Tonight I get home to discover a letter from Tower Hamlets telling me that they had to hire a tracing agent to track me down at my current address. They then tell me that I need to pay them £667.81 in council tax owed for a property I haven't lived in for 18 months almost to the day.
In the other window I have the email chain from my previous landlord where we agreed on the date I'd vacate the flat. In another window I have a copy of the DPS deposit protection scheme docs stating that I left the flat in Feb 2008. In another window I have my original cancellation of service notice with BT to prove that I left the property. In another window I have the cancellation of the council tax standing order from my bank.
But no, the small minded idiots at Tower Hamlets seem to think I owe them £667.81 in council tax.
Several things puzzle me about this:
- £667.81 for 18 months? So that works out at £37.10 per month. It was £78 a month when I lived there
- You found me via a searching agent who was clever to find me here at my current address. That not a hint that maybe I don't live at my old address anymore?
- The letter of demand is dated 07/08/09 and it arrived today, 12/08/09. It says I need to pay in 14 days. Not discuss. No numbers to contact them. Just that I have to pay.
- Who are they billing for council tax at that address now? If they are billing someone then surely this is just extortion from me. I'm tempted to go door knock the current tennant at my old address and see if s/he is paying council tax on that address. Anyone know if these things are a matter of public record?
What really pisses me off is Tower Hamlets has screwed me around before. They took money from my account for monthly council tax for six months when I did live there then threatened me with legal recovery action because I wasn't paying it. I pointed out the bank statements, they checked their files and found they were taking the money but not allocating as paid by me. So they have previous form for this sort of crap.
So because of Tower Hamlets rampant ineptitude I'm going to have to spend several hours tomorrow unpicking this mess with their accounts people. Then more time and money checking with credit reporting agencies to make sure they've not reported me as a deadbeat.
Well no. I'm not having that. I'm ringing them tomorrow and I'm sorting it out but my time and effort is on the clock. At the end of it I'll add up the time then I'll throw on a charge for 'charges connected with distress' which is what they put on the form they threw at me.
I'll send them an invoice registered mail. Terms of payment 30 days. If in 30 days they haven't coughed up for my time I'll sell the debt to a debt recovery firm. See how funny they think it is when someone shows up threatening their staff and nicking office furniture to settle a debt.
In the other window I have the email chain from my previous landlord where we agreed on the date I'd vacate the flat. In another window I have a copy of the DPS deposit protection scheme docs stating that I left the flat in Feb 2008. In another window I have my original cancellation of service notice with BT to prove that I left the property. In another window I have the cancellation of the council tax standing order from my bank.
But no, the small minded idiots at Tower Hamlets seem to think I owe them £667.81 in council tax.
Several things puzzle me about this:
- £667.81 for 18 months? So that works out at £37.10 per month. It was £78 a month when I lived there
- You found me via a searching agent who was clever to find me here at my current address. That not a hint that maybe I don't live at my old address anymore?
- The letter of demand is dated 07/08/09 and it arrived today, 12/08/09. It says I need to pay in 14 days. Not discuss. No numbers to contact them. Just that I have to pay.
- Who are they billing for council tax at that address now? If they are billing someone then surely this is just extortion from me. I'm tempted to go door knock the current tennant at my old address and see if s/he is paying council tax on that address. Anyone know if these things are a matter of public record?
What really pisses me off is Tower Hamlets has screwed me around before. They took money from my account for monthly council tax for six months when I did live there then threatened me with legal recovery action because I wasn't paying it. I pointed out the bank statements, they checked their files and found they were taking the money but not allocating as paid by me. So they have previous form for this sort of crap.
So because of Tower Hamlets rampant ineptitude I'm going to have to spend several hours tomorrow unpicking this mess with their accounts people. Then more time and money checking with credit reporting agencies to make sure they've not reported me as a deadbeat.
Well no. I'm not having that. I'm ringing them tomorrow and I'm sorting it out but my time and effort is on the clock. At the end of it I'll add up the time then I'll throw on a charge for 'charges connected with distress' which is what they put on the form they threw at me.
I'll send them an invoice registered mail. Terms of payment 30 days. If in 30 days they haven't coughed up for my time I'll sell the debt to a debt recovery firm. See how funny they think it is when someone shows up threatening their staff and nicking office furniture to settle a debt.
