Paying council tax

[surreygirl]

Hello everyone,

Just a question in respect of paying council tax. I have a property in the UK and the tenant moved out in January and I put the property up for sale, however that did not materialise but I found out I am liable to pay for Council Tax even though the property is empty. I paid the amount of 155 pounds and after a few months I thought I had better see what else I owe, to cut a long story short I owed 255 pounds which I paid via credit card. The young man I spoke to said there had been a court summons made out against me for which I nearly fainted but he went on to say that if I paid he could easily stop the summons. However a few days later I got the most unpleasant email for a lady who said that they would not cancel the summons and that I would be charged 100 pounds court fees! and she requested 1000 plus for the next years Council Tax - I have to say in ignorance not having paid council tax before on the property I had no idea there year started on the 1st of April the same as the UK tax date! - I phoned back and I spoke to another really nice young lady who said all I needed to pay was 95 pounds a month and then she asked me if I was single to which I said yes and she told me that I was entitled to a single persons reduction and changed the amount to 65, however I have received the bill with the court fees added to it and having googled court fees for Council Tax I read that they actually do this themselves and that it doesn't actually go to court!

I am wondering if I could get that amount taken off, after all the nice young man said that it would be cancelled if I paid which I did straight away and it was never my intention not to pay it is just that I had some bad news and paying the council tax went out of my head and the letters went to the flat instead of to my own address! not that is an excuse mind you, but I have never tried to avoid paying it was just that I was not aware of the system. All very stressful over a paltry amount, having said that without the flat with a tenant in it I am on a very low income so I wondered also if I could claim a reduction in council tax!

Best regards

[Kati]

Re: Paying council tax

tagging [MENTION=15129]Crazy council[/MENTION] and [MENTION=62334]Snoopy1948[/MENTION] xx

[Snoopy1948]

Re: Paying council tax

Hi Surreygirl ...

Alas, even in your absence the big council tax machine goes unerringly on and can needs to be kept on top of. I assume that when your tenant moved out, you informed the council that the property was empty and would be put up for sale? I also assume that the council have an accurate record of your 'away' address and other contact details as you should have received a bill once your tenant vacated?

It is of some concern that you spoke to a young man who took a credit card payment off you to allow the summons to be cancelled ( if I am reading this right ). Did you record that conversation together with his name? Even if he gave you bad/incorrect advice I would suggest that the council should consider standing by his statement unless he had no authority to make it.

You do not specify any dates here but also of some concern is the fact that you state the property is empty and yet another council official offered you a single person discount as if you actually lived there. Are you living in this property?

If you can give some dates as to when the tenant left, for what year the summons is for and confirm whether you have actually lives at this address since the tenant left, then perhaps I can comment further. If you don't live there, then the low income consideration cannot be accepted as it remains a second or buy to let property.