 Southwark Council hounding students for council tax
I know this is not strictly a consumer issue, but I thought I'd drop the line anyway:
I am a student at the University of Leeds, doing a course in Politics. The third year of said course comprises unpaid internships, in my case I spent 3 months in Canada before Xmas, and then 6 months in London from Jan-Jul. I rented a flat in Camberwell with three other students - one other student from Leeds, and two Canadian students we had met in Canada as they were doing the corresponding course at Carleton University in Ottawa. They were on an exchange programme, and so were registered at Leeds University as full time students for the second semester of the last academic year.
Obviously we received the standard form from Southwark Council a few weeks after we moved in (so around mid-Feb) asking for our details etc for our account to be set up. At this point I wrote back stating our exemption from Council Tax as full-time students, and didn't think anymore about it, other than that they may request certificates from the University, which they did a few weeks later, and which we obtained and forwarded. In my experience living in Leeds, this is usually the end of the matter.
However, a couple of weeks later we each received a letter from Southwark Council stating that our appeals had been rejected because the certificates for myself and my English flatmate had not stated the exact hours of study, and that my Canadian flatmates were not eligible for discount because they were not registered at the University for a full year. Annoyed, but thinking it could be solved by the University, I wrote back to them saying I would address the concerns and had forwarded the letter to the University for their information. I also asked the University's Student Services department to deal with the Council directly.
Anyway, I am aware that this is a long story, so I will try and abridge the rest; basically there followed a series of final demands, court summons, interventions from contacts I had made on the Council and from the MPs we were interning for, postponement of summons, more threatening letters etc etc. When we moved out of the flat in July, rather foolishly we didn't tell the Council, partly from frustration at the whole situation, and partly because we thought the matter would be settled. Basically they don't believe that we are students and should be exempt from paying C-Tax.
ANYWAY....a few weeks ago our former landlord sent me a bundle of post which included another summons, a notice that in our absence Camberwell Magistrates Court had granted a liability order for the amount of £1800 on the four of us (two of whom are now home in Canada), as well as letters from a debt recovery agency. Again we have been in contact with the Uni, and I believe they are writing further letters, but I have no reason to believe these will be any more fruitful than the last.
So does anyone know where we stand on this? Has this happened to anyone else?
None of us were paid in our internships other than travel expenses, and so could be classed as being on low incomes. If they still maintain that we do not qualify as students, could we claim that we should have been in receipt of Council Tax benefit etc etc?
Appreciate any thoughts. Cheers. | 
