Council Tax repayment & court action. Any CT workers

50plusabit

OK bit of background info first. Cousin has been through a nasty divorce, thrown her into severe depression, not been able to work for 3 yrs. No kids at home. When ex left he took all the savings but she was still on one of the books as a joint account. Also her mum, my aunt, lived abroad and had sent money to her for the purchase of a house, and money to renovate it.
So she applied for Council tax in 06, at this time she was very depressed and did not apparently give them all the details of all her accounts. They say that she had the joint acct, even through her ex closed the account two months earlier. They have also said she did not tell them about this account, it only had £300 in it when she applied for benefit.
They have paid her CT until last month, now they are saying she owes over £2k and will be taking her to court early march. She has written asking for an explanation, they say they can not give her a breakdown month by month, if not then how can they say she had too much funds?
What should she do next? They also keep sending letters with differing amounts, she is so confused. The accounts they say she did not tell them about, where all but empty.
She needs help, and her depressing is starting to return.
Are there any people who work for the Council Tax department? Can you give me any links.
Thanks for your help.

SuziQ

I think their attitude is about not disclosing the accounts-rather than the amounts in them. She could go to her MP surgery and ask them to look into it for her. Other than that CAB would be the best bet as they know the law and can support her appeal/know what info to ask for etc. It is a nightmare-they should have the discretion to approach a case with compassion when mental health issues are involved,but I suppose they would say that even the people trying to rob the system would use that excuse.

50plusabit

She has only told me this week about it all. Two weeks ago she went for an interview under caution, she said she cried as it all got too much and they would not see that she could be so "mixed up" that she forgot about her accounts. I know some days I saw her I was worried that she would do something silly.

scousewife

I would advise your cousin to phone the council tax department to clarify exactly what information they think has been witheld. Then collect this information ie bank statements from the time she began claiming to present day and also supply a letter detailing her illness as an explaination why this matter may have been overlooked & also if possible a doctors note to back up cousins claim. Council tax dept cannot just take a claimants word for anything - Everything has to be proved. Im sure with all the correct proof the issue could be resolved.
I used to work in housing benefit dept.

Fran

Presumably you mean Council Tax Benefit?

As SuziQ said, Citizens Advice for advice. Would you or someone else be able to go with her?

The problem is that she was given thousands of pounds, whether she bought a property with it and had renovations done is not the point. By being given a large amount of money (how much?) it can be seen as deprivation of capital in order to obtain benefits. Was she homeless at that point?

Re the joint account, it can't be closed by one person, though ex could have frozen it she would have had to actually close it as well.

She needs to get copies of bank statements including the joint account at the time she applied for benefit. When did she receive the money for house etc. in relation to this?

Re mental health, she should get a letter from her doctor, though I'm not sure how this can help if she owes the money, maybe it will help her get the lowest amount to pay back.

She should take all paperwork to CAB and gather together as much info as she can.

You could reassure her that even if she has to pay it back it will be weekly and presumably at the lowest possible amount.

She should try to avoid court if possible (which will stress her even more) and CAB can negotiate with CTax Benefit for her while she is there. She needs an appointment as soon as she can.

Also if she is not being treated for depression at the moment she should see her doctor

Oldernotwiser

I'm sure that it's the aunt's money that's the problem here as it must have been a sizeable amount. I'm assuming that she didn't tell anyone about it. Are you able to tell us what happened to it? She'd have to be very "mixed up" to forget this amount of money.

Fran

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'm sure that it's the aunt's money that's the problem here as it must have been a sizeable amount. I'm assuming that she didn't tell anyone about it. Are you able to tell us what happened to it? She'd have to be very "mixed up" to forget this amount of money.

Yes, the problem is if she got the money for house while still working or thinking she was going to work and not expecting to go onto benefits. It's a difficult one and I don't know how they treat innocent circumstances. If her mental health was a big problem at this time then that's the thing to be proving (ie why she didn't declare all her accounts at the time even if nothing much in them).

melaniew2000

if they have only recently sent her a letter about going to court, which is likely if she was getting council tax benefit but then they have found out about this money and then took back the council tax benefit, making her liable for the council tax now. if it is at this stage the 'summons' letter is not as bad as it seems-it gives the council more options for recovery if they take the person to court. what she needs to do is to fill in an income and expenditure form to state how much money she has coming in and going out and put in a reasonable offer of repayment-and stick to it!! otherwise they may pass the debt onto a bailiff company-which is not what she wants to happen. she may not be able to re-claim council tax benefit she has more than £16k in savings, even tho her actual income is only low.

50plusabit

Thanks everybody for your advice. I have spent yesterday going through her stuff with her. She did not declare 2 accounts, one was a joint that was closed 2 months after she applied for benefit, and the other that was her Mums in her name was almost Nil at the time of applying, the property was bought in 2004/5.
I have worked out a monthly total for the months she has claimed, and all but 2 are over £16k and 4 are over £8K, seems that they took the month with the higher amount and looked no further.
The good news is she rung yesterday and got an appointment Friday and I will be going with her.