SUMMON FOR COUNCIL TAX DELAY..

[Amiya]

Hello,

Please some one help me with my query. I am going for my ILR early next month.

My deep concern is;

Last Christmas I had been been to India for vacation so fogot to pay my council tax due on Jan 1st. By the time I came back from vacation on 26 Jan 2015 there was a reminder letter from council, so I paid the amount next day immediately. After one dayi.e on 28th day I received a summon from the "Magistrate court" to appear stating the reason for the delay in council tax payment. When I called the council, they told the summaon was issued before the payment has been received so we cannot take it back. The very next day I paid the summon cost and all became clear.

Now, I am very much worried how it's going to affect my ILR application.

Thank you in advance.

Amiya

[Casa]

Something doesn't quite make sense here. A court summons is never issued within a month of a council tax payment being due. You'll see from this link (warwick district council) that it progresses through several stages before legal action as a last resort.
http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20593/ ... l_tax_bill

However, this is guidance from the Immigration Rules for case workers.
An applicant who has been handed a CCJ must declare it on their application form as long
as the CCJ continues to appear on the register. If the CCJ remains on the register but the
debt has been paid off in full, the applicant must provide details of when the debt was
cleared, or alternatively if paying in instalments, provide details of those arrangements,
including the total amount paid to date.

[Amiya]

Thanks casa for the reply.

The time line for the matter is as below,

Due date for council tax payment - 01/Jan/2015.

There was one reminder before I made the payment on 27 Jan. I received the summon on 29th and paid the summon cost on 30th. All cleared, had a chat with council as well. No due.

My worry is, will that summon make any problem for my ILR.

Thank you.
Amiya

[Casa]

Not if it's been paid and you declare it in your application. By the way, annual council tax is never due in January. It would have been due for payment in April 2014 to cover the following 10 months (April 14 - January 15).

[Amiya]

Thank you Casa.

The last instalment payment was on 1st Jan 2015.

Today I called the council to reconfirm if the issue has been escalated any further, they said once the council tax and the summon cost received the issue has been resolved then and there. I requested then to send me a No-dues letter.

In this situation,is it still required to be mentioned in the application.

Cheers..

[Casa]

If it went to Court it's better to mention it.

[Moonmoon]

Hi Amiya
Did you have to attend Court or Just paid penalty to Council.

[Amiya]

No I didn't go to the court. I paid the summon cost to council. It was resolved.

Casa,

I checked with other friends who in the past have faced similar situations and advise not to mention in the application as I have not gone to court and no cases as such been registered.

Your advise please.
Cheers..

[euphoria1947]

They are fooling you. Fight and get your money back mate!!.
I've paid late every year when I travel. They send just the warning. If you don't pay they will take out the monthly payment option from you and ask you to do direct debit setup. This is what mentioned in my warning letter.
Late payment is fine if you pay within 10-15 days after due date.

-paddy

[Zee ali]

They are fooling you. Fight and get your money back mate!!.
I've paid late every year when I travel. They send just the warning. If you don't pay they will take out the monthly payment option from you and ask you to do direct debit setup. This is what mentioned in my warning letter.
Late payment is fine if you pay within 10-15 days after due date.

-paddy

Just relax

OP is not telling the full story. They never sent court summon that quick.. Their is a proper procedure that every council need to follow to collect council tax.

[Casa]

[quote="Casa"]Something doesn't quite make sense here. A court summons is never issued within a month of a council tax payment being due. You'll see from this link (warwick district council) that it progresses through several stages before legal action as a last resort.
http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20593/ ... l_tax_bill

That's what I attempted to clarify in the first response to the OP, in the segment quoted here. I was concerned that other members would believe they would have an immediate fine after missing one CT payment

[hellonewhere]

Something doesn't quite make sense here. A court summons is never issued within a month of a council tax payment being due. You'll see from this link (warwick district council) that it progresses through several stages before legal action as a last resort.
http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20593/ ... l_tax_bill

That's what I attempted to clarify in the first response to the OP, in the segment quoted here. I was concerned that other members would believe they would have an immediate fine after missing one CT payment

I concur. Having been late for council tax payments myself, the council usually send various reminder letters before opting for the court summon. It doesn't add up. Unless, OP had several reminder letters which were ignored and eventually, the council went to court to recover the money. It's quite odd.

Hopefully, you can resolve the situation OP. Good luck.

[Amiya]

Thanks to everyone who has replied to this post. But I am little bit pained to hear some of the comments though.
I can only reassure that the informations shared were 100% correct.
Even I was surprised as like you after getting the summon. I reconfirm the time lines as below.

1. The CT payment was due on 01 Jan 2015. Normally I pay by 05th every month. As told in my post since I was on holiday I missed it.

