ive been paying £99 pounds a month council tax since august last year,ive just had a letter demanding arrears where they are saying i should have been paying £119 a month, i just cannot simply afford it,

i rang them up in november last year (as all council taxes increased didnt they,and told them i couldnt simply afford another £20 on top)they said okay to continue paying the £99,

now with the rent being full i recieve NO benefits as we are just caught in the trap of a low wage but dont qualify for anything to help us...its just getting too much, now this letter is demanding an arrears payment which is in the hundreds in the next 7 days or they are taking me to court,

ive tried phoning them but you can never get through,im in the process of a right to buy aswell and the way things are going im not goin to be able to afford a loaf of bread never mind forking out all this money i dont seem to be seeing anything for it!
aunty witch :rant:

Sorry to hear this.

Telephone promises can always be denied later. Try and keep a record of the name of the person that you spoke to.

It is far better to deal with the council in writing.

To be honest, as you describe the situation, you are unlikely to be able to avoid having to pay the back tax.
You can however come to an arrangement where you will pay the arrears off over time.
If you don't deal with them now and come to a written arrangement it is likely that the demands will keep coming and end up in court.

If you really want to speak to someone you can try using the call-back service as described on this council webpage:

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/council-tax/please-call-me-back

Originally posted by cgksheff
Sorry to hear this.

Telephone promises can always be denied later. Try and keep a record of the name of the person that you spoke to.

It is far better to deal with the council in writing.

To be honest, as you describe the situation, you are unlikely to be able to avoid having to pay the back tax.
You can however come to an arrangement where you will pay the arrears off over time.
If you don't deal with them now and come to a written arrangement it is likely that the demands will keep coming and end up in court.

If you really want to speak to someone you can try using the call-back service as described on this council webpage:

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/council-tax/please-call-me-back

thanx i clicked the link..hopefully i can get this sorted :)
Aunty x

write t them and explain.

if they still want to go ahead then go to court.
explain to the court and make an offer to pay so much a month.

Originally posted by 999tigger
write t them and explain.

if they still want to go ahead then go to court.
explain to the court and make an offer to pay so much a month.

I used to work for the Revenues and Benefits Dept at a London Borough Council and was responsible for our collection strategy. I have written below what (according to council tax legislation) will happen if you do not pay. These are the facts, whether or not people think they are fair...

Firstly, if you have applied for council tax benefit and don't qualify then there is nothing the council tax department can do to help you reduce your debt - assuming you are not entitled to any other discount such as single person discount.

If you don't (or can't - it doesn't matter which) afford your instalments then you obviously fall into arrears. When you fall in arrears you are sent a reminder notice and then (provided you have paid something) a final notice. The final notice tells you that you have defaulted on your payments and have therefore lost the right to pay by instalments. The amount is due in full.

If you can't pay in full the next stage is to issue a court summons - note: this cannot be done until they have issued a reminder notice and, in most case, a final notice.

You could ask for an arrangement but (seeing as they cannot "defer" payment) any arrangement would have to be for the £119 p.m. (so you do not fall further into arrears) plus an amount towards clearing your arreas. You say you can't pay this, so they should not agree to an arrangment that is almost certain to be broken.

So, they sould summons you to court. The court summons is so the council can apply for something called a Liability Order. This gives them further powers of recovery e.g. bailiffs.

At the court hearing the council has to show you are in arrears and that they have sent the required reminder notices. If the court is satisfied then they grant the L.O. By the way, the council does not have to prove you received your reminders, just that they were sent, which they will do using records from the mailing company they use.

The hearing is only to establish that you are in arrears and that a L.O. can be granted. The court will NOT hear claims from people who say they cannot afford to pay (at this stage anyway). Even if the magistrate does listen to such a claim the court has no power to force the council to make an arrangement of wipe off the debt. You do not have to attend the L.O. hearing unless you want to... in most cases it is a complete waste of time to attend.

After the hearing you will then be sent a letter by the council and told to pay the full amount, plus court costs, or the account will be passed to bailiffs. Note: If the council knows where you work they could alternatively write to your employer with an "Attachment of Earnings" - this forces your employer to deduct the money the council want directly from your wages before you received them. You can't do anything about this... unless you resign!

Having your debt collected by the bailiff is bad. If they take goods they will auction them off and only get a fraction of what they are worth. They will also charge you all sorts of fee (included the cost of the van to collect the goods!) which will all have to be paid before anything comes off your debt. Their fees couldtake the total extra costs into the hundreds.

Bailiffs cannot force entry but if you open the door they can push through. They can also come throuhg open windows. They can also do things like wheel clamp you car with a view to seizing and selling it.

If bailiffs cannot collect e.g. you have nothing of value to sell, you are never in, etc, then the Liability Order is returned to the council "nulla bona", which basically means they couldn't collect.

At this stage the council will return to court (maybe a few snotty letters in between). You will be sent a notice advising you of the hearing the schedule. At the hearing they will probably ask the magistrate to impose a prison sentence, which incidently also wipes out the debt. The magistrate may grant this or could actually decide to wipe the debt out - it is at this point that they will consider your actual citcumstances. They don't often wipe out debt in my experience so don't get your hopes up. What normally happens is that they hand down a prison sentence, which the person will not have to serve provided immediate, and full, payment is received. The person is then taken to the cells where they make whatever phone calls they can to get the money before the prison van turns up. In 9 out of 10 cases someone will produce a credit card and the debt is paid.

My advice: If you can pay then pay... it will be far cheaper in the long run. If you have to then get some overtime, a second job, apply for WFTC or anything else that will increase your income.

If you still can't pay then I've told you what will happen. Don't open the door to the bailiff or leave a door or window open that they can get through. You'll have to wait until all the required legal motions have been through until you get to make an appeal to a magistrate at the committal hearing. Don't expect much though.

Sorry to be the messenger of doom and gloom but I thought someone should tell you "as it is". You could also try someone like the CAB to see if they can help you with your finances - perhaps consolidating other debts etc?

Sorry I can't be of any more help. Good luck.

Sorry to hear of your plight Aunty.

I am very surprised to see that your bills are so high.
Mine are £61 per month for 10 months, and I claim single person discount.

I live in woodseats and my house would be valued now in the £100k - 110k range I imagine. Although I am still in band A

If I had to pay double this, it would be a serious drain on my resources, and I wouldn't be requiring double the amount of council services.

Perhaps time to review the finances.

As mentioned perhaps you look into consolodating any debt into one affordable monthly sum to quote the ads!

Or you could start off small - do you smoke? Maybe now is the time to stop. Where do you shop? If its one of the biggies you could try shopping at Netto etc

Look at the whole of your expenditure and try and find ways of cutting back. One trick we did way back when was to buy full fat milk - when it was half full, top it up with water for a full pint of semi skimmed! In fact Mrs C still does it to this day :rolleyes:

Good luck - We've been very close ourselves a few years ago and it aint nice.

Saying that, even though both our wages are at least double what they were 6 years ago we somehow still seem to live of our 1k overdraft!!