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

anselld

Perhaps another serious concern here is the longer term tax implication.
If OP ever completes renovation and decides to sell, then then failure to establish this as main residence will mean CGT liability and the taxman will be on his back as well as the council.

mark567

littlemissmoney wrote: »

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?

I remember renting a room off a woman who normally did B&B but I wanted it for a longer period. I stayed at my parent's place every week-end, but this woman dutifully told the council the nights I was at hers, and subsequently lost her 25% discount (which she got from me through increased rent). I could have just 'said' I was living at my parents. I was doing all my clothes washing at my parents. I didn't eat any meals at that place as I recall, but still I had to pay. I know the council want to collect as much dosh as possible but I don't see why it has to swing in their favour every time. They should stick to a specific definition, and then everyone would know where they stood. On that occasion the definition concerned how many nights of the week I was sleeping in the property, and it hasn't to my knowledge changed since then, but I stand corrected if anyone has a more precise definition.

Going back to your questions, my evening meals were all eaten in the house, and I used the microwave to cook most of them. I spent all nights of the week in the place, excluding only Friday and Saturday night, which from past experience (see above) is more than that required.

About the power tool noises, I wasn't doing any work during this period, and, as I said before, there's no requirement for me to do so.

mark567

anselld wrote: »

Perhaps another serious concern here is the longer term tax implication.
If OP ever completes renovation and decides to sell, then then failure to establish this as main residence will mean CGT liability and the taxman will be on his back as well as the council.

Just to be clear: I've no intention of selling the place (unless I'm bankrupt and forced to), and as things stand there won't be any CGT to worry about :-(.

Fire_Fox

It's completely irrelevant what the council tax payments are compared with your mortgage payments!

Let's try a different angle ... can you or can you not see why the council and almost everyone on this thread find the situation difficult to get their heads around? Your neighbours say they haven't seen you, you use almost no utilities despite doing the place up, you have no furniture, you aren't registered to vote and you are struggling to produce any other documentation to show you reside there.