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hi guys,

 

i have huge council tax arrears over many years amounting to about £2000.

 

 

i was miffed when a couple of months ago I got a breakdown which had adjustments made to the bill (taking into account the previous years) and that brought down the balance to a couple of hundred of pounds due to 'adjustments'..

i and others in the property have council tax benefit and for this year.

 

 

i queried this at the time on the phone and i was repeatedly told by council tax staff that the balanace quoted was how much i owed and one even told me that an amount was written off.

 

now,

i got a summons for court recently.

i didn't quite understand this as whatever money i've had,

i tried to pay my council tax with; my benefits already get discounted by £3.30 a week.

 

 

i called about this and the person i spoke to said that i didn't have to attend but that i'll be charged for the court costs.

i tried to explain that i didn't think that was fair given how i'm trying to reduce the balance and these summons were just adding to the balance especially since according to the adviser i'll not be seen by the judge anyway.

 

 

the adviser told me it was nothing compared to how much the council had 'written off'. anyway, at the time,

i queried the balance and the adviser quoted me what i have on my breakdown balance.

 

 

forward a week later when i rang to query the exact date to attend (thinking what the heck, may as well attend if i'm paying for it), the balance is back up to £2000.

i got a letter recently telling me that the adviser quoted my bill wrong.

 

any idea what these adjustments are?

any help on what i should do about this and future summons?

should i attend?

 

im a bit disheartened with the whole situation especially with the attitude i got from the staff AND being misinformed

 

any help greatly appreciated

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Sounds as if you need to see what the Council have, particularly if it goes back a year or three. Easiest way is to submit a SAR, some do it free but others charge the £10. I fail to understand that if they are deducting money from your Benefits why you owe. Do you actually claim CTB?

 

PT

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hi ploddertom & ty for responding,

 

with regards to the SAR, is there any specific info i should ask for aside from the account statements (or whatever you call it?). yes, i claim CTB but of course these deductions are to cover the previous years arrears and it's apparently not enough to stop the court summons now & then.

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To start with it may be worth asking if they can send you a statement of each years account they are claiming. Am I right in assuming if these accounts were before you got CTB, that you also got the Liability Orders before you claimed CTB?

 

PT

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yes i think that's right. also i've not claimed CTB consecutively either since then. i have worked in and out of jobs between periods and so didn't claim CTB. the recent summons was when i 've been claiming CTB and i have had one previously before this that was the same.

 

hope that helps

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In that case you need to ask them:

 

1 - how many Liability Orders they have

2 - the date each one covers - check to see if that concurs with what you have

3 - how much each Liability Order is for

4 - how much is still outstanding on each one

5 - the date each Liability Order was obtained

 

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  • 1 year later...

hi everyone,

 

i'd really like some advice on my council tax situation please (which is a disaster indeed).

 

i've now got two pre-committal orders within the space of 3 months.

 

the first i received in november was for a sum of liability orders in the region of £700.

i was advised by the council (over the phone) to try and pay off that sum so that i wouldn't have to face such pre-committals which is what i've been trying to do

- throwing anything i can afford to do away with the lo's I roughly paid off about £400.

 

the council advisers and i even worked out how much it would cost per month to clear our outstanding council tax arrears and the current years.

 

i've now got a recent letter for lo's of £973.

this was never mentioned to me once during the conversations with the advisers a month back.

 

i've since been told by debt helpline that i should've been keeping up to date with my current council tax rather than focused on the arrears.

 

the explanation i've been given since speaking to an adviser is that because i've been on jsa previously, the council had written off like a huge amount of my debt but because i am now working, they have made 'adjustments' and put it back on.

 

i don't even earn that much with the job i have seeing as it's part time and just a little above minimum wage.

 

i know i'm entitled to discounts due to the other people living in the property with me and this is something i'm trying to now claim but what should i do in the meantime? i've been told i should expect bailiffs knocking on the door soon (wasn't said as a threat - just, it's at that stage (again)).

 

the adviser i spoke to recently said i should get an income and expenditure form done which i'm in the process of doing too and explain my situation.

 

do you think i could ask that they write off the debt again given my circumstances?

it's not likely i'll be doing better than i am and in fact, with the situation of my job as it is, i may even have to go back to signing on

- a prospect i really am not looking forward to.

 

i funnily enough got told by an adviser that i was better on the dole than working :|

i have no idea what to do.

 

one thing i'm really annoyed with is that the 'adjustments' that just pop up out of nowhere.

dunno what to expect.

no proper figure is really given to me. i've never not wanted to pay so they shouldn't put me in prison...err, right?

 

sorry for the long read. any advice?

i'm at my wit's end on how to properly handle this.

 

any help offered please?

 

is there any guidance on the income and expenditure. what are acceptable amounts to put down for certain expenses for instance?

 

to make matters complicated,

i'm likely to be moving from the property in a couple of months.

there's no way i can pay of the arrears before then.

any idea what'll happen in that situation?

