Can I sue the council through small claims - VICTORY!

[Not backing down]

Hello, I hope someone will be able to advise me as to what to do, My local council took me to court in September and obtained a liability order for council tax against me despite having received payment in full before a summons was issued. The council applied the payments I made to this years account instead of last years account and have admitted this but despite admitting their mistake refused to remove the court fees from my account and instead wrote to my employer demanding payments from my wages in the form of an attachment of earnings order. This was actually sent 4 days before the deadline they had given me to pay the liability order or risk further action. I warned the council that I would take legal action against them should they continue this action as the liability order had been obtained illegally as I had made payment in full before a summons was issued, (I did not receive the summons and believe that the council did not actually issue it as they had previously issued one with a court date in August but then subsequently cancelled it as long as made payment in full by 5th of September which it was).


I had initially queried this matter on the 5th of October after receiving a letter from the council that they had gained a liability order against me and giving me until the 19th October to make payment. After a short phone call, the council admitted they had applied the payments to the wrong account year and stated they would apply it to the right account and remove the court charges. This did not happen, instead 10 days later I received a copy of an attachment of earnings order letter sent to my employer and a letter denying all responsibility and not even acknowledging that payment had been received but this amount had been deducted from the amount on the liability order.


I made a formal complaint to the council on 25th October and received a response 14 working days later despite asking for a response within seven days before the attachment of earnings order would be taken from my wages in November. The response in short stated that it was my own fault as I did not call them before I made payment to my account to make an arrangement to pay! They had previously sent me a letter in August stating that they had cancelled an initial summons and given me 30 days to pay, the letter stated " A balance of £5xx.15 is outstanding for period August to March 2012 and must be paid as soon as possible. Please reply with an offer of arrangement for this amount" I did not require and arrangement to be made as I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow most of it from my sister, so I made 4 minor payments and one large payment on 30th August and considered the matter dealt with. There was no legal requirement for me to speak to anyone. The response also admitted they had sought the attachment of earnings order 4 days too early and stated that as a gesture of goodwill they had written to my employers to cancel the attachment of earnings order, the day after they had fraudulently obtained a fifth of my wages, which meant I had to borrow money to pay my rent.

As you can imagine I was absolutely livid that the council were able to do this and unfortunately fired off a bit of a ranty email accusing the council of theft and telling them I was going to involve the police. I managed to compose myself the next morning and wrote them a very strongly worded email stating that within 7 days I required

a) The liability order to be quashed and all traces to be removed from the record as per the local government finance act

b) A full apology/retraction to be sent to my employer and a copy furnished to myself for the libellous A of E order they sent in full knowledge they already had the money they were claiming I owed.,

c) £33xx compensation made up of £25 per day it has taken to rectify the situation for my stress and suffering plus damages in the region of 10 times what they sought from my employer for the libellous letter, plus the amount stolen from my wages plus 2% interest per day that this amount is not returned to me, plus £50 per letter and £25 per telephone call which in total was three of each.

Today is the 7th working day from the last email I sent, I have had a response from the borough solicitor stating he has passed it to the corporate complaints person and I should receive a response within 14 days. Can I start small claims proceedings or do I have to adhere to their timescales? A total of 53 days have now passed since I made my initial query and it seems the council have not done very much in that time, I am fed up of the council doing what they like, in the timescales they like, and believe I have a very strong case.

I'd really appreciate if someone could help advise me on what to do next... apologies for the lengthy post. Thanks

[alham]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

You certainly can go through the courts but unless you have documentary evidence to back up all this PLUS dates/times and contact name for telephone conversations you may be in trouble proving your accusations. However, this option is always remains open to you.

I would try:
1) Follow up letter stating all the facts as clearly as possible giving them 48 hours to respond (this then can be treated as a letter-before-claim)
2) Send a copy of the letter to your MP and copy it to the Head of Revenues in your council.
3) Write down as much as you can recall about your telephone conversations.
4) Get copy of bank statements/ payment records

[outlawlgo]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

This is from another thread but might explain why the funds were allocated to the wrong account. In my opinion you shouldn't be penalised for their inadequate computer systems. Did they not explain why the payment was allocated to the wrong account other than saying you should have notified them?

