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Please help. Not on the lease.. council tax?
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pixie_chick
Posts: 6 Forumite
in Cutting tax
Hello there. I'm in a bit of a predicament. Basically, I've just graduated and moved out of my parents house for the first time (I'm 21) & I'm staying in a flat which has 6 bedrooms & 5 residents. However, there's only allowed to be 2 people on the lease. The landlord knows & is fine with the fact that 3 other people live here; after all we have the space and he obviously benefits from it.
Anyway, the 2 people on the lease both work and are no longer students so they pay council tax. Part of my rent contributes towards this council tax. Am I right in thinking that when I'm filling out "official" forms like P60s and so on, I need to just say I live in my old home since I'm not on the lease here & am obviously not paying my own council tax? I'm still on the electoral roll at my old home.
Anyway, the 2 people on the lease both work and are no longer students so they pay council tax. Part of my rent contributes towards this council tax. Am I right in thinking that when I'm filling out "official" forms like P60s and so on, I need to just say I live in my old home since I'm not on the lease here & am obviously not paying my own council tax? I'm still on the electoral roll at my old home.
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I don't see it matters that you are not on the lease - you live there and are entitled to use it as an address. Ditto Electoral roll.
No council tax is being avoided as a result - I don't see the problem.
The 'two people on the lease' is for the landlord's convenience.0 -
Ah, ok. Thank you very much! Just read up about liability for council tax & realised that I'm doing nothing wrong. I should have done that in the first instance.
Thanks again.0 -
Under the hierarchy of Liability a resident lease holder is held to be more liable for Council Tax than a person who not named on the lease but is also resident at the property (unless a resident is the owner in which case they are liable).
The only real issue comes if you are the partner of one of the leaseholders in which case you would be jointly liable with them regardless of your name being on the lease.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.0 -
Nothing to do with Council Tax, which was your original question, but as a parent of former students I happen to know that whilst you were a student it was correct for your parents to register you on the Electoral Register as a resident of the family home.
A student normally has a permanent residence in the family home and a temporary residence which he or she occupies whilst at Uni.
As you say, you have now moved out of your parents’ house, and it would be wrong of your parents to record you on the Electoral Register at their home.
You need to ensure that you are included on the Electoral Register as a resident in the flat.
If you fail to do that you will not only lose your right to vote (which may or may not be important to you) but you will create a hole in your credit record.
That will probably mean that you are turned down for new mobile phone contracts, credit cards and loans for some time to come.0 -
You need to ask the leaseholders to include you on the Council's form, for Council Tax purposes AND on the Council's form, for Electoral Roll purposes.
Most councils send out forms for the CT and the ER to the "householder", which ought to be the leaseholder. The ER form asks the householder to list the names of all those living at the property and your name should be put on that form.
For CT, it doesn't matter. The Council only want to know one name, if the property is occupied by one person, or two names if there are two living there. From memory, the Council don't ask for a list of everyone living at the property for CT purposes - just for ER purposes. (Just moved and had to fill out these dratted forms!).
RegardsWarning ..... I'm a peri-menopausal axe-wielding maniac0 -
For CT, it doesn't matter. The Council only want to know one name, if the property is occupied by one person, or two names if there are two living there. From memory, the Council don't ask for a list of everyone living at the property for CT purposes - just for ER purposes. (Just moved and had to fill out these dratted forms!).
Technically all liable parties must be declared by law even though more than two occupants do not alter the charge.
On a practical level it helps keep track of people and households for discount/exemption purposes and for recovery purposes - e.g if only two occs are show as liable on the bill then they can be chased but the the unnamed occs can't whic can make recovery difficult .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.0 -
Technically all liable parties must be declared by law even though more than two occupants do not alter the charge.
I thought that might be the case, but from memory, there wouldn't have been enough room on the form to list more than 2 or 3 .... or perhaps my memory is letting me down
Thanks, thoughWarning ..... I'm a peri-menopausal axe-wielding maniac0 -
Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »I thought that might be the case, but from memory, there wouldn't have been enough room on the form to list more than 2 or 3 .... or perhaps my memory is letting me down
Thanks, though
When I use to house share 9 people we were all down on the council tax even though only 3 names ever appeared on the bills. When I more recently shared with 5 people, only 4 names appeared on the council tax bills even though every one was listed with the council for council tax.(I know because I gave the council the names and a housemate of mine checked.) Different councils put different number of names down on the bills.
However if your name is not on the council tax it doesn't matter as you should still be put on the electoral roll. I don't think they are cross referenced as there was a time I was put on the electoral roll but not put down on the council tax.I'm not cynical I'm realistic
(If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)0
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