Council tax summons

dori2o

My brother bought a house in February this year and has been doing it up. It was empty from February until August whilst the major works were done and during this time he had an exemption from CT as it was an empty property under renovation.

The works were not fully complete (shower room needs tiling and office needs finishing off and the internal doors upstairs needed shaving after fitting of the carpets, but as yet no stair or landing carpet due to the shower room needing completion but hallway and kitchen are complete and furnished, living room is complete and furnished, bedrooms 1 and 2 are finished and furnished and bathroom finished) but he moved in anyway and he lives on his own. He has continued to renovate the house in his spare time whilst living there.

He received a summons for council tax last month, but the bill is wrong. In August when the exemption finished they sent him a bill for the remaining 7 months of the year, but charged him the full price. So he called and they sent him a form to fill in and he sent it back, but they say they never received it. This has happened twice since.

He emailed them 2 weeks ago explaining the facts but had no response from them. So he called them today and asked what was going on.

Now for the past 10 days he has had a skip on the driveway whcih he has used to get rid of all the rubbish he has collected and stored in his garage whilst he has been doing the renovations

When he called today the council informed him that they would not be giving him the discount for being a single person as the house is under renovation and they don't believe he is living there as the work is still being done.

He's now worried as the court hearing is next week and he can't make it as he's on a job (s/employed heating engineer) and cannot afford to lose the money for the day. (£400)

What should he do. He's not refusing to pay but does noit want to pay what he should not be paying.

Airwolf1

If I were him I would send all copies of correspondence to the court and also send them an accompanying letter explaining what has happened.

I would also email the council asking for the matter to be dealt with by a manager (also include in there the date of the hearing and that he can't attend) and copy the email to the Local Government Ombudsman, but stating once again the facts. He should pay what he owes though, so from August less 25% for the single persons discount to show that he is willing to pay what is due.

corsagirl_2

He should now pay the whole balance before court if he can, to avoid further court costs. The magistrates have no jurisdiction as to whether a discount should apply or not - neither can the ombudsman, as your brothers right of appeal is to the Valuation Tribunal. If he can't pay in full he will incur liability order costs. He should then make an arrange on the full balance due until such times as a determination is made as to his discount entitlement. You cannot withhold payment subject to any appeal he may make.

If they don't accept he is living there, he should get at least a 10% discount for an unoccupied but furnished property in the meantime.

Can he supply supportive evidence - ie utility bills for address, phone bills, any sky bills, credit/debit card bills showing new address, anything that can help his case to show he was living there. Did he complete the forms for electoral registration issued in September. Anything like this should help his case.

Airwolf1

We used to suspend/cancel liability orders where there were clearly problems, hence why I suggested contacting the council direct again.