An investigation into Milton Keyne's Council Tax, it may have some relevance.

QUOTE:

3.3.1 The collection and reporting of Council Tax income is straightforward when a tax payer pays their annual charge within that year. Complexities arise when a Council Tax Payer falls into arrears and owes the council money for past years as well as the current year. There is significant case law (for example, Peter v Anderson (1814)) however, put simply, if a person specifies which years debt the payment should be assigned it should be assigned to that years debt.

3.3.2 The council tax system has built in allocation rules to ensure that the law with respect to specified payments is met. For instance, if a customer has a payment plan for any year of debt and the payment they make matches the planned instalment then the money will be allocated to that year (this is known as “hard” allocation on the council tax system). If the system is unable to “hard allocate” then it will instead “soft” allocate and the debt will be used against the oldest debt unless manually adjusted.

[enquirer]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Please write a simple chronology, giving exact dates. In the meantime, collect your paperwork together and get copies of their correspondence with your employer.

You do have a case for compensation, although it is unlikely to be very much and is unlikely to be worth the effort. In any event, the court takes a very dim view of claimants who jump the gun, so you must wait until the council have dealt with your complaint.

The main objective here is to set things straight and to force an admission of error out of them. Be patient and methodical. Avoid ranting at them as this will be turned aginst you. Do not mention libel in future correspondence. Do not deal with them over the telephone, ever.

[alham]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

[QUOTE=enquirer;299874]Please write a simple chronology, giving exact dates. In the meantime, collect your paperwork together and get copies of their correspondence with your employer.

You do have a case for compensation, although it is unlikely to be very much and is unlikely to be worth the effort. In any event, the court takes a very dim view of claimants who jump the gun, so you must wait until the council have dealt with your complaint.

The main objective here is to set things straight and to force an admission of error out of them. Be patient and methodical. Avoid ranting at them as this will be turned aginst you. Do not mention libel in future correspondence. Do not deal with them over the telephone, ever.[/QUOTE

Spot on advice.

[outlawlgo]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

This got the liability order quashed, but in different circumstances to yours. The links however may be useful.

North East Lincolnshire Council
Finance Department
North East Lincolnshire
DN35 8LN

31/12/11

Dear Head of Income and Payments Service

Re: Quashing Liability Order and offer of compensation

The Local Government Finance Act 1992 provides for magistrates' courts to be given powers to quash liability orders if the court is satisfied that the liability order should not have been made.

A liability order was made against me at the council’s request on June 2, 2011.

I request you apply to the Magistrates’ court under Part 12A, Schedule 4 of the Act to have all record of this order delated from the record.

In response to a letter from the council threatening instalment withdrawal and recovery action etc, I wrote back on the 21st of April 2011, explaining I had paid, and well before the due date. This didn’t stop the council sending me a Summons, obtaining a liability order from the magistrates’ court and subsequently instructing [EDIT]ed enforcement firm Rossendales.

Although I stated at the court hearing that all payments had been made to the council and on time, the magistrate still granted the liability order.

An undated letter I received on November 23, 2011 from court enforcement manager X. Xxxx stated that “By investigations undertaken within the council and banks I now have proof that these payments are yours.” I don’t think there’s any doubt that steps taken to enforce payment have been unlawful; so please arrange that this liability order be quashed.

I have not been contacted by the council over this matter since Mr. Xxxx informed me my payments had been located. I still have outstanding court costs and bailiff fees which neither the council nor Rossendales have mentioned. I haven’t brought this up because I wish to forward payment, rather, for the record.

I require a statement of what’s left owing and an offer of compensation for suffering this fiasco at the hands of the council.

Yours sincerely

Outlawlgo.

Other reference to quashing liability order:

The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 2004, Statutory instrument 2004/927 Regulation 5(2).

[Not backing down]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Thank you for your responses, ok my simple chronology is this;

5th July - final reminder notice received re 2011/2012 CTax

12th July - Complaint made to council, CC'd to CEO, Head of revenue and Local MP via email, re 5th July reminder due to incorrect figures and inability to pay full amount within 7 days as requested in their reminder

1st August - Summons issued for amount requested in original reminder

2nd August - Response to complaint dated 12th July received cancelling summons and suspending recovery action if amended amount is paid within 30 days, asked to contact the office within 30 days to offer an arrangement.

