Council Tax help please

clairebear1406

Hi
i only earn 356 a month the same as my husband and have done for the past 3 years since having our daughtr, we own our own home and have a mortgage of almost 400 a month, we get money from tax credits, but i have really struggled to pay my council tax over the past year and last year, they have sent out to us an income and expenditure form which i have filled in and sent back which clearly shows that the max we have left over every month is around 50, we put this down as an offer to the council they have replied by putting our council tax up from 83 a month to 151 a month taking into account the arrears, we really cannot afford this at all and i am so scared as they say that if we miss one payment then the bailiffs will take over, is there anything we can do because we really cannot physically afford this 151 a month, apparently we wont get council tax benefit because the government do not class mortgages as an expenditure!!
can anyone offer any advice please??
thanks

John38_2

If you are having trouble paying CT then speak to the Council and try to agree something. Baliffs and prison etc is for people who put it off instead of working something out.

Why can't you and your husband work full time? Both of you working full time on MINIMUM WAGE works out at £1766.40 per month.

You could then look at getting help with childcare.

Owning a home is not a right its a privelege which you need to work for in order to pay the mortgage. Quite rightly, the DWP (taxpayer) isn't going to buy you a house, but it may help with mortgage interest.

The best solution is you or your husband working fulltime, with the other working as many hours as possible.

You and your husband are working less than 16 hours a week, and are wondering why you can't afford the mortgage :S!

clairebear1406

John actually no we arent working less than that, my husband has his won company which we both work for, cant actually work full tiem at the moment as i am looking after our daughter,
thanks for your sarcasm anyway,
i have actually always worked full time from the age of 17 i am now 30 and i have not been working full time purely to look after our child,

moneymare

the council are unlikely to accept an offer less than your normal monthly instalments, particularly if you have arrears for a previous financial year. I'm guessing that including the current year, you currently owe around £1000, as the council will try and clear a bill by the end of the financial year.

If your normal monthly instalments are £83 per month, the minimum I would expect them to accept is around £100 per month all in. This will still leave you a balance outstanding when the new bill kicks in, in April 2009, however it would show intent to to address the problem

Oldernotwiser

clairebear1406 wrote: »

John actually no we arent working less than that, my husband has his won company which we both work for, cant actually work full tiem at the moment as i am looking after our daughter,
thanks for your sarcasm anyway,
i have actually always worked full time from the age of 17 i am now 30 and i have not been working full time purely to look after our child,

But I can't see why your husband doesn't work full time. There's not much point in "having your own company" if it only brings in the equivalent of less than 15 hours a week at minimum wage! That's fine for the person who's looking after a young child and working part time but not for the other person who should be working full time to support his family and not having his wife worrying about having the bailiffs round!

John38_2

clairebear1406 wrote: »

John actually no we arent working less than that, my husband has his won company which we both work for, cant actually work full tiem at the moment as i am looking after our daughter,
thanks for your sarcasm anyway,
i have actually always worked full time from the age of 17 i am now 30 and i have not been working full time purely to look after our child,

Some Nursary's have 4 children for every 1 member of staff. Why does your children need 2 people looking after it, why not just the 1?

So your on the books for your husbands company? A company is, by legal definition, a seperate entity to your husband.

The company obviously isn't paying you (an employee) the national minimum wage, which is illegal. Whats the companies name, so I can report them?

You are not working for your husband, you are working for the company which your husband has shares in.

Your husband has made a choice to take the financial risk of investing in a company, over and above his duty to keep his wife and child. Thats his problem, the state shouldn't be bailing you out by paying your council tax or mortgage.

seven-day-weekend

Please people, there is no need to be nasty to the OP, in fact Martin asks us not to be in a sticky post at the top of this board.

However it does need some clarification as to why the OP and her husband only earn £356 a month if he works full-time and she works part-time.

OP, can you give us a bit more information as to why your wage is so small ? Is this what you actually earn or what you have left after paying your mortgage? And how much tax credits do you get? And also I don't understand why if it is that small you don't get Council Tax Benefit?

Try putting your details into https://www.entitledto.com and see what it comes up with.