hello to all.

received this in the post a few days ago a bill for outstanding council tax,

property exemption 2003-2007

on the same bill is apr 08-mach 09 which has been paid by the people who live there.

we did there live from the dates above and paid the council tax

this is the first we have heard about it ,

we never had a visit or letters regarding arrears if we had owed this money surly they would contacted us there,we were there for 4 years. any help would be great. thanks

First of all check the figures, are they saying nothing at all was paid between the dates in question? How did you pay the council tax at the time? If by DD then get copies of the payments from your bank.

One problem I encountered was when I paid my Council Tax by standing order (wasnt gonna let them take it in 10 instalments when 12 seems fairer). At the end of the second year of doing this I was contacted saying I had paid nothing at all, it seems that my council changed one digit in the referance each year and my tax for the previous year was overpaid by the exact amount they claimed was short. However apparantly they don't contact you when you overpay

that's correct they say we paid nothing

we paid cash and from accounts but its so long ago we opened and closed many accounts it would cost a small fortune to get statements mind you the tax bill is for £6000

i cannot believe we lived in the house for 4 years tax free they knew we were there because they came round chasing the last owners. not once did we have a letter or bailiff demanding the tax.

if we were behind even for one year they would have been on us let alone 4 years. whats my best plan of action,thanks

Get them to check previous years for overpayments, hopefully its simply a case of being allocated to the "wrong year." It may even be the case that you paid them to the account of the previous owner. This should be your first move, with a bit of luck this will clear it up.

However, if this has happened, be prepared for the ludicrous situation of the council refunding you and then having to pay from the refund, they may use common sense and transfer it over if you demand interest though:D