I've Paid My Council Tax But 3 Days Later Court Summons Was Issued.

[peter_m]

Got my reminder to pay C TAX and paid it.
Next I get a letter today with a court date so when I finally got through I was told I need to attend court.
As gesture of good will I offered to pay next month TAX but I was told the summons will stand...
Not that I have nothing to do on tuesday but I have to attend court because as the council sees things I was 2 weeks late with my council TAX.
This is causing me so much distress I cannot concentrate at work. 2 weeks late. really?

Do I have a case for a counter claim on grounds that claimant demands money that he already has been paid before the council issued a summons?

[factor-fiction]

When did they receive your money and was it before the date they issued the summons? Is suspect your payment came too late

[chrissa1]

I don't think you just get one reminder and then they issue a Summons.

[DTCwordfan]

they do down here, Chrissa - had this one with my mother. Went to the local payment centre, had a word with one of the managers and it was rescinded. Think that should have been your action. If court, take along your receipt and your bank statement if a cheque, showing when it had cleared.

[chrissa1]

Sorry. Pressed "submit" too soon.

When my late husband and I were going through a tough patch, I can remember getting reminders and then finally a letter threatening that a Summons would be issued, if no payment was made.

You don't say what the timescale was between letters, but if you didn't act straightaway, then the Summons would be issued.

I think you will have to go to Court and no, I don't think you will have a counter-claim.

[peter_m]

reminder was issued on the 28th of April demanding payment in 7 days I received it on saturday 3rd of May paid on the 9th. by the time I got the letter the 7 days expired anyway as the post had been a bit sketchy lately.
Summons was issued 13th of May, after I had made the requested payment.
Today 19th of May I got a summons dated 13th of May. I work away so I can be away for days or weeks at the time. As it happened I'm in now and lucky I read it cause I would not even know that there was any proceedings against me especially over something that had been paid.

[chrissa1]

By that reckoning you had until 5th May to pay it, or at least called them to discuss.

[Mamyalynne]

I agree with those above, present at Court with full proofs of the payment and that should be that, however as you work away it would be better if you set up a direct payment to them each month to prevent a repetition in future.

[factor-fiction]

The 7 day period for payment seems a bit short given possible postal delays but with hindsight the summons may have been avoided if you could have paid more quickly than 6 days later. Did you pay over the counter on the 9th or post a cheque off then?

[buildersmate]

Sounds to me like:
Payment was due 1st April. You did not pay.
Reminder issued 28th, which makes payment due by 5th May.
By your own admission, you missed this date.
You now have a court attendance. QED

[New Judge]

Most councils send officers to the Magistrates' Court to speak to those who attend before the court sits. If they are content that you have made the necessary payments and that you will continue to do so they will almost certainly withdraw the summons on the day and ask the Magistrates to discontinue the action without you being called into court. However, you need to attend for this to be done.

[Peter Pedant]

First thing
yes you do have to turn up - or else you will get a default judgement against you and this is BAD very BAD

I think they want the whole amount dont they - all up front coz you didnt pay, rather than that month's cont.

[ and you havent paid the whole lot, and so you can't counter claim ]

but you can certainly turn up and ask the magistrates NOT to grant the whole sum in jjudgement but to restore the monthly payment thingey.

would be worthwhile - as my CT is £800 and I wouldnt fancy paying the whole lot in one go - I have done in the past, can you guess why ?


and yes with poll tax, I WAS able to show the court that the council probably owed me £5 on the day, and certainly I did NOT owe, £30, £60 and £90 as the various summons alleged and there was a lot of fluttering which I dont need to cover here . [ whilst I was telling the clerk what I was gonna tell the judge I found he had already made an order against me without hearing me even tho everyone agreed that I had made it quite clear I wished to be heard on a relevant point , and the case had not been called. ]

If you can show as you have said, that you paid albeit late £40 or whatever on April 1 and they alleged in the court summons that you owed money on April 10 the date of the summons when you did not,
then Yes turn up to court with all the papers and ask the judge to dismiss the claim.

[boxtops]

I agree with the others, if you are paying monthly but you are away a lot, it would make a lot more sense to set up a monthly direct debit, to avoid this happening in the future. Contact the court a.s.a.p. with your proof of payment of the missing instalment.

[B00]

You do not have to attend the hearing.

[peter_m]

on ho, I will attend the hearing. I have all receipts and proofs of payment.
I'm paid up to date. I don't think taking the case to trial over unpaid C Tax that actually is paid and up to date would even be legal and no Judge would want to waste time to argue non existent matter. I will post the answer after the court date.
Thanks for all of your input on this matter.

[New Judge]

You will not be attending for a trial, peter. It might help if I explain the process as there are some popular misunderstandings about the court action that councils take.

The process is that firstly the council have to obtain what is known as a "liability order" against you. This is what they will be seeking at the hearing to which you have been summonsed. This is the first stage in a process which can lead to a hearing where Magistrates will have to decide if you have demonstrated either "wilful refusal" to pay (i.e. that you simply refused to pay without good reason) or "culpable neglect" (i.e. that you had funds but chose to use them for something else). At the end of that process the Magistrates can order you to make payments at a rate that they think fit (taking into account your financial circumstances) and if you fail to do so ultimately you can be sent to prison (though in practice you will probably have a suspended sentence imposed to give you a final chance to pay). It is important to note that, unlike court fines, if you do serve a prison sentence this does not write off the Council Tax debt and it will still stand when you are released.

Councils have a duty to collect Council Tax and their main aim, when beginning court action, is to secure that payment. It is not really in their interests to see people committed to prison as this lessens the chance of them getting their cash. I'm quite sure, given the circumstances you describe, that court action will be discontinued. Whilst BOO is quite correct to say you do not have to attend it is in your interest to do so. This will enable the matter to be properly sorted out on the day and it will lessen the chances of a liability order being issued against you. It's always best to deal with these things and have an input rather than to leave them to take their course and run the chance that not everything that needs to be known will emerge. It is certainly not worth arguing the toss over dates and other details. The important thing is to get it properly sorted.

[peter_m]

Cheers guys, the pressure eased off a bit.
It's just I've never been summoned for anything other than dinner.