Council Tax ludicrous demand

by Solosmurf Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:51 am

I live in a council house with my son who is now 19 and until recently was exempt from Council Tax due to being a mature student. This morning I have received a bill for just under £1000 apparently due to some exemption change. I have been scraping by on the maintenance loan which I will not have access to this year as I will be going part time for health issues. The only other income I have is ESA which barely covers the bills.

My question is, is there any way to stop having to pay this at all using knowledge on the site or is that only applicable to homeowners? There is no way I can afford this, especially with a student teenager who could eat an elephant an consider it a light snack.

by **daveiron** Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:41 pm

This sounds like it may be a variation on the benefits over payments scam.
Were you ever notified previously of theses changes ?
More details required please.

by Solosmurf Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:27 pm

The letter is the only notification ie received about Council Tax. It followed hot on the heels of a letter informing me they owed me money on under payment of housing benefit which still hasn't been reimbursed over a month later. I dont have that document as it had to be signed and returned to the council.
This letter lists the charges which add up to £1373.14, disregard £343.29 due to student discount - last year the entire amount was exempt, so when I notify them I'm only studying part time that will be added back. The total amount payable is £1029.85 in four instalments of just under £260 which is more than half of my monthly ESA.
There is no way I can afford this.

by Solosmurf Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:31 pm

I've just had another look at the three pages, apparently there was an overpayment last year which should be impossible as I was exempt. The final page states £950.61 is owing to be paid in one payment on 18th September.

by **daveiron** Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:24 pm

Still not totally clear, Your CT bill which you receive around March / April time ,will show how much
you are allegedly required to pay. That and along with your housing benefit will contain the statement,
" If your circumstances change you must inform us straight away" Provided you have done this ,(I hope you have made copies of all communications) then any overpayment is their mistake and not your liability.
I believe this is a common scam operated by councils ,and I have seen somewhere that council employees
get a bonus for collecting this scam.

by Solosmurf Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:07 pm

I have looked up the student disregard and it's still 100% so they will be getting a letter but no money. I'll wait and see what their response is.

Thanks Dave for your help.

by **LionsShare** Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:09 pm

if you are a student that has recently finished, could you not get some sort of finantial help?

if things got that bad & lets say they are going for bancrupcy then say to the affect "as i am totally poor & have NOTHING then what the hell do you think you are going to get?"

just a thought?

by Solosmurf Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:12 pm

Thank you for the reply. I'm still studying, have 2 years left but because I'm part time theres no maintenance loan so things are tight. I'm not paying this bill, I'm querying their disregard as its incorrect according to the government website. They seem to think it's at their discretion.

by Sponsored content

Council Tax ludicrous demand

Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand

Re: Council Tax ludicrous demand