Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim costs ?

[JT21]

So, as the title says, I attended court and won.
I had paid my council tax by online banking, but not used the council's reference number. Hence they did not recognise payment and issued a summons. (There is more history behind this, but I'll skip that for now). I attended court (proper hearing with Magistrates, not the council's mock hearing) and showed my record of payment, bank statement etc. I then managed to extract a written statement from the council's representative confirming they withdrew the accusation of non-payment.

I see there are many other threads on CT and charges etc. One observation arising from the above is the bias in the system - had I lost, costs amounting to £105 would automatically have been awarded to the council (which amounts to a scam, but I digress). I won, but the court could not award costs to me. They did say, however, that I could pursue a claim through county court. So my question is, is there any advice on how I might successfully claim my costs (I know almost nothing of the county court system, although did once manage to sue an airline company using form N1).

cheers, JT.

[bluebottle]

Re: Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim cos

Hi and welcome to Legal Beagles.

Before issuing a summons, did the council write to you, asking you to bring your account up to date and warn you that you may be summonsed, or did they default straight to a faux court summons?

[JT21]

Re: Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim cos

They issued 1 reminder for 1 instalment, with the usual threats of court action.
(I had already paid a lump sum to cover the first 2 instalments of the financial year.)
The council then sent the summons for the amount for the full year, in effect cancelling the right to installments. However they had not issued a Final Notice in accordance with para.33 of Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992. Said paragraph 33(c) is a bit vague and says a Final Notice need not be issued if a reminder has been sent for "the amount concerned". So I would argue that the sum on the reminder and the sum demanded in the summons were quite different, and the council should have sent a Final Notice. It is as if the council's computer system has been programmed to the most trigger-happy setting possible, in their eagerness to harvest fees.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on my claiming costs. JT.

[outlawlgo]

Re: Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim cos

Good to hear your council got at least one less £105 in its greedy little paws.

It's interesting that the bench said it could not award costs to you. I wonder if they meant "would not" as opposed to could not. It would be interesting to know if the Magistrate's court Act 1980 is applicable in these court hearings, and if so which section.

You would assume so. Section 64 states that a magistrates’ court shall have power in its discretion to make an order of costs to the defendant on dismissing the complaint.

64 Power to award costs and enforcement of costs.

(1) On the hearing of a complaint, a magistrates’ court shall have power in its discretion to make such order as to costs—

(a) on making the order for which the complaint is made, to be paid by the defendant to the complainant;

(b) on dismissing the complaint, to be paid by the complainant to the defendant,

as it thinks just and reasonable....

(2) The amount of any sum ordered to be paid under subsection (1) above shall be specified in the order, or order of dismissal, as the case may be.....

However, you probably won't get anyone to admit these are relevant. If you read the response from Leicestershire and Rutland Magistrates’ Court to a Freedom of Information request (Application for liability order) question 5, they state that,

"the power to recover costs on application for a liability order are provided in the [Council Tax] regulations and not s 64 MCA.

[bluebottle]

Re: Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim cos

Can you list all and any financial losses you have incurred as a result of the council's actions, please? Good to see you got them to make a written retraction of the allegations they made to the court. I hope you made them grovel.

[JT21]

Re: Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim cos

On the above question on the power of the court, I have read elsewhere that a Magistrates' Court won't award costs in such a case (e.g. a wonderful article called "Get Your Own Back" on a council tax campaign website called 'isitfair', which inspired my course of action).

On my actual costs: my notional place of work is some 200 miles from my home address, and most weeks I travel away for a few days. I could argue that I made the return trip specifically to attend the court hearing, say £70 in fuel (or more if I claimed 45p/mile, the HMRC rate). No idea if I could cost my time. But the council's so-called costs are either invented, or if not, they would perhaps argue they are to cover staff time.

[bluebottle]

Re: Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim cos

As with any civil claim, you will need to evidence any losses and expense with documentary or other evidence.

If a council tried to claim for staff time, they could quite legitimately be put on strict proof which would mean they would have to provide a detailed breakdown of actual costs incurred.

[ploddertom]

Re: Summonsed for alleged non-payment of CT, attended court and won. How to claim cos

Did you provide the Council with proof of your payments prior to the Hearing?

Costs of loss of earnings I believe are capped at £90.