Local Council court summons on council tax paid in full.

xaerocool

Dear readers, 

I need some help please, 

I started having trouble with the council tax late in 2023, I paid the council tax as I always do on time in October 2023. In November 2023, the council told me they needed to issue me with a new council tax account number. They did this and I thought all was ok. I have paid in full for October 2023 on the old account number, then i paid the November bill in full on the new account number. In December 2023 i received a late payment notice, then again in January 2024, once for no payment in October 2023, then no payment for December 2023. I called the council over 20 times, i provided them statements from the bank showing payments for the council, they continued to say they could not locate the payments. I paid for January 2024. Later in January 2024 i received a court summons to appear in court in the first week of Feb for none payment. They gave me the option to appear in court or pay the entire remaining balance in full £1100. I paid the £1100. The council now owed me over £500 in overpayment. 

In April 2024 when i received the new council tax bill for 2024/2025 the bill said the amount i owed for the year less £259.29 which was one of the months i had double paid for. After banging my head against the wall for 4 months, i very reluctantly decided not to pursue the other £259 the council owed me....the amount of mental stress it had caused me, i just wanted to be done with it. 

So far since today i have paid just less than £1100 for the year in council tax on time for 2024/2025. Total i received a bill saying i owe the council £2000 for the years council tax and the the account is in arrears. 

I logged into the online council tax website and can see all the £1100 that i have paid this year is captured in their 'payments received' against my council tax account number and the address correctly. However I also notice that they state that I owe them the amount of £2000 from today's bill. Underneath the amount paid, it shows 'liabilities'. The council has applied a £2000 liability to the account. Meaning that i am paying double council tax this year...where £1991 was due for 2024 they expect me to pay £3982. 

The council has appointed an external agency to deal with this and the council is not dealing with it directly. Honestly i'm not sure I can go through this again. I have worked and paid tax for 55 years and never been late on a bill payment. 

I don't know how to get the liabilities removed from my account, which are being applied to me for a payments that I was never late on. Last year no one was willing to listen to me despite all the documented bank statements i showed, showing that the money had left my account and paid the council. Instead i was taken to court. I was never able to get them to listen and instead overpaid and lost money to put the issue to bed. Now a year later I have the same issue with 9 times the bill. The same agency is still in charge and I don't know what to do, if I don't pay they will take me to court again. 

I apologise for the long post, but I had to explain in full. Any advice and guidance is appreciated. I appreciate that the advice will likely be get a lawyer but this will be further money spent on something i'm already paying for and on time. Furthermore I'm concerned they will just continue to keep doing this. 

Thank you if you've read this far. 

Kind regards  

Jon. 

glennevis

Get in touch with your local councillor (free) not a solicitor. It's their job to get involved in this sort of local issue.

LightFlare

If you know you had paid it and had evidence to show that you had, why did you not go to court and defend your position ?

Megantaxwoes

Honestly I understand your stress. I got a similar thing with a loan where a computer error gave me the wrong settlement figure. I cleared it and then about 5 years later I was chased for a debt that had increased through charges and the bailiffs were coming round! 

If you have someone investigating if you put in a complaint that sounds positive. You can also try your house or car insurance if they offer you legal cover to defend this. It’s usually free but they have to assess your likelihood of winning. 

If you paid it and are in the right, I’d let it go to court and counter them with wanting compensation for stress. 

Councils also have legal departments so you could go to them?

Hope you sort it 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Your local council will have an official complaints process detailed on their website, use this to lay out the issue and see what response you get back.

If the matter can't be resolved you can, at some set point, go to the ombudsman.

If it turns out you've over paid AFAIK you have 6 years to claim the money back (unless council tax is different from the usual) and given the headache I'd certainly be looking to have any over payment refunded.

user1977

Megantaxwoes said:

Councils also have legal departments so you could go to them?

No, you can't "go to them". The council's legal department are the in-house solicitors advising the council.

xaerocool

LightFlare said:

If you know you had paid it and had evidence to show that you had, why did you not go to court and defend your position ?

Hi @Li@LightFlare Thanks for reading, I paid the ~£1100 from Jan to April because it i had to pay it anyway, instead of paying it monthly as each month I did as the summons asked and paid upfront to avoid going to court. I wasn't confident enough in myself (not in my conviction, i knew i was right), and i'd have to take the day off. I just wanted it to end so I thought just paying would make it all go away and we'd be done with it. Hope that makes sense. 

xaerocool

glennevis said:

Get in touch with your local councillor (free) not a solicitor. It's their job to get involved in this sort of local issue.

thank you i will try 

xaerocool

Megantaxwoes said:

Honestly I understand your stress. I got a similar thing with a loan where a computer error gave me the wrong settlement figure. I cleared it and then about 5 years later I was chased for a debt that had increased through charges and the bailiffs were coming round! 

If you have someone investigating if you put in a complaint that sounds positive. You can also try your house or car insurance if they offer you legal cover to defend this. It’s usually free but they have to assess your likelihood of winning. 

If you paid it and are in the right, I’d let it go to court and counter them with wanting compensation for stress. 

Councils also have legal departments so you could go to them?

Hope you sort it 

thank you i didn't think to check the legal cover on the house insurance 

xaerocool

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

Your local council will have an official complaints process detailed on their website, use this to lay out the issue and see what response you get back.

If the matter can't be resolved you can, at some set point, go to the ombudsman.

If it turns out you've over paid AFAIK you have 6 years to claim the money back (unless council tax is different from the usual) and given the headache I'd certainly be looking to have any over payment refunded.

I need planning permission from them, is there a chance they will retaliate if i complain?

xaerocool

Incidentally on the main page today as an article. Which is exactly what is happening here....the only difference is i have never been late paying. I did miss something in my story yesterday. As i mentioned i sent them all the bank statements showing all the payments. They responded and said the bank recalled the money. I called Barclays and Barclays confirmed all the payments had moved to their accounts successfully and nothing had been recalled...everything I tried to explain had a response that just kept saying....'you haven't paid, you need to pay' 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2024/09/martin-lewis-council-tax-debt-collection-warning/