Council not giving me back an over payment saying it was used to pay a debt from 2002

Samson_Goliath

Hello and thank you for any help you may be able to provide.
I moved home two months ago after living in Edinburgh for 6 and a half years.  I moved out of The City of Edinburgh Council authority and told them of the date I moved out and where I moved to.  One month later I had not received any rebate for overpaying my council tax, so I checked online and seen that they owed me £60.21 but instead of refunding me the money they transferred it to pay a debt that I seemingly owed from 2002.  After contacting them, they told me that I owed them council tax from a property that I lived in  back in 2002, the problem is I never even lived in Scotland back in 2002.  My first venture into Scotland was in 2006 when I lived in the barrack block at RAF Kinloss.  I tried to inform them of this but they want proof that I did not live at the address they claim in 2002.  Where on earth do I get that evidence??  

I have asked them to provide the evidence that I did live there, and they only tell me that i was registered there, they cannot provide any evidence other than that.  They also didn't bother to contact me while I lived in Edinburgh to tell me of any outstanding debt that they are attributing to me or for how much for, they just transferred the £60.21 to some other account.  

So far I have been in contact with Citizens Advice and I am waiting for a call back, but is there any other avenue I can go down to prove my address history or to get the council to provide what evidence they think they have of me living at an address I have never lived at??

Once again thank you for any help you can provide.

All the best, 
Samson

lincroft1710

It may be that someone with the same or very similar name as yours lived at the relevant address in 2002.
If you can remember where you were living in 2002, you may be able to find some documentation with that address on. (I realise it's 18 yrs ago). If you were a CT payer then the council responsible for the area in which you lived may still have a record of you there.

seatbeltnoob2

Do you have evidence of where you might have lived for that period. I feel that the council will only back down if you can prove that you lived and paid council tax elsewhere.

CIS

These sorts of arguments are always fun ones - I had a colleague who used to do similar by just picking a name that seemed to be 'similar' and moving the monies. It caused quite a bit of trouble until she finally left...

It's going to be trying to get together the evidence, if you can to show where you were at the time and that it couldn't have been you - only problem is when it comes to just showing you didn't live that there a person doesn't have to live in a property to be liable for the charge. Hopefully though the council's records will show it was someone actually resident and you can show that you weren't.

Where you under 18 in 2002 ?

battybat3

Look at the electoral roll for 2002 ( you can do this through 192.com by address ) and see who was living at that address at the time.  You will have to pay a small fee to 192.com to obtain credits to view details such as name That is of course they registered.  if they did you can prove it wasn't you.

Samson_Goliath

Cheers for all the help and suggestions so far.  To answer a few questions, I was over 18 and the date that I they say I am responsible for the period starts a few days before I completed my trade training in the RAF, which is carried out at DCAE Cosford near Wolverhampton and is a residential 14 month course.  I am hoping that will hopefully suffice, but as CIS pointed out, just because I was resident elsewhere I may still be liable for this charge.  

I'll have a look at 192.com and see what they bring up, I am also in the process of obtaining my military records to see if they can provide any sort of evidence.

Cheers again for all your help:)

Silvertabby

Assuming you were single, your RAF Cosford barrack block accommodation charge included council tax.  So, it all hinges on if you were 'resident' elsewhere at the time.