Council tax deductions HELP PLEASE

peanut99

Hello
don't know if this is the right place. Apologies if it isn't .

I recieved a letter from the job centre today stating that they will be deducting money from my income support. This is for council tax so I gather. The total amount they are trying to recover is £260.44.

Now here is the problem. I have not recieved anything about this until today. I was unaware of thus balance. I normally pay around £60 for the year after the benefits and single person discount. For the past 3 years I've paid the amount in full on receipt of the bill.

I moved house in January, and informed all concerned of where I moved to. They never sent me a bill for the current address. I was saying to a friend of mine the other day that I hadn't got a bill.

So I've had no reminders for this balance. I don't know why the balance is so high. Wouldn't the council need to take me to court before they help themselves to my benefits? I seriously have had no correspondence.

What do I do now

tomtontom

What to do now - ring the council on Monday and ask them to explain where the balance has come from.

peanut99

tomtontom wrote: »

What to do now - ring the council on Monday and ask them to explain where the balance has come from.

Thank you. Indeed that's what I shall do on Monday. Can I stop them deducting it?

CIS

A liability order has to have been granted from them to recover from your Income Support - assuming your in E&W the liability order has no end date and is enforceable as long as the debt remains. To get to the liability order a bill, (at least 1) reminder and a court summons will have been issued.

The only way you'll find out more is to contact the council.

You cannot prevent the council recovering a debt covered by a liability order by way of an attachment (unless you appeal to the high court and have them make a ruling on the legality of it or you can appeal to DWP and prove the attachment should be made - this would mean you proving there's no valid liability order for it).

peanut99

CIS wrote: »

A liability order has to have been granted from them to recover from your Income Support - assuming your in E&W the liability order has no end date and is enforceable as long as the debt remains. To get to the liability order a bill, (at least 1) reminder and a court summons will have been issued.

The only way you'll find out more is to contact the council.

You cannot prevent the council recovering a debt covered by a liability order by way of an attachment (unless you appeal to the high court and have them make a ruling on the legality of it or you can appeal to DWP and prove the attachment should be made - this would mean you proving there's no valid liability order for it).

The problem is I have never recieved a council tax bill for my current address. That's why I knew nothing about it and it hasn't been paid. I would have arranged to pay the bill had one been issued.
Why would they not send me the bill? I have had nothing in the post, I would have responded. I paid the bill every year before this without a problem. They send it and I pay. Job done.
I can't understand I haven't had any correspondence regarding this. I would assume that as I claim housing benefit and council tax benefit that they would have the correct address. They know I moved, they sent a letter telling me how much money I would get and that I would receive a bill. But I haven't .
Can there be a liability order if I haven't recieved the bills?

CIS

Can there be a liability order if I haven't recieved the bills?

Receipt is not required - providing the council can show they sent the council tax demand, reminder and summons to the correct address and nothing has been returned then it would be up to you to prove non-receipt. Did you not contact the council and ask why you hadn't received your council tax demand ?.

It is however possible that there has been an error and documents have been sent to an old address or similar but only the council can check that for you.

poppasmurf_bewdley

peanut99 wrote: »

The problem is I have never recieved a council tax bill for my current address. That's why I knew nothing about it and it hasn't been paid. I would have arranged to pay the bill had one been issued.
Why would they not send me the bill? I have had nothing in the post, I would have responded. I paid the bill every year before this without a problem. They send it and I pay. Job done.
I can't understand I haven't had any correspondence regarding this. I would assume that as I claim housing benefit and council tax benefit that they would have the correct address. They know I moved, they sent a letter telling me how much money I would get and that I would receive a bill. But I haven't .
Can there be a liability order if I haven't recieved the bills?

Didn't it occur to you to contact the council when you didn't receive a council tax bill? Or did you think you'd just been let off this year?

peanut99

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Didn't it occur to you to contact the council when you didn't receive a council tax bill? Or did you think you'd just been let off this year?

Yeah I totally thought I was getting council tax free this year. Moron! Believe it or not checking to make sure the council were doing their jobs properly was not top of my agenda, seeing as I have 2 children one of which has special needs. Plus another on the way.
If you had read all the comments I did mention that I had said to a friend of mine that I hadn't got a council tax bill this year. As the council want me to pay it is their job I think to make sure they bill me correctly. Perhaps I should learn the art of telepathy instead. There has obviously been some kind of error. I haven't deliberately avoided paying, I didn't get the bill or anything to do with it. I've never not paid the council tax bill, so thank you for your narrow minded moronic input.
I have updated my addresses. They knew I'd moved because I claim council tax benefit which is paid regarding the current address.

poppasmurf_bewdley

peanut99 wrote: »

Yeah I totally thought I was getting council tax free this year. Moron! Believe it or not checking to make sure the council were doing their jobs properly was not top of my agenda, seeing as I have 2 children one of which has special needs. Plus another on the way.
If you had read all the comments I did mention that I had said to a friend of mine that I hadn't got a council tax bill this year. As the council want me to pay it is their job I think to make sure they bill me correctly. Perhaps I should learn the art of telepathy instead. There has obviously been some kind of error. I haven't deliberately avoided paying, I didn't get the bill or anything to do with it. I've never not paid the council tax bill, so thank you for your narrow minded moronic input.
I have updated my addresses. They knew I'd moved because I claim council tax benefit which is paid regarding the current address.

So you didn't bother to chase it up when you didn't get your council tax bill, although you had noticed you hadn't received one, and now you are bleating that you now have the council wanting to make deductions from your benefits.

Who's the moron now then?

And having a child with special needs is no excuse for not keeping on top of things. I've been there too, and managed to hold down a full time job as well as keeping up with things.

NYM

Which year are they chasing for? 15/16 ?

peanut99

UPDATE!!!
I called the council. Turns out that they hadn't closed the account for my old address. All council tax related paperwork was sent there including the bill for the current address. The bill has been recalculated accordingly and all other charges have been removed. The debt is no longer being taken from my benefits. I have arranged to pay the bill in full as usual once it arrives.
Job done and thanks all for your help. Hope this thread can help someone else in the future