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Council Tax Overpayment - Help!
LP6206
Posts: 4 Newbie
in Cutting tax
Hello,
quite a long post! Sorry...
Writing this partly to vent my anger but would also really like some advice on how to make Manchester City Council actually listen and use some common sense.
My boyfriend has paid his council tax every month since he moved into his rented flat in September of last year. As his flatmate is a student she is exempt from council tax.
Having informed Manchester City Council of the circumstances they sent him a letter to say his council tax bill was £110 a month and that his flat was in band D.
Thinking it was expensive but thinking they must have calculated it correctly he paid it for a few months until realising that no one else he knew was paying that much. Around the same time he was issued a statement that made no mention of any single person discount.
Having written to the council to query this he decided to pay that months installment when they replied as he was expecting them to tell him the right amount.
They replied saying yes we have calculated it wrongly and have not included your single person discount, the new amount you need to pay is £110. Exactly the same as he was already paying.
Included in the letter was the statement that as he hadn't paid that months council tax they were preparing to take him to court.
As he was worried about being taken to court he paid the £110 and wrote back to them querying this again and the fact that their new calculation was exactly the same. They didn't reply.
This month we found out that his flat should be classed as Band A. So wrote to the council again. They replied saying that they had recalculated and that in actual fact he should be paying £59 a month. There was no apology, no mention of any refund (bearing in mind he's overpaid by £400)
There was however a paragraph saying that they hadn't received this months payment of £110 and that they were going to take him to court. He has, however, a receipt for the payment in question. He paid it on time and it was £110.
He's really stressed about this and frustrated that he can't seem to get it sorted. They just don't seem to be listening to him or displaying any amount of common sense.
What do people recommend he does? I've said if they are going to be like that then maybe going to court is the only way to do things. That way he has a chance to put his case forward and they might actually listen to him.
Whenever he has gone to the Town Hall he just gets fobbed off and they say they will write to him.
quite a long post! Sorry...
Writing this partly to vent my anger but would also really like some advice on how to make Manchester City Council actually listen and use some common sense.
My boyfriend has paid his council tax every month since he moved into his rented flat in September of last year. As his flatmate is a student she is exempt from council tax.
Having informed Manchester City Council of the circumstances they sent him a letter to say his council tax bill was £110 a month and that his flat was in band D.
Thinking it was expensive but thinking they must have calculated it correctly he paid it for a few months until realising that no one else he knew was paying that much. Around the same time he was issued a statement that made no mention of any single person discount.
Having written to the council to query this he decided to pay that months installment when they replied as he was expecting them to tell him the right amount.
They replied saying yes we have calculated it wrongly and have not included your single person discount, the new amount you need to pay is £110. Exactly the same as he was already paying.
Included in the letter was the statement that as he hadn't paid that months council tax they were preparing to take him to court.
As he was worried about being taken to court he paid the £110 and wrote back to them querying this again and the fact that their new calculation was exactly the same. They didn't reply.
This month we found out that his flat should be classed as Band A. So wrote to the council again. They replied saying that they had recalculated and that in actual fact he should be paying £59 a month. There was no apology, no mention of any refund (bearing in mind he's overpaid by £400)
There was however a paragraph saying that they hadn't received this months payment of £110 and that they were going to take him to court. He has, however, a receipt for the payment in question. He paid it on time and it was £110.
He's really stressed about this and frustrated that he can't seem to get it sorted. They just don't seem to be listening to him or displaying any amount of common sense.
What do people recommend he does? I've said if they are going to be like that then maybe going to court is the only way to do things. That way he has a chance to put his case forward and they might actually listen to him.
Whenever he has gone to the Town Hall he just gets fobbed off and they say they will write to him.
0
Comments
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They only way the property could be re-banded is if the VOA have re-banded and informed the council - have they done so ? Band D to a Band A seems a large drop.
You can find out the current banding at https://www.voa.gov.uk.
Has he received a new bill yet ?, this will have taken in to account any payments already received and offset them against the charge. If a new bill has been issued then the warning regarding the £110.00 will be able to be ignored as the new bill will have a new instalment plan. Any credit on account at the start of the year would have been offset against any charge due for this year.
If he's in Machester city centre then Band D is £1199.25, Band A is £799.50.
With a band A property and a 25% discount then the bill should be £599.63.I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0 -
They only way the property could be re-banded is if the VOA have re-banded and informed the council - have they done so? Band D to a Band A seems a large drop.
From my reading of LP6206's post, the property hasn't really been re-banded - the Council simply got things wrong!
All this assumes one is dealing with a council that can actually function properly.Has he received a new bill yet? This will have taken into account any payments already received and offset them against the charge. If a new bill has been issued then the warning regarding the £110.00 will be able to be ignored as the new bill will have a new instalment plan. Any credit on account at the start of the year would have been offset against any charge due for this year.
Some inner-city ones have great difficulties in doing that. The letters described by LP6206 clearly show that this one is incompetent.
Which would tally with the new rate of £59.00 (for 9 months) and presumably £68.63 for the first month.If he's in Machester city centre then Band D is £1199.25, Band A is £799.50.
With a band A property and a 25% discount then the bill should be £599.63.Imprudent granting of credit is bound to prove just as ruinous to a bank as to any other merchant.
(Ludwig von Mises)0 -
Hi, thanks for your replies!
Yes when checking the VOA it says band A. Thats how we found out it wasn't band D as the council were claiming.
They are just incompetent as Meltdown says. It feels like we're banging our heads against a brick wall!!0 -
LP6206,
unless your boyfriend can get to see a senior member of the Finance dept at Manchester City Council, I would suggest the local councillor/MP route.Imprudent granting of credit is bound to prove just as ruinous to a bank as to any other merchant.
(Ludwig von Mises)0 -
What do people recommend he does? I've said if they are going to be like that then maybe going to court is the only way to do things. That way he has a chance to put his case forward and they might actually listen to him.
That advice won't get you anywhere. The Court is there merely to make an Order for payment or otherwise (rare). They won't entertain any discussion on the rights or wrongs of the sum .... they will just advise you have to take that up with the Council.
So - make an appointment to see a manager. As the rest seem a bit useless?If you want to test the depth of the water .........don't use both feet !0
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