9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th August - £20 payments made to account & final payment of £500 also on 30th august specifically referenced as for 2011/12 in the reference details of the bank payment.

5th October - Enforcement notice received from council stating liability order obtained for £6xx.15 including £127 costs required to be paid in full by 19th October, to avoid further action.
- phonecall to council tax team made in response to letter, gentleman stated he could see payments and advised he would allocate payments to correct account (Only moved the £500 payment) and request head office to remove court cost as full payment was made within time. Advised to call back following week to check this had been done.

12th October - Phonecall to council tax team, spoke to lovely lady whose name I have recorded, assured me it was being dealt with, that she could see the payments on the system and that they had now been allocated to the correct account, advised to call back following week for an update.

19th October - Letter received from council, copy of attachment of earnings order dated 15th October sent to my employer for an amended amount of £1XX.15
- Phone call to council tax team asking why they had sent A of E letter when I had been informed that costs were to be removed, spoke to same lady as previous week, she advised that Head office had until the end of the day to sort things before she could escalate it, but it was likely automatically generated and would probably be cancelled once it had been sorted out, advised to call back the following week.

24th October - Letter received from council dated 19th October stating recovery action had been taken correctly as they had "advised me to contact them with regards to an arrangement or clear the balance in full. Since no response was received from you with regard to an offer of arrangement and no payment was received the summons was issued on 5th Sept."
- Phone call to council tax team (a bit ranty) asking why I had now received this letter after being assured that the matter was in hand. Gentleman was unhelpful and was actually same gentleman I had previously complained about earlier in the year, tried to call back and speak to someone else but call kept going through to him.

25th October - Email response to the letter dated 19th October refuting councils claim that no payment was received, as corroborated by 2 members of staff, warning that if they attempted to gain funds under A of E order I would take legal action and seek further redress from the council. I explained the situation and asked for A of E to be cancelled and explain why it was issued before the date given on the enforcement notice. I asked for the situation to be rectified within 7 days and at this point was only seeking compensation in the region of £250.

October 22nd - Reminder 2012/13 account, records show you have fallen behind £78.59. I assumed this was because they had taken the £80 payments allocated to the wrong year and put it in the right year

October 26th - Payment made of £80 to bring account upto date.

October 29th - Email acknowledgement of email, response should be received within 14 days

November 14th - Payslip received, money taken from wages, subsequent ranting email sent accusing the council of theft and fraud and stating I would contact the police and seek legal advice.

November 15th - More composed and thoughtful email sent to the council tax dept, CC'd to CEO, Borough Solicitor and MP, restating facts and requesting that liability order is quashed, letter of apology is sent to employers for libellous Avof E order, wages are returned and compensation is forthcoming for stress, suffering, time and damages.
- Later that day letter received from council complaints re email dated 25th October which stated "In my letter dated 2nd August I advised you that I only postponed recovery on account number XXXXXXXX for 30 days to allow you time to contact us to make an offer to repay, regrettably you chose instead to just make a payment of £500 into the account" "as a result the payment was automatically credited against the debt for the 2012/13" he goes on to to state that this would not have cleared the debt in full (because the first man I spoke to on 5th Oct didn't move the smaller amounts to the correct account). He asserts that summons was issued in accordance with the law but proof of posting is no longer readily available.
He apologises for the A of E order being issued too early but states had I made payment by the deadline date they would have recalled it, they can see a further payment of £80 made on 26th October and this was also credited to 2012/13 and then transferred to 11/12 and as a guesture of goodwill they have written off the costs as well as writing to my employers to cancel the A of E order.
He further states that I was given ample opportunity to negotiate a suitable arrangement but chose to ignore that offer and make payments without attempting to reach an agreement with the council.

