No payment plan on closed account?

[mikeh]

My local authority are telling me that they cannot put a payment plan in to action when the amount due is on a closed council tax account.

It is due to go to Summons Letter in December, and the Summons Date will be January 7th.

I fully accept that I'll likely have to pay £80 court fees and just get it paid off as fast as possible - it's my own mistake, and that mistake will likely cost me.

What I wanted to check is whether they are being reasonable not allowing me a payment plan on a closed account? The ideal situation would be to pay around £90-100pcm until the £359 (before costs) is paid, which I thought was a pretty timely manner in which to get it paid off.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[des8]

Re: No payment plan on closed account?

One plan will be to write (recorded) to the council with your proposal and then make the £100 pm payments commencing now.
When you answer the summons in January you can insist on going before the magistrate.
You can then show the magistrate that the council have acted unreasonably in not trying to come to an agreement prior to court action, and you should not have to bear the court costs.
If your lucky you might win, and not get an LO

On the other hand be prepared to agree to pay the costs when you meet with the council official in the court house before the hearing and avoid more hassle.