Council tax

[fegnoid]

now just a smal problem...

I lived in a house in the UK for 2 weeks after moving out of my parents then due to unforseen circumstances i had to move back to m parents.

The council know that this happened and said it wasnt a problem with the council tax i would have to pay for living there for the whole of two weeks.

Now i have a court summons for not paying my council tax for that adrees between januery and april.

any advice and suggestions on what i should do. i think its a bit stupid taking me to court over not paying between jan and april.

now i only lived at the adress there charging me the council tax for 2 weeks so should i have to pay for 4 months worth of tax.


any suggestions and advice would be nice
sorry about the spelling


Thanks

[cappedup]

i dont know for certain but i would imagine you are only liable for 2 weeks.

what was the arrangement with where you were for that time? did you pay rent, do you have record of that?

I would imagine the Citizens Advice Bureau will tell you within seconds where you stand..

or start a one man poll tax riot!

[fegnoid]

no i didnt pay rent for the two weeks i was there..


The one man poll tax riot would be fun...

[The_Abyss]

You'll pay for however long you told them you lived there. The fact that a court summons has arrived would suggest that in the absence of normal local government ineptitude they would have already comunicated previously, either to the address where you were, where you are now, or both.

A common mistake is that council tax is 'free' between January and February, whereas in fact the whole year's payments are just spread over the over 10 months.

[Rapier]

I would suggest you write to the Council, copied to the court, explaining what happened and why you only owe them for two weeks. If you have any record of your earlier communication, attach that. They will usually be reasonable.

Two important things though: You will have to pay for the two weeks, If you try to avoid or delay this then it will work against you. Make sure you fill out the court forms and return them by the appropriate dates. There should be a part of the form where you can request extra time to try and sort things out without having to go to court.

The most important thing to remember though is that the court is there to see justice done. Whilst it can seem daunting at first, it's on your side.

For further advice, try the CAB, or if you're a student, see if your University or College has a Student Advice Centre. (But then, if you are a student, why are you paying cCouncil Tax anyway?)