Council tax Court Action

Quillion

I am not sure if this is in the right place so mods please move accordingly.

My DH went to his Mums house today as she has had a letter from Sheffield court saying that due to a missed payment due on 1st Jan she was to appear in court.

There was no warning letter from the Council and the letter which came from the court was dated 3/1/8

They have added on £38.00 for charges. We have phoned up the council who said it is out of their hands and they can do nothing. They said my Mother in ln Law always pays after the first, which is due to when she gets the small pittance she has to live on, so that is why the court action has gone on.

MSE'ers can you help TIA

CIS

In order to have issued a court summons then a payment must have been missed for which a reminder was sent, if this reminder is not paid only then can the summons be issued. If she repeatedly pays late then its likley she's had two reminders and a final notice after which point no notification needs to be issued prior to Court Summons for any further missed payments.

Unfortunately the council are correct, if the payments is not made on the day requested then they are within their rights to issue a reminder and court summons.

If her income is so low , has she tried claiming council tax benefit.

scooby..chic

I had this problem with pembrokeshire county council, they also sent me a court summons, i went into the council offices, and explained the situation and i told them i was willing to pay the amount (but not the charge) and they were fine, and it all got sorted, if you do end up going to court i would say exactly what you told the council people, and they dont have a leg to stand on because you are willing to pay.

CIS

if you do end up going to court i would say exactly what you told the council people, and they dont have a leg to stand on because you are willing to pay.

Unfiortunately thats not true , the Liability Order can still be issued as long as it was applied for correctly, and as far as I can see it was done so.

The magistrate is their to see that they LO is issued correctly and not your ability to pay, which it appears to have been done so. They can set aside a decision until the next court to allow further discussion with the council but they wont rule on willingness to pay - that is only done by a magistrate if the council go for committal action. Their are very few reasons the L/O will not be granted

In my dept we would apply for the L/O and then make the arrangement, the L/O is a backup for the council. It is then up to the council if they remit the charges.

If you have not complied with a reminder OR contacted us to make an arrangement, OR where an arrangement has been made on the understanding that a Liability Order (see below) will be obtained but held pending full payment of the arrangement, a summons will be issued. A summons is a legal notice requiring you to appear at the Magistrates Court if you dispute liability. Below is a list of valid disputes:

1. No entry in Valuation List for period of liability.
2. The tax has not been properly set.
3. The tax has not been demanded in accordance with the statutory regulations.
4. The amount demanded has been paid.
5. That more than six years have elapsed since the day on which the sum became due.
6. The sum is in respect of a penalty which is subject to an appeal.
7. That bankruptcy or winding up proceedings have been initiated.

If you know the tax is correct but in arrears you do not need to appear at court. Costs will usually be incurred with the issue of a summons - IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO YOU SHOULD CONTACT THE COUNCIL TO SEE IF AN ARRANGEMENT IS POSSIBLE.

Note that point 4 means the entire amount demanded has been paid before the L/O date i.e you paid the summonsed amount before the court date

scooby..chic

I guess i was extremly lucky,
I hope it works out for you Quillion

CIS

TBH if a person only has court costs left i.e they just pay the summonsed balance then we usually write off court costs anyway rather than pursue.

Quillion

CIS wrote: »

TBH if a person only has court costs left i.e they just pay the summonsed balance then we usually write off court costs anyway rather than pursue.

My MIL went into town today and paid it all including the court costs as the letter frghtened her.

She cannot get any help due to two of her daughters still living at home although only 1 helps with the bills. The other daughter is usually staying over at BF but still classed as living at home.

She is very stubborn about getting money help and still at 66 has a part time cleaning job just 4 hours which is not really worth the bus fair but she won't pack it in.

Joyful

I had a similar situation that I was paid on 16th and Council wanted paid on 1st. After 2 months of this they wanted the whole payment and added a charge. They came to an agreement with me to go onto a Direct Debit and wiped the charges. They also had 3 dates in the month I could choose for the DD. So I was able to pay when my salary came in.

Quillion

I pay by dd and that is on 22nd of month. I have advised her to pay by dd but i can't make her do it. (i wish i could)
When FIL was alive he was even worse than her when it came to money. He didn't want to ask for anything from anyone. Shame all people are not the same.

nickyhutch

Hellol old thread, but relevant.

My council want DD payment on the 10th but I get paid around the 25th so have paid online or over the counter. I've had 2 late payments which prompted a "PLEASE PAY NOW" letter (asking for just the one month late). I just paid yesterday August's payment, then got a FINAL NOTICE today saying they want the whole of the arrears. Will they agree to me going back to the usual payment schedule if I agree to go on DD, does anyone think?

And why oh why, can't they offer DD dates to suit everyone??!!!

Thanks for reading.

tattoed_bum

i am sure if you explain to the council about it they will try to help ,
they may then spread the payments over 12 mths instead of the usual 10mths so you can catch up with the late payments ..and they will give you 3 dates in the month to pay either the 1st 15th or 25th as long as you pay direct debit