to think the council are charging me too much? Am puzzled!

[MrsHuxtable]

I hope someone can help me to make sense of this before I can phone the council. I'm new to this, so I might just be wrong.

Ok, council tax for our flat is £1201.93 for the 2011/2012 year. This includes the water charges and a 25% discount as DH is a PhD student. I understand that CC is paid over 10 months, with a break in February and March, so this would be £120.20 a month.

However, I have been a full-time student til the end of October this year so my liability to pay only started in November. Now, since I didn't have to pay CC for 7 out of the 12 months in 2011/12, they should surely only charge me half of the yearly amount, as in £601 divided by the 4 payments (Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb), which would be £150.25 per installment. Instead, they have been charging me £221. We have moved this weekend (same CC tax band) and they forgot to take DH discount of, so the next payment for January would be £270. Obviously the DH part isn't an issue, he'll just have to hand his forms in again but after that, it seems to me, like they are still charging me too much.

How are they getting these numbers? It seems to me, like they are trying to charge me for the whole 2011/12 year but in less installments since I was freed from payments before.

Can I challenge their calculations?

Ring them, I would!

I will. I just want to know if I'm missing something obvious here. They are always so unfriendly.

Haven't they sent you a bill showing the workings out? It does sound wrong.

I'm not an expert but I should think absolutely you can challenge their calculations.

Ring them and ask them to explain it you, you don't have to be confrontational and they must very used to going over calculations with people.

Is it possible that they havent included Novembers payment & they have calculated it over the remaining months? ie Dec & Jan, as Feb & Mar are free? Same thing happened to us - turned out they were right tho, problem was they need to give you notice before taking a Direct Debit so they maybe they havent included Nov as a month as it may have been too late to take a payment ?

I have the letter here. It says: Your council tax from 02.12.2011 - 31.03.2012 = 529.81
Payments due: 01.01.2012 £264.81 01.02.2012 £ 265.00

The letter also states again that we are Council tax band D. However, according to their calculations, 265 times 10 = £2650, which would be Council Tax Band G at more than 1k more a year.

No, we paid Nov and Dec already. So that can't be it.

Council tax is a daily charge for starters so work out how much the daily charge is. You need the full amount for the year - don't include any discounts at this point.

Were you and your partner both full-time students at the same time? Assuming there were no other adults in the household, you should get an exemption for that period.

If I've understood you correctly, you're exempt until 31 October 2011, which means you have a 75% charge from 1st November 2011 to 31 March 2012? This is 152 days.

Once you have the daily charge, ie; full amount divided by 365, work out what 75% of this is. Then multiply that figure by 152 days to get the total amount you should be charged. I haven't included any water rates in that as I don't know if you receive any discounts in respect of those. I assume you live in Scotland and the regulations are slightly different.

Your instalments would initially be set using that figure and assuming you will be in the property until the end of the financial year. When your account is closed, they calculate again how many days you should be charged and take into account any payments already made. Any excess is usually transferred to the new account as a credit. If there is a shortfall, you have 14 days to pay it or come to a payment arrangement with the council.

When they've opened the new account, because it's near to the end of the financial year, you may have only been given 1 or 2 instalments so that amount might actually be the whole charge from the date you moved to 31st March 2012. It's worth checking the dates you've been made liable for and advising if the property was empty and unfurnished for a period before or after the sale took place or the tenancy ended.

Sorry, x-posted.

02.12.11 to 31.03.12 is 121 days. £529.81 divide 121 days = daily charge of £4.38. £4.38 x 365 days = yearly charge of £1598.70.

That sounds right in principle for your new house then, but needs adjusting for your DH. Do they need to give you a credit for what you had already paid at your old address?

Gallic girl - that calculation doesn't account for the fact that they've been paying at a rate calculated over ten months, therefore they'll be in credit on their old account which should be carried forward to their new bill.

Exactly, which is what I said - "take into account any payments already made. Any excess is usually transferred to the new account as a credit. "

Sounds to me that the credit hasn't been transferred over. This may be because the DD date was close.

OP - and credits should show on the bill. If not, they call and query this. Do you have a final bill for your previous address?

Yes, to being in Scotland and also yes, to DH and me, both having been excempt full-time students til 31 October.

gallicgirl, so according to your calculations, the 2012 payments look about right but that still doesn't explain the 2011 ones. If CC is 4.38 a day without the discount and we were liable for 61 days in 2011, that would be £267.18 over 2 months and not £440.

The flat we just moved into, has also been empty and unfurnished since April. We're renting.

I will re-read what you posted and do some calculations. Still not convinved that what they are doing is right. Have had nothing but trouble with our local council and the CC issue for years now.

Sorry scanning, only saw the calculation post not the earlier one where you mentioned credit

Council tax runs from 1st April to 31st March so don't think of it as 2011 payments or 2012 payments.

Not sure where you are getting the 61 days from.

Do you want me to give you a call to go over figures? Baby is asleep right now so don't mind. Just pm me your phone number.

No, there are no credits showing on the bill we received this morning and there's also been no final bill for the old address yet.

Ah ok. I bet they haven't linked the two together - half a job as usual!

Has the latest bill got a new account number?

We got an initial bill before our transfer had been properly processed, so then got a correct bill with our existing account and all credits transferred.

It may be that the letting agent notifies the council when someone moves in which triggers the bill, before you have a chance to ring and tell them you've moved and get the account transferred to the new address.

Thanks for the offer gallicgirl but I need to go out to run some errands. Can I still pm you later if I have more questions?

The 61 days were from 2nd November to 1st January, the bills we already paid.

ah I see, yup, pm me later if you need to.

Hope the wind has died down a bit for you!

I'm not sure about the account number as the place is still a mess and I can't find my last bill atm. BUT I think, it must have been the letting agent notifying the council. We filled out an online form about our move ages ago though.

I bet it's different account numbers now...