Council reckon I haven't paid all of my council tax but I no longer live there?

curiosity101

Hopefully this is a good place to post, but I was struggling for where exactly this fitted on the forum.

I rented a house from June 2011 - June 2013. I was a full time university student in this time so wasn't required to pay any council tax.

I moved out with my other half when we bought a house last year and have been paying council tax at my new home since July 1st 2013 - technically I didn't graduate until 10th July but I wasn't about to consider chasing 10 days.

Anyway, a letter arrived at my previous home (July 2014) - stating I owed ~ £43 in council tax and that this has been owed for a very long time and there are a whole bunch of extra charges on top and so I owe them more like £250 in total (I'll get the exact figures soon when my ex landlord emails a scanned copy of the letter over).

So mainly I just have two questions:

- Can they charge me anymore than just what I owe them when they have infact been sending all the correspondence to the wrong address? (Although in actual fact I don't think I owe them anything).

- Will the fact I told them when I was moving to a different address be enough proof that they've got their sums wrong? I can't remember exactly what form / phone call I made but I started paying council tax at the new house from the date I moved in (when I was technically still a student)...

Also if anyone has any advice for me that would be great.

stator

Are you sure the bill was addressed to you and not the current occupier or landlord?

curiosity101

Definitely addressed to me.

I've just received the scanned copy of the letter from my ex landlord.

CIS

You need to speak directly with the council for a full breakdown of the dates and charges - they are the only ones who can provide this.

Can they charge me anymore than just what I owe them when they have infact been sending all the correspondence to the wrong address? (Although in actual fact I don't think I owe them anything).

They only have to have sent mail to the last address they have on record.

Will the fact I told them when I was moving to a different address be enough proof that they've got their sums wrong? I can't remember exactly what form / phone call I made but I started paying council tax at the new house from the date I moved in (when I was technically still a student)

A person can be liable for council tax on more than one property at a time - it doesn't always end when you move out.

curiosity101

Thanks for the response.

Now I have the letter I will be speaking to the council first thing. I'm hoping this is just a mistake and will be resolved quickly, but if it isn't a mistake then I'll pay them what I owe straight away.

I just feel it doesn't seem right that I've told them I'm moving (otherwise they wouldn't have known where I'd moved to and updated the fees at the new house) and yet they've continued to send correspondence to the old house and mount up fees (potentially) that have turned a £43 late payment into something much more.

It seems odd that I could be liable for more than one property when I was renting it from a private landlord and went from living there to living with my partner in a house we purchased together. I've never been living at more than one address at any one time.

CIS

It seems odd that I could be liable for more than one property when I was renting it from a private landlord and went from living there to living with my partner in a house we purchased together. I've never been living at more than one address at any one time.

There's no requirement in council tax legislation to be resident in a property to be liable for council tax at that property.

Bluebonnie

£43 original charge - probably only for part of a month.

You need to check the info certified by your University/HE estab. If they say you did your last exam on 6 June then you are liable for CT from 7 June to 1 July.

Did you send this info to the Council? Or did it go direct from Uni to Council?

sulphate

What did your exemption letter from the university say? A lot of the time they aren't specific to each person and just give the same period of time for everyone no matter what exact date they finished. My husband's said he wasn't liable for council tax from 1 sept 2011 to 31 July 2014 even though he finished uni in May this year.

curiosity101

I never received an exemption letter, the university always dealt directly with the council.

It sounds like the £43 charge could well be correct (I'll ask them to clarify it today), and if so I'm happy to pay it. I really hope any extra charges can be dropped though (if they have applied any), cause if I'd actually received any of the letters I'd have figured out what I owed and paid straight away.

Kynthia

It's always worth getting your post redirected for reasons like this. The number of people on the mortgage board worried about a late payment/default on their credit file due to a final bill going to their old address is fairly high.

stator

Send them a letter offering full and final settlement if they withdraw the fees.