November 15th - further email sent to council tax section, CEO, Borough Solicitor, and complaints officer who sent letter dated 14th November, restating facts and rebutting his claims that action was lawful, there was no legal obligation for me to contact the council before payment was made and I followed the instructions in their own how to pay on the back of the reminder sent 5th July, to the letter, even going as far as to reference which year payment was for. Payment was made before the summons was issued and I believe the councils continuation of this action to be vexatious.

November 24th - Email received from MP asking if I had received a satisfactory response yet, if not he would chase the matter, I replied stating I hadn't.

Sorry this is as simple as I could make it! lol, I have records of all names, phone conversations, letters and payments made unfortunately the smaller £20 payments don't show any reference but the larger payment does. There will be no further contact by phone regarding this matter as it gone far past that point!

May I ask why I should not mention libel or attempt to seek damages for this?

[Not backing down]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Thank you for replying, this is the quote I used when requesting the order be quashed :tinysmile_grin_t:

[alham]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Yup, public employees.
Just a quick note "24th October - Letter received from council dated 19th October stating recovery action had been taken correctly as they had "advised me to contact them with regards to an arrangement or clear the balance in full. Since no response was received from you with regard to an offer of arrangement and no payment was received the summons was issued on 5th Sept."
- Phone call to council tax team (a bit ranty) asking why I had now received this letter after being assured that the matter was in hand. Gentleman was unhelpful and was actually same gentleman I had previously complained about earlier in the year, tried to call back and speak to someone else but call kept going through to him." But you made a number of payments in August so this is plainly incorrect, also during further phonecalls on 5th, 12th and 19th they should have raised this as an issue.

[Not backing down]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Hi all,

So I gave the Council 14 days to respond satisfactorily and it hasn't please could someone take a look at the letter I have drafted below to be sent today and let me know if it is ok, all comments are appreciated as I have absolutely no legal knowledge apart from what I have read up on in the last few days!
I also intend to make this the basis of my particular of claims so could anyone let me know what changes if any would need to be made. Thank you in advance


Dear XXXXXXX,

Thank you for your email dated 5th December, clearly you did not read my email thoroughly or chose to ignore the points made in said email when formulating your response which I must point out for the record took 13 days to reach me. I shall for the final time and for the record clarify those points again before I commence court proceedings next Monday 10th December.


a) On August 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th payments were made to CTax ref: xxxxxxxxxx totalling £580 these amounts should have been applied to the period 2011/12 as referenced on the standing order. Please see the attached documents, document A clearly shows in the reference detail that was used when allocating the payment to my specific account that I had indicated payment was for 2011/12 this was obviously ignored. Document B shows the four smaller payments but does not allow space for the reference to show but nevertheless proves payment was made within time.




b) A summons was issued for non- payment of council tax of £568.15 plus £122 court costs on September 5th, this was not received by me and I have yet to receive proof of posting as stated in my email dated 25th October. Please note I shall require proof of posting from the council to ensure that my rights under article 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 were not breached.




c) On October 5th I was informed of the fact that the council gained a liability order for £695.15 by letter, which I immediately responded to by phone and informed the Council of the error. It is at this point where the matter should have been dealt with and the case closed as I disclosed to your agents, that payment was made to which the agent informed me he could see these payments and would move them to the correct year and request costs to be removed. He in fact moved only the £500 and left the smaller payments behind.




d) On 19th October I received a letter from the Council, a copy of attachment of earnings order dated 15th October sent to my employer for an amended amount of £195.15. This letter was sent 4 days before the Council had stated as my deadline to pay the debt and in full knowledge that said debt had been disputed and with evidence that payment had been made but applied to the incorrect year. This action was vexatious and arbitrary as the Council made a decision that was not based on reason or judgment but on personal will and made without regard for the facts and circumstances presented, it connoted a disregard of the evidence





e) A further letter was received on 24th October from the Council which stated “" we advised you to contact us with regards to an arrangement or clear the balance in full. Since no response was received from you with regard to an offer of arrangement and no payment was received the summons was issued on 5th Sept." This statement is wholly untrue as has subsequently been proved as the balance was cleared in full on August 30th. Therefore subsequent court action taken against me can only be deemed as malicious/wrongful prosecution.


