Real life MMD: Is the council tax bill mine?

redhead26

I am all for family support, (maybe as mine live abroad so I don't get any!!) I am always willing to help out any friend or family member who find themselves in a difficult situation, as long as they are making an effort to help themselves out of it and not just using me. What goes around comes around

Nikki_12345678

Hi! No it is not your bill!! I cannot believe your brothers are being so tight!!

Firstly there has been no increase in their council tax since you moved in as it goes by the property and not by how many people live there. (The only discount is available if there is only one person living in the property.)

Secondly as you are on benefits you should be entitled to both housing benefit and council tax rebate, so it may be worth checking if you can get any council tax rebate and this may get your brothers off your back.

I lived with my brother for a while and he would never have dreamed of asking me to pay towards the council tax. Also when my sister lived with me I didn't include that in the bill. Especially considering your circumstances I would have expected your brothers to treat you a bit better than this. Maybe it will be worth keeping an eye out for your own place as soon as you feel up to it.

All the best!!

Nikki

Arandorastar

If you are not paying it or not liable for it, you can't get support towards it!!!!

Nick_C

Secondly as you are on benefits you should be entitled to both housing benefit and council tax rebate, so it may be worth checking if you can get any council tax rebate and this may get your brothers off your back.

As already stated, you can only get Council Tax benefit if you are liable to pay Council Tax, and you can normally only get Housing Benefit if you have a genuine liability to pay "rent".

Subjective comments on the moral issue are interesting, but would people please not post "advice" on benefits unless they have some expertise in this area.

SoloBurr

What a horrible unsupportive bunch of brothers you have! You are not costing them a penny extra as there are already two people paying council tax at the address. In your circumstances, asking you for extra money is the very last thing they should do.

Now if your circumstances change and you are no longer on benefits, then at that point in time you should chip in with a 1/3 of the bill, but until then they should support you and stop being so self-centered.

caddy_carazy

All these people claiming the brothers have no extra expense are talking out the back of their heads, they would advocate then that when only one person lives in a house he pays it all, when more that one person moves in he still pays it all?? what rubbish! It doesn't matter how many live in a house, costs are shared, if the brothers own the house they make the rules.
when I was younger I lived in a friends house, altogether there were four of us, we didn't demand that his rates hadn't increased so we would not pay anything. Come on you people, get real, we paid our share.

And to the other commentators here to young to remember the Poll tax, I do remember it, and to this day I believe it would have been the fairest thing, it would have actually cost me four times more money than I was paying in rates but it was still the fairest scheme, everybody should pay their share, every person is a drain on services. In my city I knew of houses with up to ten adults living there, all working, thats 5 times the drain on services than in my household where only two of us lived and just one working, that sound like a fair system? You step on a bus and everyone pays a fare, you cant claim that its not costing any extra because your on it so you won't pay. what the hells wrong with this country? everyone expects someone else to pay.

chommin

Your two brothers have to pay this tax whether you live with them or not.You cannot claim this benefit whilst living with them. You either negotiate paying a small amount towards it say 5% or find your own rented place to claim housing and this benefit and live on your own.
Remember they pay utility bills insurance and other costs (TV Licence etc ) on your behalf . so you appear to be better off staying with them.:beer:

gjohnson

Fang wrote: »

Not cheaper than having the bills split between three. Get real. He's not paying anything else so he should pay. Simples.

Are you kidding?

Even if the weekly household bills were £100 in total (unlikley), our posters share would amount to £33.33. At the going rate to employ a domestic cleaner, the poster would have to do only approximately 3 hours housework before the 2 brothers ended up owing her money instead.

Have things gotten so sad in this world that we cant help out a family member in need of help without thinking of ways to screw money out of them?!?

Ditch your brothers and come live with me. If you do all my housework you can live with me expense free!

bunnybunnyrabbit

Your brothers are being very unreasonable. You should split the bill 3 ways and you are all jointly liable (unless your brothers own the house - in which case you cannot be made liable) however you have technically already paid your share. Council tax benefit is automatically paid onto your council tax account however if the rules changed and it became more like housing benefit where you received it in your pocket and then used it to pay the rent you would then receive this benefit and use it to pay the bill. All that is happening is that the middle man (you) is cut out and the council does the paying for you.

So MORALLY you should not be accountable for the other 2/3 of the bill. However legally should they decide that they are not going to pay the bill or they only pay some of it and this leaves a debt, you will ALL be chased for this debt. If your brothers absconded and the council had no forwarding address for them however they knew where you lived, you will have to pay it. If you don't you could eventually be committed to prison. So I agree that it is unfair of your brothers to ask you to pay more when your share has already been covered however if they won't budge you could be in trouble if you don't pay.

My advice, if they won't accept your argument, is to go and find somewhere else to rent where, as you say, you wouldn't have to pay any council tax. House shares/bills etc are difficult to manage at the best of times but with close friends or family members it can be worse!

Arandorastar

bunnybunnyrabbit wrote: »

.... and you are all jointly liable

Have you not been reading previous posts? The OP is not jointly liable! You can't just go ahead and split the bill. If you don't know Council Tax rules & regulations, don't give advice.