I and my elderly mother is being chased by Lambeth Council appointed Baliff for alleged Council Tax. The Council has not applied the benefits that my mother gets. ( my mother is 84 and extremely frail/of nurvous disposition.) A fact that is also advised to the Council/Bailffs. In fact my mother is known the Council social services department.

The Council is well aware of the position as I took the Council to the Tribunal for previous years alleged Council tax & despite of the very restricted remit of ther tribunal. My application to the Tribunal was partly held. ( I had to take this step as the Council just could not deal with the issues even though it went through their six levels of complain )

I have contacted the Council in writing of the current position with a copy to the Bailffs. Besides this I had written to the Bailffs setting out the position.

Lambeth Council being consistent in their incomeptance have ignored my letter and have not withdrawn the file from the Bailiffs while in the mean time hopefully some one will look into the matter before the end of the century.

I am concerrned that one day I may be out and the bailiffs will harress my mother. Yesterday morning the bailffs visited my place. I met them at the door & informed that the amount is not due & his office & Council has been informed . Needdless to say it fell on deaf ears.

On the way out the Bailff was talking to a neigbour on the floor below my floor while he was in the private car park. The Bailiff also checked the car regitration number what I can only assume with a view to establishing which of the cars that were parked belong to me.

I am concerned that they may clamp my car and I need the car to take my mother to the doctors or Hospital.

Can the fourum users be kind enmough to guide me. Thanks in advance.

Moved to correct forum.

Jogs

Can you clarify a couple of points.

Does your mum live on her own or with you? You allude to Benefits not being applied - can you explain further?

If you are awaiting the outcome of a Benefit application this is not reason enough to withold or dispute payment of Council Tax. Any excess paid will either be repaid on request or credited against future payments. Can you also say which Bailiff company this is?

Thank you for your reply. Yes my mother lives with me the Council tax is raised in both are names My mother is in receipt of advance attendance allowance (AA). I am her full time official Carer.

Due to the above AA mum is fully exempt and depending who you talk to at the Council. I either dont pay any Council tax or pay a percentage because of being my mums full time carer & due to my mum being in receipt of AA. The staff at the Council is only helpful as far a three sentances and any frustration ( not anger ) is responded with a body language of I dont care. If one writes to them it gets ignored or not acted upon..

With most Council I could take that approach of paying them & either carry forward as credit or get a refund. However if I paid Lambeth Council that will be the end of it. They will never deal with the matter & a refund is far cry. ( For the past years my mother even have a credit to her account e.g. if the Council tax was for £100 they have given her benefits of more £105 i.e. the benefits were more than the Council tax. Meaning the Council is paying my mother to live in the borough )

I can write a book about their incomptance & the blazzy attitude as I have been dealing with my mums affairs for well over thirty year.

I had in the past even asked my mum to move out of Lambeth. As she has few friends in the area & I deal with all her affair she does see the need to move out of Lambeth

Possibly part of the reason for the couldn't careless attitude at the Council is because if you are just ringing them and speaking to whoever answers or see them face to face in the Office is because Lambeth like many others have outsourced the majority of their Admin functions to a company called Capita. So in truth you are not really talking to a Council employee. As for how they operate with regard to non-payment it just so happenns they also own 2 Bailiff Co's so it is in their intersts not to be helpful. To get any real sense you need to escalate to someone in charge - Head of Revenues perhaps, you can also write to the CEO of the Council as a Formal Complaint - marking both letter & envelope accordingly. I assume you have also tried your local Councillor(s) and/or MP for help.

 

Thank you for your reply. Yes my mother lives with me the Council tax is raised in both are names My mother is in receipt of advance attendance allowance (AA). I am her full time official Carer.

Who is the actual owner / tenant ?

Due to the above AA mum is fully exempt and depending who you talk to at the Council.

Has she actually applied for council tax benefit.

Me & my mother jointly own the property (proprty B) where we are currently living, & is the property in question for which the dispute is on going.

My mother was previously living in a different property in Lambeth where she was getting her exemption on ( property A ) None of the properties are owned by the Council.

Due to anti social behaviour & the lift not being operational. My mother had to move from property A to property B.

Before moving the Council was advised of the move by a personal visit by me to the Council offices.

This personal visit was made by me as written advise etc are not acted upon. Of course the Council denies any visit of mine despite of informing them of the day, time & the person I spoke to.

Having had the notification of the move the Council had continued to grant my mother the exemption for property (A ) without any application being made.