In my email dated 19th November I stated what I required the council to do in order to rectify the situation, instead the Council has seen fit to reiterate the entire situation. I must however take this opportunity to rebut Miss XXXXXX claims in Paragraph 2 & 3 that I made the decision to make weekly payments of £20 without prior notice to the council. As stated in my email dated 25th October I had contacted the Council Tax enforcement office on May 21st at approximately 16.08 (at no point did I assert that I contacted the Council in August as stated in Mr XXXXX letter dated 14th November ) after receiving a reminder for the 2011/12 debt in May 2012 and stated that I was unable to pay the amount or make an arrangement at that time as I was currently subject to an attachment of earnings order and struggling to pay the current years council tax, I asked for the debt to be held off until the attachment of earnings order was fulfilled and I would make payment for the 2011/12 debt. At this time it was discussed with an agent that I could not make payment of the current years council tax in the prescribed manner, your agent assured me it would be fine to arrange a standing order on the day I received my tax credits to ensure that the council tax was paid, and as long as this continued no action would be taken against me.


When I contacted the Councils office on October 5th I was prepared to accept a genuine error had occurred which would have been easily rectified had the Council at that point simply reallocated the funds to the correct account year and removed the costs "as a gesture of goodwill".
The council instead saw fit to take the arbitrary decision disregarding the facts and evidence presented to them, to write to my employer ordering them to pay a sum which the Council were aware they had no grounds to request, I can only conclude this action was calculated to make a profit for the council in the full knowledge that there was no action I could take to prevent the funds effectively being stolen from my account and therefore an abuse of the Council's power.


A further opportunity for the Council to rectify the situation was offered in my email dated 25th October, at this point I asked for the Council to issue a written apology to both myself and my employer and perhaps offer a small amount of compensation for the distress the Council had caused, the Council did not respond satisfactorily and took 14 days to deal with the matter, allowing the fraudulent Attachment of Earnings order to be taken from my wages.


A further and final opportunity for the council to rectify the situation before court action was offered on 15th November the Council took a further 13 working days to formulate a response which did not address the facts or the evidence available to the council before it took action on 15th of October instead choosing to focus on events dating back to April 2012 and which bear no relevance on my complaint nor address the case which I shall be taking to court.


The actions of the Council since being informed of the error on October 5th have been vexatious and arbitrary causing me undue serious emotional stress and turmoil in trying to get the matter rectified not to mention the serious embarrassment and worry suffered when the Council wrote to my employer.

As your response to my letter before court action has been unsatisfactory and failed to address the facts of the matter, I must inform you I will be submitting a claim on Monday 10th of December to the court for aggravated damages and asking the judge to consider a claim for exemplary damages on the grounds that the Council abused it's power, seeking to gain financially in its action and its making of arbitrary decisions, it is my hope that the Judge will issue a penalty that will serve to remind XXXXXXX Council and agents acting on its behalf that they are not above the law and in fact the funds they have sought so vexatiously actually pay them to serve the residents of XXXXXXX and deter the Council from behaving in such a manner again. Should the Council wish to prevent this action before Monday 10th December, I have again listed the terms of a satisfactory response below;


1) Apply to the issuing Magistrates Court at which the liability order was granted to have the judgement quashed.
The Local Government Finance Act 1992 provides for magistrates' courts to be given powers to quash liability orders if the court is satisfied that the liability order should not have been made.
I request you apply to the Magistrates’ court under Part 12A , Schedule 4 of the Act to have all trace of this order deleted from the record.


b)Write a full letter of retraction to my employer a copy of which should also be provided to myself for the letter dated 15th October addressed to my employer London Borough of XXXXXX in which it is stated that I owe £195.15. to XXXXXX Council.

c)Furnish me with a full apology and compensation for injury to feelings, undue emotional distress and turmoil.
Since my intial request on 5th October to have the situation rectified, a total period of 62 days have passed to date. I have included weekends as although the Council ceases work during these periods, my stress and suffering does not.
62 days x £25 per day = £1550 to date, and for each day the situation remains unsatisfactorily rectified until court action it shall cost the council a further £25 per day.

