Rental Property Council tax Final Reminder

Berkley111

Please move if this is the incorrect forum (and apologies if it is).

We moved house at the end of October and as far as I was aware we were up to date with our council tax payments. I phoned the council a couple of days after we moved to let them know.

Today we have recieved a scary looking final demand notice at our new address from our old council. The bill is for ~£450 which is roughly 3 months council tax for our old place.

Annoyingly the council office is now closed until the new year. My questions are:

How much trouble are we in for not paying this? Is this something the council will deal with quite regualry? At most I can only see that we would owe 1 month for the final month we lived there, but obviously it's 2 months late if that is the case.

If someone new has moved into the property since, shouldn't they have decalred this and be paying the council tax? Surely this would be accounted for by the council and the bill would only be fore £150 or so?

Will this kind of thing effect my credit rating?

Looking up advice on Council tax arrears most of the concern seems to be about baliffs, how quickly would they move with this kind of thing, and can I expect a visit? Although we only recieved this today I don't know how long they have been chasing this up, as I'm sure it would have taken them time to get our new address details etc.

I'm annoyed/frustrated because I'm always very careful with this kind of thing, I have never missed a single payment or bill for anything in the past.

Thanks in advance for any help.

hells_2

You should only pay enough CT for the time you lived in the property and then re-register for your new address.
The council will send a bailiff out (eventually) if you don't pay them anything.
Had you not been paying your CT while you were still living there? That would explain why you're being charged 3 months.
Otherwise it just looks like an error on the council's part and they just need to bill you up to the exact day you left the property.
Just ring them again in the New Year, I'm sure it'll be sorted out. I don't think you would get a knock on the door from a debt collector just yet.

Berkley111

Thanks for the quick response Hells.

We lived in the propertly for 13 months and paid each Council Tax installment before the due date, so we have never missed a payment.

The letter says they gave 7 days notice and have asked for payment by the 23rd Dec which is frustrating, since we only recieved the letter today. Had we recieved this yesterday it would probably have been sorted right away, and on time! That's why I'm worried about baliffs etc, as the final demand due date has passed. As far as the council is concerned, we are just ignoring them.

clutton_2

Bailiffs can only be appointed by a Court - AFTER a court has heard a case and the judge has made a judgement that you owe the money - so try not to worry

If the council do take you to court, then the court will write to you - if you have had no letters the odds are that no court case in in progress.


write a letter to the old council setting out the facts, list your payments, state your moving out date, state your new Council Tax account number at your new address, so that the old council can verify that you live where you live and from the correct date.

enjoy the holiday

Caz3121

try to put your mind at rest by working out what you were due to pay and what you paid
If your were paying £150 per month over 10 months (normally there is no payment taken Feb + Mar) then your bill for April - Apr would have been £1500
you were responsible for the payments from April - Oct so 7 months out of 12 so total due £875

The bill should show the applicable dates and "total due" and "total paid"
It may be that the new people have not registered their details so they are showing you responsible at both addresses

BitterAndTwisted

Please don't let this spoil your Christmas: there will be plenty of time to sort this out once the LA's office are open next week. I sounds to me that no-one has amended their records about you having vacated the property back in October and they're chasing up payments which they believe should have been made since then. I'd advise speaking to them on the phone next week and confirming your moving-out date by letter. Then they will send you a final account showing charges due and payments made from April to October. You may even be due a repayment because as has been mentioned you make 10 payments per annum for 12 calender months, so if you made a payment at the beginning of October you should be showing an overpayment.

There will be no formal summons issued between now and next Tuesday, I can pretty much guarantee it.

Have a lovely Christmas!

Berkley111

clutton wrote: »

write a letter to the old council setting out the facts, list your payments, state your moving out date, state your new Council Tax account number at your new address, so that the old council can verify that you live where you live and from the correct date.

enjoy the holiday

The council has an online payment screen so I was able to make a payment for 1 months council tax online. The details online are actually much clearer as it breaks down when the payments were for.

I have emailed them with the details in your post clutton, and asked them to call me when they re-open on the 29th, so this should all be sorted now.

Thank you very much to those of you who responded so quickly. Very much appreciated.

Merry Christmas!

olly300

Council tax letters are standard.

Both myself and a friend with different councils have had problems with them calculating our council tax.

As BitterAndTwisted said sort it out as soon as the LA office are open next week. The issue could be anything from a simple mistake in calculation to the landlord not telling the truth about the date you moved out.

If they don't understand you on the phone then immediately send a letter to them via recorded delivery.

Fire_Fox

You should be able to log on to the council website and check the payment history and even make a payment if you need to.

CIS

This is nothng really to worry about as long as you contact them - it happens all the time (I work in council tax recovery) and could be due to many different scenarios, without speaking to then you can't be certain.

By Final Demand do you mean a Final Demand Notice (e.g bill), a Reminder, 2nd Reminder or Final Notice ?.

Bailiffs can only be appointed by a Court - AFTER a court has heard a case and the judge has made a judgement that you owe the money - so try not to worry

The bailiff's aren't appointed by a court for council tax cases - they can only be instructed after the court has issued a Liability Order but they are instructed directly by the council.

clutton_2

Normally, in the small claims court , once the case is won, then the claimant can apply to the court for a Bailiffs Warrant - once the court has granted that - and the claimiant has paid the fee - then the claimant instructs the Bailiffs to do what they court has ordered - regain possession of a property or seize goods etc etc