Are there any council tax guru's about?!

angelicmary85

Hi Guys,

I've got a complicated thing going on just now with the council...is there anyone here that may be able to assist?!!

mrposhman

whats the problem and I'm sure someone will be able to help

angelicmary85

Thanks for your reply Mr Poshman, I didn't want to go into detail straight away incase there was no-one who could help!

It started in Sep 2008 when my OH phoned the council to ask if having a soakaway in the garden reduced our council tax but we were told no which was fine and carried on as normal (We had read about it in a Scottish Water leaflet so thought it might be worth a try!)

Anyway, along comes March 2009....and a bill for £600!!

It turns out that the council removed us from the wastewater charge registar after the query my OH had made THEN Scottish Water removed us from the water charge registar resulting in us not paying enough water charges since we moved in on Oct 5th 2007 (it would appear that the council refunded all water/wastewater charges for 2007 and reduced the amount we paid from Sep 2008 after OH phone call)

After obviously speaking to both the council and Scottish Water, we got a letter saying they would cut the bill in half as a good will gesture however a week or so later we received a letter from the council telling us that they've set up a payment plan and they want £98 a month for the next 6 months so effectively, they have gone back on their offer of cutting half off the bill.

I'm not sure where we stand now as the 1st payment is due on May 1st but I'm trying to stall paying it as we've wrote to both parties lodging complaints so I want to see if either of them get back to us before the 1st as I don't want to accept responsibility by paying the first installment.

I hope the above makes some kind of sense!

withabix

Before any non-Scots jump in on this one, it should be noted that the Council Tax and water/wastewater billing arrangements in Scotland are completely different to the rest of the UK.

angelicmary85

Can no1 help?

lincroft1710

angelicmary - if you should have paid £600 to council and although they said only pay £300, they in fact want the £600, it may be that someone senior or auditor has said full amount has to be paid. Usually if councils make mistake and undercharge they are duty bound to recover underpayment, so your legal position may well be that you owe full amount.

I have to say I was very surprised to read that they'd let you off half the bill, very generous people north of the border.

angelicmary85

lincroft1710 wrote: »

angelicmary - if you should have paid £600 to council and although they said only pay £300, they in fact want the £600, it may be that someone senior or auditor has said full amount has to be paid. Usually if councils make mistake and undercharge they are duty bound to recover underpayment, so your legal position may well be that you owe full amount.

I have to say I was very surprised to read that they'd let you off half the bill, very generous people north of the border.

Haha! We're not all as tight fisted as people south of the border make out!!

It wasn't the council that let us off with the £300, it was Scottish Water. The council made a mistake then Scottish water made a mistke so it was Scottish Water that told us not to pay for their mistake but the council are asking for it...We have it in writing that Scottish Water have let us away with it but I'm assuming they have asked the council to pay it instead thus making the council want the money from us?

Money_Grabber13579

Slightly off the point but why is it when they have to refund, they'll only give a year's payment back (as on Watchdog) but when it comes to underpayments, they want it all? Sounds like another unfair tax ploy of the government's...

angelicmary85

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

Slightly off the point but why is it when they have to refund, they'll only give a year's payment back (as on Watchdog) but when it comes to underpayments, they want it all? Sounds like another unfair tax ploy of the government's...

It's a year and 5months they are willing to drop but now the council say no...It's good of Scottish Water but there's no point in them dropping the amount we owe if the council are going to demand it instead! I just don't understand how the council can no when they are, effectively, employed by Scottish Water to collect water charges..should Scottish Water's word not be good good enough?

lincroft1710

It sounds like robbing Peter to pay Paul, where you're Peter and SW is Paul and council is in middle. So you're no better off in the end, but council and SW get their pound of flesh.

angelicmary85

O.k well it's all now sorted...

I paid the amount they wanted and Scottish Water are sending us a cheque to say sorry for their part in 'the troubles we have been experiencing' which although isn't as much as I would of liked (I tried to get them back up to £300!) I think it's still an awesome victory as we only really had to pay 2/3's of what they wanted us to pay and I'm not going to go to jail for not paying!!