Council tax arrears and enforcement

[Starry30]

Not sure if correct forum if not plz move it

Firstly I'd like to know...if I was paying my council tax arrears nearly 2 months before they got a liability order then why did they take me to court if it was being paid as I was on full benefit at the time I had jus had my son in the August

2nd wen I came off benefit they asked for my expenditure form which I took back personally with my offer on I have been paying my offer every week as I never received any correspondence from them to say no and then negotiate seen as though they could see what we had left each week after rent, council tax, food and other bills were paid (we have 2 children) but then yesterday (Saturday) i get an enforcement letter sayin I have to pay by the 4th aug so rung them an they wanted £284 a week which we obviously can't pay...but I want to know is why would they send the bailiffs if I had been paying since I sent the form back I wasn't ignoring the debt at all an tryin to show I was willing to pay something which is better than nothing I've never been in this sort of trouble before I'm really worried for myself an my 13 yr old daughter she's seen way too much an had to go throw way too much wiv us Over the last few yrs we really thought we were coping each week wiv the little money we have left.

Sorry for the long post I just need help as again I'm not sleeping an worrying too much

[ploddertom]

Re: Council tax arrears and enforcement

Your post makes lettle sense ass it stands as there is too much missing from it. You will be better off getting more information for it all and suggest you ask the Council for the following:
1 - how many Liability Orders they have against you
2 - the dates they were obtained
3 - the addresses they were for
4 - the period of time each covers
5 - how much each one was for
6 - how much is still outstanding
7 - the dates they were passed on for enforcement
8 - the dates & amounts of any payments

Some information for you:
Council Tax is due to be paid in full on 1 April each year. As a dispensation you may be allowed to pay in instalments which may be spread over a period of time - up to 12 months & you may get a choice of payment dates. If you default on a payment the Council will ask you bring the account up to date, if you do not or default on another payment then your instalment arrangement may be cancelled & the whole year that is still outstanding becomes payable on demand.

The Council may decide to take you to Court whereby if they obtain a Liability Order they can then take enforcement action against you. Even if you are waiting a decision on a Benefits claim you are still expected to keep paying until any award is sorted. If you have then overpaid then this will go towards the following years account unless you ask for a repayment.

[Starry30]

Re: Council tax arrears and enforcement

Hi, it's not for my current property we are in credit for that an always pay before the date our council has set which is the 5th of every month.

I have 2 for 2 liability orders for 2 diff properties one was in November 2012 an the second was in jan 2013 at these times I was on full benefit an the only letter I can find from dwp is oct 2012 where it states my council tax overpayment was being paid

I can't find letters of how much I owed at the beginning except one which is for property 1 for around £2000+ an that is now £1706 without any bailiff fees so I've been paying wat I was told to pay which is £5 an the 2nd one is now£1550 now no idea how much that was originally I must of shredded papers wen I moved a year an half ago....I filled out the expensive forms an as I did not hear back from them I just carried on paying that as the guy I spoke to from council tax said they would contact me to negotiate payments if it was not good enough from what they could see from expenditure form

Property 1was passed to bailiff on the 21st this month have not received the 2nd one as of yet....

I have my payments on my bank statement since February this year when they asked for the form from me an had no correspondence from them till the bailiff letter on sat so had no idea they wasn't happy, I now have more rent to pay and a couple of other priority debts to pay now which was not sorted at that point so now have less left over every week

[Starry30]

Re: Council tax arrears and enforcement

I've also read on alot of debt sites like Stepchange and CAB that it should really be referred back to the council as the payments I have made show a willingness to pay my debt an have not ignored it and basically brushed it under the carpet....which I'm not like that I'm a worrier I worry too much so wouldn't not pay at least a little something that we can afford till our circumstances change as it is yet again I'm hardly sleeping or eating my daughter knows now so is bombarding me win questions as shes now worried

[ploddertom]

Re: Council tax arrears and enforcement

I've also read on alot of debt sites like Stepchange and CAB that it should really be referred back to the council as the payments I have made show a willingness to pay my debt an have not ignored it and basically brushed it under the carpet....which I'm not like that I'm a worrier I worry too much so wouldn't not pay at least a little something that we can afford till our circumstances change as it is yet again I'm hardly sleeping or eating my daughter knows now so is bombarding me win questions as shes now worried

I would treat that with suspicion. Just because you are paying cannot resolve this. Are you paying enough? If it has already gone to Bailiffs then you need to try & address this as you will have already been charged £75. They should have given you a date by wich to try and arrange something. If this passes then a visit will follow with another added fee of £235.

As for your home circumstances is anyone ill or disabled? Do you or anyone else in the household work? Do you have a car sitting outside? Do you receive any Benefits?