help please :(

[Jed180]

*bump* ideas anyone? good to send it as above?

[The GodMother]

sounds like u are doing fine to me.

 

if you want post any letters and we we have a look at them to see if there is anything we can add for you.

[Jed180]

Hi thanks Godmother I'm concerned about the appeals process and i'm quite surprised at the apparent limitation of 6 months timelines to appeal against council tax banding.. was hoping someone could clarify that for me....possibly i read it wrong.

Its just because theres been a lot of publicity about the council tax reclaiming thing on other websites.

[Jed180]

arghh :/ just checked 1 of the statements from the actual council (which i got about a week before i got the letter above from Scott and Co) and it says on it the summary warrants were granted??? ive heard nothing and been sent nothing with regard to that.

[The GodMother]

contact your local courts and ask about the summary warrents.

[Jed180]

Godmother why dont you think i can CCA the council with respect to the rent situation? I am just asking them for hardcopy proof that i owe outstanding rent? Or is that an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) ?

 

 

or just merely a letter asking them for proof that i owe the money?

[The GodMother]

The CCA standnds for Consumer Credit Agreement.

 

Basically it means any company that supplies you credit you can CCA. Like catalogue company credit card loans hire purches etc.

 

The rent/ council tax would come under a SAR which basically asks a company for all information they hold on you.

 

I would send a SAR and on that letter give the council tax and rent numbers asking for all information about both these accounts.

 

You would need to send a PO for £10.00 tho.

[Jed180]

sent out the letters today recorded delivery

 

2 about the council tax (1 cced to councillor)

 

If we dont come to an agreement regarding a full and final payment for council tax then ill just pay them a low monthly amount ...i dont earn a lot of money...i was basically funding this by selling stuff i have and borrowing money from my brother.

 

2 about the rent (1 cced to councillor)

[rory32]

Secondly i have had a look at the process of appealing against ct banding. However note this from the Scottish Assessors Association* website.

Also from the SAA website (although from non-residential appeals)

New owners, tenants or occupiers may appeal within 6 months of acquiring an interest in a property and where the Assessor alters the Valuation Roll (by making a new entry or changing the value) the appeal must be lodged within 6 months of the date of the Valuation Notice.

Appeals may be lodged at any time on the grounds of error or in the event of a material change of circumstances

You would be appealing on the grounds of error so they still should look at it even though you are well over the 6 months. They have a duty to ensure all banding is correct.

[Jed180]

thanks rory

 

Ok situation at present:

 

Rent:

 

They sent me some hardcopies of their records on this. Basically computer printouts saying how much i owed. They did not send anything with my signature on it. Normally when you pay the rent you get a receipit for it which i thought you signed as well. I wondered if maybe they should have a copy of this?

 

In any case ive agreed to pay back £30 a month in the meantime. So thats that sorted.

 

Council Tax

 

Ive not received any word from the council about the full and final settlement (and complaint) letter i sent to them (which was cced to local councillor)

 

It looks like the summary warrant was not granted? (remember i mentioned before it said on a CT form that it had?) Reason being is that today i received a letter from the Sheriff Officers wanting full payment of £1100 within 7 days or they are applying for summary warrant.

 

EDIT **** my mistake "it says on the letter from the Sheriff Officers "

 

Unless the above amount is remitted to this office within 7 days, enforcement under the Summary Warrant may follow without further notice.

 

I guess i can just phone my local court and ask them if a summary warrant has been granted????

 

Hopefully i'll be speaking to one of the city councillors today about this issue. Because theres a few things ive complained about a) the delay b) incorrect banding c) the charges on top

 

In any case can i claim back the charges? They arent a bank so im not sure if i can.

 

Basically ive offered to pay £900 in full (approx £200 of the £1100 is charges)

 

So S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) time? (with cheque for £10) to claim back the charges?

[Jed180]

phoned the council about the rent receipt thing

 

Apparently (according to what someone told me on the phone) they dont keep hardcopy receipts. Their system will register that X has been paid on X date but they dont have a duplicate of the hardcopy receipit they gave me.

 

I thought legally they had to have this?

Dont know if it makes any difference anyway.

[The GodMother]

do the hard copies have payments made on them?

[Jed180]

the hard copies taken from a screenshot of their computer records system do have dates and payment amounts yeah.

[The GodMother]

ok so do any of these dates include when u were on benefits and should have been in recipt of HB?

[Jed180]

its not that which is in dispute and which annoys me its this:

 

1. I was hoping they would have a "duplicate" of the receipt they gave me when i paid the last rent because i was sure i had paid all rent due.

 

They dont so ce's la vies i'll have to pay it because their computer says so.

 

2. They added on 1 months rent because when i moved i apparently didnt give them 1 months notice. At the time i was advised by a council representative that it was fine for me to move but again ce's la vies.

 

But anyway i just want to put this behind me and out of my face.

 

i'll pay the rent and ill pay £900 of the 1100 CT ( i will -NOT- pay charges added on...because its not right:mad:)

[The GodMother]

I dont know if the rules are different in scotland but i live in a council house and when we moved out of our last council property we had to sign a piece of paper which was our notice to quit basically. Also as we were moving from one council property to another we did not have to to give a months notice.

 

this was nearly 3 years ago and they told us we had to do that as it was the rules.

 

I would question the extra months rent due to the fact you were informed that you did not need to give notice if you were moving from one council property to another.

[Jed180]

Quick update

 

Council refused my full and final settlement of £900

 

However they have conceded that the CT banding for the property is wrong! (its too high) So they have put things on hold (ie the sheriff officers) until they can re-calculate the figure.

 

Interestingly i SAR ed the Sheriff Officers (dealing with the CT account to check amount of charges etc) and they have cashed my £10 cheque but no word on receiving anything yet. How long should i wait? And after that point i should send a LBA then?

 

 

RE: rent. setup monthly payments for a low amount which surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) they readily accepted. But ive still got to get solicitor advice on it (just havent had time atm)

 

But im quite please about the CT re-assessment thing