Coucil Tax Court Summons

sunama

sunama

sunama

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,861
Location
NW London
Hi guys. I need some advice.

Recently I bought my own place (10th May) and moved in a month ago or so. Yesterday a letter came through my door from the council tax office (addressed to someone who, to my knowledge, has never lived here) stating that there will now be a charge of £110 on top of the original council tax bill and court attendances. On top of which it is stated that the person named on the letter has to appear in court.

Since moving in, I have not received any bill for my council tax. This is effectively the first letter I have had since moving in, regarding the matter and it isnt even addresssed to me.

I am the only person who lives in the property and i need to get the 25% discount from them as well, so this is getting ever more complicated. Apparently the named person on the letter has forfeited her right to pay in installments, so it looks like the resident of the property (me) will have to pay the whole amount, outright.

Ive already drafted out a letter explaining the circumstances. Surely they cant force me to pay the £110 court admin fee, given that I did not own the property when they sent out the original bill. On top of which the person named in the letter is not me. How do council tax offices work in cases where people have only just moved into the property?

Thanks

PS. 2 weeks ago I filled out and sent a form which registers me on the electoral register. I was hoping this would alert them that there is a new resident and to start charging me council tax accordingly.
 
I had the same thing happen when I moved into my house. Phone the council, explain the situation and it should get sorted.

Expect to have to pay council tax back dated to 10th May so your payments for this year will be higher than normal.

If you're having fun like this with council tax, then I'd expect other letters of this nature - I had loads. At one point I even had a baliff turn up to take away property for the previous owner but a bit of common sense got it all sorted.
 
If the summons and letter aren't in your name, what are you worrying for?

The previous tenant who lived in this house, had summons for say £300. I know this because I opened her letters, then shredded them.

The bailiffs came round (lanky woman and what looked like a geeky with cheap NHS glasses). Said who are you, etc? Is so-and-so in?

I told them she no longer lived here, and I am the new tenant. After showing them a water bill and tenancy agreement, they left with no problems.
 
Burbleflop said:
If you're having fun like this with council tax, then I'd expect other letters of this nature - I had loads. At one point I even had a baliff turn up to take away property for the previous owner but a bit of common sense got it all sorted.
Click to expand...

And thats what I'm worried about - if in my absence, a baliff attends; I know that some of them have the right to enter the property in your absence.

Ok, will phone the council tomorrow and see what they say.
 
sunama said:
And thats what I'm worried about - if in my absence, a baliff attends; I know that some of them have the right to enter the property in your absence.
Click to expand...
In which case, close and lock all windows, until you know the issue is settled.

IIRC, they can only enter unlocked, open windows. They can't smash the window to open it.
 
Not entirely relevant, but still a quick rant;

Nottingham Council is awful, in particular the Gedling area.

I lived in one of our houses in Colwick for 6 months, while I was a student. Now a year or so later, I have had 2 court summons and countless letters demanding payment.

Everytime, I ring them and explain I was a student. They keep on saying ok, we will retract the summons and stop chasing. But they always keep on coming back. Its beginning to drive me mad.

I sent the certificate of full time education when I was living there, and sent them another copy because they lost the first. Its getting ridiculous. The amount of phone calls, letters and time spent must be quite a bit of money.

Damh councils.
 
Just to let everybody know, I sent a letter the next day explaining the situation and the Council have just now sent me a revised bill addressed to me, with the 25% discount, including the option of paying in (7) installments.

The other person's name, summons, costs, threats of court action have all vanished. So I guess councils aren't totally unreasonable...
 
Basically, that's just a computer sending you that letter. A phonecall to a human person usually gives better results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom