Council tax recovery fees wales

[Help needed please]

Hi All

 

I have a dispute with the council regarding council tax from 2020/21 year.   

 

I should not have paid council tax at all that year as I was made instantly unemployed on lock-down day without any notice and was therefore entitled to relief,

 

they made a complete mess of my application for relief and then started to harass me for payment of the council tax 7 months later with no communication in between.  The mess they made is well documented and evidenced with email trails.

 

The communications were frustrating, back and to and they were very unreasonable about the cause of the unpaid tax and their failures and every time I complained,

 

I got a standard response which did not address any of my points raised so they never actually addressed the specifics of my complaint.  I gave up in the end and decided to pay it the following year along with my current bill, as I was back in work by then.

 

I have therefore paid the council tax in full and have nothing outstanding including this current year.  I never should have paid the 20/21 when I had no income but just wanted them off my back to be fair.

 

However, they had applied legal and recovery fees of over £500 which I refused to pay on top of the council tax itself which in itself, was around £2400 per annum.

 

Even though the only thing outstanding is recovery fees, they have now issued a summons to magistrates court for a liability order for the outstanding recovery fees.

 

My question is, can they do this?  Are recovery fees alone, the same as council tax and can therefore be made the subject of a liability order under the Council Tax Act?

 

In addition, if I do have to attend court, can I ask for reasonable adjustments as I am disabled and cannot travel distances yet the court they have chosen is over 50 miles away and I would really struggle to get there.  Is it reasonable for me to ask for the case to be moved closer to my home to prevent this difficulty?

 

I've tried speaking to the council recovery team a number of times but they are behaving like complete bullies. 

 

I'd appreciate some help if anyone knows whether recovery fees can be treated the same as council tax and recovered through the magistrates court which will of course incur even more fees. 

 

 

 

[Help needed please]

 

Just to add, this is Wales if there is anything different in the recovery laws.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Help needed please
Incorrect dates

[dx100uk]

Have bailiffs been involved?

cant be until the LO is grantwd?

unless wales is a diff system!!

 

i'll go look

[Help needed please]

Thanks so much dx100uk.   Bailiffs were involved during the 2020/21 year, hence the outstanding recovery fees of £500 added to my account.

 

At the time that they messed up my application for relief and then presented me with a huge bill after 7 months of silence, i was still unemployed and could not pay.  They got a liability order which was then pursued by bailiffs for a sort time, before it was returned to the council who then added the fees onto my next years bill.   

 

I paid the council tax in full for 20/21 despite being unemployed for more than that whole period and I've also paid the subsequent years, but have refused to pay the fees from the time they messed up.  I thought it more than fair that I paid the council tax itself despite being entitled to relief, and think they should write off the fees associated but they are being bloody-minded and unreasonable.

 

All that is outstanding this ear are those fees and it is that which they are taking to magistrates court.  

 

I believe Wales works on the same system as England.

 

Thanks for your help. 

[dx100uk]

£500 is not correct

 

@£75 notice of Enforcement

@£235 visit fee

the max any bailiff can charge on a CTAX LO is £310 no matter how many times they turn up

end of.