Council Tax liability orders or lack of them

[jadesdaddy]

Hi Guys

Since last year I have been waiting for a summons from my local council for council tax arrears. I had all the letters saying that if I did not pay then I would be summonsed to court. These letters probably started around August 14.

Until this morning, despite being told that I would be summonsed, I had heard nothing. This morning I received a letter from the job center telling me that there will be deductions made from my benefits for council tax starting in April this year.

I telephoned the job center and asked them if the council had obtained a liability order to which i was told no they have not they have just applied for the deduction.

Can they do this without obtaining a liability order first? Previously they have taken me to court on two occasions to do this , but have not done so this time.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[des8]

Re: Council Tax liability orders or lack of them

I understand, and I can't remember where I obtained this, that certain debts like council tax and child support payments can be deducted directly from certain benefits without either your consent or a court order.
Others might confirm or deny this!

Here's a link on how to apply to deduct from beneits https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-for-creditors
Seems to support my poor memory

[jadesdaddy]

Re: Council Tax liability orders or lack of them

Thanks for that Des, you are right they can apply directly to the DWP and avoid taking any court action. This of course raises the question why do they not do this in cases where people are claiming benefits? i can only assume this is a financial decision preferring to make charges for summonses.

In my case though I was told that I was being sent a summons and that was the last that I heard from the council. So I have now had months of undue stress waiting for this summons to arrive. The council know that i have a medical condition and have seen a letter from my neurologist that states I must not be stressed.

I have been summoned on two previous occasions and now I'm struggling to understand why the council said that I was going to be summoned a third time but have not carried out their threat. Surely if they can obtain the payments directly from the DWP by legal means sending unnecessary summonses is little more than demanding money with menaces.

[des8]

Re: Council Tax liability orders or lack of them

Some people/ LAs are just bullies:tinysmile_cry_t:

[jadesdaddy]

Re: Council Tax liability orders or lack of them

They certainly are Des, the thing with bullies though is they don't like it when someone stands up to them. I think the truth is that my own council just don't know what to do with me as I always stand up to them and take them to task and it always ends the same way....with them refusing to correspond with me.

I think this rubbish of sending letters saying they are taking me to court and then just skipping that and applying directly to the DWP is their way of trying to get one over on me. Good luck to them they may well get their pound of flesh (my council tax) but they won't beat me. They deliberately oversubscribe the local court system every wednesday here with council tax cases. Most of these people of course claim benefits, I'm going to make it my duty to inform people that there was no reason for the summons as the council could have just applied directly to the DWP which would have saved the people concerned £40 in court costs, wasted bus fares for those that do attend and a certain amount of undue stress. I shall also try to encourage them to insist on their right to see a magistrate and make the same point in court.