Poll Tax

Lakey

Is there anyone out there that can give me some advice with regards to poll tax?
I own an old farm house and had a barn !!! bungalow in the grounds. Noone has ever lived there, but it was in a dire state. I then tarted it up and got heating etc in because I wanted my disabled son to have it when he's 18 to give him some safe independence.

In January I had a poll tax man snooping through my windows and he told me he was sending information re my bungalow to the valuation office.

They have now banded it into band A and I'm not sure if I have a leg to stand on to appeal. It has a bathroom but no kitchen. The valuation officer told me that it only needs a plug for a cooker to qualify as a cooking facility.

Now the councils are strapped for cash they're going after us easy targets to refill their coffers ( they lost millions in Iceland)

bo_drinker

Band A is the lowest band there is. If they are snooping they will be like a dog with a bone, they want their pound of flesh. If you had just bought this then you get 6 months gratis I think. Whether they will want back pay I don't know ??

StevieJ

You had better ask Wat Tyler

beingjdc

You don't seem to have any grounds for appeal to me, I'm afraid. It's a property, just the same as if a house was divided into two flats, they'd do a new banding.

What is your basis for appealing - it's a habitable dwelling, so it's taxable. A bedsit often doesn't even have a bathroom, and sometimes no kitchen, they're in a shared area - but they pay council tax too.

There is a banding reduction scheme for people whose houses are different due to disability, but since A is the lowest band anyway, that wouldn't help you. If your son is too disabled to work, I imagine he could claim council tax benefit, but that would mean him being the legal tenant, and it would be hard to establish that without him paying you rent (for which he couldn't get housing benefit, since you're a relative).

Lakey

thanks for your thoughts my friends.
I suspect you are right and I have to accept they've caught up with me.
I think I will have to rent it out to pay for itself.

many thanks

Running_Horse

Lakey wrote: »

I think I will have to rent it out to pay for itself.

I thought it was for your disabled son?

The poll tax was abolished years ago.

lostinrates

Running_Horse wrote: »

I thought it was for your disabled son?

The poll tax was abolished years ago.

How i read it the son is not yet 18, and when he is he will have it

treliac

Running_Horse wrote: »

The poll tax was abolished years ago.

I made one of those assumptions - that he really meant Council Tax.

ETA: Second assumption - he sounds like a man!

bo_drinker

Poll tax type riots will return soon.

purch

Is there anyone out there that can give me some advice with regards to poll tax?

Yes, it was the incorrect way some people referred to the Community Charge.

Community Charge was very unpopular, and was replaced by Council Tax many years ago.

Rochdale_Pioneers

Don't worry. If your council sends you out a Poll Tax bill you won't have to pay it. Pointing out to them that the Poll Tax was abolished in the early 90s should see you OK.

And why would a "Poll Tax inspector" care about your property? Poll Tax was paid on individuals, not on whether you had adapted a barn.