MSE News: Revealed: Councils overcharging 10,000s who are severely mentally impaired

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  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
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    edited 7 March 2018 at 8:17PM
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    But in this case, she wasn!!!8217;t the sole resident.

    The key aspect in my earlier post is ' sole resident owner/tenant'* - a resident occupier who is SMI and who falls liable under s6(1) and s6(2) of the LGFA 1992 remains liable even whilst they are SMI unless there is a joint owner/tenant who is not SMI; in that particular case that resident joint owner/tenant would assume sole liability under s6(4) of the LGFA 1992.

    * any other occupiers are not relevant to the liability decision unless they fall jointly liable under s6 of the LGFA 1992
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • caz340
    caz340 Posts: 4 Newbie
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    can i get the council tax back mother had to pay when she was exempt just because she had me and my son living with her they wouldnt give her it
  • caz340
    caz340 Posts: 4 Newbie
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    the council tax bill was in mothers name she was owner of house but because i was her carer and lived with her as she needed 24/7 supervision and my son used to help yes over 18 they wouldn't give her it but she couldn't live on her own couldn't walk was blind had both Alzheimer and vascular dementia the council is an absolute disgrace because of this we couldn't afford care to come in and help.
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
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    caz340 wrote: »
    the council tax bill was in mothers name she was owner of house but because i was her carer and lived with her as she needed 24/7 supervision and my son used to help yes over 18 they wouldn't give her it but she couldn't live on her own couldn't walk was blind had both Alzheimer and vascular dementia the council is an absolute disgrace because of this we couldn't afford care to come in and help.

    It appears at the moment that they have applied legislation as they are required to do, they have no discretion in the matter and so have acted correctly based on the disregards awarded.

    If however you apply for and meet the carers disregard criteria then a 25% discount could be applied as both yourself and your mother would be disregarded. If you and your son could both be disregarded then a 50% discount would apply as all occupiers are disregarded.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • caz340
    caz340 Posts: 4 Newbie
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    my son was here helping i put him down as living here as he was staying at weekends to help me, but this wasn't his full time home so i don't think he should of been counted and im not counted as a carer so they shouldn't of billed mother she should of been exempt
  • marliepanda
    marliepanda Posts: 7,186 Forumite
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    caz340 wrote: »
    my son was here helping i put him down as living here as he was staying at weekends to help me, but this wasn't his full time home so i don't think he should of been counted and im not counted as a carer so they shouldn't of billed mother she should of been exempt

    No that’s not how it works.
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
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    caz340 wrote: »
    my son was here helping i put him down as living here as he was staying at weekends to help me, but this wasn't his full time home so i don't think he should of been counted and im not counted as a carer so they shouldn't of billed mother she should of been exempt

    If it was not his 'sole or main residence' then he is not regarded as being resident for council tax purposes and should not have been listed with the council as being so. If the council have him as resident then you need to contact them to correct their records but they'll want proof.

    If that can be shown to be the case and you and mother were the only occupiers who had their 'sole or main residence' in the property then a 25% discount applies where your mother was disregarded as SMI. If you were also disregarded then a 50% discount would apply.

    An exemption can only apply where there is one occupier, and they are SMI, or there are multiple occupiers and they are all SMI. Legislation prevents the exemption applying where there are non-SMI occupiers (unless those occupiers are full time students).

    The difficulty here is that more information is being given with each post so it's hard to give an answer without all the details.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • madcarer
    madcarer Posts: 10 Forumite
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    I seem to have found an issue with the SMI discount scheme. I’m a live in carer, the person that I care was on ESA with the severe disability addition. This meant that the council paid his half of the council tax. I applied for the SMI discount and the council awarded the 25% discount but then cancelled his 50% allowance for Council tax. I have now Been billed for 75% of the council tax! 
    This means being a carer now costs me a lot more money.
  • poppy12345
    poppy12345 Posts: 17,963 Forumite
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    madcarer said:
    I seem to have found an issue with the SMI discount scheme. I’m a live in carer, the person that I care was on ESA with the severe disability addition. This meant that the council paid his half of the council tax. I applied for the SMI discount and the council awarded the 25% discount but then cancelled his 50% allowance for Council tax. I have now Been billed for 75% of the council tax! 
    This means being a carer now costs me a lot more money.

    You've posted on the end of a thread that's more than 2 years old. Please start your own thread because your question could be missed. Posting on the end of someone someone else's thread causes confusion because people read the first post and answer that.
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