Court Summons :'(

.Kencs

.Kencs

.Kencs

Soldato
Joined
14 Oct 2007
Posts
2,738
I received a Court Summons a few days ago for None-Payment of Council Tax.
I had explained to the Council that I don't have a job and my wife only has a part time job so can not afford to pay. I also explained we were waiting for Council Tax Benefits to go through to get us by in the mean-time and they didn't seem interested. I asked if I could make some sort of arrangement, and they said No, you need to wait for the Court Summons.

I was told if I offer the council what I can afford to pay each week, then they won't be able to refuse and I won't have to go to court...

I have never been in this position before...any advice would be appreciated from anyone who has been through this too...

Thanks
 
eXor said:
For 2008 / 2009? How many monthly installments have you missed?
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£375.81 so I think it's about 2-3 months or so...

I have e-mailed them with an offered of £25 a week I can afford to pay, they said they may reject it though...Didn't think they could take me to court if I offer to pay what I can afford???
 
I dont want this to come out wrong....

... but you cant afford to pay council tax, yet you have a pc, an internet connection, and are using the electricity to power said pc....
 
thats a bit crap, while i was out of work i told the council that i wouldnt be able to pay (i could, but it meant a bit of extra spare cash should it be needed).
They didn't chase it once.
Just paid it off with the first payment of this year, all good.

Wonder why your council has been so crap?
 
.Kencs said:
£375.81 so I think it's about 2-3 months or so...

I have e-mailed them with an offered of £25 a week I can afford to pay, they said they may reject it though...Didn't think they could take me to court if I offer to pay what I can afford???
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Did you inform them of your inability to pay, at the earliest opportunity? Surprised that it would get to the Court Summons stage so quickly? :confused:
 
optitech-uk said:
Sounds right, time to sell some house hold items. ;)
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Already been sorting stuff out...
and in response to Conanius, I can't cancel my Internet as they will charge me for disconnection, so if I could afford that, dont ya think it would go towards council tax?
We are on an electric meter, and im having to borrow money from my dad to buy £5 electric cards when needed.
 
Conanius said:
I dont want this to come out wrong....

... but you cant afford to pay council tax, yet you have a pc, an internet connection, and are using the electricity to power said pc....
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what a dumb thing to say..

get rid of your pc.. assuming its not some high end monster and you might get about 1 payment.. no internet connection will save you a fraction of a payment and who can live without electricity?

Whilst in the meantime he's lost a valuable resource for finding a job.

All to try and pay one of the most disproportionate taxes ever invented.. I earn, so I pay income tax and NI etc etc.. I choose what i buy and therefor pay VAT on.

I HAVE to live somewhere, I use the bin service but thats about it in terms of services but yet I still have to pay about 5% of my monthly income on council tax, I have no say over how much it goes up by, I have no say over what it gets spent on etc etc.

Ever thought this guy might be paying his mortgage with whatever money he has to keep the roof over his head?

What a staggeringly dumb thing to say.

Go have a cold shower and come back when you've rebooted your brain.
 
eXor said:
Did you inform them of your inability to pay, at the earliest opportunity? Surprised that it would get to the Court Summons stage so quickly? :confused:
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from experience (a few years ago mind), miss 2 payments and you get a letter saying that they are taking you to court. I am sure its not a proper summons though, its just a crap print out saying they will.
 
izzy eckerslike said:
if you are getting job seekers allowance then you get 100% council tax rebate
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No you don't

You get "passported" to the maximum eligible council tax benefit.

e.g.

You are entitled to £3 CT benefit, on a non passported benefit you may get £1 deducted due to your tariff income (savings between 6-16k divided by 250 rounded to the nearest pound to make a weekly figure you should contribute)

On a passported benefit due to the DWP already having done a means test you are entitled to your maximum benefit = £3.


In regards to the summons, it is unlikley this is your first warning or missed payment, my advice would be to speak to the recovery department at your council and pay as much as you can and promise to go on DD for this, even if it is £2 a week.
 
matt100 said:
what a dumb thing to say..

get rid of your pc.. assuming its not some high end monster and you might get about 1 payment.. no internet connection will save you a fraction of a payment and who can live without electricity?

Whilst in the meantime he's lost a valuable resource for finding a job.

All to try and pay one of the most disproportionate taxes ever invented.. I earn, so I pay income tax and NI etc etc.. I choose what i buy and therefor pay VAT on.

I HAVE to live somewhere, I use the bin service but thats about it in terms of services but yet I still have to pay about 5% of my monthly income on council tax, I have no say over how much it goes up by, I have no say over what it gets spent on etc etc.

Ever thought this guy might be paying his mortgage with whatever money he has to keep the roof over his head?

What a staggeringly dumb thing to say.

Go have a cold shower and come back when you've rebooted your brain.
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For the record I dont doubt that its ANOTHER tax thats a pain in the arse to pay, looking at my tax payments each month makes me cringe, but I still pay them.... and if I pay them why should anyone else not pay them?

More to the point why should I go out ot work. effectively funding someone else sitting back and having a browse of OCUK at their leisure ....?

As for it being a dumb thing to say, not at all... I'm totally entitled to an opinion, the only dumb thing here is you can't see a problem with someone else not paying it and having unrequired luxuries. He could quite easily use a computer at the library for free.
 
matt100 said:
what a dumb thing to say..

get rid of your pc.. assuming its not some high end monster and you might get about 1 payment.. no internet connection will save you a fraction of a payment and who can live without electricity?

Whilst in the meantime he's lost a valuable resource for finding a job.

All to try and pay one of the most disproportionate taxes ever invented.. I earn, so I pay income tax and NI etc etc.. I choose what i buy and therefor pay VAT on.

I HAVE to live somewhere, I use the bin service but thats about it in terms of services but yet I still have to pay about 5% of my monthly income on council tax, I have no say over how much it goes up by, I have no say over what it gets spent on etc etc.

Ever thought this guy might be paying his mortgage with whatever money he has to keep the roof over his head?

What a staggeringly dumb thing to say.

Go have a cold shower and come back when you've rebooted your brain.
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt

I am paying rent and we are even struggling trying to find that each money, so far, the in-laws have helped us out but I cant ask them to help us with this, they will moan about it and they always think I can't stand on my own to feet so I need to show them...
To be honest, If it came to it, I would rather take whatever then stoop to the level and beg them to help us out...
I got 2 kids so obviously I put them first, just needing advice on what to do, not asking for smart-arsed comments...
 
I got one of those

I am a student and sent my exemption form off but they never got it.... gave me a court summon, i re-sent the info and it was all fine but they couldnt take the court summon away for some reason, they said i didnt have to go so i didnt....

Sorry your in a bad position.... maybe get a student to lodge with you and you might get some money off.... prob wont work but good luck
 
.Kencs said:
Thanks Matt

I am paying rent and we are even struggling trying to find that each money, so far, the in-laws have helped us out but I cant ask them to help us with this, they will moan about it and they always think I can't stand on my own to feet so I need to show them...
To be honest, If it came to it, I would rather take whatever then stoop to the level and beg them to help us out...
I got 2 kids so obviously I put them first, just needing advice on what to do, not asking for smart-arsed comments...
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I was not being smart-arsed, merely pointing out that its clear you have more sacrifices you could make to meet these payments. I'm not saying it would be pleasant, far from it, but surely the council will tell you where to get off if you have things you can sell to pay for it....
 
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