2. The reminder notice sent from council, dated 12 Jan 2015. Hopefully, it might have reached me before 15 Jan 2015.
(I write here the paragraph from the notice - In accordance with the council tax (Administration and Enforcement)Regulations 1992, I am required to inform you that if payment is not made within 7 days of this notice, the unpaid balance of your council tax for the whole year (a total of £137.00) or any part remaining unpaid, will become due and payable after a further 7days.Legal proceedings will then be commenced in the Magistrates court in order to recover that amount, which will incur costs of £85.00, which will be recoverable from you.)
3. No other reminder notice.
4. So if I understand correctly, council gave me 12th+7days+7days, since no payments made by 26th, they issued the summon as they have mentioned in the letter.
5. I would have been happy to share the scanned copy of the reminder notice as well the Summon and bank statements to corborate my statements. Unfortunately I am not able to do so.
6. If still you are not convinced, you can share your personal id, I would be more than happy to share these info.

Now it's upto you to think if it's "Fishy" or truth BUT for me it's the truth as explained above.

FYI, I got the answer to this concern through some very old posts here. The gentleman faced the same situation and he didn't mention anything in the application as it's not a criminal offence. But I do not when he got the summon, whether in the same months or after few months.

Cheers..

[hellonewhere]

Hi Amiya,

Casa answered your question upthread already. Personally, I would go with her suggestion rather than suggestions of friends, but that's my personal opinion, what you do ultimately is your decision. Although, you didn't physically attend court, a case was lodged at the magistrate court and you paid the fine.


Did you miss any council tax payments before?.

Going through this document, it matches your timeline

https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-arrears


My own council issues several reminders before going to the magistrate court.

Probably read your own council's policy on what the procedures are in regards to one missed payment.
It's shocking that court action was taken so quickly but it matches the documents above.

Good luck.

[Amiya]

Thanks for your reply..appreciate your reply.

I never had any delay in payment. Surprisingly, this is the only reminder notice before getting the summon. As per the link you sent, I should have been got another reminder+a final notice before issuance of the summon.

Anyway, things already happened,I cannot change now. So thought of mentioning in the application.

Cheers..

[hellonewhere]

Hi Amiya,

Actually, according to your 4th point, the last 7 days one would have been the final reminder.

Your council in fact very strictly followed the gov document.

Anyhow, it's happened now. You can either write to the council and express your concern if you think you ought to have received another reminder or you can move on from it. It entirely depends on you.

As Casa advised, it's best to disclose it in your ILR application.
Hopefully, it doesn't have any impact as the debt has already been settled.

Hopefully, someone having gone through it can advice you better if it does affect the ILR application or not. If I read correctly, Casa mentioned upthread that it shouldn't as the debt has been settled but it ought to be mentioned in the application as it was a court fine.

Best of luck.

[Casa]

I agree.

[zzzindagi]

Thanks for your reply..appreciate your reply.

I never had any delay in payment. Surprisingly, this is the only reminder notice before getting the summon. As per the link you sent, I should have been got another reminder+a final notice before issuance of the summon.

Anyway, things already happened,I cannot change now. So thought of mentioning in the application.

Cheers..

Amiya... I had the same issue.. I had been paying all their installments on time. I was moving home in 2011 and forgot to pay my installment. After few days i received Red Notice and I paid all the amount. I did not even bother to look that £60 of summon's cost was already added in the amount. Next day i received court summons. I immediately called Council and asked why they were so quick to send summons and if they can refund my cost. They said if i have paid the summons cost then they will cancel the summon and i don't have to attend the court. I should have argued with them to refund my money but thought just clear the issue as soon as possible. They assured me that i dont have to attend the court. And finally nothing happened. I applied my ILR last year on 10 year basis. Never declared anything and got the ILR.
Now i am worried about my Naturalization as they have tightened the rules now. Hopefully my Naturalization application will also go smoothly..

[Amiya]

To all those if it helps..

many thanks to all the advisers in the forum for their suggestions..

Though it was advised by everyone to mention it in the application, I didn't. The reason is;

I had rquested council to issue me no dues letter along with mention in the letter that the matter is resolved. However, when I received the letter I was not convinced so walked-in to a "Council One Stop Shop". Explained them the situation. The executive was very friendly and checked all the details and was bit surprised as the summon was issued so quickly. She said, council tax summons are just a formal way of sending notices if there is a delay. There are many such cases & the matter is ONLY between the council and the tenant. Court is not invloved even though the summon is from the court. It does not affect your credit rating or CRB, does not go on record. Yes, it goes if the matter is dragged further for actions/judgement etc. etc. She told me not to mention anything in the application. She told, from 2012 issuing summon is out of court matter.

Cheers..

[Casa]

Did you ask her if a court summons is not a court matter why you had to pay the £60 fee charged by the court?

[Amiya]

Casa,

I showed her everything, starting from the reinder notice and the summon. She said, even though it's court summon, there is nothing go on record which will affect your CRB or credit history. It has been done so since from 2012. It's purely between two parties, between you & the council. However, had it been dragged further then that will be different scenario. In your case, you need not worry atall as the c.tax and summon cost has been paid. No need to mention anyhting in your application.

I think now there are couple of more guys in this forum discussed regarding this and their application was successful like mine. Hope it clarifies everything.

Thank you Casa for all your replies.

Cheers..