Council Tax - Court Summons

lendusaquid1

If you want to have a good laugh Look for Guy Taylor on you tube. He explains what he does in court and gives the council a sound kicking. And no he doesn't pay council tax. Its also very educational.

James_B.

Oh great, freemen on the land lunacy rears its head here again.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/18/freeman-land-strategy-bullet-debt

joujou

I have received a court summons for council tax that we are not going to accrue.

We are going out of this property at the end of the month. I have told this to my council. We may be due some small amount because of this - but we may have already paid for the full amount up to this date.

The council still want me to pay the full amount up to the financial year March 2015. They say they will refund me when I move out.

I think this is wholly unjustified - doubly so when they slap a court costs for tax we are not going to accrue!

Any advice?

CIS

If the summons has been correctly issued at this point then they are correct in that the full balance for the remainder of the year is due - the summons automatically includes the council tax due to 31 March 15 (or sooner if the account has already been terminated) under the relevant legislation.

joujou

Ugh - which makes the legislation pretty crap.

Do you think the £95 charge is appropriate and is representative of costs?

On various council websites I'm seeing summons costs of between 35 and 55.

I think it's time to dust off on the letter writing department and start issuing some FoI requests and annoying letters on true court costs and what not.

If they proceed with this I'm incensed enough to have them waste more money on this.

lincroft1710

joujou wrote: »

If they proceed with this I'm incensed enough to have them waste more money on this.

"Their money" is actually your money, any extra expenditure by a council results in higher council tax, higher car parking or other charges. Yes I realise it would be an insignificant amount, but it all adds up.

joujou

lincroft1710 wrote: »

"Their money" is actually your money, any extra expenditure by a council results in higher council tax, higher car parking or other charges. Yes I realise it would be an insignificant amount, but it all adds up.

I do realise that. I think though that a council shouldn't get away with charging £95 for "costs" that they cannot justify, and to bully people into paying tax that is not due (however the legislation states) only for them to be paying it back later. The overarching social justice principle is more important. If the legislation needs changing then so be it, I would've done my small effort in moving in that direction.

If (and experience states, this is more of a "when") the council backs up on the £95 charge then that will be a welcome personal win.

CIS

Do you think the £95 charge is appropriate and is representative of costs?

You can dispute the costs at the court hearing if you wish however the council will have ok'd the costs with the court in advance.

elmer

All councils have to bill as per the legislation, they don't get to choose which bits are "crap", if you disagree with the legislation contact your MP.

My council will not remove costs for a properly executed warrant without exceptional circumstances, but do let us know how you get on.

May I suggest you may have a better result if you ask politely up the management chain, rather that going in with a FOI request and a willingness to cause a fuss to waste taxpayers money. We are nicer to the former and see an awful lot of the latter.

elmer

CIS

elmer wrote: »

All councils have to bill as per the legislation, they don't get to choose which bits are "crap", if you disagree with the legislation contact your MP.

My council will not remove costs for a properly executed warrant without exceptional circumstances, but do let us know how you get on.

May I suggest you may have a better result if you ask politely up the management chain, rather that going in with a FOI request and a willingness to cause a fuss to waste taxpayers money. We are nicer to the former and see an awful lot of the latter.

elmer

I agree fully.