council tax

[Pawly555]

Hi. Can the council get a ccj against you without us actually going to court?

They have just put it on credit file.....? We haven't been to court!? So are confused. We were not served any papers prior to this either. Help please. Thank you very much.

[DarkAutumn]

Re: council tax

The council does not need to obtain a CCJ to enforce council tax. The council can easily obtain a liability order.

When you miss a payment, the council will issue a reminder giving you 7 days to pay. If you fail to make payment, you will get a 2nd reminder demanding the full amount outstanding for the financial year, within 14 days. That means that you've lost the right to pay by instalments, however, you can still negotiate with the council.

The council will only issue two reminders, after that the next step will be a summons with the amount you must pay, this will have costs on top of the tax. You can attend court and explain your situation. If you don't attend, the council will obtain a liability order.

A liability order will enable the council to enforce the debt in various ways, they often use bailiffs. Once bailiffs get involved, the charges mount up so it's important to sort this out as soon as possible, preferably before they obtain a liability order.

What have you received from the council so far?

[Pawly555]

Re: council tax

Hi they have the liability order. But we have an arrangement to pay in instalments which we have stuck too. But then we found they had out a ccj on credit file without any notice to us!? Can they just put a ccj on us like that? I thought they would have to take us to court to get a ccj? And then we would be able to object etc.

Thank you

[DarkAutumn]

Re: council tax

Are you sure the CCJ is for council tax? Councils don't need CCJs to enforce payment of council tax, the liability order is enough, nor do they share council tax payment data with the CRAs, the below is from Experian http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/q...kjames226.html

Your council tax debt will not affect your credit rating. Councils do not share information about council tax debts with the credit reference agencies. Even if the debt is referred to court, this would be the Magistrates’ court in England and Wales, because non-payment of tax is treated as a criminal not a civil matter. Fines imposed by Magistrates’ courts do not appear on credit reports either.

The only thing councils do with the CRAs is data matching for benefits claimants, to establish whether people are living together without declaring it.

Have you checked the public CCJ record on Trustonline? http://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself

[Pawly555]

Re: council tax

Hi. Yes it's definitely a ccj on my husband's credit file on equifax. It's just appeared on there ? For council tax. Are they allowed to do this? This will damage our business and risks us keeping to the payments we make on our arrangement. Very upset.

[Pixie]

Re: council tax

I'm sorry I don't know much about council tax problems but I wouldn't have thought they could get a ccj just like that. I wonder if it's on there because you have the liability order?

[Pawly555]

Re: council tax

Hello Pixie.

We can't work it out. We had an arrangement in place which we pay on every time but we feel they have done the dirt on us. I read that council tax don't report to DCA companies too. But they have lodged this ccj and it reads that it has been issued by a Proper Officer ??

We never went to court or met any Judge etc.... We only had a meeting at the council offices with two women from council tax.

Very worrying.
Any advice is very welcome if someone on here knows anything we can do?

Thank you everyone.

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: council tax

It does seem rather odd.
Have you checked the entry on trustonline as recommended by darkautumn above? If so what exactly did it say?
Have you phoned the Council to check with them? If so, what did they say?
Let us know when you've got the full info...

Elsa x

[Pawly555]

Re: council tax

Hi Elsa

Yeah I will phone council and post up what happens. Thank you.

[Pawly555]

Re: council tax

Oh my God. Just rang court. It's a mistake they said. And a Proper Officer is just an admin person she said !!!!!!

No authority whatsoever. Plus she confirmed they don't do CCJ for council tax!!

Am relieved but furious as don't need that sort of inept behaviour.

It has already been set aside.

Thank you for the support.

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: council tax

So it's the Council's error?
Make sure the CRA removes the entry.
Has it caused you any problems with credit applications?

[Pawly555]

Re: council tax

Hi
Yes it's councils error
No damages
Thank you

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: council tax

Pleased it's sorted for you Pawly, well done

[DarkAutumn]

Re: council tax

Oh my God. Just rang court. It's a mistake they said. And a Proper Officer is just an admin person she said !!!!!!

No authority whatsoever. Plus she confirmed they don't do CCJ for council tax!!

Am relieved but furious as don't need that sort of inept behaviour.

It has already been set aside.

Thank you for the support.

It is good to hear you clarified it all, as stated above, councils don't need CCJs to enforce recovery of the tax, they only need to obtain a liability order and that's with a magistrates court not a county court so it couldn't be a CCJ because that is a County Court Judgment.

Liability orders are not shared with the credit reference agencies so they do not affect your ability to obtain credit.

It was obviously an admin mistake somewhere along the line.

Good idea to have posted about it and to get it all sorted out.

[SA Gold]

Re: council tax

What a nightmare for you. Glad its sorted thou