Wanting to travel for 3months, Rent in UK question

kiis102

Hey guys,

I've been saving up for sometime so I can go travel either the US or Canada (maybe both) for 2-6months. Anywho I've recently moved back in with my mom and pay her rent money.

Where do I stand with rent/council tax while I would be abroad? I only have clothes and a few things (ipod, radio), nothing major. Obviously I plan to take quite alot of my clothes but leave a few odd little bits here.

Do I need to pay rent/council tax while away for possibly half a year? I know I'm registered to a UK address but I won't be living here nor storing large amount of my belongings here.

P.s. Don't try and have a go at me, I don't mind paying rent/council tax If I have too but I'd like to know if there's anyway to pause the payments until I get back

richardw

Is the rent and council tax in your name?

London50

Hi Kiis
Yes you will need to pay both the rent and council tax while you are away or you risk comminng home to a reposessed property and a summons to appear at you local court for unpaid council tax. Councils do not look at breaks away from your property as a chance for someone not to pay, you {somewhere } signed a contract with the property owner {be it council or private} and that is a binding contract so either pay well in advance befor you go or set up a direct debit to have it paid either weekly or monthly until you return
London50

alanrowell

If you are living with your mum then you need to talk to her about the rent you are paying her unless the rent is being used to help pay her rent in which case it depends if there's Housing Benefit involved. If your mum will be the only adult in the house when you leave then she needs to get her council tax payments reduced to single person levels.

CIS

If your mum will be the only adult in the house when you leave then she needs to get her council tax payments reduced to single person levels.

She wouldn't be entitled to the discount as the abscence is only temporary - the property is still her 'sole or main residence' for council tax purposes.

martindow

Agree with CIS. You come under category 1 of Am I Entitled?

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/counciltax/discounts/singleperson

duckmaster

CIS wrote: »

She wouldn't be entitled to the discount as the abscence is only temporary - the property is still her 'sole or main residence' for council tax purposes.

If you are going abroad for more than 90 days you are considered a non-resident of the UK for tax purposes and are not liable to pay council tax as you aren't living anywhere.

I was told this by the CAB when I went to Australia - although they forgot to tell me I had to fill in a form and send it to the Inland Revenue, so technically I was still a resident! But my dad got the single person rebate anyway.

In other words, an absence of more than 90 days is not temporary.

Baldur

duckmaster wrote: »

If you are going abroad for more than 90 days you are considered a non-resident of the UK for tax purposes

The CAB appear to have had a different interpretation of non-resident from that of HMRC - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/faqs_general.htm#3nr

Q3. In what circumstances would I become non resident?

A3. Normally if you leave the UK to work abroad full-time, you will become not resident and not ordinarily resident in the UK if:

• your absence and employment from the UK covers a complete tax year (that is 6 April to 5 April)
• you spend less than 183 days in the UK during the tax year
• your visits to the UK do not average 91 days or more a tax year over a maximum of four years

For visits to the UK, days of arrival and departure are not normally counted as days spent in the UK.