Council Tax - Court Summons

molerat

To get to court stage you have obviously not been paying regularly. The whole annual amount is due at the start of the year and the council are nice enough to allow you to pay this in instalments in arrears. If you fail to pay an instalment then the whole remaining balance for the year becomes due. Any refund due will be paid after you move out. I am certain the council will be able to come up with a detailed breakdown of the costs incurred in taking you to court. Paying what was due when it was due could have avoided all this and would have been a cheaper option.

boneofo

This is factually wrong. You can get to the court stage when paying correctly due to errors by the council. I have experience where a council was granted a liability order + costs but was quashed (even though the law appears not to allow this) later on application. In this instance, the council had maladministered its new 12 month instalment policy - invoicing for 12 but expecting 10 monthly payments of higher value.

molerat wrote: »

To get to court stage you have obviously not been paying regularly. The whole annual amount is due at the start of the year and the council are nice enough to allow you to pay this in instalments in arrears. If you fail to pay an instalment then the whole remaining balance for the year becomes due. Any refund due will be paid after you move out. I am certain the council will be able to come up with a detailed breakdown of the costs incurred in taking you to court. Paying what was due when it was due could have avoided all this and would have been a cheaper option.

sax11

i've got a summons the other day , although i've been paying it , have one payment left which will bring it up to date and even have the details of when i called them about it

Amazingly my local council can find the recorded telephone calls for he past few days & december but cannot locate the one where my payments were mentioned.

Question is, by the time it goes to court the final payment will have been made & i will owe nothing. Shall i go to the court and defend myself armed with all my paperwork or not?

boneofo

Worth a day out. The cases are not heard but 'rubber stamped' as many don't turn up. Those who attend are dealt with separately by the councils rep who will probably withdraw the case once they work it out whats gone on.
You could refuse to deal with them and insist on explaining to the magistrates (or more likely district judge - don't know about Scotland or NI). Ask for expenses/costs.
My local council court rep (para legal etc) gets from work to the court using a taxi on expenses.
Best to deal with government and corporations by email rather than phone so you have records.

sax11 wrote: »

Question is, by the time it goes to court the final payment will have been made & i will owe nothing. Shall i go to the court and defend myself armed with all my paperwork or not?

elmer

If its paid before the court date, it won't go to court and costs won't be added

elmer

sax11

There is an extra 'cost' in the court fee - although the summons is for 'overdue' ther is actually nothing due until the 28th jan as i'm up to date and had this confirmed.
I'll probably do the day out option, will be interesting to see some council lacky squirm.

WalesJason

Hi,

I have recently moved property with family housing, the previous property having to be evacuated due to the fire escape being condemned. Family housing agreed to pay the bedroom tax and take care of all documentation for the move regarding rent payment etc until the work at the old property is complete as of yet not completed. So i was rather surprised and annoyed to find a County Court Summons for unpaid council tax given that i am currently unemployed and in ill health.

I was hoping someone could help me out with some advice am i at fault, or are family housing. And given that i am not eligible for council tax due to having it paid as part of JSA should i even be getting this?

Thanks

Jason