Help Reg council tax mess

phanidhar6039

Hi,

I use to stay in Edinburgh before 2 years ago (until aug 2009) and cleared my name by paying the council tax and moved away to London and staying with my brother family. Now all of the sudden Edinburgh council has sent a council bill for the year dated from April 2011 to march 2012 it seems for current year which sounds ridiculous to me, where my friend stay at the same address who is a student now from then on and submitted there university letter by filling council form from univ. Any suggestions would be great help about how to clear my name from this mess as i don't have any bills on my name up there as my brother pays all the bills and second one is that does it effect me in future when extending my visa.

Thanks,
phani

CIS

It seems that the council were not aware that you had vacated , did you actually contact them ?.

The easiest way to prove it would be to contact the managing agents / landlord of the property and ask them to confirm to the council when you vacated the property.

It wont have any affect on your visa.

phanidhar6039

CIS wrote: »

It seems that the council were not aware that you had vacated , did you actually contact them ?.

The easiest way to prove it would be to contact the managing agents / landlord of the property and ask them to confirm to the council when you vacated the property.

It wont have any affect on your visa.

Thanks for reply,

Land lord already informed it seems that's why haven't got any letters from council after aug 2009 until april 2011.The people who stay currently have submitted the tenancy agreement along with the council forms for exemption as a student in May 2011. They got the letter in aug 2011 regarding me to pay council tax for current year where i don't stay.

CIS

I wouldn't take the landlords word for it - youi need to speak with the council on monday to find out what records they have. I cant see why they would suddenly make you liable again, it doesn't make sense.

Chances are you didn't get a bill as they have only just traced your address.

antrobus

CIS wrote: »

I wouldn't take the landlords word for it - youi need to speak with the council on monday to find out what records they have. I cant see why they would suddenly make you liable again, it doesn't make sense.

Neither would I.

CIS wrote: »

Chances are you didn't get a bill as they have only just traced your address.

Isn't that a bit Catch-22? If the Council have only just 'traced his address' doesn't this rather prove that he isn't actually living at the address they're trying to charge him for?

CIS

Isn't that a bit Catch-22? If the Council have only just 'traced his address' doesn't this rather prove that he isn't actually living at the address they're trying to charge him for?

All it proves is he is now at another address, it doesn't prove he wasn't at the property prior to the date they found an address. They will now be awaiting a response from him so that the issue can be resolved.

There are many people who also use contact addresses which are different to the property address they live in.

agrinnall

Surely it's ultimately the Council Tax payer's responsibility to inform the council that they have moved? As a tenant I would never leave it to the landlord to deal with the start or end of any services during my tenancy (although as a landlord I'd also do all those things in case the tenant doesn't do it).

antrobus

CIS wrote: »

All it proves is he is now at another address, it doesn't prove he wasn't at the property prior to the date they found an address. They will now be awaiting a response from him so that the issue can be resolved.

I understand that, it just struck me as being a bit kafkaesque, that's all.

antrobus

phanidhar6039 wrote: »

Hi,

I use to stay in Edinburgh before 2 years ago (until aug 2009) and cleared my name by paying the council tax and moved away to London and staying with my brother family. Now all of the sudden Edinburgh council has sent a council bill for the year dated from April 2011 to march 2012 it seems for current year which sounds ridiculous to me, where my friend stay at the same address who is a student now from then on and submitted there university letter by filling council form from univ.

I wonder if the explanation is something like;

- phani resides in Edinburgh and pays council tax
- phani leaves Edinburgh in Aug 2009 and friend carries on paying council tax
- friend becomes a student and claims exemption from council tax
- council looks at its records and sees that phani is listed as residing in property
- council notes that phani isn't a student so sends him the bill for council tax

Presumably the course of action would be to write to Edinburgh Council to inform them that the OP has not resided in Edinburgh since August 2009.

phanidhar6039

antrobus wrote: »

I wonder if the explanation is something like;

- phani resides in Edinburgh and pays council tax
- phani leaves Edinburgh in Aug 2009 and friend carries on paying council tax
- friend becomes a student and claims exemption from council tax
- council looks at its records and sees that phani is listed as residing in property
- council notes that phani isn't a student so sends him the bill for council tax

Presumably the course of action would be to write to Edinburgh Council to inform them that the OP has not resided in Edinburgh since August 2009.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys..
If they have traced me they should have sent the bills from aug 2009 instead of only current year alone, which would have been ridiculous. Anyway monday morning i will call them to the enquires number and let them know that i dont stay there and as proof my frd will submit the tenancy agreement along with the council form again. Hope it solves the issues without the mess.

John_Pierpoint

Don't forget to tell us all how you get on.