Council Tax Court Summons - but no reminders!

Dylius

Hi all!

I think this is the best place for this. Unfortunately I've received a court summons for unpaid council tax, from Birmingham City Council. I've recently moved out of the area to another town. Some time after I moved house I cancelled my direct debit to the council - I'd assumed that it was all paid as I'd completed the move. Obviously this was a bad move, and I did (and do) owe ~£75 of council tax. But because I've been summoned to court they've added another £75 in costs!

I would have been more than happy to pay the owed council tax had I received any reminders, but I haven't had anything. The council had access to my email and my new address (I filled out a form when moving telling them where my new address is - this is where the summons was sent to).

I rang up the line on the summons and they told me that it was probably to do with some automated system and me using e-billing, and told me to send an email to their back office (they gave me the address). They said I could argue my case and see if the council would agree to waive the court fees, but it was ultimately their decision. This was on the 11th October and I've yet to receive a reply.

I'm posting here because I'm wondering if anyone has any idea what my options are in this case? I've checked the Birmingham Council website and it says I should have received at least two reminders before a summons was issued, so it seems they haven't followed their own procedure (to my knowledge). I'm not allowed to post links, but they have an article called "Recovery process and charges | Difficulty paying your council tax" on their website that explains this.

I'm honestly tempted to just swallow the £75 charges and pay up if I don't hear back soon, though it is a lot of money for an honest mistake. I must have paid well in excess of £1000 in council tax while I was living in Birmingham, so I think any reasonable person could see it was just that.

As far as I can see it would be an exercise of complete futility to go to the summons (I don't have to go if I pay) because apparently the magistrates court cannot consider "liability, benefits, discounts exemptions or banding". And the costs will only get larger if they take it further...

lincroft1710

It may as you say be easiest just to pay the £75 charges, if it's going to cost you to try to make a case for not paying

Dylius

Just wanted to post an update on what my plan is, if anyone else finds themselves in this position.

• I'll ring them up on Monday and confirm that if I pay the full fees by the 30th this month (a few days before my court date), I won't have to go to court.
• I'll tell them if that I don't hear back from them regarding waiving the fee, or that they decide not to waive it, I will pay the fee by the 30th at the latest, but I'll also raise a formal complaint with the council because they didn't give me any warning that I was in arrears.
• If the complaint process doesn't result in the fees being refunded to me at the end of it, I'll make a new complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Looking at their website, they do have a passage that seems relevant to me: "[We can investigate] the way a council takes action to recover historic arrears – a council may legally be able to recover historic arrears but should do so in a fair way"*
• I'll also send a follow up email stating all of this in writing.
  

If they can't help me, I'll just write off the money tbh. All of the above steps shouldn't cost me any extra money, and I reckon filling out a few forms and a bit of patience has got to be worth a shot at £75!

*This was taken from the "Home -> Make a complaint -> Complaint fact sheets -> Benefits and tax -> Council tax" section of their website (still can't post links)

elmer

If you are going to call the council,  ask them nicely if they will waive the fees as you didnt receive the reminders, they may agree to do this.
 All reminders are usually issued automatically by the billing system that they use and so if you havent received them, its because they are lost in the post, a complaint will not usually result in the fees being removed as if it did everyone would complain, however you are 2 adrift
These arrears are not yet historic as they presumably relate to the current council tax year.
Under your circumstances, I would normally be happy to make a case that your costs should be removed, but I dont always succeed, it depends on how your account has been prior to now
Good luck

Dylius

I'll certainly be polite about the whole thing. The problem is it's been nearly two weeks and I haven't received a reply from my initial email asking them to waive the fees... I've read online that people have got into bother just waiting on replies to councils, and get slapped with more fees due to missing deadlines.

I do take your point on tact though, I'll simply make the point that my first priority is to avoid having to go to court, and if that means paying the additional costs now and awaiting a reply through a different (complaints - realistically that is what I'm doing now) process, then that's what I'll do. Perhaps I'll avoid mentioning the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at this point. I'm still giving them plenty of time to reply to my initial email, so I think I'm being fair

Dylius

So I've just called up, and I did diverge slightly from my initial plan.

I made a note of the name of the (very polite) person I spoke to for my records, and got confirmation there's no obligation for me to attend the magistrate's court in any case.

I also asked if they had any evidence I'd been sent any reminders, and which address they were sent to. They said they had a record of one being sent. I didn't mention this at the time, but I believe this strengthens my case, as I should have received two.

I also confirmed the email I had for correspondence was correct, and that if I paid the full amount by the 30th no further action would be taken, so I'd avoid any extra fees.

The person on the line checked the progress of my email, and told me it is being progressed, but it can take up to a month to be actioned.

I asked if I paid on the 30th, then the council later decided to waive the fees, that I'd be refunded. The answer is yes. So that's what I'll do, if I haven't heard anything by then.

I'll send a polite and neutral follow up email so that there's a record of all of this.

Guess it goes to show that sometimes you just need to get someone on the phone and ask the right questions! You were right elmer, no need to mention complaints at this point, though it is nice to have a backup plan (even if it's a bit of a forlorn hope).

elmer

Hopefully it will all be sorted, but you can always ask to speak to your polite member of staff again if it is not resolved by next week