Hi
Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post.
I’m sorry to hear about what’s happened and that you’ve been having difficulties with your council tax.
Unfortunately, anyone liable to pay council tax loses the right to pay by instalments if they miss a payment and are then unable bring their payments up to date within 14 days of receiving a reminder notice.
I’m assuming you missed this deadline, as you weren’t aware of the reminder notice which means your council can demand that the council tax be paid in full even if it’s not the end of the tax year.
If you feel this wasn’t explained to you when you called your council in August you could make a complaint. Your council’s complaints procedure should be available on their website.
At the hearing in August the council will have applied for a liability order. This allows them to take further action to recover the debt and application costs are usually applied to the outstanding council tax.
Equita are also allowed to add fees once they’re instructed to recover a debt. This will likely account for the £127 still outstanding. Equita may not be aware that you’ve paid your council tax, so it would be a good idea to let them know so they can update their records. This may be why they're still asking you to repay £426.
If you’re unable to repay the remaining balance owed to Equita in one go, we can help you to work out what is affordable,
here are our contact details.
In the meantime you can find information about what enforcement agents can and can’t do on our website, here’s the
link.
I hope this helps.
Linsi
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Thank you and I hope you can help.
I will try to keep this short.
I paid a lump sum on my council tax which took me to July '16, halfway through the month.
I didn't get the first notice that the remaining balance of July was due. (it had been hidden by my housemate who is dyslexic and has a tendency to hide letters).
I then received a hearing letter in August, upon which I rang the council.
Speaking with a live advisor, I requested the amount which would bring me up to date and paid that over the phone.
I then was under the impression that my next month's payment would be due by the end of the month as usual.
I then received a letter from Equita and, not wanting to deal with them (I won't pay my council tax to a private company, sorry), I rang the council again.
Long story short, the hearing in August had gone ahead (?) and apparently I was liable to pay the council tax IN FULL.
After a long conversation where the council rep insisted that the money had to be paid to Equita, I said to the advisor 'so, if I pay the council tax directly to the council, in full, you would not accept the money?'. She confirmed that they would not refuse any payment. I paid in full.
I am now receiving threatening letters from Equita. my council account shows that all council tax was paid, but there is now a charge on it for £127 for the bailiff.
Equita is demanding £426.
my questions are:
what is the legal standing of the bailiff and of the council?
how should I deal with these bailiffs?
as it is not even the end of the year and my council tax is paid in full, how is any of this acceptable?
I am a reasonably confident individual who pays all my bills on time and I find this difficult. how the hell do people deal with this who are less secure, both financially and socially? horrible.
thank you for any advice you can give.
Originally posted by lulublulub
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