To think if I haven't got £300 in 7 days I'm not likely to have £1500 in 14 days?

[weebleswobblebutidontfalldown]

Somehow between dp and I we managed to forget to pay the council tax. Dp ended up paying it about a week late and I know that was our fault but this morning I received a red letter demanding £300 for the missed payment and also the next payment within 7 days.

The letter is dated 9 may and arrived today.

It then goes on to say that payment through banks and post offices take 7 days to reach the council.

Then it states if payment is not received after a week then the full years payment is due 7 days after that.

Then it threatens court action if that is not paid which I will then be charged costs as well. There is also a threat of "recovery action".

Is it unreasonable to expect that if they know it takes 7 days for payment to be received that they give you 10-14 days to pay the missed payment?
Is it not common sense that if I cannot pay the lesser amount that I cannot pay in full either?

If any other company sent a first reminder letter like this I'm sure they would be pulled up for intimidation.
If my gran got a letter like this, it would have her worrying and panicking about bailiffs appearing on her doorstep, hell, I'm now panicking at having to find £1500 even though I know we're all paid up.

And it's printed on pink paper so the postman knows we're in trouble as well!

[Katisha]

Ring them. Persevere until you get through to the right person. (Bitter experience of councils passing you from pillar to post...)

[ChippyMinton]

Call the council now and find out your options. And, if you can, set it up as a direct debit so this doesn't happen again.

[weebleswobblebutidontfalldown]

It's the whole you have to pay within 7 days but payment takes 7 days to clear etc then if it's late you have to pay it all. It just reads as a very threatening letter.
Not a nice thing to find on the mat before my first caffeine hit!

[harassedinherpants]

Don't worry too much about it, but do contact them and talk to them!

I had money probs a few years ago and just couldn't afford to pay it one month. I got one of those letters, phoned them up and they spread it over the remaining month and said I could use the two months when you don't pay to catch up if necessary. They were really helpful!!

[TotemPole]

YANBU to expect them to state a longer time period for each stage. It usually says, 7 days from date of letter. Council letters seem to take a few days from being printed to get in the post and then sent 2nd? class.

I think they write the letters like that so they are covered legally if someone ends up not paying at all. But, in reality they do allow extra time and don't stick to the time scales.

[borderslass]

I did this last year went in and sorted it out, it is usually a standard computer generated letter here if you haven't paid by the 14th of the month.

[Sarsaparilllla]

Council tax missed payments do tend to be a pain in the bum - however, call them and exaplain the situation - offer to pay in installments and set up a direct debit and it should be ok, make sure you write back to them to confrm the conversation once you've spoken to them

[TotemPole]

You could always kick out your DH for paying it late, then you can claim the 25% single person discount.

[DiscoDaisy]

I always pay my council tax late as we don't get paid until the 5th of the month. If that's a friday then I don't start paying bills until the monday which would be the 8th of the month making payment late by a week.iyswim. I've never had a letter about late payment.
Does the letter say that if you've paid the money since the date of the letter to ignore the letter?
If you paid it then surely it's not a missed payment?

[x2boys]

I hadcouncil tax problems af ew yearsago they have to summons you first before they get bailiffs in etc if allpaid up dont worry about it when i couldnt pay my council tax in october due to just coming back off mat leave my mortgage break ending i phoned them and they were very helpful they stopped my direct debit for that month restarted it the month later and i just paid the missed payment in one of my free months

[tyler80]

Presumably paying at the bank or post office takes 7 days to clear but if you paid online, over the phone, in person at the council offices it takes less?

[scaryteacher]

Legally CTAX is due in one payment but Councils have the option to allow instalments to people.

You need to ring them to make sure they have the payment, and then set up a D/D so you don't miss it again, as if you do it may go straight to final notice and then to summons stage.

[Serenitysutton]

it doesn't matter if it does get to summons stage if you still don't have the £1400 does it? no court is going to rule you can't have a payment plan that you can afford.

I actualy think one day martin Lewis will do a bank charges style expose of council tax intimidation and they will change their ways. They act like thugs.

