Council Tax summons despite having direct debit in place

grwhelan

I had a Direct Debit set up with Monzo Bank for my council tax payments, and it is still active. My council, Hart District, successfully collected payments for April and May, but then, without any explanation, stopped collecting further payments. As I rely on Direct Debit, I typically don’t check my council tax bills. Unbeknownst to me, the council deemed me in arrears and issued a summons, which I also didn’t open, assuming it was a routine bill.

I reconcile my bank account every six months and only then discovered the summons, which I hadn’t responded to. I immediately contacted my bank, who confirmed the Direct Debit was still active. I then reached out to the council to ask why they hadn’t collected the payments as agreed. Their response was, "we don’t have your bank details on file." When I questioned how they had been able to collect payments in April and May, I received no clear answer.

I was informed that I owed £1,295, which I paid immediately. They advised me to appeal the situation via email, which I did on 8th October 2024, but I haven’t received a response yet.

Could you advise on the best course of action from here?

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Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Dispute of Council Tax Summons (Case No. XXX)

I am writing to formally dispute the summons for non-payment of council tax in the above-referenced case.

I have had a direct debit set up with Monzo Bank for some time to pay my council tax to Hart District Council. According to my bank, this direct debit is still active. Payments were successfully collected on 2nd April 2024 and 1st May 2024, as shown in the attached bank statements. However, without any explanation, your office ceased collecting payments thereafter.

Upon reconciling my account, I was surprised to discover letters from Hart District Council regarding arrears, followed by a summons. Since I had an active direct debit in place, I did not expect any issues and thus did not open the statements immediately, as I typically reconcile my accounts every six months.

The summons states that I owe £2,672.50, which is concerning given that you were able to collect payments up until your system stopped doing so. When I contacted your customer services, I was informed that my direct debit had somehow been lost from your system.

This morning, I was advised of the arrears amount of £1,295, which I have since paid in full. There has been no issue from my side, and I expect that direct debits will be collected on time unless otherwise notified. Therefore, I am appealing against this summons and requesting that it be repealed. Additionally, I ask that you reinstate or set up a new direct debit to ensure that future payments are collected without issue.

Please find attached:

1. Confirmation of the payment of £1,295 made today to Hart District Council.
2. My communication with Monzo Bank, confirming that the direct debit to Hart District Council remains active.
3. Bank statements from April and May 2024, showing successful payments to Hart District Council.

I look forward to your prompt resolution of this matter.

Yours sincerely

cymruchris

Best course of action as I see it:

- Open letters when you get them - no matter what you think they might or might not be

- Check that major/important payments are going out on a monthly basis and not wait 6 months for reconciliation

- See what they say in response to your communication

It's your responsibility to make sure everything gets paid - there are sometimes glitches that need resolving - and in this case they issued a summons that you didn't read - so you could have taken action earlier had you read it, and probably even earlier still if you'd noticed that the payment hadn't been collected. Council tax is one of your absolutely highest priority bills - and one you have to keep on top of. 

Something obviously did go wrong here - but had you been keeping an eye on things, you'd have picked it up sooner and not reached the stage you have. There's obviously an underlying issue that's caused the payment not to be collected - and hopefully they'll see that when they investigate your response and everything will work itself out. Whether it's a council issue or a bank issue - you might not get to the bottom of it - but ongoing do keep a very careful watch on your post/payments in relation to council tax.

HillStreetBlues

As well as the dispute letter I would make a complaint and get an answer on why your DD was stopped being taken.

fatbelly

C0ck-ups at the council do happen.

The summons should not have been the first letter you received after missing payments.

I think the council is required to send two letters prior to this

gbhxu

Seems like they wanted you you pay your arrears and the rest of the year too.

My local council stops the ability to pay in installments when you get behind with your payments

Newcad

If you have paid then that will stop the summons.

There is no point whatsoever going to court to try and get a Debt Repayment Order for a debt that no longer exists. The CC judge would not be amused at any council doing that.