COUNCIL TAX SUMMONS

andyg1

Hi , I have this morning received a council tax summons for a court hearing . This time around i did not receive any Notcie Letter to say i was in arrears . I have in the past had this letter usually with 14 days in which to pay however on this occasion i have gone straight from the bill issued in April to a Summons this morning . 
Am i able to defend this , either now with the council or in the court on the day ? 
I believe it is an obligation placed upon the Council to send a Reminder 

Thanks

HumberFlyer

You have already posted this at 3.05pm

Jude57

andyg1 said:

Hi , I have this morning received a council tax summons for a court hearing . This time around i did not receive any Notcie Letter to say i was in arrears . I have in the past had this letter usually with 14 days in which to pay however on this occasion i have gone straight from the bill issued in April to a Summons this morning . 
Am i able to defend this , either now with the council or in the court on the day ? 
I believe it is an obligation placed upon the Council to send a Reminder 

Thanks

Are you certain this Summons is for the current financial year? Is it possible you have a balance outstanding for a previous year?

If it IS a summons for the current year, in simple terms, the system that generates Summonses cannot do so unless a reminder has previously been generated. Part of the evidence the Council present under oath to the Magistrates is that the required reminders have been issued. English law does not require any further proof than that. You could certainly query it with the Council but I can guarantee a reminder has been issued. You really have nothing to prove otherwise and the Magistrates can't get involved in a dispute about whether you received a reminder. The only defences you could present to the Magistrates which would prevent a Liability Order being issued are that a) you are not the Liable Person for Council Tax purposes (you don't seem to deny that you are, in fact, the Liable Person) or b) that you have paid the amounts due in accordance with your Bill, i.e. April, May and June instalments in full. You don't indicate that you have, in fact, paid as required, and now that the summons has been issued, the full annual amount, plus costs, is due. 

Please note that the Magistrates are only able to decide issues of liability. They cannot make any financial arrangements for payment, nor decide the amounts due. Simply put, Magistrates say liable or not liable. You should, if you cannot pay in full immediately, contact the Council Tax department to make arrangements to pay. You should be aware that, once the Magistrates grant the Liability Order, the Council has wide powers for recovery of the debt, including, but not limited to, bailiff action, attachment of earnings (and some State benefits), placing a Charge on the property, insolvency proceedings against the Liable Person etc.

It's in your own interests to pay the Council Tax as it falls due so perhaps consider setting up a Direct Debit so you don't overlook this priority debt in future?

I was a Council Tax recovery officer for over a decade and, not to sugar coat it, virtually every non-payer denied receiving reminders but they all seemed to receive summonses perfectly well.

andyg1

Thanks Jude 

                    Yes it is for the period April 1st 2024 To March 2025. I have received the reminders in other years  and sometimes used April and May as a breather and delayed them to February and March . 
This time i categorically have not had the reminder , simply straight to summons. There are two names on the Council Tax both of us have received the summons , neither the reminder. 
Thanks for the heads up about a magistrates powers but i must be able to seek some proof from the council they have sent the reminders to one or other or both of us prior to summons . They haven't . 

Andy

DullGreyGuy

andyg1 said:
 i must be able to seek some proof from the council they have sent the reminders to one or other or both of us prior to summons . They haven't . 

Andy

How can you prove they haven't sent them? Surely you can only state you haven't received them which is a different matter to them not being sent and inevitably is impossible to prove you haven't had something. 

Almost certainly their system will show at what date the letters were generated and handed over to Royal Mail, in general the law determines things having been posted to have been received on the 2nd day after (first class) or 3rd day (second class). Your only hope is a wrong address etc. 

Have you spoken to them to ask when the reminders were sent? if you are wanting to avoid that for some reason you could always do a Subject Access Request and specify you particularly want dates & copies of letters sent in relation to council tax but what are you going to do when it shows that they did in deed send a letter?

Jude57

andyg1 said:

Thanks Jude 

                    Yes it is for the period April 1st 2024 To March 2025. I have received the reminders in other years  and sometimes used April and May as a breather and delayed them to February and March . 
This time i categorically have not had the reminder , simply straight to summons. There are two names on the Council Tax both of us have received the summons , neither the reminder. 
Thanks for the heads up about a magistrates powers but i must be able to seek some proof from the council they have sent the reminders to one or other or both of us prior to summons . They haven't . 

Andy

Given the amount of correspondence issued by Councils every day, many thousands of letters, Royal Mail collect it from the Council offices or from a separate mailing building so there's no certificate of posting which you can get from a Post Office. In English law, proof of posting is deemed to be sufficient and that proof, in the case of Councils, is the evidence given under oath by the Council officer. You should certainly contact the Council immediately and by all means tell them neither you nor the other Liable Person has received a reminder, but be prepared for them to confirm that reminders were issued. If you're looking for a loophole that the summonses were incorrectly issued, I'm afraid you're not going to find it. Also, as you and your partner (I'm assuming the other person is your partner) are jointly and severally liable, be aware the Council can pursue both of you for the full amount, plus costs so the sooner you deal with this matter, the better. If you're unhappy with the Council's confirmation that they issued reminders, you could seek support from your local Councillor (their contact information is on the Council's website) although there's nothing much they can do that you can't do yourself.

To clarify further, you and your partner are not each liable for 50% of the Council Tax. You are each liable for 100% of it and if, for example, you are not working but your partner is, the Council would attach your partner's earnings to clear the entire debt. The amounts deducted from earnings are not negotiable and are set out in legislation (Statutory Instruments which accompany the Local Government Finance Act [as amended]). I'm somewhat out of date with the percentages but it used to be around 17% after tax, NI and pension deductions. Note that the Council don't have to go back to Court to attach earnings and the Magistrates Court can't rule on such things.

andyg1

Thanks 
           You can be entirely certain i wouldn't waste mine nor your time if indeed i had received the reminder  . It is for that very reason i am seeking to find out , why they have not sent them and what i can do about it . 
You may have given me the answer with the SAR and i do intend to speak with them only they close at 11-45 and my post ( received today ) arrives after that , i just wanted to know where i stood . 
Of course i can't prove i have not received the letter/s which is why i wanted to know what they have in place to prove they did send . 

Many Thanks

Jude57

andyg1 said:

Thanks 
           You can be entirely certain i wouldn't waste mine nor your time if indeed i had received the reminder  . It is for that very reason i am seeking to find out , why they have not sent them and what i can do about it . 
You may have given me the answer with the SAR and i do intend to speak with them only they close at 11-45 and my post ( received today ) arrives after that , i just wanted to know where i stood . 
Of course i can't prove i have not received the letter/s which is why i wanted to know what they have in place to prove they did send . 

Many Thanks

Best of luck with everything. 

lincroft1710

Surely you must have known you haven't paid any CT for the current financial year. Or is it a case that you thought your partner had paid and vice versa?

andyg1

lincroft1710 said:

Surely you must have known you haven't paid any CT for the current financial year. Or is it a case that you thought your partner had paid and vice versa?

Yes i knew it was not paid , as i stated above i have before received the reminder and either paid or negotiated setting my account back 2 months . This time the reminder didn't arrive 

swingaloo

Does it matter if the reminder got lost in the post or whatever. If you knew you were behind paying them whats the point of arguing over the reminder. It sounds as if you do this often so why not just pay on time and eliminate all the waiting for a reminder and summons.