Moved house, council sent a cheque for overpaid council tax and now demand it back

Lord_British

Firstly id like to mention that we've never missed any council tax payments. We paid our final monthly payment in January and in Birmingham we pay for 10 months and don't start paying again till April this year. We then moved house in February. We have moved into a property with the same council tax band.


Two weeks ago we received a letter and a cheque for £162 from Birmingham City Council explaining the refund was for overpaid council tax. However today I have received another letter from them for a demand of £162 for underpaid council tax. I would be interested to know if anyone has experienced this after moving house, we are somewhat confused as to how we have underpaid as I said earlier we have always paid on time. Luckily I never cashed the cheque as I had a feeling this might happen. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated...

Twiggy_34

If you paid a full 10 months of council tax out of the 12 month year you should be entitled to a refund of some size (obviously without knowing what your monthly council tax payments were I can't comment regarding how much it should be though!). Although we only pay 10 months of council tax, the 10 months you pay include the payments for February and March & these are the months you should receive a refund for if you moved out before February. Hope that helps!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

is the demand maybe for the time in new house, from moving in until payments begin again in April, check the reference numbers.

Lord_British

Thanks for your reply, this is what I thought still very confused as to how I owe them anything though..

Twiggy_34

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

is the demand maybe for the time in new house, from moving in until payments begin again in April, check the reference numbers.

This is a good point - if you moved directly to another property in Birmingham, especially one with the same tax band, the refund you would have been eligible for from the old place would be due for the 2 "tax free months" in the new property. They probably haven't realised that you haven't cashed the cheque yet so am sure it will only take a quick phone call to sort out.

Lord_British

Ok that makes sense so basically they've given me £162 and now they want me to pay them back. Typical what a bunch of idiots, thanks for your help..

Twiggy_34

No problem, at least you hadn't cashed the cheque and spent the money already!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

they would probably close account for old address and issue a refund, then, issue bill for new address.

If you had been moving up/down a band then there would've been a difference either way.

Edit: It would've made sense to transfer credit to new address, but don't think councils work that way.

lincroft1710

Lord_British wrote: »

Ok that makes sense so basically they've given me £162 and now they want me to pay them back. Typical what a bunch of idiots, thanks for your help..

No, they have done the correct thing - refunded your overpayment on old address, separately charged you for new address.

Johno100

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

they would probably close account for old address and issue a refund, then, issue bill for new address.

If you had been moving up/down a band then there would've been a difference either way.

Edit: It would've made sense to transfer credit to new address, but don't think councils work that way.

They do work that way in Birmingham according to this.

http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite/changeincircs?packedargs=website%3D4&rendermode=live

If you are moving to a new address within Birmingham or leaving Birmingham, it is important you tell us without delay. Tell us immediately using the button report change in circumstances If you are moving from another Birmingham address we will close your old account and send you a bill for anything you still owe. If you have overpaid, we will transfer the credit to your new account. We will send you a new bill with a new account number. It will tell you what your instalments will be and when you need to pay them. If you made your council tax payments using a payment card at your previous address you should stop using this. You will need to contact us to apply for another card as this will be required for your new address.

But I suppose it does depend on the OP telling the council they are moving properties within the city and not just saying you have left address A, that would trigger a refund and bill at address B when notified.

CIS

But I suppose it does depend on the OP telling the council they are moving properties within the city and not just saying you have left address A, that would trigger a refund and bill at address B when notified.

That's generally the cause (but not always) of this sort of situation.If a person is moving directly to another property in the same area then the council are able to retain the money and transfer it to the new account ,at their discretion, but it often happens that a person moves and gets a refund without you knowing that they are the same people at a new address.