Council Tax -what a joke! How does it work???

[naughtykitten]

Hi, everyone! A little advice on the dreaded council tax *cough* *thieves* *cough*!

1> I received a letter saying I had missed 2 payment & to pay them within 7 days. I had paid the previous month online & so had an email receipt, but although I had thought I had paid the month before that, it appears that I had missed it! I called them & said I had paid the previous month & so should I just pay 1 month even though the letter says 2 & they said they'd get back to me, which of course they never did! I emailed them regarding this & forwarded a copy of the receipt & called them again & again they said they would get back to me, & never did!

I then received a letter saying that as I had not paid 2 months I now had to pay the entire remainder of my council tax -almost a full year -as well as administration charges, or go to court -they gave a court date.

As I know that council tax is one of those dreaded priority bills above all else or god help you, I paid the amount asked for, including the month I had already paid.

I have since emailed them & called them asking for a refund of the extra month but they again just say they will get back to me! I have receipts as proof that I paid an extra month so why are they being so difficult?

Has anyone had a similar experience? Why are they so quick to give a court date when they can't even get the information correct? They are so rude on the phone too, they drive me up the wall!

2> I stopped working at the beginning of the year to set up my own business, which is not yet up & running & so have been relying on my husbands income for almost a year. I am not entitled to any benefits I have been told, but are we not entitled to some sort of reduction on the council tax with only one income?

Thanks!

[assisted blonde]

Council Tax is not based on the number of incomes but on the who;e income. If your husband earns over a certain amount then the full amount is due regardless of if you are working. Years ago I went to court over Council Tax and when I got there they were quite prepared to make an arrangement to pay the arrears. You may be better off actually making an appointment and speaking to someone at the Council rather than relying on phone calls and emails. I used to work for a local authority so I know how difficut it can be to get any sense out of some departments on the phone.

[naughtykitten]

Ok , thanks!

[ss002d6252]

Council Tax has no relation to income at all - the same council tax is due for you circumstance whether you where a millionaire or penniless. The is however council tax benefit which may help you financially based in your income.

Even though you may have paid the missing payments, if they weren't paid by the due dates then the reminders and summons you've had are legal.

[evank]

Hi naughtykitten,

I have a similar problem to yours.(http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...il-office.html)

Did you have any luck with your situation?As i wrote on my post,i just followed the instruction i got from them and now the want me to pay the whole balance plus 250 pounds of court fees.

Thanks for your time,

[naughtykitten]

Hi, yes...kind of...

After both emailing & writing to the council explaining what had happened I received an email basically saying that they were right etc etc but then a couple of days later had a letter from someone else at the council saying that they had made an error in requesting full payment as only 1 payment had been missed & so sent a cheque to refund the admin & court summons fees.

They admitted they had made a mistake but said that no compensation would be paid. I guess this is the best I can expect, but it's better than nothing!

Turns out on checking the figures we had not paid an extra month as they had deducted the payment in question from the total to pay in full, therefore showing that they were aware that we had only missed one payment -which I brought up with them, & so they refunded the extra fees we paid.

They are such idiots.

Good luck with your problem evank!

[evank]

Hi again,

Glad you are sorted (i know an apology also would be great but as you said...high expectations!). Thanks for your help, i had a meeting with them and now it seems that there are 2 payments missing, that s what made them go to summons.
They advised me to check my receipts, i ll do that and if there is a payment not mentioned i ll do a claim.

Thanks again for your help.