Rec'd summary warrant from Sherrif's Office over Council Tax non-payment

[physicsgraduate]

It says it is for council tax in a table on the back.

[kirstyo]

So they have just added this years (14-15) on top then? That is what they do, no matter what stage in the year it is, if the council send it to the sheriff officers they send the whole year. Can you give us a bit more info? what exactly does the letter say? I take it you are paying the sheriff officers for a previous year but not paying this years?

[physicsgraduate]

Yes.

 

It says-

 

SUMMARY WARRANT NOTIFICATION

 

The council tax debt, shown overleaf, has been passed to us for recovery and enforcement.

 

We are already recovering council tax debts from you which are being paid in accordance with an agreed repayment arrangement.

 

This additional debt has increased your total debt outstanding and it is now essential that we review the existing agreement. Your total debt is detailed on the reverse of this letter.

 

Our specialist review team have reviewed the adequacy of your existing arrangement and you must contact us immediately to agree an increase in the amount you are currently paying.

[kirstyo]

Perhaps contacting them and telling them that you simply cant afford to pay any more will work, but you might need to increase it a little to keep them off your back. If you are entitled to any sort of discount you can still apply for it through the council and they will pass it on to the sheriff officers who will reduce the bill accordingly.

 

 

This is exactly what happened to me for a good few years, I was paying the arrears so couldn't keep up with the current year and ended up stuck in the loop of every single year would go to the sheriffs, which of course means more charges.

[physicsgraduate]

I might offer then £20 per month as I was going to start paying the existing bill at £10 per month anyway. As long as I can apply for a discount at the end of the tax year if my earnings are low.

[kirstyo]

You can definitely have your discount added retrospectively, I did a few years ago. I had massive issues with the council continuing to lose paperwork or whatever so I never received my student discount, eventually I walked into their office with yet another copy of the proof of being a student for the whole year and they added the discount. It took a bit longer to come through because obviously it had to be dealt with by the council then passed on but I did get it.

[kirstyo]

Oh and if you want to pay £20 I would offer £15, in my experience they will try and up your offer slightly so if you offer £15 and they try to bring it up a bit you could always tell them you can stretch it to £20 at the absolute most.

[physicsgraduate]

Great, thanks. Nothing to get particularly worried over then.

 

Will try offering £15 first.

[kirstyo]

I wouldn't be worried, as long as you stick to what you agree with them it should go no further. Please make sure you do stick to it though, I once missed two weeks payment and they arrested my wages!

[physicsgraduate]

What powers do they have. I mean let's say I move to another county and cease payments, can they still arrest my bank and find out my new address?

[kirstyo]

Yes they can still do it, you can make it difficult for them but they will catch up with you eventually. They can arrest either your bank account or your wages which ever they can get their hands on basically. If you are paying by direct debit they already have your bank details and if you deliberately moved to avoid paying them the judge would absolutely give them the right to arrest your bank. Not that this is difficult for them any way, also once you have had action taken against you once, it is so much easier for them to do it again. That is how they managed to arrest my wages after just two weeks, I had a previous arrestment which I had paid in full and was paying them for a different year, because I had a previous arrestment they were able to pretty much automatically arrest my wages again, also you don't get a chance to stop an arrestment before it starts, you wont know that it is happening until it does. They already have a summary warrant, so the judge would let them arrest your wages or bank if you don't stick to payments.

[physicsgraduate]

Well i purposely have avoided telling them any details like that, but I'm sure they could find out somehow. I arrange a new payment plan and try to stick to it as best I can.

[kirstyo]

You are right they would find out they have all sorts of ways including the electoral register and I would assume credit reference agencies. Best to stick to payments and then you have no worries

[physicsgraduate]

Let's say then, at some point in the future if I get the amount I owe halved, can I rearrange the payments to be less then?

 

I guess not and this is all part of their plan to get me to agree to pay more and then I can reduce it, yeah?

[kirstyo]

in theory yes you can reduce your payments, but you need to get them to agree. I called them when I moved and explained I had a change of circumstances because of just moving my partner was not working and we only had my bursary as income at the moment, they agreed to a reduced payment but they did review it after a while, I think it was six months and I did put it up slightly but not back to what it was. So I guess if you called them with something similar, some sort of change in your financial circumstances they might agree to reduce your amount, especially because like you say you would owe them less at that point.

[IdaInFife]

As you are getting tax credit i presume you are working - as this now accumulates this years they will be looking for more ....

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2012/308/schedule/made

 

Tells you how much they could get if the apply for a wages arrestment ........I would offer under the amount but not too far under or they won't accept

[kirstyo]

If they don't know what you are earning they don't know how much they could get via an arrestment. I would make your offer before it gets to the stage of them looking to recover via arrestment. If they accept your offer and you stick to it you are fine, they almost always accept a reasonable offer and as long as you stick to it they wont look for your employment details. They currently have no idea what my income is, because I have stuck to my agreement. They know I am no longer working at my old job, because that is how my arrestment ended, but when I left I called them about it and offered them a certain amount which they accepted and they therefore had no need to obtain my work details.

[physicsgraduate]

They accepted £15. It was easy. They didn't even want £15 for this month. I have it in writing. Got to be quite honest I've dealt with far worse debt collectors than that really, I don't like it but it was all quite civil and non-threatening an experience. I guess they have their share of drama to deal with these days as well. There are times when you don't want to negotiate with these characters but in this instance we all have to accept that one way or another, they have us by the balls. I think it is all a plot by the council to get more money out of you and to get you to agree liability for it somehow. I asked the guy first time round if I didn't come in and negotiate all they would do is eventually just hand it down to another third party deb collector who then has four years to collect it, and he nodded.

[kirstyo]

That's great! Glad you got it sorted out. Although I can assure you they would not have passed it on to another collection agency, maybe another department but it would still be the sheriff officers, they would arrest your earnings or bank account eventually.

 

 

I have to admit although I had my issues with the council which prevented me from dealing with the sheriffs officers the way I should, once I started dealing with them I actually found them quite easy to deal with as well. Not a pleasant experience but certainly the best debt collector experience I have had.

[physicsgraduate]

It's a crazy situation. In years to come they'll call it the great buy-2-let pension scheme swindle. Happy to sign a cheque to me every month for £1K but I have to pay them back 50. Would be a nice set up in theory if any of that money that's getting bounced around ended up in my bank account at any stage. I am indebted to the rest of society for claiming a roof over my head (and lucky to have it).