Hi all,

just had three letters today two demanding £168 for council tax arrears for old properties - This is fine. I was aware of these but just forgot to pay them.

The problem is one of these letters is stating I need to pay £635.71 for the remainder of my current property - I only moved in on 2nd October and even then it was empty for a week or so whilst moving my possessions into the new house. During the moving house process i had a visit from a "Council Officer" checking to see if the house was empty. I advised her we are just moving in and she took our details. She did say I would get a bill through and once I did I could set a direct debit up.

I have never recieved a bill and today I have recieved this final demand. I contacted the council and they were pretty unhelpfull and rude. The guy I spoke to said I have to pay about £800 before the end of the week otherwise I will be summons to court.

I said I cant pay all of that in council tax a matter of a week before christmas. He said he can only advise me that if I dont pay it I will be summons to court and extra fees added £63 / person.

I asked if I can have extra time and he said any extra time would mean we would setup an arrangement and that will also cost you £63 / person.

HEEELLLLPPP PLEASE XX

Hi,I think you should try and find an hour to go down to the Council office and speak to someone there,rather than deal with this on the phone.

Tell them what you have said here-about the council visitor-they should have records.

The problem is that if the case is listed for hearing and you have done nothing,then you cannot rely on telling them about any phone calls.

If the hearing does take place I would advise you to attend and put your case forward.

Magistrates are restricted as to what they can do-but if its clear that theres been a mistake-and that you have tried to resolve it BEFORE the case,then you will be able to put something forward on the day.

Its worth telling the council that you will be putting in a request for a full SAR -assuming of course that you are CERTAIN that it will show some results for you.

Hi thanks

I went down today because i was angry with the guy i was speaking to and they said they will allow me to pay it monthly at 170 a month but are still charging me £65 and still going to summons me to court in the 1st week of jan

dont get it - they have not summons me know so why cant they leave it!

Hi,I think you should try and find an hour to go down to the Council office and speak to someone there,rather than deal with this on the phone.

Tell them what you have said here-about the council visitor-they should have records.

The problem is that if the case is listed for hearing and you have done nothing,then you cannot rely on telling them about any phone calls.

If the hearing does take place I would advise you to attend and put your case forward.

Magistrates are restricted as to what they can do-but if its clear that theres been a mistake-and that you have tried to resolve it BEFORE the case,then you will be able to put something forward on the day.

Its worth telling the council that you will be putting in a request for a full Subject Access Request -assuming of course that you are CERTAIN that it will show some results for you.

This will be a liability hearing and unless you can show that you are not liable for council tax then there is no point in attending.

All the judge can do is stamp yes or no that you are liable, he can't assist with arrangements or take any notice of the ability to pay.

They will continue with the summons because it makes them a profit and it also gives them other powers such as attachment of earnings, bailiffs or even request a custodial sentence if you should default on the arrangement that you have made.

Just for info, councils in England made £200,000 profit from liability orders in 2007.

This will be a liability hearing and unless you can show that you are not liable for council tax then there is no point in attending.

All the judge can do is stamp yes or no that you are liable, he can't assist with arrangements or take any notice of the ability to pay.

 

They will continue with the summons because it makes them a profit and it also gives them other powers such as attachment of earnings, bailiffs or even request a custodial sentence if you should default on the arrangement that you have made.

 

Just for info, councils in England made £200,000 profit from liability orders in 2007.

hiya

is that really the case about the profit, would the freedom of information act allow me to see what gains were made by my local council,

ive got a complaint in due to this attachment to earnings, and also do you know if there is other ways the council can trace people who havent paid a dime, via tax office, benefit agency etc ,

anyway good luck smorrissey - they will use the liability order to their full powers against easy targets that they can track down who earn

laters angel x

It certainly is true. The cost of a liability order is £3, but they call the other 'admin charges' to justify it even though it takes just four button presses including switching on the printer.

Liability orders are done in blocks on a spreadsheet and the judge just rubber stamps the bottom, he does not look at any of them individually unless someone turns up to dispute they have to pay any council tax.

You would only need to ask how many liability orders have been applied for (yours for the asking), to work out how much they have made.

Thanks coniff

i might actually ask that in my complaint query,

how many liability orders have the council raised this year, and what was the cost for doing so

subtly add that its really a profit making excercise too again at the cost of the taxpayer and the council residents

if i remember we got 45.00 charged! its a profit making cash machine

thanks again

laters angel x

 

They will continue with the summons because it makes them a profit and it also gives them other powers such as attachment of earnings, bailiffs or even request a custodial sentence if you should default on the arrangement that you have made.

 

Just for info, councils in England made £200,000 profit from liability orders in 2007.

I.m sorry to tell you but the above info is WRONG. Our office have carried out a lot of research into this and have made many Freedom of Information requests.

Each council set their own rates and many of these are changed yearly with the combined amount for NNDR ( Business rates) being set at around £225.

Last year there were approx: 3 MILLION Liability Orders obtained !!!!!!

It is estimated that the amount raised by councils is in the region of £250 Million !!!!!

I.m sorry to tell you but the above info is WRONG. Our office have carried out a lot of research into this and have made many Freedom of Information requests.

 

Each council set their own rates and many of these are changed yearly with the combined amount for NNDR ( Business rates) being set at around £225.

 

Last year there were approx: 3 MILLION Liability Orders obtained !!!!!!

 

It is estimated that the amount raised by councils is in the region of £250 Million !!!!!

hiya tomtubby

so what you are actually saying if im reading this right that the councils actually look forward to doing liability orders as it makes them huge profits?

so could i ask via the freedom of information request, (not sure about this only seen it on coucil house info paper) what exactly would my council have made from mine and others in the borough for jumping quickly onto this,

my complaint mainly is that i feel they jumped rather too quickly to process this,,, i just want to argue my case that this is a profit making excercise too for the council

just my thoughts at the moment, planning to do my compliant tomorrow and taking it in by hand so any feedback i would welcome from anyone

many thanks laters angel x

This will be a liability hearing and unless you can show that you are not liable for council tax then there is no point in attending.

All the judge can do is stamp yes or no that you are liable, he can't assist with arrangements or take any notice of the ability to pay.

 

They will continue with the summons because it makes them a profit and it also gives them other powers such as attachment of earnings, bailiffs or even request a custodial sentence if you should default on the arrangement that you have made.

 

Just for info, councils in England made £200,000 profit from liability orders in 2007.

I would suggest an FOI request to ask how many Liability Orders and the fees raised from them.