offer  (e.g. if the total is £830 you might say  soething like
"The total as I understnad it is £830 (£740 tax plus £80 costs and expenses)  I am unable to pay thi in full but propose a payment plan of 5 equal payments of £166, the first payable on 9th Setpember and then monthly on the same date and I am happy to set up a direct debit to make those payments"


If they don't responsd then it is essential that you attend the hearing, go along with your offer, and ideally with a summary showing your income and outgoings and proof of your income so that if ned be you can show that you can't affod to pay it in one go but can afford to make the payments.