Final notice for council tax

[kempc23]

My wife today received an email from the council, a council tax final notice for £650. This is the first correspondence we have received; we haven’t received any emails or letters. They are demanding the full balance of council tax for the year.

We used to pay by direct debit, but I have switched over current accounts and clearly forgot to move this one over. If I had received a notification that my DD had been returned, I would have paid it.

 

So I have exchanged a few emails and a phone call, offering to pay the payment in arrears (two payments, they are usually due on the first of the month). They were not interested and kept saying that if I don’t pay the full balance they will take us to court.

 

Where do we stand on this? They did not send us any warning letters, just a direct final notice by email. I have made a reasonable offer of paying this back, I have paid the two payments in arrears and offered to pay them monthly as before but the council just seem to want to take us to court. Also, this is no longer a debt- as we pay 10 installments over 12 months, it is actually the council who owe us money at the moment, not the other way around!

 

I would really appreciate some advice. The pig headed attitude of the council staff absolutely disgusts me, it seems like they would prefer legal action to getting paid!

Thanks in advance

Christian

[kempc23]

I have since spoken to a manager who again has just ignored everything I have said. According to her, they do not need to send ANY reminders, they can go straight to a final demand like they have.

 

I can afford to pay this, that is not the problem, but I am so angry that i have to. I will be lending the council money until next April. This is THEIR error, in that they have NOT sent us any reminders, but they are absolutely refusing to accept this and just want to take us to court.

 

Someone please help

[ploddertom]

Strange as it may seen but the whole of the CT is actually due on 1 April each year. As a dispensation they allow you to pay in instalments. Councils are strapped for cash and by issuing proceedings they can make more - costs them approx £3 and they usually charge approx £90 so a nice little earner. To avoid the charges you will probably have to pay the rest.

 

It might be worth contatcting your local Councillor(s) and asking them to whisper sweet nothings in the ears of those at the town hall. It is also worth mentioning that a lot of Councils have outsourced their back office operations incl Revenues to private companies some of which own Bailiff companies, you may not have been speaking to kosher Council employee.

 

PT

[kempc23]

Thanks for the reply.

 

It just seems insane- I am offering to pay in installments as I was before, but they seem insistent on taking this through the courts. Surely this is disproportionate and unreasonable? I mean if it was a consumer credit agreement, there would be lots of protection, and if I was proposing a reasonable payment plan, they should accept rather than wasting the time of the courts.

 

Making matters worse is the fact that we hope to move out within around a month, so I will be paid up around 6 months in advance of council tax. I know I can get this back, but I dont doubt the process is as inefficient as everything else the council does.

[sequenci]

Make sure you ask the council if they adhere to the council tax collection good practice guidelines.