Council tax enforcement agent involvement

[FTMaz]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone might be able to advise me about a council tax issue, as I’m really unsure what to do next.

We normally pay our council tax in instalments. Last year we had ongoing issues with post being delayed/not arriving in our area, so we called the council and, as far as we understood, set up a Direct Debit for the payments going forward.

This year, completely out of the blue, we received a letter saying we had missed a council tax payment and that the matter was due to go to court within two days. We paid the outstanding amount immediately. I also emailed the council explaining that we genuinely believed a Direct Debit had been set up and that we have had ongoing problems receiving post.

I tried calling the council numerous times as well, but each time I was left on hold for over an hour and couldn’t get through. I never received a response to my email either, so after making the payment I assumed the matter had been resolved.
However, today, around two months later, we’ve received a Notice of Enforcement from an enforcement agent. We haven’t received any other correspondence in between, which I suspect may again be because of the postal issues.

I’ve tried calling the enforcement agent but nobody is answering. I’ve emailed them as well, but the automated response says it can take up to seven days to receive a reply.

I’m now at a bit of a loss as to what I’m supposed to do. I’m actively trying to resolve the situation, but I can’t seem to actually speak to anyone. I’ve tried to call the council numerous times and just been out on hold for extended periods and then cut off.

Has anyone been through something similar? Is there anything else I should be doing, particularly now that it has reached the enforcement stage? I’m also worried about additional fees being added while I’m waiting for someone to respond.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Make an official complaint or even better- contact your local MP. Only this helped us after 3 months long fight through calls and emails, going from one to another consultant. Useless. They sent our bill for completely different person, telling us that DD is sorted.

Could you try accessing your council tax account online to see where it stands? I would email the Council Tax department aswell as the Enforcement agent.

I’ve actually just spoke to the council and they are saying I have to deal with the bailiff themselves now. I have explained that I’ve tried contacted and they don’t answer the phone. She even tried to put me through herself so what the hell am I supposed to do. I can’t afford the full balance

Do you believe that you have no debt outstanding?

Not being funny, but council tax is usually over £100. Did you not notice it wasn't being paid?

Is it just one month or the whole year? If it was one month that insinuates either there was a direct debit and it went wrong for a reason you should have been aware of, or there wasn't one and you either paid manually all the other months or owe a complete year?

To be honest it comes out of my husbands account and he thought he had set it up quarterly so the last payment made was a quarterly payment - I assumed making this would mean we would then get another bill asking for the next installment but apparently they sent it to court because the full amount wasn’t covered. I do realise it is my fault for missing the payment but I think that’s quite unfair with no warning.

In order for the balance to get to enforcement agent stage you must first recieve a reminder (and if brought up to date a second reminder) final notice, court summons and a 14 day notice. If you are being honest with us than it seems likely that your husband is hiding debts from you.

Your direct debit was for last year’s balance, this year’s bill would have been clear about how to pay. When I worked with council tax debtors there would have been at least one reminder, then summons and finally the debt would be passed to bailiffs. You need to make an arrangement to pay, your payments might roll into next year but they WILL NOT cover last years arrears (if you have any) or the bill for 2027/8

If you e paid the council tax, why would you need to pay again?

or did you miss a payment from last year and that is what is being chased?

or have you missed payments from this year?

unfortunatly the woman working at the council is correct, once it’s in the hands of the bailiff the council worker cannot any longer deal with that issue

so my question is

is this 26/27 tax demand missing paymdnts

is this 25/26 missing payments

do you have a direct debit set up for 26/27? Have you checked your bank for direct debit set up

problem with it going to enforcement, they add on their own charges, which are expensive

but if you can show through bank statements you have actually paid. All the money required you maybe able to get it handed back to the council

even late payment can trigger enforcement- as it’s tax and not a bill

Unfortunately as it’s a tax the onus is on you to pay it and no warnings need to be sent, I’m not being mean that’s just the facts of the matter

what you do now moving forward is going to matter

take the responsibility away from your husband and make sure it’s paid and on time

Try to contact the enforcement company by a different method. Can you find a landline on google for example. You may be able to agree to pay by installment but do so before any deadline in their letter as any visit will lead to additional costs.

earlier posters have set out the letters that should have been sent. Contact the council with the complaints team and your local ward councillor cooed in and ask for the dates and contents of any correspondence. Surely not all of them could be lost in the post.

I agree with PP that something isn't adding up. I accidentally messed up our council tax about 15 years ago by mistake. I'd set up a standing order that expired when we moved house within the same council.

It frightened the life out of me when I realised the possible penalties included prison. There was no way that I didn't double and triple check the bank account to be sure the DD was in place and payments going out over the next couple of months. I had to catch up on missed payments plus the current bill payments that were due.

The council tax lady told me a DD was the safest payment method as it made them responsible rather than me if the payment failed. There was also a risk that they wouldn't allow installments in future either, but she waived that when I explained my situation as I'd recently been hospitalised and had 2 under 2.

You need to check that other payments he is responsible for are being made. A joint account, at least for bills, would probably be prudent in future.

I hope you get this dealt with quickly and without serious costs or repercussions.

Surely you knew the amount hadn’t been taken? If you’d set it aside and it wasn’t taken, just pay what you owe them. 🤷‍♀️

Government and councils rarely have to take financial responsibility for admin errors. You will have to pay it back.

We actually had a similar ish situation after a bereavement and making an official complaint
via the councils complaint department was what sorted it for us - and quickly! We still have to pay it back as we should, but we were able to sort out a payment plan x