Council tax advice

chipdouglas

Hi guys, Firstly i hope this is in the correct forum and secondly thanks for the last advice you gave me.

Any how, We have moved out of our mortgaged house into a rented place. The house we have moved into is in the same council tax area as the last. We have told them we have moved out and are handning back the keys to the mortgage company.
Now we haven't heard anything back of the mortgage company about the keys yet and the council want us to give them the mortgage company’s address before they will move our council tax to the new address.
Should we just give them this or should we wait for some form of communication back of the Mortgage?

Sorry guys, its seems like a stupid question but i dont want to mess anything up even more.

fiveyearplan

I'd keep the council tax people informed of everything and in writing. You will need to apply for an exemption for council tax of your mortgaged property - you should get that for 6 months then you will have to pay 50% of the council tax on that property in addition to the council tax on the property you live in.

rockinfreakapottamus

if you have gone bankrupt and your house is now the interest of the OR them you will be exempt,

BB&B

As the property is empty (the OP has moved out), and is including the mortgage shortfall in their bankruptcy, then they can apply for a Council Tax Exemption:

Q - Unoccupied dwellings in the possession of a trustee in bankruptcy

So I would contact the council and request an exemption form, fill it in and take it into the council (so that you get a receipt for it).

A lot of councils 'forget' to tell bankrupts who have moved out about this exemption .... I cant think why

Tim

BB&B

An unoccupied property dwelling is exempt indefinitely where the liable Council Tax payer has been made bankrupt and liability would fall to a trustee in bankruptcy.

Again something Councils fail to tell people.

Ref SI 1993/150

Tim

BRSurvivor

blondee55 wrote: »

If the house is in negative equity the OR will not have an interest and you cannot include secured loans in the bankruptcy.

I don't understand. How can it not be included in the BR?

MicheH

Hi chipdouglas. Our house was in neqative equity. We also had a secured loan on the house. We voluntarily repossessed our home but it took a few months for the repo to get sorted. In that time we rented but were still liable for the council tax. We paid CT to the council for the rental property and applied for the exempion for the mortgaged house just like fiveplanplan suggested.

The secured loan and the house in negative equity all went through the bankruptcy. All credit agreements signed before the date of bankruptcy are included chipdouglas don't worry. You won't be left with the secured part at the end of this.

As for the Class Q exemption, it's not as cut and dried as that I'm afraid. I've heard of people on this forum be refused class Q in bankruptcy, they'll be past posts about class Q and bankruptcy/trustee. I certaily hit a brick wall when I enquired about it when I was going through it which is why I pushed for voluntary repo as we couldn't afford the CT on the mortgaged place after the 6 months.

Apply for that exemption mate. It'll give you 6 months breather and hopefully your house will be gone in that time. Also do some research on the class Q exemption. Maybe I and other people have been fobbed off

BB&B

MicheH wrote: »

As for the Class Q exemption, it's not as cut and dried as that I'm afraid. I've heard of people on this forum be refused class Q in bankruptcy, they'll be past posts about class Q and bankruptcy/trustee. I certaily hit a brick wall when I enquired about it when I was going through it

Unfortunately with a lot of Councils this is not unusual, but should they start to be stupid over this, intiaitate the councils appeals procedure and dont be scared to take it to the Idenpendant Review Service (IRS).

I've seen this done and I've seen a Council ripped to shreds at the IRS and the IRS make a full referral made into the LGO as a result for "Gross Misconduct" (I beleive it ultimately cost a Revenue Manager his post!)

The law is clear. however, councils as we know think they are above the law (especially CT departments!)

What does tend to complicate the issue is if the bankrupt tells the OR that they will deal with the repossession, as the OR can then state he is NOT the trustee (so Class Q doesn't apply as you are then the trustee so technically liable), ALWAYS get the OR to deal with this from the start, they then become liable!!

Tim

MicheH

BB&B wrote: »

What does tend to complicate the issue is if the bankrupt tells the OR that they will deal with the repossession, as the OR can then state he is NOT the trustee (so Class Q doesn't apply as you are then the trustee so technically liable), ALWAYS get the OR to deal with this from the start, they then become liable!!

Tim

Ah, I get you. We were told by the OR's examiner to sort out the reposession ourselves. That opens a whole new can of worms there then.

That tells me why myself and other people have had problems. Thank you. A least I can answer the problem in full the next time it crops up

BB&B

MicheH wrote: »

Ah, I get you. We were told by the OR's examiner to sort out the reposession ourselves.

And that' s how they get out of paying it!!

(I think they all got their training in the CT Departments :eek: )

Tim