Council Tax issue

D.P. · 22 Jan 2019 at 09:42

Scam said:
I was about to say "like the poll tax"? And realised it was actually called the community charge. Lol.

I always thought a poll tax was way fairer than an estimation of a valuation of your house done by driving past it in the 70s personally... Council tax bands are a joke.

No, poll tax was deeply flawed and horrendously regressive. A Simple tax on your income is a model used worldwide and is much fairer as it is of course directly linked to affordability.

Poll tax was the Tories attempt to tax the poor and give the rich a tax cut

Scam · 22 Jan 2019 at 12:06

D.P. said:
No, poll tax was deeply flawed and horrendously regressive. A Simple tax on your income is a model used worldwide and is much fairer as it is of course directly linked to affordability.

Poll tax was the Tories attempt to tax the poor and give the rich a tax cut

If you believe the hype and politics behind it.

In my mind we have income tax which is adjusted for how much you earn, yet council tax is 'supposed to' be for the services you use. Just because you earn more doesn't mean you use more local services (probably the opposite actually). Therefore a flat rate per person, per household is actually quite fair. We all pay equal amount for our rubbish collection, maintaining the streets etc. Honestly I don't know what the uproar was all about.

Where we're left now is people in small flats (that happen to be worth more) paying way more than people in huge houses because of the valuation of that property 20 years ago. They didn't even stop the car to get out and look at half the properties.

If it needs to be based on the 'size' of your property somehow then council tax should be a percentage of how much your house is worth. That'll also help stop our crazy property bubbles.

Lopéz · 22 Jan 2019 at 12:27

No credit card or savings? Get one and use that to pay this, it's not worth the risk of challenging and losing.

I did this years ago with a credit card default/payment dispute that I was certain would go in my favour and it didn't, I dug my heels in and ended up with a default - that resultant default affected my financial situation for years afterwards. Totally not worth it over a fairly small amount of money.

d_brennen · 22 Jan 2019 at 12:39

Super Tigers said:
You could argue that you have been not billed incorrectly

Well, little while ago now but when I moved into our current place, I diligently did all the paperwork (online) to inform the council before and after moving. Then chased them. And again. And Again. Six months went by before they produced the first bill! Their solution was to just charge double for the remaining 6 months. No leeway at all "because of our financial year".

Wasn't an issue money wise but it could pushed some households over the edge I'm sure.

DXP55 · 22 Jan 2019 at 12:50

I had at least 5 notices before they sent out the red final - I thought they were being petty because I never paid on 1st of month only on 4th-6th - Rang and asked and she said you haven't paid - Oh I have and have bank statements to prove it- seemed when I told them I had moved in they set up a new Council Tax bill but never sent me the details so I was paying on original tax notification- She sorted it out and said they would put my credit rating back as it was- I then asked are you telling me your computer has no way of telling if someone is paying £150 a month into a ceased account.
Afterwards when I thought about it I should have took it to court.

Psycho Sonny · 22 Jan 2019 at 14:52

Resident said:
Tbf all of our DD leave the account by the 5th of the month, whatever is left we use for everything else.

The last 8 weeks have been pretty rough for us with my wife being in and out of hospital, sometimes being admitted 3-4 days at a time due to complications with undiagnosed diabetes and late pregnancy, couple that with a hectic work schedule and sorting out our 2yr old and I obviously neglected to check that all my DD had gone out. January/February are also months where I don't pay anything for my car insurance as I normally pay over 10 months so the extra cash in the account didn't seem unusual.

is your car insurance £300 a month or something?

D.P. said:
The problem is you have a lot of people just outright lying with all kinds of excuses. Should the council blindly accept any old excuse, or be forced to investigate the excuse to determine if it is reasonable grounds? Neither is ideal.

I think the real issue is council tax should have been replaced about 50 years ago with a community tax. Something like 2% of salary, taken at source. The you don;t have any issues with non-payment.

what a ridiculous suggestion. what about all the cash in hand self employed workers?

people who have declared themselves earning £150 a week. then when they decide to move out of parents and need a mortgage all of a sudden declaring they are now earning £1500 a week. soon as they get mortgage back down to £150 a week.

so they could live in a mansion and pay peanuts?

Resident said:
But in my case they have failed to follow their own procedures.

According to their own Web site, failing to pay triggers a reminder letter, followed by a final notice THEN the summons.

This time, as far as we're concerned, we've Gone from original bill straight to summons, skipping 2 steps.

doesn't matter so long as they have the letters on their system as being printed and sent it doesn't matter if you say you didn't receive them. because a lot of people use that as an excuse.

Django x2 · 23 Jan 2019 at 21:04

They want just one month to drop the summons? Surely this can't be more than £200 or so?

The_Abyss · 23 Jan 2019 at 21:10

Don't write to your MP. They're busy dealing with real stuff, like ******* up Brexit.

Don't go to court. They're already overcrowded dealing with proper stuff and you'll be wasting everyone's time, including yours.

Find the money, or sufficient money, and pay it and move on. Take the knowledge with you that you should a) keep money back for bills that you know you owe, and b) keep more money back because life and because it is just basic common sense.

Raumarik · 23 Jan 2019 at 21:14

Django x2 said:
They want just one month to drop the summons? Surely this can't be more than £200 or so?

Not a lot of money to some but a fortune to others particularly after just moving house.

I'd call my local councillor. Having worked in a local authority years ago I know they can help in situations like this. It's just a case of whether they can be bothered to push your case. This is massively jumping the gun to be honest.

