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.”
