can i sue my local council ?

fatou256

to cut short a story i was made Br on July 2008 my other half in August 2008 .
the council refuse to acknowldege our Br until last January .... in the meantine we have paid or council tax after receiving the correct bill on January .

however there ws a month therabout that i owe i paid , albeit late in november 2008. then my council got a liability order this month for the same sum that i have paid in november 2008 roughly 120 pounds. again after many many phone call they have acknowldege the error to me and my OR but still insist of me paying the 120 pounds minus the court cost as a act of good faith !

after many many phone call in turn out that my council use the 130 pounds to pay for arrear prior to my BR ! my Or has contacted them but they do as they want....

i am disabled with the added due stress i paid again 120 pounds to stop passing my file to the bailiff and the added stress well i will not handle it very well.

so now for one month i have paid to the council 250 pounds to them for the perios of july -august that i was liable ! i have send them all proof all recorded delivery but they still do not acknowldege all payment made and this time i am really fed up with them ..... .

so i wonder if there is any way i can recover the extra 130 pounds that i have paid and was misplaced fdue to their error.

Emmzi

I don't rewlly follow your story - it is a bit confusing. I think you have overpaid council tax since becoming bankrupt and would like to sue to get it back?

I don't understand where good faith comes into it.

I would ask the OR if your council tax arrears were included in the bankruptcy and seek guidance from them.

fatou256

sorry my bad ......

i became Br on 18 july 2008 i was then liable for a month council tax for 19th July to 27th august 2008 for roughly 120 pounds.

i paid this amount through e-pay few month later for 130 pounds , my mistake here to have over paid it for few pounds.

however the council instead of allocating this payment for july-august thy allocating for april-june towhich i was nto liabel due my BR order.

to my surpise i recieved a liability order when i got back form my holiday for 120 pounds plus court cost 75 pounds.

i pointed out to them that i have already paid them last year this sum but no they told me i was2 lying" so i show them the receipt and now they saying they sorry that i have indeed pay for it but one of theri staff has made an error and alloacted the sum befoer my BR and ther is nothing they can do ...... my OR told them they shouldnt have doen that as they were well aware of my BR when i made the payment.

the council is refusing to listen the intsruction of my OR

but they insisted that i pay for a second time 120 pounds because due to the liability order i was liable even though they acknowldege thier error . as i cant handle stress i paid for it .


so for july -August 2008 they have received 2 payment one of 130 pounds paid last year plus one of 120 pounds after the liability order minus 75 pounds court cost as an act of good faith after my complaint .....

eveningstar201

fatou256 wrote: »

sorry my bad ......

i became Br on 18 july 2008 i was then liable for a month council tax for 19th July to 27th august 2008 for roughly 120 pounds.

i paid this amount through e-pay few month later for 130 pounds , my mistake here to have over paid it for few pounds.

however the council instead of allocating this payment for july-august thy allocating for april-june towhich i was nto liabel due my BR order.

to my surpise i recieved a liability order when i got back form my holiday for 120 pounds plus court cost 75 pounds.

i pointed out to them that i have already paid them last year this sum but no they told me i was2 lying" so i show them the receipt and now they saying they sorry that i have indeed pay for it but one of theri staff has made an error and alloacted the sum befoer my BR and ther is nothing they can do ...... my OR told them they shouldnt have doen that as they were well aware of my BR when i made the payment.

the council is refusing to listen the intsruction of my OR

but they insisted that i pay for a second time 120 pounds because due to the liability order i was liable even though they acknowldege thier error . as i cant handle stress i paid for it .


so for july -August 2008 they have received 2 payment one of 130 pounds paid last year plus one of 120 pounds after the liability order minus 75 pounds court cost as an act of good faith after my complaint .....

This is ridiculous! After THEY made the mistake, they expect YOU to pay a sum as an act of good faith?! I assume you were automatically discharged and are no longer BR but surely this matter should have been handled by the OR at the time??

fatou256

yes this is ridculous now oi am fter my refund for the extrra payment but they keep telling me i am a liar even though i have receipt to prove that it's paid. they even told me over the phone that as i was made Br they will not make it easy for me and i shoudl pay everything as it is my fault ! go figure !
then they told that the vil was in my name only which weas not true as i live with my dear partner whcih he is also my carer ...

i was discharged today but the OR is really annoyed as it seems that the council is refusing to act on the OR recomandation .

i rang up National debtline who told me to go the Local goverment ombudsman to put my complaint forward .......but i dont put faith up too much on this.

maxmycardagain

this is what you do....

give the OR your council rate departments number
give your council rate department your ORs number

you duck down and let em fight it out

fatou256

i have already done that , the fight has bveen going on since january 2009 ..... befoer i went on holiday the council promise to me and to my Or not to continue the proceeding.... but in the meantime i had to pay an extra as i cannot face bailiff in a week time due to my mental health ( i will not go in detail on this ).

My Or apparently already took action against the council but the council believing they are above the law dont care .... thi si why now i am contemplating to sue them as i found their behaviour vexatious .

Emmzi

fatou256 wrote: »

i have already done that , the fight has bveen going on since january 2009 ..... befoer i went on holiday the council promise to me and to my Or not to continue the proceeding.... but in the meantime i had to pay an extra as i cannot face bailiff in a week time due to my mental health ( i will not go in detail on this ).

My Or apparently already took action against the council but the council believing they are above the law dont care .... thi si why now i am contemplating to sue them as i found their behaviour vexatious .

If you are struggling over a couple of hundred you sure as hell can't afford court costs.

If the OR couldn't help, time to let it go and move on.

fatou256

i understand your point but i am fed up of this goons ..... i think i may use the Local goverment ombudsman and see what they say maybe before going to court .

couple hundred pound is a lot to me, i am not working as i am disabled . so you see i would like to see back my coupe hundred pounds as i had to use a part of my DLA to pay this second payment instead of paying for the help i need so excuse me this does not wash with me i am honest and they should be so

easy to say let it go when they have cause me such misery ..if only they have folowed their own rule and own law thinga would have been a lot easier .....

eveningstar201

fatou256 wrote: »

i understand your point but i am fed up of this goons ..... i think i may use the Local goverment ombudsman and see what they say maybe before going to court .

couple hundred pound is a lot to me, i am not working as i am disabled . so you see i would like to see back my coupe hundred pounds as i had to use a part of my DLA to pay this second payment instead of paying for the help i need so excuse me this does not wash with me i am honest and they should be so

easy to say let it go when they have cause me such misery ..if only they have folowed their own rule and own law thinga would have been a lot easier .....

I can't understand how they can ignore the OR. He is an officer of the court. Plus I can't understand why he is being so weak about this. He should DO something about this, not just send out recommendations. I would recommend contacting the OR and harassing him until he gets his act together and handles this matter once and for all for you.

Also definitely contact the Ombudsman. I know that you don't have much faith in them but it's your only viable route at the moment because court costs are prohibitive and you really don't want to go down that path. They will take your complaint seriously.

Also I would recommend contacting the local paper about your story. There is nothing these people hate more than negative publicity and may step down once they see their disgraceful behaviour in print. Try it all but don't sue them. To go into this without a solicitor would be very dangerous but by the time you've paid off your solicitor, you'll probably be out of pocket.

fatou256

thanks eveningstar will do as your suggested will let you know how i get on . me too i wonder why my OR was "weak" towards them .... but i tend not too think too much about it as it really make my blood boils !