Council tax summons!!

[Whereisegg]

I pay council tax over the phone every month.

The last time I called, lady informed me out address was in credit by one month BUT that dp needed to ring and transfer the payment to our joint account for this address as it was only in his name for this address.

He still hasn't, but I have just continued to pay and when he transfers it, will have a month off iyswim.

Right, all fine I thought.
Will be ringing Monday to pay for last month.

Just received a summons for £639 (inc all costs) for 1-4-13 to 31-3-14.

Whenever I have called to pay nobody has mentioned arrears, only the last that mentioned the credit on our account.

What the hell do I say in court?!

I dont' understand, sorry.

If you've been paying, how are you in arrears?

Why don't you pay by direct debit, by the way?

I don't understand how this is arrears...this is payment for next year.

you need to get your DP to call and sort it out

If you're registered as a single person living at an address alone, you get a 20% discount from your bill. Could it possibly be from that? I don't understand why you're not on the bill, have you not lived there long?

dropyoursword council tax is paid for the financial year, so if you don't keep up with the repayments, they request the full amount up to the following April

Dig out your bank statements so you can prove payment

Did you move recently and could it be arrears from the last people?

Exactly! I don't understand how they have calculated that we are in arrears either.

The 'credit' is from when we first moved in, apparently dp paid a month and they started an account for him at this address but just his name, but we had already agreed who would pay what and council tax was me.
So I rang and paid every month.

All council tax letters have both our names on, so presumably if we have been getting single person discount it is an oversight from them?
I/we have certainly never claimed it.

I too am a bit confused by us being behind with payments til 2014!

Currently trawling bank statements to take.
Will I need to take anything else?

I don't understand what you mean by account in his name only.

What account? It can't be in his name only if the letters are adressed to you both.

Are you sure you've been phoning and paying the council?

This doesn't make any sense.

I called to pay the council tax last month.

Lady explained there seemed to be another account linked to our address.
Said she would take a look.

Gave me a date of roughly when we moved in, and dp's name saying that he had made a council tax payment for our address at this time.
This had clashed with me starting an 'account' at our address and that became the 'official' one and only dp can move the money in the first account to the joint one.

I did think it was odd, but why would she lie?
I also wondered why in the 2+ years I have been calling nobody had picked up on this before, but, as she was saying it was a credit and not a debt I was pleased.

It is definitely the local council I am calling yes

I am just stumped, and pretty scared tbh.

They've fucked up then, and duplicated your address. There shoudln't be two accounts at all, that's nonsense. You shoudl just have the one account with both names on.

You don't need to go to court, just phone them and explain.

Or it may be nothing to do with that and is just a clerical error, they think you've missed a payment or something.

Just phone them. And set up a direct debit.

Is £639 the whole year's worth?

If you've paid over the phone then it's all on your bank statement - you have proof. They can't expect you to pay two lots of council tax for one address.

It does sound like they've duplicated when they've added you, rather than just add you to the account

Give them a call on Monday and ask them for statements from both accounts. If one account is only in DH's name, he will have to call them

On the letter with the "arrears" is it both your names or just his?

It says-
Tax date - 04.03.2013
Period in which liability fell - 01.04.13 to 31.03.14
Amount due £564
Authority costs £72
Court costs £3 (!)
Total due £639

Should I ring the council or the court?
Thank you

At the risk of gushing,
Thank you all so much

Ring the council.

Hmmm yes, I wonder if the lady who noticed the other account has somehow 'activated' it and it's now showing that no other payments have been made on it.
Is that possible?

Just give them a call and they'll sort it out. They've obviously messed up and somehow it shows up on regime system that you've missed a payment so they've sent you a default letter asking you to pay the remaining council tax for this year immediately.

Phone them and it will get sorted, I promise.

I think that's exactly what's happened.

Is the summons for your DP?

Try not to worry, it's clearly an error, whatever's happened.

We each got one one this morning

Well that's just odd.

Phone the council now, they sometimes have weekend staff.

Don't panic, it's clearly their fault, just give them a call (or can you go to their office on Monday?) and hopefully it will all become clear.

I've always had problems with council tax when I have moved. They never seem to get it right. I may be giving them a call next week if I don't see anything in the post.

Highly recommend paying by direct debit each month though.

Yes you're right about the dd.

I will sort this issue then arrange it, I consider myself told

Court cancelled, direct debit arranged!