council tax problem- partner not on voters role

dmg24

harryhound wrote: »

Could this problem find a sympathetic reception on the "Debt-free wannabe" section of the forum?

I think the poster is at least facing up to his responsibilities - is this a worse situation than applying for "a liar loan" and bringing Northern Rock to its knees.

With regard to the council tax issue, the OP does not actually need any advice further than be honest. He has left it too late to claim CTB, and he needs to advise the LA that he is not living alone. As he has joint claims for other benefits the LA will inevitably find out. They will treat him much more sympathetically if he tells them first.

CIS

Two years isn't that long to remove discounts back over, Ive removed discounts back over 6-7 years where required.

You have two options - One: Keep trying to claim the discount incorrectly and when it is removed you get a bigger backdated Demand.
Two: Own up now and pay the backdated monies.

From experience (I work in council tax recovery) I would recomend option Two as option One always turns out worst.

magikmarky

thx to all for their posts,

to CIS,

HI there , i see youre based in gateshead - based on what iv said what will be the sequence of events when i tell them about this. will i get a bill for the backdated SPA and will they allow me to backdate my low income benefit at all. at present , i am earning about £600 less a month than my outgoings are!! will they allow me to arrange a payment plan or will they press with court action? i own my own house but i have neg equity now. i am registered with the cccs re my debt problems.after reading the replies, im now terrified of the consequences. a little note to anyone who feels the need to judge me as some sort of fraudster- you should try losing your child , have your business collapse due to the credit crunch( i work in finance) and also have THREE other close family die in that period- i assure you its not easy. i freely admit iv made some poor decisions in retrospect. all i want to know is what is going to happen now?
my biggest fear is causing more stress and pain for my family which they dont need. they have suffered enough.

again to reiterate, my question is to CIS - WHAT HAPPENS NOW??

THX IN ADVANCE,

mark

CIS

I'm in Gateshead but I dont work for that authority, I work for one outside of the area.

Council Tax Benefit is a different matter to council tax discount backdating. There are no limits in backdating entitlement to discounts whereas Council Tax Benefit is quite constrained as to backdating, generally backdating is only for a maximum of 6 months.

Once the diso!!!! is removed then the Council Tax has to be billed and at least one reminder issued before a Summons can be issued. 'Unsummonsed' balances are usually collected in year, most councils wont go past the year end on arrangements with a Liability Order having been obtained.

If you own up then they almost certainly aren't going to prosectute as its too much cost and time to do so when they can issue a revised demand and take it from there. The way forward from now is to ring them up and advise then of the date your partner moved in so that an amedned demand can be issued.

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI

In my experience councils will only entertain backdating council tax benefit upto 3 months.

If you're a little concerned what may happen if they find out your partner has been living with you for 2 years (i.e. you're worried you've not done things properly) my advice would be to think before you act.

If you've got debt problems (as I have) then the last thing you need is them worries being added to by a local authority jumping up and down.

Trying to get a few extra quid in the coffers from backdated Council Tax Benefit may end up being the worst thing you've done for a while because one thing I do know for a fact - Loans, Credit Cards etc there many things you can do to get them off your back but councils don't play games and they'll put you in court in the blink of an eye.

Best of luck, I'm sure you'll get things sorted but don't do anything rash.

All the best