Injury to feelings = £500


For each letter sent by email after intial contact £50 for time spent researching and writing. 3 x £50 = £150

For each phone call after initial contact £25 for time. 3 x £25 =£75

For the letter sent to my Employer, I am seeking an amount equal to 10 times the amount sought by the Council from my wages, for damages. £195.15 x 10 = £1951.50

Reimbursement of the money fraudulently obtained from my wages on 15th November of £129.01 plus 8% daily interest


Total due excluding interest £4355.51


Yours Faithfully

Not backing down

[outlawlgo]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Excellent! Nothing less than they deserve.

[erathaf]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Hi

There are so many people being taken to court for late instalment payment of Council Tax. I have started an e-petition to get the Government to look at this unfair practice. For example, my local authority, Basildon Council raised £402,705 just this financial year and it is not even over yet. Here is their response to the question I asked from Freedom of Information (FOI) regarding extra revenue raised from summonses:

How much extra revenue has been raised as a result of summonses being issued for non-payment of Council Tax?
How much extra revenue has been raised as a result of summonses for late payment of Council Tax?


Costs of £45 are charged for each summons that is issued. However, so far this financial year we have withdrawn 996 cases prior to the court hearing. These 996 cases will not be charged the £45 costs. Therefore the net costs raised are £402,705. However, not all of those costs will be recovered.

That is a huge amount of money, costing further financial hardship to many families.

When asked:
How many summonses have been issued this financial year for non-payment of council tax?


How many summonses have been issued this financial year for late payment of council tax?


The regulations do not distinguish between customers who have paid some of their Council Tax and those that have paid none. We have issued 9945 summonses in total since 1 April 2012.


Please click on the link below and sign the e-petition to stop this unfair practice.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43663

Many thanks and lets hope we can make a change.

Erathaf

[Not backing down]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims *UPDATE*

Today I am the proud owner of my very own judgement for Claimant (in default) for the full amount of well over £4000. I know it's not an outright win and the council can still apply to have the judgement set aside but I am feeling like they would be very unlikely to get a set aside on any grounds.

I copied their enforcement notice originally sent to me made a few edits and felt on top of the world sending it back to them asking for my money in full within 14 days

Re:Claim number *********


To Whom It May Concern,

On 15 January 2013 Northampton (CCMCC) County Court granted a judgement in default against you totalling £4***.**. Costs of £120.00 were incurred.


A balance of £4***.** is currently owing under this judgement and this amount should be paid in full by 31 January 2013


If you are unable to pay in full by the above date I may

• Refer the debt to bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers, in which case further costs will be added to your debt and your goods may be seized without notice.
• Apply to the court for a third-party debt order

Total amount due now £4***.**


Please forward payment to the address which can be found on the bottom of the Judgement for claimant notice, if you have not yet received this notice I attach one for your records.


Best wishes

Not backing down


I just wanted to update you guys and say a big thank you to all those who helped me!

[erathaf]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims *UPDATE*

Well done!!! Keep up the good Fight!!!!!

Erathaf

Today I am the proud owner of my very own judgement for Claimant (in default) for the full amount of well over £4000. I know it's not an outright win and the council can still apply to have the judgement set aside but I am feeling like they would be very unlikely to get a set aside on any grounds.

I copied their enforcement notice originally sent to me made a few edits and felt on top of the world sending it back to them asking for my money in full within 14 days

Re:Claim number *********


To Whom It May Concern,

On 15 January 2013 Northampton (CCMCC) County Court granted a judgement in default against you totalling £4***.**. Costs of £120.00 were incurred.


A balance of £4***.** is currently owing under this judgement and this amount should be paid in full by 31 January 2013


If you are unable to pay in full by the above date I may

• Refer the debt to bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers, in which case further costs will be added to your debt and your goods may be seized without notice.
• Apply to the court for a third-party debt order

Total amount due now £4***.**


Please forward payment to the address which can be found on the bottom of the Judgement for claimant notice, if you have not yet received this notice I attach one for your records.


Best wishes

Not backing down


I just wanted to update you guys and say a big thank you to all those who helped me!

[alham]

Re: Can I sue the council through small claims

Well done, party at yours on the 1st of February then?