Council clawing back council tax rebate.

ikhowell

A couple of months ago I was made aware I was paying the wrong band council tax, I live in a row of terrace mine was B the other properties are A. Turned out this went back to 2005, I received 18 letters 17 turned out to be refunds for each year. The money was put into my bank account and I cleared some debts and all was well, then I receive a letter telling me they are going to take back nearly £900 pound in a lump some in August along with my new council tax bill. It seems they only have to give back six years because of an amendment in 2010, how is this right they have messed up twice and now I'm going to be in serious debt in August? 

MattMattMattUK

ikhowell said:

A couple of months ago I was made aware I was paying the wrong band council tax, I live in a row of terrace mine was B the other properties are A. Turned out this went back to 2005, I received 18 letters 17 turned out to be refunds for each year. The money was put into my bank account and I cleared some debts and all was well, then I receive a letter telling me they are going to take back nearly £900 pound in a lump some in August along with my new council tax bill. It seems they only have to give back six years because of an amendment in 2010, how is this right they have messed up twice and now I'm going to be in serious debt in August? 

Mistakes can be made and this one is still ultimately in your favour as you are still better off with the refund overall, even if the refund is not as big as you has hoped by the end of this process.

Why are they taking your whole council tax bill in August, or are they only taking a 10% payment, with the £900 on top? I do not expect they will waive the amount (after all it is not their money), but if £900 is going to be a struggle then you should talk to them about spreading it over a few months. 

CIS

ikhowell said:

A couple of months ago I was made aware I was paying the wrong band council tax, I live in a row of terrace mine was B the other properties are A. Turned out this went back to 2005, I received 18 letters 17 turned out to be refunds for each year. The money was put into my bank account and I cleared some debts and all was well, then I receive a letter telling me they are going to take back nearly £900 pound in a lump some in August along with my new council tax bill. It seems they only have to give back six years because of an amendment in 2010, how is this right they have messed up twice and now I'm going to be in serious debt in August? 

If it's for previous years then they can take it in one payment. Anything for a current year, on an ongoing account, has to offer the usual installments.

Unfortunately, although the best way would have been to correct the council tax reduction before issuing the refund, they can still adjust the account to recover the monies.