Council playing dirty. Can i stop them?

[nohope]

Hope someone can help with this.

 

My partner has a council tax bill from her previous property she lived in which was over 3 years ago.

The council have been in touch and wanted it paid, which is fine.

 

I set up a payment plan with them over the phone for £10 a month until we are a bit better of then we will up the payments.

 

I received a letter from them saying they accept the arrangement and could i send them details of partners work and any benefits we get which i did. I also put at the bottom of the letter

 

The details above are given in good faith and are to be used as reference only and not to be passed on to any third party or used for any other reason than to check against the details provided on the income and expenditure form which has been returned to you.

 

By reading the above you agree to the terms that the details are provided upon and they will not be used for any other purpose.

Not sure if that stands for anything but i look at it as the same thing as filling in an online form and being asked to tick a box to say you do not want them to pass your details onto any third party.

 

This morning we have received another letter thanking us for the details and saying -

 

I confirm receipt of your letter with employement details.

The terms of a liability order allow for an attachment to earnings order.

The payment for £10 a month is not acceptable, the minimum, as advised previously is £20 a month.

To prevent further recovery action being taken contact us.

Now, i have the letter here saying they will agree to continue the £10 a month yet now they have employement details they want to up it or do an attachment to earnings.

 

Can they do this and did my little note on the bottom of the letter i sent them stand up for anything or was it just wishfull thinking..

[assisted blonde]

Councils are renowned for putting on attachment of earnings orders for CT arrears, do not ignore them as they will do it, try negotiating at say 15.00 per week, they do ask for more whatever you offer but make sure you keep to the payments.

[nohope]

We cant do any more at the moment. !0 a month is the best we can manage. My partner has just gone back to work after being on SSP for the last 4 months and only been back 2 days. We have other bills to try and catch up on yet.

 

As they agreed to the £10 a month payment in writing can they now go back on it even though they have said it was ok?

[nohope]

Any ideas anyone?

[ss002d6252]

As they agreed to the £10 a month payment in writing can they now go back on it even though they have said it was ok?

 

Legally, yes. Nowhere in Council Tax regulations does it state that a payment arrangement is an option , any arrangement is at the councils discretion.

 

 

 

I received a letter from them saying they accept the arrangement and could i send them details of partners work and any benefits we get which i did. I also put at the bottom of the letter

 

It appears that they haven't accepted your terms and you haven't accepted theirs. If you wish to push the issue then they can ignore what you provided and instruct a bailiff or issue an Attachment of Earnings Order.

[nohope]

They accepted the arrangement over the phone and then send me a letter confirming it so i can't see how they can go back on it so easy.

[outlawla]

They accepted the arrangement over the phone and then send me a letter confirming it so i can't see how they can go back on it so easy.

 

It seems you're not being helped much here by more sources than one......if you have evidence that your council entered an arrangement, I'd say pursue this with your local authority and don't be put off by the negative comments.

[nohope]

Yes, i think a letter from them with it in writing is evidence enough.

 

I've emailed them stating i'm not happy with the way they have decided to change it and how they have asked me to provide details of my partners employment under false pretences as they said in the letter it was just for information but now they have they details they have said up your payment or further recorvery action will be taken or an attachment to earnings.

[nohope]

Well after sending them an email stating i was not happy with the way they gained details from us and trying to use them as scare tacticts to be used for other options of collection they have decided that my offer of £15 a month is ok for now. Don't think they realise that some people wont just roll over and play dead for them and we all have a voice to shout back at them with.

 

They did ask in there reply email about my income as they stated the IE form i filled out did not have that on it and it should have been a household income, i only put my partners as its he council tax from before we met.

I've told them it has nothing to do with me or my income as it was before my time and the fact at the moment i'm not working so there would be nothing else to add to the IE form.

 

There reply was the same again, they accept the £15 a month and will review it again at a later date to see if anything has changed.

 

I take it i was rite that as its counicl tax from before we met its nothing to do with me or my personal income?