Please help me - about council tax charges

Widelats

If i DID put in council tax benefit as well as their housing benefit forms, and have now found out that for some reson, the benefits section did not put these benefits through and now i have a court summons and a council tax bill that i should not be paying.

i sent them a email and explained, i had put both of the forms into the benefits office and maybe there was a admin error somewhere or they have lost the forms somehow.

I have requested backdating of this council tax as i can prove i was on housing benefit and not working at the time, should this alone be enough to get the council tax bill squashed and a refund of the cash they have taken out of my benefits already (over £170! :eek: )

Please advise me on what to do next, i will be online tomorrow again, thanks very much!

karenx

Do you have proof that you filled out and handed in the form for council tax benefit? When you recieved the letter back from housing benefit about your entitlement there should of been another one letting you know about council tax benefit. If that wasnt there why didnt you call them and ask why?

CIS

I have requested backdating of this council tax as i can prove i was on housing benefit and not working at the time, should this alone be enough to get the council tax bill squashed and a refund of the cash they have taken out of my benefits already (over £170! :eek: )

Usually CTB is awarded alongside HB as its usualy claimed from the same form. Ive come across similar cases and our benefit section has always awarded any CTB due as a re-claculation however are you sure that the CTB has not been awarded and you have been awarded a Nil amount ?

If the CTB is awarded then you would get any refund of payments made if the CTB award put your account in to credit.

Even if the CTB was not awarded in error then technically the court costs have been incurred correctly but in may authority we will remove the costs incurred if the charge has been clared by an award of CTB.

Widelats

CIS wrote: »

Usually CTB is awarded alongside HB as its usualy claimed from the same form. Ive come across similar cases and our benefit section has always awarded any CTB due as a re-claculation however are you sure that the CTB has not been awarded and you have been awarded a Nil amount ?

If the CTB is awarded then you would get any refund of payments made if the CTB award put your account in to credit.

Even if the CTB was not awarded in error then technically the court costs have been incurred correctly but in may authority we will remove the costs incurred if the charge has been clared by an award of CTB.

HB was also not awarded, so i guess it was also CTB that was not awarded as well, yet i did apply for HB and CTB at the same time, i had moved from Salvation Army hostel at this time and was on benefits, i have also been chased by debt collectors wanting rent that should have been paid by HB, it is my guess that the HB and CTB forms have been lost by the benefits section somehow.

I was entitled to these benefits at the time, so i think i have to go fill in some kind of form for a back date or remission from them.

I do hope they sort this out i will not pay court costs for something that is not my fault.

Thanks.

DX2

Widelats wrote: »

If i DID put in council tax benefit as well as their housing benefit forms, and have now found out that for some reson, the benefits section did not put these benefits through and now i have a court summons and a council tax bill that i should not be paying.

i sent them a email and explained, i had put both of the forms into the benefits office and maybe there was a admin error somewhere or they have lost the forms somehow.

I have requested backdating of this council tax as i can prove i was on housing benefit and not working at the time, should this alone be enough to get the council tax bill squashed and a refund of the cash they have taken out of my benefits already (over £170! :eek: )

Please advise me on what to do next, i will be online tomorrow again, thanks very much!

Just to clarify as you have contradicted yourself with these posts did you get HB or not?

Widelats wrote: »

HB was also not awarded, so i guess it was also CTB that was not awarded as well, yet i did apply for HB and CTB at the same time, i had moved from Salvation Army hostel at this time and was on benefits, i have also been chased by debt collectors wanting rent that should have been paid by HB, it is my guess that the HB and CTB forms have been lost by the benefits section somehow.

I was entitled to these benefits at the time, so i think i have to go fill in some kind of form for a back date or remission from them.

I do hope they sort this out i will not pay court costs for something that is not my fault.

Thanks.

Widelats

DX2 wrote: »

Just to clarify as you have contradicted yourself with these posts did you get HB or not?

Claimed HB, asked for backdating, aparently nothing happened.

Appplied again - going to see what happens.

dmg24

Do you have proof of applying for these benefits?

Widelats

dmg24 wrote: »

Do you have proof of applying for these benefits?

Yes, they were granted i was in a flat on HB, then when i left the flat i put in a letter with my explanation of why i was leaving and asked for all benefits like rent to be paid up to date, this obviously never happened though, this is where the charges have come from.

What i do not understand though is that when i left the flat i had made myself homeless, the benefits were aware of this too and even give me a adviser who told me not to move, but i explained to her i had no heating or hot water in this flat from the start (This was 2008 December when deep freeze Britain was here) it was freezing in the flat and even though the landlord had promised to fix the heating they didn't, and the homeless officer was saying to me things like "Well its only a few weeks without heat" this was after i had aleady gone near a month waiting for the landlord to fix it,

The date then had given me to fix heating and water came and went, then i was told that they could do nothing until "sometime after christmas" this is why i upped and left the flat in the first place and got another flat in another area, so yes, i can prove i was on benefits in that flat, was entitled to them, can prove i saw a homeless officer but i can't prove i gave them a letter requesting my rents be paid when i left the flat.

So if i can prove i was also homeless, should these council tax charges also be dropped and me re-imbursed what they have taken?

CIS

The problem comes if you still held the tenanacy on the property, just because you choose, for whatever reason, not to live in the property, it would not remove your liability for the Council Tax due for this period.

If you had a property elsewhere that you paid council tax on then you can submit a claim for this property to be a second home for any period where you had a tenancy on both properties and the appropriate discount can be given.