Council Tax

lemonkettaz · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:16

Hi,

If you live in a 5 bedroom house, 4 others are full time students, does that one person have to pay the full council tax.. or is there some discount or rebate available?

Xappy · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:18

I believe if you are the only eligible person there you can get single person's allowance which lowers it by 1/3

Morba · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:18

google says: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Educati...Education/LifeAtUniversityOrCollege/DG_071488

lemonkettaz · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:33

thanks

ChroniC · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:40

Xappy said:
I believe if you are the only eligible person there you can get single person's allowance which lowers it by 1/3

1/4

i got stung with this, by people doing retakes.

mattheman · 15 Sep 2009 at 01:09

dont tell them

Von Smallhausen · 15 Sep 2009 at 01:12

mattheman said:
dont tell them

Why risk a custodial for fraud ?

Tax is a bitter pill for all to swallow.

mattheman · 15 Sep 2009 at 01:13

Von Smallhausen said:
Why risk a custodial for fraud ?

Tax is a bitter pill for all to swallow.

if he is there for one year they'll never know.

Daegan · 15 Sep 2009 at 01:35

Von Smallhausen said:
Tax is a bitter pill for all to swallow.

Somewhat more bitter if he's soley liable for 75% of the council tax on a 5 bedroom property he's sharing with 4 other people. Could easily be £100pm plus.

mattheman · 15 Sep 2009 at 01:39

As long as he doesnt register at the council all is fine, infact why bother there 4 students there.

Daegan · 15 Sep 2009 at 02:30

mattheman said:
As long as he doesnt register at the council all is fine, infact why bother there 4 students there.

Because the landlord may have provided names of all the tenants, leaving him having to supply evidence he's in full-time education, lump the council tax bill, or find a replacement tenant and move out. Who's to say what his situation is.

meghatronic · 15 Sep 2009 at 02:33

The willingness of the public (i.e. us) to break laws so freely, dodge tax and general inconsideration mirrors all the wrongs with modern society.

cactuscake · 15 Sep 2009 at 02:33

Daegan said:
Somewhat more bitter if he's soley liable for 75% of the council tax on a 5 bedroom property he's sharing with 4 other people. Could easily be £100pm plus.

I think the discount is larger than that when the majority of residents are council tax exempt. Don't know how much though. Have you tried that directgov website for answers?

meghatronic · 15 Sep 2009 at 02:35

cactuscake said:
I think the discount is larger than that when the majority of residents are council tax exempt. Don't know how much though. Have you tried that directgov website for answers?

No, it's 1/4 off. Always.

If you live on your own, you are automatically entitled to a single person's discount of 25 per cent on your Council Tax bill. The reduction also applies if the person you live with is exempt from paying Council Tax. Exempted groups include some types of carers (the carer must not be your partner), anyone under 18, and full-time students.

BigglesPiP · 15 Sep 2009 at 02:39

Make sure the other's get their certificates in to the council early. Southampton were terrible with mine. Took them 8 months and 3 certificates before they acknowledged I was exempt.

Worse still, they summonsed me to court, but as it was a council tax bill, I was not allowed to present any form of defence. If I wanted to, I had to contest the bill to the council before the court date, which I had been trying to do for the last 8 months, unsuccessfully. I often could not get an answer on the phone during office hours. Fortunately, 1 week from the court date I received an amended bill for £0, and a cancellation of my summons.

meghatronic · 15 Sep 2009 at 02:41

BigglesPiP said:
Make sure the other's get their certificates into the council early. Southampton were terrible with mine. Took them 8 months and 3 certificates before they acknowledged I was exempt.

I still haven't, after 12 months (Manchester).

Van Hellseek · 15 Sep 2009 at 07:36

Actually he's NOT liable for paying the council tax.

In a house where there are students and non-students it is considered a HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy), and for residences such as these it is the landlord who is held responsible for paying the council tax bill.

The only reason the tennant would have to pay is if doing so is mentioned in the tennancy agreement, or if there was some kind of verbal agreement between him and the landlord.

So regarding the 25% single person occupancy discount (if the tennant has a private agreement to pay council tax to the landlord), the landlord would have to apply for this on the tennants behalf. The tennant cannot claim it themselves since technically they are not responsible for the bill.

starfighter · 15 Sep 2009 at 07:37

While I agree we should all pay tax, the system is messed up in this instance and infact I was considering moving in with students but didn't for this very reason! It is harsh to expect someone to pay 3/4 of the tax on a 5 bedroom house for 1 person. If you get no letters don't do anything.

Van Hellseek · 15 Sep 2009 at 07:59

starfighter said:
It is harsh to expect someone to pay 3/4 of the tax on a 5 bedroom house for 1 person.

See above post - You don't have to pay ANYTHING unless you have a prior agreement with your landlord to do so.

Edit:

The worst thing about this is if you are the non-student and become unemployed. If you have agreed with your landlord to pay the council tax (be it in the tennancy agreement or verbally) you won't be able to claim exemption for being unemployed, because technically it's not you who is responsible for the bill. So if you have a (private) prior agreement with your landlord to pay then you'll still have to pay the full amount despite being on JSA!

The moral of this story is don't live in a HMO unless your landlord is happy to pay the council tax bill.

Edit 2:

If you do become unemployed the landlord may be able to claim exemption on your behalf (not sure about this) but admitting to your landlord that you're unemployed may also result in you being kicked out!

mattheman · 15 Sep 2009 at 08:45

meghatronic said:
The willingness of the public (i.e. us) to break laws so freely, dodge tax and general inconsideration mirrors all the wrongs with modern society.

The wrongs arnt the publics fault its the rule makers, look at the wages at the council higher than the private sector look at the pensions and look at the value for money= 0. why should council directors earn 300k a year?