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Too Much Council Tax
yoshifumu
Posts: 25 Forumite
Hi,
I've got an issue with Harrow Council at the moment and was wondering if I could field for advice on how to deal with it.
Up until the last few months of last year I've been officially unemployed. I was fresh out of uni a year and a half ago, and like many grads I found myself immediately jobless. The only difference for me was that I had a student wife and a kid - so the parents weren't an option.
I managed to get us by with the odd job, becoming self-employed and tutoring while working for free in a research lab for experience. Throughout this period we relied on benefits for support as well as our savings (which eventually dwindled into nothing). Luckily, just as things were about to get really bad, I found a good and permanent job.
I did everything I needed to do. Notified my council, HMRC, got all the right channels set up. HMRC were great, really supportive, explained everything and recalculated everything to see if I was eligible for working tax credit etc.
Harrow council were complete scumbags. They took my payslip and decided I was earning twice what I was earning. After which they promptly paid us a full payment for housing benefit, and then a week later requested it back (throwing our finances out of kilter as they'd previously sent a letter explaining all had been dealt with). I'm happy to pay back overpayments, I'd just appreciate if it wasn't such a mess.
Since then they also struck off any council tax benefit we had - even ignoring my wifes student discount. they asked for a repayment on that and set up a direct debit to pay monthly.
I checked the other day and they have been taking over £270 from my account for the past few months - on a flat which should only have £130/month (without the student discount).
They also closed down our claim despite me resubmitting evidence (3 times) as they kept on asking for more evidence and ended up saying I didn't submit it on time (no sh*t if they keep asking me for more).
We had managed to get our finances back on track after the last year but looking at the last two months, Harrow council has pulled one of my accounts into being overdrawn every time and is stopping us from making any headway into financial security.
What can I do?
I've got an issue with Harrow Council at the moment and was wondering if I could field for advice on how to deal with it.
Up until the last few months of last year I've been officially unemployed. I was fresh out of uni a year and a half ago, and like many grads I found myself immediately jobless. The only difference for me was that I had a student wife and a kid - so the parents weren't an option.
I managed to get us by with the odd job, becoming self-employed and tutoring while working for free in a research lab for experience. Throughout this period we relied on benefits for support as well as our savings (which eventually dwindled into nothing). Luckily, just as things were about to get really bad, I found a good and permanent job.
I did everything I needed to do. Notified my council, HMRC, got all the right channels set up. HMRC were great, really supportive, explained everything and recalculated everything to see if I was eligible for working tax credit etc.
Harrow council were complete scumbags. They took my payslip and decided I was earning twice what I was earning. After which they promptly paid us a full payment for housing benefit, and then a week later requested it back (throwing our finances out of kilter as they'd previously sent a letter explaining all had been dealt with). I'm happy to pay back overpayments, I'd just appreciate if it wasn't such a mess.
Since then they also struck off any council tax benefit we had - even ignoring my wifes student discount. they asked for a repayment on that and set up a direct debit to pay monthly.
I checked the other day and they have been taking over £270 from my account for the past few months - on a flat which should only have £130/month (without the student discount).
They also closed down our claim despite me resubmitting evidence (3 times) as they kept on asking for more evidence and ended up saying I didn't submit it on time (no sh*t if they keep asking me for more).
We had managed to get our finances back on track after the last year but looking at the last two months, Harrow council has pulled one of my accounts into being overdrawn every time and is stopping us from making any headway into financial security.
What can I do?
0
Comments
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Contact your local councillor. They will almost certainly have contacts who can sort this out quickly. Someone somewhere has messed up and its clear that your entire council tax account needs urgent review. You should be able to find who your councillor is if you go to https://www.writetothem.com and enter your postcode.
Good luck I hope it works out for you0 -
mycatstealschicken wrote: »Contact your local councillor. They will almost certainly have contacts who can sort this out quickly. Someone somewhere has messed up and its clear that your entire council tax account needs urgent review. You should be able to find who your councillor is if you go to https://www.writetothem.com and enter your postcode.
Good luck I hope it works out for you
What a brilliant link
never knew about that thanks. 0 -
That is definitely a good link to know about. I'll give it a go thanks!0
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