Council Tax Mistake

GJL1970

Apologies there was no council Tax category, My 83 year old mum has just received a £1,500 council tax bill for the past year when she was told by a Manager at our council  in May last year that she had £49 outstanding (which she paid) but she did not need to pay anything until April 2013 as she was told she was in credit. Her direct debit was still set up so at any time they could have taken payments. Anyway this month they said it was their mistake the system was showing the house empty (she has lived there 30 years) so they issued another billing number and have just sent her the bill for last year as mentioned. I think this is appalling, it is their mistake, should we go to court to say she shouldnt pay it. They have offered 12 months at £132 a month. she is a pensioner!!! Her bill for this year will probably be £132 a month too. so £264 a month for their mistake. What do you think we/she should do. Many thanks Gary

JGB1955

I think she should accept the very reasonable offer of paying the arrears over the next 12 months.

marcia_

 A Court isn't going to be interested in if you feel it was the councils fault. She is liable as the resident to pay the council tax. Take their offer.

Spoonie_Turtle

Were they taking direct debits out of her account over the past year?

If there are arrears she will have to pay them, but make sure the arrears are calculated based on full information about her circumstances.

As a pensioner she could investigate the possibility of council tax support (reduction) on the basis of her income.
If it's just her in the property, she should be eligible for the 25% single person discount too.

NedS

marcia_ said:

 A Court isn't going to be interested in if you feel it was the councils fault. She is liable as the resident to pay the council tax. Take their offer.

I agree, and you will not need to take them to court - they will take your mother to court for failing to pay the debt and thereby save you the trouble. The court will only be interested in legal arguments - is she legally liable for the debt. Has she suffered any material detriment? I would say not - if anything she has potentially benefited from not paying the debt in full when it was due and has potentially earned interest on that money. Not sure what you think you would be able to prove in a court?

TELLIT01

Speak to the council about a longer period to pay the outstanding amount.  To expect a pensioner to effectively pay double council tax seems unreasonable.  They can argue that she should have realised the DD wasn't being taken, but she can equally argue that she was told she was in credit and nothing would be due until this year.  The council may still have a recording of her previous conversation, but that is by no means a certainty. 

I work on the basis of "If you don't ask, you don't get"

HillStreetBlues

TELLIT01 said:

Speak to the council about a longer period to pay the outstanding amount.  To expect a pensioner to effectively pay double council tax seems unreasonable.  They can argue that she should have realised the DD wasn't being taken, but she can equally argue that she was told she was in credit and nothing would be due until this year.  The council may still have a recording of her previous conversation, but that is by no means a certainty. 

I work on the basis of "If you don't ask, you don't get"

I agree

The council & the OP's mother need to agree on a time-frame on the payments depending on circumstances and keep to the payments.
I can't see the council wanting to take the OP's mother to court if the agreed amount is near to the figure on any liability order that would be issued.