Council Tax demanding more?

Kavanne

I have sent an email to them asking: Why wasn't I informed sooner my proof of exemption hadn't been received?

Why was this allowed to happen?
and asked for the name of one of their SROs so I can address my proof to them personally to ensure it is received.

Also informed them I will be continuing my payments of £82 a month as I can not afford to pay them £153!!

SunriseSunset_2

Kavanne wrote: »

Surely in the 2 weeks (max I would imagine) it takes me to get a new letter (we have already ordered it from his uni office) they can't do anything?

I can't go down to the council as I work full time and OH isn't good at the practical things (bloody academics)

Why is it better to go in person? Surely sending it recorded is the same?

I'm doing English there and my letter was ready two days later, so maybe his department won't take take two weeks.

It's his letter so he should take it. He just goes down there, waits for a while, they take his letter, he signs a document, the person behind the desk photocopies it and hands over a copy for your OH to keep. That's it. Off the system and no more worries. Tell your OH to take the letter down there.

I agree that you go in person. Instead of relying on the post/email, at least you can see it's done, plus it's free walking/riding down there.

Good luck!:j

Kavanne

here is their reply:

Thank you for your e-mail.

It is a requirement within Council Tax legislation that when awarding any discount or exemption, a written declaration of the circumstance is received and for many discounts and exemptions, proof is required.

In regards to discounts or exemptions awarded to students, we are required to obtain a student certificate from the relevant educational establishment each academic year, to ensure that the person concerned has met the requirements of that establishment in order to proceed to the next year of their studies.

The last student certificate received for Mr Kavanne was in February 2008 and covered the 2007/2008 academic year. I can confirm that we have received no documentation from you in regards to the 2008/2009 academic year, which I believe the University issued certificates for from October 2008 onwards.

You have made the following query:
"Why was I not informed sooner that the evidence of exemption had not been received? Surely you have a contingency in place for this? Why were no reminders sent to alert me that you had not received my correspondence?"

Southampton has many thousands of properties that are occupied by students and the majority of those change hands each summer. It is impossible to individually monitor each property and therefore, where we are aware of the student occupancy within a property, a temporary discount/exemption is applied, pending receipt of the student certification required. This is to prevent unnecessary billing of Council Tax 2-3 months prior to when the student has the ability to provide their proof of full time registration for the forthcoming academic year.

Such properties with a temporary discount/exemption are then reviewed from November onwards, as by this time, a student would have moved into their properties, commenced their studies for that academic year and had the opportunity to collect and send in their proof of full time student registration.

If proof of registration has not been received for students in a property, a letter is normally sent to request the documentation. If this is ignored, then the discount/exemption will be removed.

In your case, we reviewed your account on 9th December 2008 and wrote to you, advising that Mr Kavanne's 2008/2009 student certificate was still required in order for you to maintain your discount. I have attached a copy of that letter to this email.

As we had not received a response a month later, your discount was correctly removed from the account and the full charge applied. A new bill was issued on 9th January to confirm this.

I therefore find that we have acted correctly on all occasions and advise again that if you have previously sent in the 2008/2009 studnet certificate, it has not been received and we advised you of this in writing and gave you an appropriate timespan to respond.

In order to re-award your discount, please obtain a further copy of Mr Kavanne's certificate and either hand it in at the Gateway Office at the Civic Centre ( where you will receive a receipt), or alternatively, scan a copy of the certificate into an email and send this to council.tax@southampton.gov.uk

I am not sure where they got Feb 2008 from, they must have pulled that out their !!! as we only moved in Jul and they demanded a new confirmation when we did that.

Also, this person has said we CAN email it to them, whereas the assistant on the phone said I couldn't!!

It seems though as long as I produce this confirmation I won't have to pay £150 but I resent the inference that I ignored their letter. The letter they say they sent in December I did NOT receive. I would NEVER ignore a council tax bill, it's just silly!!! (i have no debt apart from my mortgage which I overpay, and I am very proud of that)

Sigh. Glad it's almost sorted... the uni hasn't given us the letter to show the council yet though Not sure why the council think the university would automatically issue them though! That would be tens of thousands of letter EVERY YEAR.

Kavanne

the university are dragging their heels, we put the letter request in on 15th Jan but still nothing. Bf chased them up today and they said they are dealing with the requests they have 'early this week'...

I am worried that if I can't provide this ASAP I am going to end up with some kind of unremovable arrears in my council tax... I have emailed the person who replied to me previously to tell them the situation and asked them to keep the hold on the account. But I am sure they will think I am just another council tax dodger... I have just tonight paid my £82 installment that's due on Feb 1st, will that help?

Also, I just paid it but I used my john lewis credit card to get some points... I am guessing the council will just assume I am having money troubles as I am paying by credit card?!

CIS

I take payments regularly by credit card and don't even think about what sort of card that people use. Pay whats requested for now whilst your awaiting the certificate and you should be fine, the delay in providing the certificate wont affect the period its for, it will still be applied once issued.

Kavanne

CIS wrote: »

I take payments regularly by credit card and don't even think about what sort of card that people use. Pay whats requested for now whilst your awaiting the certificate and you should be fine, the delay in providing the certificate wont affect the period its for, it will still be applied once issued.

They have already requested £150 by Feb 1st though which I can't afford, I can only afford to stick to my £82. That is why I am concerned.

CIS

If you don't pay the balance in full then you will receive a reminder asking you to pay the balance of that installment in full within 7 days. Failure to bring the account up to date will then result in a summons being issued after another week or so.

Kavanne

CIS wrote: »

If you don't pay the balance in full then you will receive a reminder asking you to pay the balance of that installment in full within 7 days. Failure to bring the account up to date will then result in a summons being issued after another week or so.

WHAT!?!?! Oh my god, I might be able to ask my mum for the money, will they give it back to me once I produce the letter confirming bf is a student?!

CIS

Once the discount has been applied then the account will be re-calculated and any overpayment returned.

Kavanne

I can't believe they would only wait 2 weeks to take me to court, especially when I have been in contact with them and have made at least some payment...