Student summoned to court for non payment of council tax

[fondde]

DD is renting an apartment in London, she graduated last May, started a masters in September, kept the same apartment, was unemployed for the summer months but left UK to return home during those months. .

She has now had a court summons for non payment of council tax for the summer months when she was technically 'not a student'. she had already submitted the documents to prove she is a student, but they have said she has to pay up or go to court and then appeal.

Would appreciate any suggestions on an easy way to contest it, she thinks it's going to be about £1,000. Would going to court ruin any background checks for jobs or credit etc, is it better to just pay it and swallow the cost ? I suspect hiring a lawyer to deal with it would cost more than £1k.

I had this. Was 10 years ago. Im not sure what happened. The summons went to the house and the letting agent was being obstructive to council about our forwarding address as we were in dispute because they had failed to protect our deposit and were refusing return.

So it turned out I was summoned. Never knew about it until a year later. No idea what happened - whether there was a court case or not. Never had a CCJ or anything. Life went on,

But im not sure thats a wise strategy. I literally had no idea about it so I wasnt feigning ignorance. I really had no idea.

Council tax can be tricky. For part of the time I was a student I had to pay 25% council tax because I had a carer live in my house. We were both exempt but under different catagories but they couldn't apply two catagories. I.e. if he had been a student we would both fir the 'student' category.

If she had moved back home between courses then she would have been covered by your council tax bill and would have had no separate liability. How on earth did she pay her rent and outgoings without any income and how come she wasn't working over the summer?

Uku

If you're on a low income and/or receive certain benefits then you will be eligible for Council Tax Reduction. In England every council sets its own rules as to how it assesses liability. In a few places CTR will pay all of it but in most authorities the occupier pays 15-20% but in a handful nearly 50%.

If DD is not a UK citizen and here on a visa then access to benefits may be more difficult. I'd say go to Citizens Advice but the pastoral staff at her Uni may have a better grip.

The other thing she needs to learn is about reacting quickly if you're getting out of your depth with authority and/or debt. UK councils are notoriously fast to go to court for CT debt but your DD should have had at least two letters that would have warned her.

Far too many people who ignore stuff end up with Bailiffs at their door. I hate dealing with them professionally so God knows what their presence does to debtors.

Thank you. She is an International student, she called the council and they were less than helpful, in fact quite rude. She wants to pay but has never received an actual bill detailing what she owes for the summer months, she already submitted the form to say she is a student (after receiving the bill for the full 12 months ) not realising there were 3 months where she was not exempt. The person she spoke to her told her they 'do things in their own time as they have lots of other priorities to deal with' ' and they can't guarantee it will be sorted before the court case. It is absolutely shocking how some councils are run, I am sure they are not all the same everywhere in the UK. She is so stressed about the idea of potentially ending up in court.

Many councils have online bills. Has she registered for an online account? She can check it there

I realise she's distressed and sorry to hear the person was rude but also bear in mind the council people come across many people who don't pay council tax and many who are deliberately evading it.