Richard's Good News Story of the Week concerns solving a Council Tax issue for a local pensioner.
"A gentleman from Basildon, contacted me on behalf of his father-in-law Mr E from Dunton, regarding an unfair additional Council Tax demand he received.
He asked for some help as he’d got stuck in the Council Tax bureaucracy. You see, Mr E needed a Class W exemption, due to the circumstances of the occupants in the rebuilt property - which Mr E had had previously. A Class W extension is essentially there if someone lives in an annex to a main building because they are very elderly and frail.
Mr E’s son-in-law had contacted Basildon Council to report the issue himself; however, after dealing with some rather disappointing responses, my team stepped in to ensure the matter was dealt with appropriately.
Fortunately, after a bit of nudging and back and forth to show Mr E was willing to be represented on this matter by his son-in-law, Basildon Council were able to give the Class W exemption and the account liabilities have been amended. The Council has since issued the revised Council Tax bills, finally reaching a reasonable resolution for Mr F and his father-in-law. In fairness, the Council officers are generally very good at responding to our requests when we contact them on behalf of constituents.
This was a great win against a classic case of system failure. So, if you or someone you know are facing an issue that you are unsure how to resolve, then please contact me through my website here: https://www.richardholden.org.uk/contact.
Sadly, we cannot fix them all – as much as I would love to – but we’ll always give it our all to help. So, get in touch now!"
