Council tax bill

[Mrspebe]

Confused why I’ve had a £213 bill!

Lived in my house for almost 5 years and never had this before. I’ve checked bank statements and I’ve paid my council tax monthly for all of 2024 and 2025 (and before I just haven’t checked that far). Had a bill from the council to say I owe them £213!

Emailed but they haven’t replied.
They’ve now set a court date!

I will phone tomorrow but I expect to be a long time on the phone waiting to speak to someone. Has anyone else had this I can’t think what’s gone wrong. I’m on mat leave so could do without the bill tbh!

Thank you!

Is it a recent bill or one from a few years ago? Is £213 one months worth of tax?

You need to go through all your bank statements and check for missing or bounced payments before anything else.

Sounds like a scam!

Do the payment details check out?

Did the bill come by post, text or email?

Can through the post at the end of March. My bill is £138 a month. Can’t see anything that has bounced.

Post. My first name is spelt incorrectly and my surname is my maiden name also spelt incorrectly. I’ve been married 2 years and informed them of name change.

Sounds like a scam.

I would take the letter / bill to your local council office and ask to see an advisor.
That way you will get the definitive answer as it why / or a scam .

I initially thought it’s a scam but the paper is very official looking. I think it’s a mistake I will phone tomorrow and find out. Thank you for your responses

I would double check the phone number on the letter before ringing.

Absolutely sounds like a scam.

Take the bill to the Council and tell them you think it's a scam.
Let them prove to you that it's genuine.
Setting a Court date without giving you time to respond sounds as dodgy as hell to me.

Why don't you have it on a direct debit?

Where does the OP say she doesn't?

If this is legit could it be from an unpaid bill at a previous address? Hence the maiden name and incorrect spelling of your first name. It sounds like it has been manually typed in.

On the letter, check the account number, depending on which system they use you might get a new account number every year or you retain one as long as you keep paying. Check your bill for 2025/2026 which you should have been sent to see the account number for this current year.

It should state the dates from where the unpaid council tax is from. We used to highlight this with a highlighter to show the customer who is often having a WTF moment the bill dates. Always ring and google the number for council tax do not use the one on the bill if it is a scam.

I used to work in council tax. They should provide a full explanation of where the amount has come from and provide you with a bill for that rather than a demand to pay, there should be a closing bill. You can also make a payment arrangement and I would tell them you are on maternity leave too on reduced income.

@redphonecase the vast majority pay by Direct Debit, very, very few people pay another way.

It sounds more like a mistake or a missed payment that the council have only just realised

Id be amazed if scammers are sending random letters in the hope that someone will pay up without checking with the council

Without ringing them up first? I wouldn't be leaving the house and going to the council on spec, can you even do that?

Thank you for advice on checking the phone number. It turns out my payment bounced in September and I hadn’t noticed. I need to check my statements more carefully I guess. No idea why it bounced I was still working and the money was in my account! Anyway I now have to pay the £138 plus £75 for the admin / court fees. Wonderful!

Thanks for all your responses.

Good to hear it was a simple mix up, disappointing for the scam certain though, I noticed the first post called it correctly 😀