Daughter travelling, council refuses council tax reduction

the_optimist

My daughter has just left home to go travelling. She's on holidays now followed by 1 year working in New Zealand followed by another year working in Australia.
I have a son at home who is a full time student, so I went to the council to ask for the 25% council tax reduction and they refused as my daughter is 'only' travelling (their words) and will come back :mad:

Any suggestions to what I can do?

CIS

Just answered a post with exactly the same sort of issue.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1919855

The answer I give in the other post applies equally to the position in your case unless you can demonstrate she is not returning to your property in the future.

Happychappy

The council are inflexible, my mother passed away in May, so I have her bungalow to sort out and cannot really bring myself to sort everything and either rent it out or sell it. The council have told me as the property is unoccupied, I will have to pay the full council tax of £1400 as of November, despite it being unoccupied.

savemoney

I think you only have 6 months grace if property is empty

Happychappy wrote: »

The council are inflexible, my mother passed away in May, so I have her bungalow to sort out and cannot really bring myself to sort everything and either rent it out or sell it. The council have told me as the property is unoccupied, I will have to pay the full council tax of £1400 as of November, despite it being unoccupied.

DCFC79

My mum got a reduction the council tax when my brother went off to uni for 2 years, so it can be done

the_optimist

DCFC79 wrote: »

My mum got a reduction the council tax when my brother went off to uni for 2 years, so it can be done

That's because he is a student, which my daughter isn't.

the_optimist

CIS wrote: »

Just answered a post with exactly the same sort of issue.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1919855

The answer I give in the other post applies equally to the position in your case unless you can demonstrate she is not returning to your property in the future.

Thanks for your reply (even if it isn't what I wanted to hear), your reply is exactly what the council said and I had hoped there may be a way.

Bob_the_Saver

the_optimist wrote: »

Thanks for your reply (even if it isn't what I wanted to hear), your reply is exactly what the council said and I had hoped there may be a way.

Maybe if:rolleyes:

" She stormed out after a row and has gone to live somewhere with a boyfriend,
isn't contacting me at the moment but told me before she went she'll never come back"

They would probably send the Gestapo to check her room wasn't still (ready and available for occupation, stuff still in wardrobe etc) but that's what lofts are for.

It's like the government's car tax disc scam, if you take your car to say Greece for 5 months you still by law have to have it taxed !!!! even though it's not in the UK driving on UK roads.

CIS

The council are inflexible, my mother passed away in May, so I have her bungalow to sort out and cannot really bring myself to sort everything and either rent it out or sell it. The council have told me as the property is unoccupied, I will have to pay the full council tax of £1400 as of November, despite it being unoccupied.

Unfortunately flexibility is not an option as the council are bound by legislation with regards to discounts and exemptions.

elfen

Tell them she doesn't live there anymore and has moved out. You might have to box her stuff up if they check, but you can always say you're storing it til she finds a bigger place. Also, if your son is at uni they may give him a letter showing he is at uni which will also give the 25% reduction (which you can only have once). If they already have it, this may already be the case

lincroft1710

Bob the Saver - there is an alternative, reregister the car in Greece, pay their road fund licence equivalent, then reregister on return to UK.

I think continuing to pay UK car tax is a simpler option though.