Hi all, Does anyone know what fees a (welsh) council can charge? I have owned a property for 7 years of which I occupied the property for one year and the property was empty and unoccupied for the remaining 6 years. I have had a 50% exemption applied for the majority of this time with the first 6 months of the property being empty being completely exempt from Council Tax. I struggled with payments for the first three years as I was out of work due to a car crash and have been making regular payments since. I asked for a statement of account expecting my account to now almost be clear however I have now discovered £1,400 of fees which means I still have £1,600 remaining to pay. I have been charged £103 in the first year and then £70 per year for summons costs - there are two years where I was charged a summons fee twice. I have been charged £450 for a committal application (news to me! Suppose I should just be glad I wasn't arrested?!) And just short of £300 for a charging order. These fees seem extremely excessive to me and I just wondered if anyone knows if there is anything I can do to fight these extortianate fees?

Your guess is as good as mine!

Thanks, I will request a copy. Already told Welsh Water that I can go down the legal route and claim significant compensation - they told me it wouldn't uphold as it's my word against theirs for the call.

No, not in joint names. No idea where court paperwork was sent to,never seen it, assumingly the still empty property despite me providing a forwarding address in that phonecall?!

'Unilateral Notice of Interim Charging Order' - do you know much about charging orders?! I also have an 'Equitable charge created by an interim charge from the council - I would be keen to understand which have to be paid from the proceeds and which dont as both are being disputed (council have charged me more in fees and charges than they have council tax!)

My thoughts exactly! How do I go about sueing them?! Especially considering I don't have the call log to prove my call.

It's absolutely outrageous the way I have been treated especially when they are aware that I vacated the property to receive full time care therefore rendering me a vulnerable customer. I have had curt and rude response from Managing Directors and blank refusal to address or comment on my points raised. The Litigation Manager even stated on a phone call that they are unable to admit liability regardless because it will open them up to unlimited damages and therefore they can't do anything else - surely they should admit liability based on whether they are right or wrong and not based on the damages they could have to pay out for?! I even offered to settle without them taking liability but offering a 'gesture of goodwill' but this was declined.

One of the conditions, alongside the ~£500 payment, is that I have to confirm that I will not pursue the matter any further. I have asked them for IT confirmation about my record but they ignored this request (along with a number of other requests and points raised) and now when I correspond with them, even via the CEO, I just receive a standardised response from Customer Services advising that they will not discuss the matter any further with me - I have never had to deal with a more customer service lacking company!

Thank you - I am in the process of submitting a SAR, I just need to get a postal order for the fee, however I was hoping to get this resolved much sooner than the long time frame for a SAR to be processed as the property is going to auction next week.

I'm hoping someone can help - to cut a long story short, I called Welsh Water in 2011 to advise that I had vacated the property to receive full time care and they confirmed they would disconnect the supply and close my account therefore no further payments were due. Welsh Water registered a default, CCJ and Property Charge in 2016 which alerted me to the issue however Welsh Water are advising that they have no record of my call. How would this stand in a court and/or from a legal point of view? I have provided Welsh Water with proof that the property has been empty (council tax exemptions) which they have confirmed they accept Nthey have advised that as I cant evidence the call (it was on a PAYG mobile 5 years ago) that I am still liable for the charges (despite their schedule of charges stating that empty properties are exempt from charges. They have offered as a gesture of good will to write off the debt and remove data from CRA as well as filing a consent form to have the CCJ and Charge removed providing I foot £500 in fees - I however feel this is extortionate given the error is on them (Albeit I don't have the call log to prove this) and believe they should fix this with no further delay or cost to me (and should provide compensation to me for the stress and inconvenience caused). I would really appreciate your views - CCWater have already been involved but did not help matters.