Thread: Council Tax Summons after a payment

Hiya,

Sorry about another one of these threads, its a bit of a long one.

Basically we moved into our house on 28/02/09 so had council tax of £82.60 to pay for 08/09 year.
As I'm a student we waited to pay this until I get my council tax exemption form but there have been some problems with this. Received another letter saying we must pay the £82.60 by 19/05/2009 and so my partner phoned up and the girl who answered said not to worry and try and pay it by the end of the month (pay day is about 27th so obviously 19th is no good).
We eventually managed to make the payment on 02/06/2009 as we work unsociable hours and the council website was down for days, and today I've received a summons dated 02/06/2009.
Is it likely that this was sent before the payment?
The summons states that we owe £1037.94 plus £36.00 fees, but that's including the whole of this year.

If I phone up and its on their records that we paid the 08/09 arrears and set up a direct debit with them will I need to attend the summons?

You need to speak to them regarding the Summons and what you were told and the problems making payment. Legally the summons has gone correctly but if the issue is discussed they may withdraw it on this occasion .

When a payment is missed and a reminder issues the payment shown on the reminder is due in 7 days, failure to do this results in a further 7 day period where the entire years balance becomes payable immediately.

If the missed payment is not made within 7 days or the full balance within a further 7 days then a Court Summons will be issued.

Originally Posted by ss002d6252

You need to speak to them regarding the Summons and what you were told and the problems making payment. Legally the summons has gone correctly but if the issue is discussed they may withdraw it on this occasion .

When a payment is missed and a reminder issues the payment shown on the reminder is due in 7 days, failure to do this results in a further 7 day period where the entire years balance becomes payable immediately.

If the missed payment is not made within 7 days or the full balance within a further 7 days then a Court Summons will be issued.

Thanks,

It's very strange because the girl who we spoke to on the phone said don't worry about the 7 days and just pay by the end of the month...maybe she shouldn't have said this?

I'll just ring them up and see whether I need to make another payment etc, it'll have to be Monday...oh well.

You shouldn't ring unless you can record the call as you will hae no record of what was said. If you contact them repeating what this girl said, they will say there is nothing on record or deny it outright.

Although you will be getting an exemption, you should continue paying what is due until that exemption has been agreed, you will then be refunded any overpayment.
If for some reason you were not entitled to an exemption, that would put you further into arrears and all council tax is paid in advance.

You are lucky in that the fee is only £36, some councils charge up to £150.

I have paid what they are demanding on the summons so surely I don't have to go.

Have a read of this thread, it should explain it more.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-me-court.html