HELP! Council won't believe me about occupancy - what to do?

meg72

Just a thought but if you have been living there for six months then you must have had some
rubbish to get rid of Have the council been collected your rubbish. That should prove it for you Good luck hope you win

mark567

It does seem like jealousy at work here. I suppose council tax is something that somehow strikes a nerve with people. They forget that most of this forum is involved with people trying to avoid spending money, including on income tax, but suddenly when you

a) Have a house
and
b) Want to (legally) try to avoid paying something

you are the lowest of the low. No, I don't think poppysarah is saying this just because she cares deeply about the time I'm wasting trying to sort this out, but I have to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one...

Anyhow, I guess this has run it's course. It's a slightly depressing lesson in honesty. Let's weigh up the two approaches:

Honesty:
1) 'extreme' sleeping bag (cost: 45 pounds)
2) Small electric heater (cost: 25 pounds)
3) Inflatable mattress (cost: 15 pounds)
4) pump for Inflatable mattress (cost: 10 pounds)
5) 2nd-hand microwave (cost: 10 pounds)
(already had the kettle).

Dishonesty:
1) Inform neighbours of occupancy dates (cost: 0)
2) Get bills redirected to property (cost: 0)
3) Get electoral register updated (cost: 0)
4) Consume (waste) 150 units of electricity (cost: 25 pounds)

I guess honesty just doesn't pay?

Thanks to all the people giving genuinely helpful advice.

Mark.

pie81

mark567 wrote: »

Honesty:
1) 'extreme' sleeping bag (cost: 45 pounds)
2) Small electric heater (cost: 25 pounds)
3) Inflatable mattress (cost: 15 pounds)
4) pump for Inflatable mattress (cost: 10 pounds)
5) 2nd-hand microwave (cost: 10 pounds)
(already had the kettle).

This lot would make a fair debt in your council tax bill... might have been easier just to pay the bill...

Didn't the electric heater, pump, microwave and kettle use show up on the leccy bill? And how did you get by for 6 months without any hot water and any fridge? Have to be honest, I can see why the council is sceptical...

Fire_Fox

mark567 wrote: »

It does seem like jealousy at work here. I suppose council tax is something that somehow strikes a nerve with people. They forget that most of this forum is involved with people trying to avoid spending money, including on income tax, but suddenly when you

a) Have a house
and
b) Want to (legally) try to avoid paying something

you are the lowest of the low. No, I don't think poppysarah is saying this just because she cares deeply about the time I'm wasting trying to sort this out, but I have to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one...

Jealousy?? When has the council called you a liar?? Who is calling you the lowest of the low?? Seriously you are paranoid and might consider getting some help with that.

poppysarah

mark567 wrote: »

You are missing the point. I have no criminal record and have never been in trouble with the council and now they are calling me a liar - sorry, but that's enough for me to want to fight to clear my name. If you don't understand that, then perhaps you are just fundamentally dishonest, in which case you wouldn't give a sh*t. Not everyone is like that.

You have a exemption period for council tax rebate. It's your house to repair as you see fit and I don't personally care if you knit yourself walls. You are however fighting a slightly insane waste of time battle over whether you live there or not.

Repair the house and live in it.

Your energy use is commendable but so little it is bound to cause concern about whether you were living there and the fact you're doing a flit every 6 months to save council tax has obviously rung alarm bells.

How many years do you plan on carrying out the repairs?

poppysarah

mark567 wrote: »

No, I don't think poppysarah is saying this just because she cares deeply about the time I'm wasting trying to sort this out, but I have to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one...

I've already wasted enough time reading this thread and replying to have come and mixed a load of plaster to do a wall for you.

I have seen a lot of people get taken over by the disputes they have with the council when they take it personally when the council merely applies the rules and investigates issues that arise.

How do you know your neighbours haven't been asked if you've lived there and they've said "oh we never see a light on". I should imagine you're almost invisible if you don't have lights blazing all night.

The easiest way to ensure neighbours know you are there is to be a noisy sod and play music and have the odd complaint recorded against you, but I'd not recommend that.

I am just saying you should get on and repair the house and prioritise this over fighting with the council over - what - £250 a year?. If you can't do it on your own then get help.

mark567

poppysarah wrote: »

I've already wasted enough time reading this thread and replying to have come and mixed a load of plaster to do a wall for you.

I am just saying you should get on and repair the house and prioritise this over fighting with the council over - what - £250 a year?. If you can't do it on your own then get help.

This wasn't just a case of mixing some plaster I'm afraid. I need some building work as well and I'm unable to do that myself. I would have preferred to sell the place, but I bought at exactly the wrong time so I'd lose on it (not to mention wasting the work I'd already done) if I sell now. All very well telling me to get on and pay someone else to do something, another thing to find the money. This year the council tax was high in comparison to the mortgage payments as I got a tracker. I guess if the interest rates were sky high then the council tax payments would have become irrelevant, but that's not the case at the moment. I imagine there are a few people in this situation. Anyhow, all this is changing. I have managed to save up over the last year to get the builders in, and they will be starting within weeks. I don't want to be in this situation forever (I'm not that crazy), but I still don't want to overpay this year based on a technicality.

mark567

pie81 wrote: »

This lot would make a fair debt in your council tax bill... might have been easier just to pay the bill...

Didn't the electric heater, pump, microwave and kettle use show up on the leccy bill? And how did you get by for 6 months without any hot water and any fridge? Have to be honest, I can see why the council is sceptical...

The electric heater wasn't used for that period but earlier in the year. Somewhat irritatingly, I have one estimated bill for the 6 month period starting 3 months before the occupancy, and then another 3-month (actual) bill for the period at the end of the occupancy. The 90 units includes about 2 weeks after the end of the occupancy, so even that is slightly misleading, because it's only about 10 weeks. The pump wasn't an electric one. Luckily there is a shower at work, so that helped a great deal, but I would sometimes boil a kettle and wash from the sink. Obviously I was getting the clothes washing done at the G/Fs place.
I don't know why the fridge uses so little power, but it was on for some periods.

mark567

Fire_Fox wrote: »

When has the council called you a liar??

--phone call with the council---
Me: So you're calling me a liar right?
Council: Well... yes.

So they didn't call me a liar directly, but simply agreed with my assessment. You can split hairs if you want but I think most people would call that calling me a liar.

littlemissmoney

If you were not using the house to:

• wash your clothes in a washing machine
• cook meals in an oven
• store food in a fridge
• use hot water (including showers/baths)

and you were doing all these things elsewhere then I agree with the council that you weren't living there! You were simply sleeping there in order to pay less council tax. Did you even sleep there every night, or did you spend "some" nights at your girlfriends house (who was also getting the single persons discount)? :rolleyes:

Where did you eat your evening meal? If it was at your house, how did you cook it without using electricity?

Is the only difference to your life during the 6 months you pay council tax the fact that you sleep there?

If you are doing the house up in the evenings surely there was lots of banging and power tool noises that the neighbours would have heard?! How did they not know you were there?