Council Tax summons arrears and £95 costs added

[dawydaw21]

Hi there and thanks for reading,

April of this year i moved out of a property where i paid council tax for one year, there was still £210 left on the account when i moved out. I never recieved any letters to my new address but still knew i had to pay council tax bill.

Rather then try to explain the whole story, find below a couple of emails sent to the council.



To whom it may concern,

I would like to appeal the costs made against me in unpaid council tax.

I spoke to a council tax advisor in May, I advised her that it was difficult to pay the total amount at that time but would make sure a payment of £50 at the start of each month would be paid via the automated telephone service. She told me that there was a note on my account for any future references and the conversation ended. As you can see from payments made, each month I have paid £50.

When I received my Summons for non-payment I rang North Somerset council tax again to explain and spoke to an advisor called Scott. I was told the summons had been made due to there not being a payment plan set up and this is why I had received the summons and costs have been added.

I understand why the letter has been sent to me but I was completely unaware that I had to set up a payment plan, I wasn’t told this the first time I rang up. I write this letter to ask that you remove costs of £95 as I find it difficult each month as it is. I have now paid off the £110 owed in council tax and would appreciate your understanding in removing these costs.

Kind regards
Myself


This was there reply...


Thank you for your email received below, the contents of which have been noted.

I can confirm that a bill was issued for the 2016/17 financial year on 28 March 2017. The bill confirmed that an instalment of £210.00 was due to be paid on 25 April 2017.
A payment of £50.00 was received on 2 May 2017.
A reminder notice was then issued on 12 May 2017 for the rest of the instalment, £160.00. As no payment was received a summons was then issued on 16 June 2017.
I must advise that a bill, reminder and summons notice were issued in accordance with the council tax regulations; Council Tax is payable as per the statutory instalment scheme set at the foot of each bill. Where payments are not made as required, a reminder notice is issued providing the opportunity to bring the account up to date. If an account remains in arrears a summons will be issued which will incur additional costs.
Please be advised that payment must be made as per the instalments due on your bill. Failure to make the payments as stated on your bill will result in further recovery action. It is not possible for a payment arrangement to be set until a summons notice has been issued which will incur a charge of £95.00.
I must advise that we are only able to remove the costs if the notices were not issued correctly in accordance with council tax legislation or if we receive evidence that you are not liable to pay Council Tax. As the bill, reminders and summons notice were issued correctly in accordance with council tax legislation. I must therefore advise that I find no grounds to withdraw the summons or costs incurred.
I trust this is in order, however should you wish to discuss this further please contact me via email.
Yours Sincerely,
The council


Then my reply...





Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXX,


Thank you for replying, I understand what you are saying but when I received the letter saying I had to pay the remaining £210 by 25^th April, I rang up and spoke to an advisor explaining that I couldn’t afford to pay this amount at once. I explained to her that I was able to pay £50 per month and that I would process my payment via the automated service or via the internet. I was told by the advisor that a note would be left on my account explaining this situation.


There was absolutely no explanation by the advisor at the time about what you have explained to me in the email below.

I feel now I am having to pay an extra £95 in costs for a mistake which I believe it not mine.

I have paid the remaining balance for the council tax. Financially I am unable to pay the charge of £95.00.

I ask that you please look into this.



There final reply to me was this...




Dear XXXXXXXXXX,


Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted.

Firstly, I must advise we are unable to accept an arrangement on an account before a summons, as previously advised: Council Tax is payable as per the statutory instalment scheme set at the foot of each bill and therefore we are only able to consider an arrangement after an account has been summonsed. After reviewing your account I note that on 26 April 2017 you were advised that it would not be possible to set up a direct debit and it has been noted you will pay what you can. However, as payments were not made as per your bill I can confirm all recovery action has been carried out correctly on your account and therefore the £95.00 remains payable.



My question is, is the anything i can do to get out of paying the extra added cost of £95. That is the only amount that is left remaining.

[outlawlgo]

Re: Council Tax summons arrears and £95 costs added

There looks to be something relevant under Regulation 21 of The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.

Regulation 21(5):

"(5) A billing authority and a liable person may agree that the amount mentioned in regulation 20(2) which is required to be paid under a notice to which regulation 20(1) applies shall be paid in such manner as is provided by the agreement.

