council are saying I owe them council tax from when I was claiming benefits

[cara89]

I received a letter from Newcastle council about a year ago stating that I owed them council tax from 2009 for a property I lived in for a year. They were saying I owed council tax for 2 years. I called them and explained that I only lived there for a year and when I did I was claiming council tax benefit because I'd left university and didn't have a job at the time. The person on the phone told me it didn't matter and I was still liable and that they were going to send me a letter about setting up a payment plan and then I heard nothing from them.

Then in January I received a letter from a debt collectors saying I had to pay them or they were going to send bailiffs to my house!!!
So I called Newcastle council who said I'd need to prove I was claiming benefits. So I contacted the DWA and sent off for a subject access request which would prove I was claiming and where I was living. Once I'd received the information I requested I sent it to Newcastle council who then sent me a letter saying that I now only owe them for 1 year as I only lived in the property for a year and that they applied the council tax benefit to my account but then disregarded it as I was the only non student living in the property (I was living with 2 students at the time) so now they are saying I owe them about £900 even though I was on benefits at the time just because students were also living in the house!!??

Am I liable??

[outlawlgo]

Re: council are saying I owe them council tax from when I was claiming benefits

A little confused about the number of years (1 or 2) that you lived at the property in question.

Apart from that though, it seems unlikely that there would be anything in the relevant regulations that would expect a person normally entitled to council tax benefit to be not entitled to it just because that person is the only non student living in the property.