Court Summons :'(

[.Kencs]

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

 

[.Kencs]

For 2008 / 2009? How many monthly installments have you missed?

£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???

 

[.Kencs]

Sounds right, time to sell some house hold items.

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.

 

[.Kencs]

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.

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...

 

[.Kencs]

if I pay them why should anyone else not pay them?

I have always paid them, I don't have a problem with that...I just missed 2-3 months because I was out of a job and struggling.

I advised them on several occasions when I received reminders that I was waiting for Council Benefit to come back so I gave them enough notice on several occasions.

 

[.Kencs]

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....

I don't disagree that it won't be easy...Far from it.
I have a huge pile of stuff which I'm shoving on eBay tomorrow so hopefully that will generate cash.

I don't have anything else which I can cut down on, I'm quitting smoking which will save me about £2.71 a day, started buying only essentials, mostly food and stuff for kids...

I am not getting into an arguement about your comment, I was just askin for advice...and I have taken your advice on board as I have already started writting things down which are first to be sold...

 

[.Kencs]

Oh, neither the council, nor the courts, will take everything. You are allowed to live like a human being. Selling all you have is not the answer.

I agree with his comment in a SMALL way...but like someone else said, he doesn't know my full situation...I would sell EVERYTHING I owned just to get out of debt...

I can't imagine anyone sitting in an empty room with no furniture, no TV, no electric, just an empty room...It's not normal for a start.

All I wanna know is 'What will be my next step?'
I have rang the council to check they have received my e-mail...I e-mailed so I have proof of contacting them with my proposal...Just dont know what to do next...

 

[.Kencs]

My advice is to pay what you can afford i.e. not stretch yourself to £50 and then miss payments, what you can live without such as £20 a week every week until you sort yourself out.

They can take you to court if your not paying the full amount but they will look much more favourably on you for paying what you can and odds are they will just tell you to keep paying the amount you already are.

The council will not push to send you to prison and no magistrate in the land would send you, unless you were defiant about not paying and were £1000's of pounds in arrears, and even then it would only be for 30 days and the full amount is usually written off afterwords anyway.

If they won't come to an arrangment and you waiting on CT benefit to be processed (by the same council) say you want to appeal and i would be suprised if they didn't help you sort it out.

This 1?

 

[.Kencs]

Nottingham City Council? Never trust anything they tell you..

Collect all your documentation together, assuming that you are on JSA of some sort, you should have documentation to support it, take it (dont email/phone) to the treasury office off trinity square and get them to document on their system that you have provided proof of entitlement to benefit. Also take threatening letter with you and say that you want to get it sorted out as best you can. Make sure that you get a printed receipt to say that you have been there.

Oh, and get there early, the place can get packed with scumbags pretty fast.

And good job getting out from the grey depression of lenton lane.

Cheers for the advice mate...I take it you use to work for them too then? what department/support role were you in?