North Somerset Council states that it is only able to consider an arrangement after an account has been summonsed.

It would be interesting to know whether the council is only able to consider an arrangement after an account has been summonsed because it is restricted in law or if it is just the council's greedy policy.

I am 99% certain that some local authorities make arrangements prior to imposing costs on their customers. That tells you it is North Somerset Council's greedy policy.

[outlawlgo]

Re: Council Tax summons arrears and £95 costs added

It would seem reasonable to argue that the contact you made with the council and the payment, made before the summons issue, was a good enough indication that you were unlikely to default on your payment.

Considering this, it was unreasonable for the council to go to court and obtain a liability order, or at least unreasonable that it should make you incur costs.

It could be argued from the point of view of the High Court case involving Council Tax summonses, Reverend Nicolson v Tottenham Magistrates, as follows:


Paragraph 34

"As a matter of straightforward construction of Regulation 34(7) that means that the Magistrates must be satisfied:

i) that the local authority has actually incurred those costs;

ii) that the costs in question were incurred in obtaining the liability order; and

iii) that it was reasonable for the local authority to incur them.

Paragraph 51

"If the necessary causal link is established to the satisfaction of the court then the next question is whether the costs claimed have been "reasonably" incurred. It may be that the method by which the costs are calculated demonstrates this without the need for further evidence; but there may be individual cases in which it would be open to the respondent to argue that the costs were not reasonably incurred, for example, if it was not reasonable for the local authority to take steps to enforce payment, or if the costs which were incurred were excessive – e.g. if the local authority sent a QC along to argue a simple point of law in the Magistrates' Court.

[dawydaw21]

Re: Council Tax summons arrears and £95 costs added

Thanks for the reply outlawlgo. This is the first time ive ever had to deal with something like this.

Can i ask you how i should go about replying to them - shall i add things that you have spoken about above?

Im not really sure how to go about it, what things to add and how to really construct the reply, is this something you dont mind helping me with?

[dawydaw21]

Re: Council Tax summons arrears and £95 costs added

I was fully aware that i had an amount still outstanding, gave them my new address and when i first contacted them via phone, The lady on the phone was more than happy just to 'NOTE' on my account that i would be paying an amount of £50 per month rather then setting up a direct debit (something she never explained to me over the phone).

[outlawlgo]

Re: Council Tax summons arrears and £95 costs added

You might end up banging your head against a brick wall and cause yourself more hassle than it is worth but you could write to the Revenues and Benefits Manager with a view to submitting a formal complaint.

Revenues and Benefits Manager, Jo-Anne Buchan Jo.buchan@n-somerset.gov.uk

complaints.manager@n-somerset.gov.uk

State that you have looked into the regulations governing Council Tax and sought case authority substantially relevant to court costs and believe that it was unreasonable that the council applied to the Magistrates' court to obtain a liability order to enforce the outstanding sum. Elaborate on the contact you made with the council (who you spoke to, dates, what was verbally agreed etc.).

Say you are aware of the judgment in 'R (Nicolson) v Tottenham Magistrates [2015] EWHC 1252 (Admin)' and that with particular relevance to your situation the Magistrates needed to have been satisfied that it was reasonable for the local authority to incur the £95 costs (paragraph 34). Paragraph 51 of the judgment gives examples of what would be legitimate arguments which includes in your case that it was unreasonable for the local authority to take steps to enforce payment.

You therefore consider it reasonable that the council apply in accordance with regulation 36A of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 to have the order quashed (or failing that, remove the costs).

You could also include that if the council's overall objective was to secure its position by obtaining a liability order it was open for it to do so but without applying costs because you had engaged with the council and offered payment (and had made payment) and was therefore not reasonable that the local authority incurred the costs.

Say you are aware that the Council Tax Regulations allow local authorities discretion as to whether a liability order is applied for because of the wording in Regulation 34(1) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992:

"the billing authority MAY...apply to a magistrates' court for an order against the person by whom it is payable

Say you are also aware regulation 21(5) provides for an agreement to be made between the billing authority and the liable person either before or after the annual bill is issued and as far as you can tell there is nothing which obliges a local authority to only consider an arrangement after a liability order has been obtained.