Council Tax - Court Summons

haveyougotit

I have looked everywhere for info regarding summons and it is a complete sham and purely a money making scheme for the council, just pay up the ct and summons and utilise the good citizens tax payers services to benefit from the 'summons', or extra CT paid if you like, I found some very nice looking very heavy metal looking things in the road that look like they need a new home, who knows I may even get a good price for them!
Good luck everyone!

CIS

I have looked everywhere for info regarding summons and it is a complete sham and purely a money making scheme for the council

Would you care to say why you think its a sham ?

haveyougotit

and extortionate!

Self explanatory really after having read so many forums regarding the issue, I'm sure my opinion is shared by many others, or perhaps I should say that I share the opinion of many others. So if you want my opinion, just go read the many forums to get an idea.

Anyone know how many of these metal things laying in the road I need to reimburse the summons? I wouldn't like to exceed but then I also need to take into account my costs, so lets see, I usually earn £100 a day and this will be a days work and then theres the fuel costs, wear and tear for tools etc... depreciation expense oh dear this may take a while to work out itself, perhaps 2 days work. That's just doubled the number so better look for another road, don't think there will be enough down this one street.

CIS

I'm sure my opinion is shared by many others, or perhaps I should say that I share the opinion of many others. So if you want my opinion, just go read the many forums to get an idea.

Presumably you mean the 'the law is not real and the magistrates are all made up' forums - the ones which have been proven to be wrong time and time again ?

CIS

I have noticed that there are a series of coincidences which occur on the sites which dispute council tax:.

• Generally they only post selected correspondence

• They always seem to have had some sort of verbal dispute with the council or court officials but never state what they said - presumably something abusive.

• They rely on some obscure interpretation of a law which therefore affects another law which then has a knock on effect to another the net result being council tax is illegal.

• They are always happy to use the services the council provide.

• Everyone of them has been 'picked on' by the council because they once returned a library book late

• The magistrate is a figment of peoples imagination *

• They always seem to go quiet and never discuss whether they've paid it...

etc etc

As I've said on here before I have my own views on council tax legislation and how it should or should not be reformed but its my job to apply the law as its written.

As an aside, before its raised, I have many,many times given advice to people which goes against what a local authority has said and with which they have successfully challenged action which has been taken so I'm not just siding with them.

* I've been to council tax cases my times and each time its been a court with a sitting magistrate to hear any cases as required. If I'd have realised it was all pretend I could have had a try as a magistrate myself.

oakidoki

Ok I received a summons cost today for £103 . I recently got married and and moved in with my wife, so the council stopped her direct debit which has been setup since 2005. We had 2 payments left too pay so got a summons through for £243 +£103 summons cost. I got on the phone and paid the bill but refused to pay the cost . The guy on the phone said it looks like it is the fault but we would still have to pay the summons by the court date as the council has payed it out a d wants it back , and if I dispute it could end up having to pay more .

garethjv

Do I just take this on the chin?

I was living away from home and my own home was empty and unfurnished. After the 6 months council tax holiday, the council issued a notice that the full amount would be due. Shortly afterwards (9 days after the end of the CT holiday) I moved back to my home.

When I first tried to notify the council about my change of status online I found the website playing up. I tried calling once but after being stuck on hold for ages gave up and left it for a later time.

A few weeks later I tried again online and successfully notified them that I was a sole resident and requested a new bill with 25% discount. I was emailed back and asked to phone back. This I did. I confirmed my status and was given a reference number. At the time I asked if I could pay the full amount (3 months) with a debit card but was told to wait until a new bill was sent out.

Moving forward a few weeks: On returning from holiday I find a court summons issued for the old bill amount + costs forwarded from my old address, and separately sent to my correct home address, my first new bill for the correct amount with an extra £65 added on for the summons costs.

I've paid the correct amount from the new bill online and called the council a couple of times to dispute the court summons fees. The problem is the summons is for end of next week and it doesn't leave much time for this to be resolved beforehand as the council seem to be dragging its heels.

I really can do without the hassle of going to the court for the £65 dispute unless I have a good chance of winning here. My defence is that I offered to pay in advance of the summons but there was a delay of 14 days in them issuing the correct bill and in the mean time a separate department in the council had already put the previous bill forward for summons. Also I had web access problems earlier on, but this is a pretty weak reason I know. I didn't receive a reminder notice, which would have been issued to my previous address, but I realise now this is no defence as the council don't need to prove anything here, just that they sent it (from reading earlier posts in this thread). It may have fallen between me setting up the redirection and moving etc.

So is there a chance my defence would receive a sympathetic ear, or do I just put it down to bad luck and untimely organisation?

Thanks for any help.
G.

maskmaker

This morning I received a court summons for a Liability order. I've just moved into this house and was late paying the first months council tax. They now want the full payment of £1471 (including added fees) Which I cannot afford to pay all in one go. The letter was dated the 4th June and I'd paid online on the 5th (not knowing about the letter in the post on it's way to me)

I phoned the council this morning hoping I could sort it all out and get the the court summons cancelled but they said they couldn't do anything about it and it will still go ahead.

They have set up a 'sumar arrangement' (I'm not sure what this is, can anyone shed any light on this?) to pay by direct debit for the monthly council tax plus the added fees of £60.

They also took all my employment details, including my payroll number. What will they use this for?

So the court summons will still go ahead even though I've brought the payments up to date. They said by setting the sumar arrangement up then that should stop any bailiffs.

CIS

They also took all my employment details, including my payroll number. What will they use this for?

If you default then , once the liability order has been granted, the council have the power to issue an Attachment of Earnings Order.

So the court summons will still go ahead even though I've brought the payments up to date.

Legally the full balance is now due, even if you have subsequently paid all of the installments that were originally due. By the time the summons was issued you had lost the right to pay by installments.

They have set up a 'sumar arrangement'

Its their own internal description - its their way of noting you have agreed a payment arrangement at the stage of the court summons being issued.

maskmaker

Thanks CIS. Do does this mean that I am paying the amount due monthly via the sumar arrangement?

And no further action will be taken as long as I pay the monthly agreed payment?