 

i've asked for a breakdown of the council tax but all i've been given was the dates of the liability orders from years back and nothing more.

 

i can't get anymore detailed than this and pretty much refused to send anything in writing preferring to give it over the phone or have me come down instead.

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  • 2 weeks later...

First of all, i would suggest seeking help from the CAB, and taking all the paperwork you can get regarding this to them. This matter is not something the average person in society can deal with, since it's really complicated what you either owe, or don't owe.

 

I'm sure, your like many many others here, that want to pay " what they owe"...after all, we are all decent citizens here, and we are not avoiding it. The councils and so called advisors, they like to confuse the issue beyond any reasonable doubt, so that they can fudge a few numbers and get more out of you. That's why you need professional advice from CAB.

 

The CAB will rummage through what you owe, and what you dont owe, and they will give you a correct figure, and arrange some sort of payment plan to suit your finances, that way, your happy, the council get thier money, and you can concentrate on your move. As if moving home isn't stressfull enough, without the council on your back threatening you for something that you might or might not owe, and can't even get the right figures.

 

That's all i can really suggest, but whatever happens, always seek legal and professional good advice, and with my experience, i recomend CAB.

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thank you wingus! appreciate any help

 

i've been considering arranging an appt with cab but they're really so busy and the timing's are difficult with work but it's something that needs to be done for sure so i need to crack on to that.

 

 

in the meantime,

i've tried to come with a temp payment arrangement but that's proving a nightmare on the phone even trying to accomplish the simplest task, i end up being lectured about the seriousness of the situation

- like i'm not aware of that already apparently.

 

i'm making a SAR to the council and apart from a breakdown of my bill, liability orders and notes on my account, is there anything i should specifically ask for?

 

considering a serious complaint about how my account is being handled by staff

 

are they allowed to note down an inaccurate and biased statements about my behaviour over the phone and on my record for anyone accessing my account to see?

 

 

i'm beginning to think there's certain things noted on my account which might explain why i seem to have such painful encounters over the phone.

i know i should keep things in writing but the deadline's looming and this was urgent

 

this issue is just getting worse :sad:

 

they'd gladly see me sent down no doubt about it!

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  • 3 months later...

hey guys,

 

i'm in the process of trying to work out an arrangement for my council tax arrears which amount to roughly £2000, near a £1000 of which is covered by 2 liability orders.

 

i've provided my i&e which shows my expenditure based on a household of 3 (including me). now is that enough for them to come to an arrangement? they want a breakdown of all people who live in the property - so an I&E for everyone? one's a student and the other's working. what can they demand to see here? any thoughts?

 

i also wanted this matter to be looked at by the head of revenues because there's been a lot of back and forth going on between staff who frankly don't have a clue and i thought it much easier if one person could look at the situation alone. since requesting that, they've raised it as a stage 1 complaint which honestly, i don't know what that would amount to. i just want an arrangement i can afford! they're asking about 40% of my wage for the arrears and i'm paying current council tax per month. bit of a nightmare

 

are only people who are on CTB taken seriously in this situation? that's what they keep pushing me towards but i haven't got all the info they need to put a successful claim through. how do they view I&E's from charities like CAB or others? i'd love to draw up something with them but they're always so busy and i have work which makes it difficult

 

so has anyone got any advice to share? i'm wondering if i'd have better luck in court as i've already been sent pre-committal letters...twice! i've been keeping up-to-date with current year so that's a relief - just the arrears to sort out.

 

appreciate any help

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so an I&E for everyone? one's a student and the other's working. what can they demand to see here? any thoughts?

There's no law stating they have to make an arrangement so in principal they can ask for any information they want to make a decision on.

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  • 10 months later...

Hi all,

 

Could really do with some advice regarding my council tax arrears.

 

I've just received letters in the post warning of bailiff action and both mention liability orders of amounts with debt outstanding £183.78 (liability order date 26/1/11) and £1016 (liability order date 27/6/12) and included is a sheet titled 'The council tax (administration and enforcement regulations 1992) schedule 5.

 

 

Now on digging up papers sent to me, I have come across the summons issed to me which was for the financial years '2010/2011, 2011/2012' for the amount of council tax £936 that subsequently rose to £991 due to costs added.

The current amount they've listed for the liability order is an increase of £25. Can they charge me again for the liability order when it has already been granted?

 

And with regards to LO's, I've been receiving them every year for council tax arrears from 2007 and even two LO's issued twice in the same year (2010) and that was actually during a time when the council were already deducting payment from my JSA at the time. I remember disputing this on the phone with them but to no avail.

 

I'm actually not sure what the next steps are. I've been making regular payments of £120 since last year towards my council tax arreas in addition to the current council tax so it's not like I'm unwilling to pay but gah I feel cheated after reading about the bogus summons and really wish I'd ignored the council tax advisers advice not to attend and done just to be a thorn in their side!

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