Court summons

[Yorkshireman]

I opened a letter yesterday to find we have been summoned to court for non payment of council tax,stunned is not the word as we have all the relevant receipts for every monthly payment and we are fully up to date.We have not received any warning or request for payment and as i say we owe nothing in arrears.Now i am worried this will affect our credit rating,does this count as a ccj.

[fred]

Contact the court & put them straight (Hopefully you won't have to go and explain) - & no, at the moment no (CC)Judgement has been made.

Maybe worth speaking to the poll tax department at the counci first, to get a name that the court can contact.

Good Luck (again)

[Yorkshireman]

Thanks Fred,it never rains as they say.They have also added various costs to the bill which they say we must now pay in full,are the costs removed.

[Mev]

If they've made a mistake then there will be no costs to you involved mate.

[Yorkshireman]

I will ring tomorrow,thanks

[dinamic22]

yorkshireman we have a friend who cannot work due to ill health & gets his council tax paid in full because of this & he recently had a court order for non payment of council tax, i don't think the councils know what they are doing.

[Mev]

they've just changed the whole system apparently only a couple of months ago I was told when trying to sort my Mum's out for her, so i'm guessing it's that transition what's causing mistakes.

[Brambles]

It is not the court you should contact but Leeds council. Ph. No. 0113 398 4732.
I am assuming it is Leeds from your avatar location.

www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/Pages/Council-tax-summons.aspx

[andy01424]

phone the Council and speak to them,do not be fob with its a debt etc,all Council Tax is now handled by an independant company not the local branch,but if you have been sent two reminders they issue a Court Summons,aholes as far as i am concerned its not a case of not paying,like a lot of peeps,

[beeman]

If your receipts are dated before any debt collection was started turn up at court with all the relevant paperwork and make them look like the dicks they are.
The courts hate it when pen pushers make a cock up and make them suffer fines when they cock up in the future

[fred]

Sept 22, 2013 17:01:08 GMT Brambles said:

It is not the court you should contact but Leeds council. Ph. No. 0113 398 4732.
I am assuming it is Leeds from your avatar location.

www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/Pages/Council-tax-summons.aspx

This may be the case, but would you trust the people who got the incorrect summons issued, to get it revoked? 

I certainly wouldn't, and would be contacting the court as well.

---

On the other hand, having read through their website, (if I had nothing better to do that day) I'd possibly be tempted to turn up to court with the payment reciepts, & give them the 2 finger salute.

Edit: Cross posts with beeman, but he speaks sense.  

Valid defences
You may decide to attend court if you have a 'valid defence' to stop the Council asking for a Liability Order. There are two main defences which can do this:
1. the Council has not followed the procedures set down in law when trying to collect your Council Tax;
or
2. you have paid all the overdue Council Tax within the time limit given on the last reminder or final notice sent to you.
If you think you have one of these defences, please ring us straight away on 0113 398 4732 so that we can look into it for you. We may tell you that you do not need to go to court.
You can speak to the court about these valid defences, or you can get a solicitor to speak for you. You will need to provide evidence to back up what you say. The court cannot take into account any other reasons why you have not paid, even if you have been unable to pay. They cannot change the law and they must apply it as it stands.

[twiglet]

What Fred said.

Do contact the council but more importantly do file a defence in accordance with the instructions and deadlines the court will have sent you. Do not trust the council to make this right because they probably won't. Don't disengage with the court process until you get notice (from the court) that the council's application has been withdrawn.

[Yorkshireman]

I phoned the council today and they admitted we did NOT owe any money,they said we was 3 days late with last months payment but it was all up to date.I asked them how they can threaten court for non payment when it is paid,no apology but they said they will cancel the summons and not collect the charges,how very gracious of them.

[andy01424]

Ever have a problem,CT,Debt,Banks, etc these 2 sites are very helpful :
www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/index.php
www.legalbeagles.info/forums/

[andy01424]

Sept 23, 2013 8:41:43 GMT Yorkshireman said:

I phoned the council today and they admitted we did NOT owe any money,they said we was 3 days late with last months payment but it was all up to date.I asked them how they can threaten court for non payment when it is paid,no apology but they said they will cancel the summons and not collect the charges,how very gracious of them.

they fobbed you off,theres a 7 day period before it gets flagged,friend worked for CT got a lot of info from them ,basic it can take upto 4 working days for payment to be shown on accounts