A Hove carer was shocked to received a court summons for three weeks unpaid council tax after taking over a tenancy after his mother died.
Owen Williams received a court summons on Thursday 30 July, stating he had unpaid council tax from Wednesday 11 March, the day his mother died from lung cancer, to Tuesday 31 March.
He was unaware of the bill previously which his mother took responsibility for as he believes notifications went to her email address.
The 33-year-old carer noted the £88 arrears were significantly less than the £270 a month he pays now after inheriting the tenancy and his partner Kelly moving in with him into the Windsor Close flat.
His first bill in his name arrived from Brighton and Hove City Council on Tuesday 19 May, and after paying online using PayPal Mr Williams received a letter warning him he had not paid, so he set up a direct debit.
After calling the council, he was told there were two outstanding bills and the authority had no record of his direct debit set up through the council website.
He had not received bills for April or July and said when he called the council and was told there was no direct debit, the person at the other end hung up the phone without hearing his evidence and receipts of previous payments.
Mr Williams said: “This feels like an exploitative and unfair process that makes me deeply concerned for others in the city.
“It is easy to imagine another person somewhere also being summoned over a backdated unpaid bill that they were never informed of or may never have even been properly attributed to them.”
A spokesperson for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “We appreciate this has been a difficult period for Mr Williams and understand receiving the council tax summons would have been concerning.
“Our council tax team have investigated and resolved Mr Williams’ issues.
“He has a revised bill, allowing him to continue paying the account without any further action
“We’ve invited Mr Williams to get in touch so that any outstanding concerns can be resolved and to ensure the account information is correct.”
I watched Martin Lewis work on council tax…one of the most aggressive forms of debts out there. Sounds like the council worker on this occasion may need additional training. Shouldn’t be in a position where hanging up is an option.
In my experience council tax are really behind on when residents update details such as taking on a tenancy, moving but staying within B&H so the council tax should just role over (if you’ve moved to the same banded property). It’s hard to speak to anyone on the phone lines as they are only open until lunchtime. You can’t go into any of the the town halls to speak to a staff member because it’s all done online these days. The whole system is backwards. If B&H Council Tax owe you money cause you’ve overpaid. You’ll be waiting months if not longer. But the minute you owe them a penny. They are onto you, with threatening letters and sending you a summons for court.
Maybe if they brought back how it was before Covid. People like this poor gent and so many others wouldn’t have to fight a system makes things so much more difficult.
Thank goodness this gentlemen was able to go to the local news and get it resolved. But not everyone is in a position to do so. He was grieving for the loss of his mother. Out of everything at that time, Im sure council tax wasn’t top of his to do list when he’d just lost his mother.
You’d think the council might have had some understanding. But it seems money over morals.
Perfect example right here.
Shocking!
Well said. Shocking behaviour by the council. They work for us – supposedly and should remember this.
I’m going to comment on this, because my own Council Tax experience is not good.
I’ve paid home owners council tax since it was reinvented as a local tax, and I have never been behind with payments. So that is decades of proven payments, and in my case over three properties.
When, during COVID lockdowns, my self-employed work was cancelled and I got no government help, I was then having to pay council tax on my credit card – with no other money coming in. The taxed amounts due continued to be paid, while council workers were themselves on furlough.
A year later, I was re-establishing myself back at work, and slowly trying to pay off Covid debts – none of which I had before the lockdowns. And at that point my council tax fell into arrears for the first time.
With just one or two months Council Tax owing, I got taken to court, and they even tried to cancel my single occupancy discount, plus there was a ‘punishment’ court fee, when I’d not even been allowed to go to court speak up about my position.
I ended up paying hundreds more because of their short term attitude towards any debt. Absolute c*nts.
This story might be a random story for the Covid years – or as one explaining how a council operates policy under their own bubble thinking – and without due care for the customer base they are supposed to serve.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15994297/fathers-suicide-child-maintenance-service-breakdown.html
It’s rather tame considering
Hello Kitty!