£93.00 Court Summons for C/T

[bingowings]

Received a court summons for this years council tax, I totally forgot the april date but paid double on the 8th may bringing me up to date. Not so according to my council I was late paying therefore have lost my rights to pay by instalments incurring a hefty £93.00 charge. Can I just add the envelope that it came in had a window so large the postie could easily see the words COURT SUMMONS, bit embarrassing as I know him. Will be writing in to complain about possible breach of dpa.

My main gripe is that I was held to ransom basically in that if I didn't agree to set up a dd there & then I would incur a further cost of £30.00 when it went to court. The summons was issued on the 15th may a full 7 days after my account was brought upto date, I feel there was no need or justification other than to make profit. The lady got quite shirty when I asked her how many liability order hearings they had for the same day & court as mine & even more irate when asked did she actually work for the council or an outsourced company. Are they a law unto themselves or can I get any redress.

[Feebee_71]

The problem is, most councils have a policy that states if you miss an instalment then you receive a warning and, if you miss a second they don't have to issue a further reminder and they will issue a summons at which point the whole years amount becomes due. As you were more than a month late with the first payment and then more than a week late with the second, it would appear that you have triggered the summons being processed even though you now believe you've brought the account up to date.

 

Feebee_71

[ss002d6252]

Where a payment is late and a reminder is issued then legislation allows a period of 7 days to bring the account up to date - if this is not done then legislation allows the council to issue a court summons.

 

Unless you brought the account up to date within 7 days of the reminder then the summons has been issued correctly and it would be up to the council as to whether they will cease action.

 

What I suspect has happened is the the reminder was issued and you did not make payment within 7 days and instead made it at a later date. At this point you have lost the right to pay by instalment. The council can issue the summons even if you made the missing 2 payments as the full years balance becomes due at the end of the 7 day period.