[scaryteacher]

Disagree with you that CTAX offices act like thugs. They act in line with the government legislation covering the billing and recovery of Council Tax. The procedures and the legal wording are all laid out very clearly and have been since CTAX was introduced.

The court will issue a Liability Order for the entire outstanding sum of the CTAX if it gets to court, and it is then up to the CTAX payer to make an arrangement that is acceptable to the Council. Getting the Liability Order means that payment can be enforced if needed by Attachment to Earnings, Attachment to Benefits or by referring the case to the Bailiffs if necessary.

If you can make an arrangement and stick to it, then the Liability Order is destroyed when the outstanding balance is paid.

If CTAX isn't paid then the Council have to raise the amount due from everyone else in following years or cut services to pay for it. Just in the same way that stores will price shoplifting costs into what they charge for goods, councils have to ensure that they can meet their obligations to those who do pay by chasing those who don't.

[Serenitysutton]

I know all of that scary teacher, I just disagree with you.

[bluepaws]

our council is really good, if you ring them and tell them you cant pay, they will help you sort out a payment plan

[weebleswobblebutidontfalldown]

That's it serenity, I know we have to pay etc and we do, it was our fault it was late and I have no problem with a letter saying I've missed a payment. But I do object to the wording of the letter and the timescales they put people under.

If I miss a payment on a credit card my bank will charge me but certainly won't demand the balance paid in full within 14days or there will be court action.
The fSA wouldn't allow those bullying tactics so why should the council be able to?

[scaryteacher]

The Council are not bound by the FSA but by legislation that has been through parliament. If they do not follow procedure as laid down under the LGFA they cannot collect the outstanding money any other way. The wording on the reminders, final notices and summons is statutory, they have to have it on there.

It's not bullying - it's reminding you that you haven't paid (which you hadn't) and outlining the procedures thereafter. Get a d/d set up and it won't happen again.

[nijinsky]

Delay them by telling them something that changes your CT status. e.g. someone moving out or someone moving in, and then write again to them saying its been cancelled. Always back up any emails or phone calls to them with a letter sent recorded delivery saying the same thing. The Council will never act as quickly as they state, so in reality you have more breathing space. And if it did go to court, you would simply ask for a time to pay order as with any fine.

I hate the way the CT legislation is set up. It defies normal due process in the courts, since the Council WILL be granted a payment order if they ask for it, without presenting proper evidence. It changes the onus of proof from the Plaintiff onto the Defendant.

Requiring payments over 10 months instead of 12 and pressurising people to pay by direct debit is also unsatisfactory, particularly for reasons of making it easier for Councils to administer. Its their job, they are there to serve the public, not to make their lives easier.

Aberdeen City Council's CT dept are so inefficiently run, if you write to them informing them that someone has moved in or out, theres a 50% chance it will be ignored. Emails are usually ignored. In order to speak to them on the telephone, you will be waiting many hours for anyone to actually answer. So just how do you provide them with the information they need? I've had them owing me hundreds of pounds of over-payment, and not informing me, and I've had two payments deducted by direct debit by mistake at the same time.

CT is too much for what you get back and thats why there have to be such stringent rules on collecting it. In Germany, the equivalent tax is around £300 a year. Add it onto Income Tax and you will find that our supposed low rate taxes in the UK suddenly don't look so low after all.

Apologies for the rant on your thread OP!

[scaryteacher]

'Requiring payments over 10 months instead of 12 and pressurising people to pay by direct debit is also unsatisfactory, particularly for reasons of making it easier for Councils to administer.' It's legislation that says it can be done like that - it would be far easier to send out one bill and say pay up in April for the lot really.

The other reason for doing it over 10 months is so that if necessary one can allow another couple of months for people to pay, i.e. spread the instalments further. Writing and saying someone was moving in wouldn't stop the recovery procedure once it had started, as after a couple of reminder letters you forfeit the right to pay by instalments anyway. Once the Liability Order is obtained normal practice is to make an arrangement with the Council, but these are closely monitored, and if there is a default again, then it would usually be straight to attachment or to bailiff in extreme cases.

If you don't want to pay by d/d there is no reason why you can't pay by S/O afaik.