Psycho Sonny · 24 Jan 2019 at 12:34

Raumarik said:
Not a lot of money to some but a fortune to others particularly after just moving house.

I'd call my local councillor. Having worked in a local authority years ago I know they can help in situations like this. It's just a case of whether they can be bothered to push your case. This is massively jumping the gun to be honest.

you would have been asked when applying for mortgage do you know what your new council tax will be and it will have been added into expenses therefore taken into affordability calculations.

unless of course he is renting. still he should have still known about this and accounted for it. the fact he spent the money he owes is literally his own fault.

LeeUK · 24 Jan 2019 at 18:41

First of all there is no criminal record from a council tax court summons. I assume you would only get a criminal record from not paying council tax if you refused to pay it altogether and they apply for a warrant to chuck you in prison. Even that is highly unlikely for most people as they will go for an attachment of earnings first.

The main reason to avoid a council tax court summons is to avoid the £50-£100 fee or whatever it is they are allowed to add onto the liability order. If you do get a liability order you lose the right to pay council tax in monthly instalments and the whole year's balance becomes due. Although most councils will allow you to set up a payment plan if you prove your income and expenditure. Do everything in writing because if you get a woman on the phone they are like little Hitlers, the men are OK and usually quite laid back. Source: Experience.

HoneyBadger · 24 Jan 2019 at 18:58

This has reminded me that tax is paid over 10 months which means I’m £165 a month better off Feb and March! Every little helps

arknor · 24 Jan 2019 at 19:29

Swifty55 said:
Use a phone next time and set it up that way. No relying on the post!

set mine up online after also getting a court summons, had to pay a fee for the court summons to cancel it :S
the amount of money I owed was so small too.....

Raumarik · 24 Jan 2019 at 20:28

Psycho Sonny said:
you would have been asked when applying for mortgage do you know what your new council tax will be and it will have been added into expenses therefore taken into affordability calculations.

unless of course he is renting. still he should have still known about this and accounted for it. the fact he spent the money he owes is literally his own fault.

Nobody is saying it's not his fault, what we're saying is that it's understandable when you are moving house to lose track of expenses etc. It's pretty unreasonable to not give him a chance to pay it back at a reasonable rate, they didn't send any interim warnings or reminders from what the OP has stated which would have been REASONABLE behaviour by most companies.

The_Abyss · 24 Jan 2019 at 20:42

I disagree that it is understandable. It is simple to get internet banking, and the balance and transactions can be checked in seconds with a mobile phone. It would have taken less than 2 minutes between moving in and the court summons being issued to check if money as being taken, and then another couple of minutes to make a call if it wasn’t.

People need to take some personal responsibility, rather than just drifting or hoping things won’t happen or get noticed.

Psycho Sonny · 24 Jan 2019 at 20:49

The_Abyss said:
I disagree that it is understandable. It is simple to get internet banking, and the balance and transactions can be checked in seconds with a mobile phone. It would have taken less than 2 minutes between moving in and the court summons being issued to check if money as being taken, and then another couple of minutes to make a call if it wasn’t.

People need to take some personal responsibility, rather than just drifting or hoping things won’t happen or get noticed.

pretty much this. i bet he was like OMG i'm getting free council tax. don't need to pay for it. then he's got a brown trouser moment.

also I'm pretty sure i set up my council tax online. i didn't need to post anything off. i got email to confirm, etc.

i bet they never got his letter which is why it has reached this stage. he should have chased it up. because sending letters these days is pretty much the worst way to do things

Jono8 · 24 Jan 2019 at 21:48

This thread has reminded me to chase mine up as i have had nothing from the council since moving at the end of December.

It is a new build, and my postcode isn't even recognised on the council tax band checker or on the council website for anything so....

I filled in the self service home moving notification/form thing online before i moved so they know i have moved and have my new address but i haven't heard a squeak from them in over a month now. :rolleyes:

I thought i would give them a few weeks to sort things out but that was obviously far too optimistic.

Super Tigers · 25 Jan 2019 at 23:22

Jono8 said:
This thread has reminded me to chase mine up as i have had nothing from the council since moving at the end of December.

It is a new build, and my postcode isn't even recognised on the council tax band checker or on the council website for anything so....

I filled in the self service home moving notification/form thing online before i moved so they know i have moved and have my new address but i haven't heard a squeak from them in over a month now.

I thought i would give them a few weeks to sort things out but that was obviously far too optimistic.

The property probably hasn't been banded yet, it can take a couple of months to get the banding through from the Valuation Service. Your Council doesn't set the banding of the property, it only sets the amount per Band. If your property has been banded you can check your property banding at https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-bands

The_Abyss · 25 Jan 2019 at 23:28

It can take a while (nearly four months on a new build we bought last year) but you'll know roughly where it is going to land. So you can put the money away and wait.

It doesn't stop you giving them a call in the meantime, to make sure things are being worked on.

NoobCannon · 26 Jan 2019 at 10:49

Jono8 said:
This thread has reminded me to chase mine up as i have had nothing from the council since moving at the end of December.

It is a new build, and my postcode isn't even recognised on the council tax band checker or on the council website for anything so....

I filled in the self service home moving notification/form thing online before i moved so they know i have moved and have my new address but i haven't heard a squeak from them in over a month now.

I thought i would give them a few weeks to sort things out but that was obviously far too optimistic.

Are you getting post?

When i moved into my last property (new build) we had to collect our post from the office for
A month or so whilst they re did the routes etc.