Summons for non payment of Council Tax

[bazaar]

Hiello, I would like some advise on this issue, I have just read a very good thread of another forum member, so thought i'd give it a try.
This is what I recieved:
You are therefore hereby summoned to appear before the magistrates court sitting at Blah Blah Blah. on 14th July 2008, to show cause why you have not paid said sum.
If you do not appear you will be proceeded against and dealt with according to law.
Amount Due £XXX.XX Plus £53.00 Costs.

We have contacted the council in the past to give a little more time and we have paid 2 sums to clear this, to which they agreed to.

However, They have taken the last payment and put it to this years council tax bill. I explained this on the phone just now, but the Bxtch on the phone showed little interest.
I am going to pay the outstanding amount next week, but
I'm a little peeved that they think they can add these 'costs' .
Now , do I pay the outstanding minus their costs. Or pay all and try to recover the costs because of their clerical error.
I'm going to fight this even though its only £53. Its the principal.
Thanks in advance

[Conniff]

Any charges will be paid for before a contribution is made to the council tax ie the £53 will be paid still leaving council tax arrears of £53. They will send the bailiffs around to collect that £53 from you if you don't pay it.

[bazaar]

Thanks for the reply Connif,
I've just fired off an e-mail, requesting removal of summons and 'costs' due to monies being wrongly transferred. I'll post back when I get a reply.
From what I am reading into this, they havent applied for costs, they are assuming that the court will allow them, this is disrespectful to the court due to an assumption.
My other thought is to ask for a breakdown of said costs before court date to give them more work, then just pay it a day before.
Petty I know, but I'm angry at the moment.

[Conniff]

There aren't any cost applied for or awarded. The fee is the court fee for applying for a liability order plus a donation towards their Christmas party.

You could ask for a breakdown, but you wont get an answer.

If you pay the bill the day before I believe that you will still be liable for the fee as that will have already been paid.
Paying before will only stop the liability order as there will be nothing you are liable for.

[bazaar]

So they have added a cost which has to be substatiated in court then?
I have spent a few hours researching, I can add that as my cost cant I?

[bazaar]

Strangely enough, my costs come out as £53.00
This is wierd.lol

[Conniff]

Yes there is an unjustifiable fee.

I believe that the fee to apply to a court for a liability order (which is just another money making scam as you haven't denied your liable for CT), is £3 and the bit on top is the penalty the council add on.

You can safely class this as a 'penalty' as the councils say they need this to administer the department, so it is not the actual cost of getting a liability order against you plus the cost of the letters.

In 2007, there were 4 million liability orders issued, that made the councils in excess of £200,000,000 which they cannot deny are penalty charges as it does not cost that to produce some spreadsheets. Remember, that is for just one year.

The council does not issue a court summons just for you and one for the lady down the road, they press a button on the computer and print out all the tax payers that are in arrears onto a spreadsheet. That spreadsheet is given to the judge and he makes a rubber stamp at the bottom without even looking at the names or even knowing how many there on the spreadsheet.

For this your council are charging you £50 and £50 to each of the others that will be presented at the same time, so they are on to a good thing and it is their way of increasing the council tax without billing you.

They are not interested in your ability to pay it either, and can apply for an attachement of earnings order which allows them to order your employer to deduct the statutory amount each week, or if you are on benefits or pension credits, they can take any arrears from your benefits. They can only take a maximum of £2.90 per week from you if you are single or £4.55 if you are a couple if it is from benefits or pension credits.

And, of course, if they can't get it then they can have you sent to prison which achieves absolutely nothing.

By the way, that two hundred million is basing it on £50 but some councils charge in excess of £100, to that is a very very conservative figure.

[bazaar]

Heres an update, I e-mailed the council and suggested that it was their error that caused the problem.
Just got off the phone now, they have re-calculated for me, so all \i now have to is go to their office and pay up whats left plus what I can afford this week, they'll then re-calculate to allow monthly payments, so hopefully I got a result, I'll update if it goes pear shaped though,. Oh yes and 10% to CAG is going in now.