Scotland Council Tax & Waste/Water

Ross2452 · 5 December 2012 at 5:01PM

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, couldn't find a better place.

Hi all,

I have been trying to sort out the mess that is my Council tax arrears.

I share a flat with a full time student. I used to be on JSA(IB), then working for a bit, then self employed and now I'm a full time student.

My flatmate has been a FT student since we moved in 4 years ago, he has never been included on any council tax bills. They are fully aware he is my joint tenant and has student exemption.

If everybody is liable for waste/water charges then does this mean he should be liable for 50% of the charges?

If I was on JSA(IB) then why am I liable for waste/water and a FT student is not?

I have been a FT student since Aug 2011. So who now pays the waste/water bills? It seems very unfair and unlikely that as he was a student first he is exempt from waste/water rates and I'm not?

I've had over 50 council tax bills sent to me over the past 4 years, each with different (incorrect) figures. It got so overwhelming that I gave up about 2 years ago and buried my head in the sand. The debt was passed to Scott & Co (sheriff officers) and I agreed to pay £40/month.

I recently got fed up being out of control and requested the final bills for previous years. I have done my sums and it would appear they are wanting an extra £2300 off me that I don't owe (£4000 total). This includes roughly £300 of statutory additions. If I can proove that their bills have been consistently wrong do you think I can get out of paying the statutory additions?

So to summarise:

If I am on JSA(IB) and my joint tenant is a FT student, who pays for the waste/water?
If two students are joint tenants who pays for the waste/water?
If the council have consistently sent out wrong bills and then added statutory additions for these incorrect bills, am I still liable to pay?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Kind Regards, Ross.
:beer:

CIS · 5 December 2012 at 7:15PM

50 bills could only have been sent if there were numerous changes to the council tax account , most likely due to council tax benefit.

I'd find it unlikely that 50 wrong bills were issued, most likely they were issued and then circumstances changed to they then had to issue an amended bill.

As far as the law is concerned a council tax bill must be paid as stated until a revised bill is issued to correct any calculations made in the previous one - the council tax doesn't become unrecoverable

Ross2452 · 9 December 2012 at 9:02PM

Thanks for your answer.

You are correct, a lot of them were due to changes to the account. They were constantly messing up the CT benefit and on several bills the CT rate was wrong (2010 rate for 2011).

Any advice on the Water/Waste rates?

rising_from_the_ashes · 9 December 2012 at 9:07PM

Water / waste rates are only collected by Councils - they do not set the charges.

If you're disputing these, you may have to contact SW directly

http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Domestic/You%20And%20Your%20Home/Your%20Charges/2012%202013%20Charges

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/607/council_tax-banding/518/council_tax_banding_and_charges/1

Scotland Council Tax & Waste/Water

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