Walker Love sheriffs scotland - chasing old CTAX debt

[Dav1988]

Hi Guys

 

Looking for some advice.

 

I currently have a couple of council tax debts, one for last financial year for around £500 and one for this financial year.

 

Last years debt has been passed to walker love

and this years is being dealt with by my local council.

 

i have standing orders with them both for an affordable ammount.

 

Now i must have called walker love about two weeks ago to arrange this debt and in fairness i wasnt on the phone long and it got sorted pretty quickly.

 

i check this months payslip and i can see a deduction titled "eas scotland" for 122.39,

i didnt know what this was but assumed it must be a mistake by either walker love or the council as they had both agreed to settlement plans.

 

called the council first and gave me refference number,

they informed me this was for a previous council tax debt from oct 2008 to feb 2009 for around £460.00,

 

this was a flat i stayed in with a friend and he was to arrange payment of the council tax and i was advised it was in hand,

i have never heard a peep from the council or walker love in 4 years in relation to this debt

and not once when i called two weeks ago did they even mention it!!!

 

what i really need to know is can they do this?

surely they cant arrest someones wages if they were not even aware of the debt

and have never been informed by the council of walker love,

 

i have not called walker love yet but the man i spoke to at the council agreed it was a bit shady!

 

thanks in advance for the advice.

[Dav1988]

Please anyone any advice?

 

need to call walker love tomorrow to try and sort this out and really need to know if they arrest someones wages when they havent once spoken to me about the debt?

[ploddertom]

It's not that you are being ignored it is that very few of us have little idea of how the situation works in Scotland as you have a differing set of rules to us Sassenachs. The one person I do know can help has not been on for sometime so could be on holiday. If you click the little black triangle this will send a message to the Site Team and you should ask if they can alert Idainfife, have you also looked in http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?176-Dealing-with-Debt-in-Scotland

[sequenci]

Hello there.

 

based upon the information provided it might be possible to apply for either:

- A Time to Pay Order, which would allow the debt to be paid via affordable instalments

- A payment programme via the 'Debt Arrangement Scheme' - which allows for a single payment to be made which would then be distributed amongst all creditors. This would also freeze interest and any charges and prevent any further 'dilligence' action.

 

Here are some links to some good fact sheets, they will give further advice as to the optiopns:

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=03_recovery_of_council_tax

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=04_enforcing_a_debt_against_you_by_diligence

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=06_time_to_pay_directions_and_orders

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=22_debt_arrangement_scheme

 

Hope you find these useful.

 

Seq.

[Dav1988]

Thank you for reply.

 

Yeah i apreciate it can be a bit of a nightmare with the differing set of laws, i have done as you said and hopefully should hear back, thank you again.

[sequenci]

Do you know if there are other debts? If there are several then something like the Debt Arrangement Scheme can be really useful.

[Dav1988]

I have technically two debts. but all of them i can afford to pay and have no problem paying if im honest.

 

i was more insterested in the legality of arresting someons wages without giving them any prior consent or chance to pay the money back.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I dont' think anyone has to agree to an arrestment/attachment of earnings,

the claimant applies to the court for the order because other methods of

getting payment have failed.

[Dav1988]

I dont' think anyone has to agree to an arrestment/attachment of earnings,

the claimant applies to the court for the order because other methods of

getting payment have failed.

 

Yeah definatly, and i wouldnt disagree with that at all, but if i have never once been made aware of the debt at any point and ive never actually been given the chance at any point to pay the debt, i just feel there is something highly imoral about having me on the phone two weeks ago regararding another debt and never mentioning they were about the arrest my wages.

[sequenci]

The local authorities in Scotland have a defined process that they should follow when it comes to the collection of the council tax. That said, the actual legal process that they exercise is a silent one to begin with - as they don't need to initially inform you that they are doing it, it's called a Summary Warrant procedure.

 

if you believe that the local authority has behaved badly (and it sounds like they have) then do consider a formal complaint. If you cannot get it resolved directly with the council you can escalate the complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

 

http://www.spso.org.uk/

 

It is a tad harsh that they accepted your arrangement yet continued with the attachment.

[Bang!]

A Sheriff basically rubber stamps a Summary Warrant after it is presented before them. There is no hearing like you would expect in other court procedures.

 

After the warrant is granted, any of the standard collection methods can be used (which you have discovered).

 

From years as a volunteer/manager of a Glasgow CAB, the council created our greatest workload, and their level of competence was appalling, as was their interest in handling issues fairly. However, it did improve over time.

 

If you feel you get no where in finding a solution with the council - speak to our councillor, and generally they are very good at sorting things.

 

Lastly, two things I would suggest to make live easy in dealing with the council are...

 

1. If you must give them a telephone number (things are best kept in writing), do not make it your main mobile or landline. The number is passed to Sheriff Officers, who having texting software, and there are horror stories of the number of texts sent.

 

2. Do not pay your council tax by DD from your main account, as it means when they feel money is due they have the details to arrest your account. The number of times this happens in error/without warning even justifies visiting them to pay cash.

[Dav1988]

Thank you all very much for your advice.

 

I have tried speaking to the council but they have advised i need to complain to the sheriffs officers, i will draft up an email tomorrow and see what they have to say for themselfs. if i dont get anywhere with them back to the council then my local counciler, while my complaint is ongoing there is no way of stopping the wage arrestment im guessing?

 

i have a feeling by the time the council get the finger out and deal with the complaint the money will be paid back.