“Mentre ero in ospedale non ho ricevuto una fattura fiscale comunale di 100 sterline: il debito è salito a 6.000 sterline”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn43439n4xxo
di Bbrhuft
“Mentre ero in ospedale non ho ricevuto una fattura fiscale comunale di 100 sterline: il debito è salito a 6.000 sterline”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn43439n4xxo
di Bbrhuft
11 commenti
Following a motorbike accident that left Mr Barley seriously injured and in hospital for a month and unable to work, he missed a £101.71 council tax bill, triggering a demand for the year’s full payment upfront (about £1,000). Out of work and on £90 per week sick pay, bailiff fees (about £700) and enforcement charges quickly spiralled to around £6,000. His relationship broke down and his house was repossessed. He has since paid off most of the bill, but still owes about £1,700, including bailiff fees.
So he got just two letters (the original and reminder) for the standard amount, which he saw *after* he left the hospital, and rang them up to say he couldn’t pay? He didn’t “miss” them, he saw them and then for whatever reason said he couldn’t pay.
As much as council tax collection is predatory and harsh, something doesn’t stack up here.
FWIW – most councils will try for a set amount of time to collect unpaid council tax, then just write it off. Don’t let bailiffs in (if they even turn up, councils don’t have the money to send bailiffs for everyone) and eventually they’ll stop trying. No way to live of course, worrying every time there’s a knock at the door, but it’s perfectly possible.
bro should have gone to prison instead. At least you dont pay Council tax then! We have a really weird system IMO.
This sounds like bollocks.
I’ve missed more than a months council tax before and they didn’t demand an upfront payment from me, in fact IIRC I repaid it before they noticed. And surely no council is going to sick the bailiff on someone for missing a months payment.
Some kind of digital system where your admission to hospital being linked to the issuing of a tax bill sent on the same day would be helpful in avoiding these sorts of situations.
Let’s be honest, it’s not the councils, it whoever controls the council. Our council tax goes direct to hmrc
At the end of my PhD during the write up I was offered a temporary position at the Uni. You get a small amount of money to cover living costs for the PhD but you do not have to pay council tax. Despite this you get letters every year saying that you owe council tax because the University doesn’t update them ever year. I didn’t realise that the temp job made me eligible to pay council tax until about 6 months in. As it turns out the usual tactic of ignoring the councils letters and clarifying the situation later was not an option and i managed to land myself in some ridiculous debt after 12 years of paying my bills on time, also destroying my great credit rating right before getting a decent paying job. Felt like a right plonker.
I have a suspicion theres more to this than missing one payment
It’s expensive to be poor. Rich folk have no idea, nor do they care.
He couldn’t pay? I can’t imagine one missed payment triggered this. Me thinks he and who other lives at the household ignore letters or didn’t engage. ***Edited, see more info was provided by other commenters and also lost the house, so I guess he was also dependant on the partner income but still, if relationships breakdown most sensible people would sell it over repossession. So lots missed in the story.
Bollocks. Geezer just probably thought was getting away with it