Court Summons for Council Tax - Help!!!

[steveoram1]

Have just recieved a summons from Blyth Valley Council to appear at court on July 3rd for not paying my council tax. Thing is we set up a Direct Debit in April which I have checked on my internet banking and is still showing live. They have also added £28 costs and on the letter it says we will now have to pay the full balance - over £900. Surely they cannot blame me for a glitch in their billing system. I would be happy to provide evidence that there was plenty of funds available in the account at the times that they were due to collect them. I am under the impression that someone from the council would have had to key my bank account details in to some computer to make it appear on my banking so if they have done this why would they then not have taken the payments? Would appreciate any help with this one.

[callumsgran]

Hi and welcome! if you have the money pay it now, i do mine online but didnt pay one month and they summonsed me so i went to court y'day and all they do is get you to make an arrangement to pay the remaining council tax for the whole year, not a problem you just set up another direct debit! if you pay now you wont have to go to court anyway, any clearer?

[steveoram1]

Cheers for that cillitbang - 1 question - will I still have to pay the extra £28 court costs they have added on? Doesn't seem fair if I do as its down to their incompetence in the 1st place.

[callumsgran]

yes i'm afraid you will but think yourself lucky ive got to pay £90! you may be able to negotiate with the council about this as it was not your fault! also you might get somewhere if you ask the bank why they didnt pay it as there was funds there, you might be able to get something out of the direct debit guarantee but its doubtful cos they didnt actually pay it out! hope this helps? and you're welcome by the way

[steveoram1]

Have written this letter to the Council. Can somebody look it over before I post it.


Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxx


Blyth Valley Borough Council
Revenue Services
Renwick Road
Blyth
Northumberland
NE24 2BX



24 June 2006

Re: Account Number – xxxxxxxx - Summons Numbers xxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxxx


Dear Sir or Madam


With regard to the summonses sent to us on the 19th June 2006. We were extremely shocked to receive these as we signed and sent to you a Direct Debit form in April and assumed you were collecting the amounts due according to the schedule of payments you sent us.


We enclose two screenshots taken from our joint bank account today to show you that the Direct Debit is indeed live on our account. Since it is not possible for us to initiate the setting up of a Direct Debit on the account (highlighted) it must have been set up by one of your staff. As per our agreement with you there have been funds available to pay these Direct Debits had you requested them.


We believe it is only right and proper for you to immediately halt the legal proceedings against us and remove the Council Costs of £25.00 (twice) and the Court Costs of £3.00 (twice) from our account. We would be quite willing to defend this matter in the County Court and feel that the Court would agree with us that this situation has been brought about by either a fault in your billing system or general incompetence on your part. We further propose that you write off the payments that have not been taken from our bank account by you as we fully believed that these had been paid and collect future instalments as per our agreement.


As there is only a short time between now and the proposed County Court hearing could you please respond by return of post and indicate whether you will be pursuing the Court proceedings as we will have to assemble the documents required to defend our case e.g. we will need to have the bank confirm the exact date the Direct Debit was set up and by whom. We will also need to obtain copies of our bank statements to show that funds were indeed available to pay you.


We look forward to hearing from you.







xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

[barracad]

Originally Posted by steveoram1

We further propose that you write off the payments that have not been taken from our bank account by you as we fully believed that these had been paid.

I would leave this part out.

Even if it is there fault the payments weren't taken, you still owe the money and haven't paid it.

[callumsgran]

Hi, are you sure its the county court you are summonsed to? its usually dealt with at magistrates court!

[installspark]

Liability orders are dealt with by Magistrates Courts as it is a criminal offence not to pay Council Tax .

The court will only be concerned with proving/disproving the liability for the non payment of Council Tax, and there are very few grounds for non liability. The Court will probably take the view that although a direct debit was set up on your bank account and the council didn't claim it as per the payment schedule, you are still jointly and severally liable for the full amount and issue the liability order and if it did get into the courtroom you will be asked as to why you did not notice this mistake originally and query it earlier.

You have several options available to you:

Pay the full amount on the summons, including costs, the day before the hearing. This will remove any liability.

Go to Court on the hearing day and make an arrangement to pay. The liability order will still be granted.

Go to your Council offices and speak to a manager in person, try to negotiate a mutually agreeable settlement.

In any case, whichever course of action you decide to take, make a formal written complaint to the Council following their own complaint procedures. This will enable you, if you are not happy with the outcome, to take it to the lcal Government Ombudsman.

[Janet-M]

Don't be suprised if you can't get in to see the judge on the day.I had no end of problems with my council tax and ended up being summonsed for money I didn't owe I went to court armed with all the papers proving I didn't owe the money only to be told by the court usher it was a block summons and the judge doesn't actually see anyone.No matter how much I argued that you can't send a summons to someone and then tell them they can't actually go in the court , it just fell on deaf ears.They did in the end agree to postpone my case so 'they' could look at it again.I queried what the usher meant by 'they' only to be found that the usher actually worked for the council tax :o .I asked to speak to the court manager and was again told it was a block summons and I wouldn't be allowed to speak to the judge.I STILL to this day do not understand how they can summon someone to court but then refuse to let them defend themselves.

[callumsgran]

we had exactly the same thing happen to us on friday mjanet, its a cr*p system isn't it?