Real Life MMD: Should I split the repayment?

pjcox2005

I'm surprised it's such a one sided response.

If you were splitting bills, including council tax, before equally, then presumably that situation should continue now that you are paying council tax as well.

As such, any rebate from the council tax bill should be split amongst you all.



What's the difference between say the council tax being split, and the electricity, should the person in full time employment get discounted electricity as they won't be in during the day?

drewboy_2

rose28454 wrote: »

If there is a flat with 3 tenants and 2 are students then the bill is in the name of the person employed and the students are exempt. When my son paid in his flat is fellow housemates produced a letter from their universities to give to the council to get exemption. So technically the students are not liable as long as they produce a letter from Uni. I did a lot of research for my son when he lived there. Although it was Westminster City Council and they messed up the bills every year. In the end he had to go to their offices and seek out his councillor in order to sort it out

Fraid not. It should be in the name of people who are living there - regardless of their student status. I agree in practise that this doesn't always happen correctly, but that doesn't make it wrong.

And they ARE liable if they live there. If the bill isnt paid, and the council cant trace the employed person, they will go after the student regardless of a letter from uni. Trust me on this, I have had it happen to me.

It is a common misconception that students are fully exempt. And I only say this through experience of being liable as a student (legally liable) as well as my mum working in a council tax department.

In anycase, as someone else says. The employed person is sharing the bills and the students being in more will increase the electric - why should they then pay a their full share? Only fair way is to add all the bills together and split them equally.

Or go live with just students. This would solve the whole problem.

drewboy_2

Oh - and the benefit part is clear cut to me. It is for council tax, and should be used for council tax. Is fraud in my opinion if not used for that purpose.

Sharon87

pjcox2005 wrote: »

I'm surprised it's such a one sided response.

If you were splitting bills, including council tax, before equally, then presumably that situation should continue now that you are paying council tax as well.

As such, any rebate from the council tax bill should be split amongst you all.



What's the difference between say the council tax being split, and the electricity, should the person in full time employment get discounted electricity as they won't be in during the day?

The council tax benefit is the person's portion of the bill. The government give that person the money to pay their council tax. So the person is paying their share of the council tax, it's just from benefits.

As for paying council tax as a student, I get where the non student housemate's coming from, but they chose to live with students. When I've advertised for new housemates I have always said no students, unless you're willing to pay your portion of the council tax. That's because we don't want our payments to increase. If they weren't willing to pay the council tax (about £25 a month each) then we wouldn't live with them!

bunberry

I don't understand why the bill was split in the first place. If 2 students lived in a house and are exempt from council tax, why should they pay extra if a third council tax paying tenant moved in. The 3rd tenant would effectively be receiving a double discount (in this case) by splitting the bill with the students.

As for sharing the benefits, it's not even a question because only one tenant is eligible for benefits. Pretty clear cut imo.

spankygoodtime

In the first house I shared as a student the countil tax was loaded on to the rent by the landlady who lived there. There were several lodgers, both students and working people. I said that I didn't have to pay because I was studying and was asked why working residents should have to pay more because of this - and was told to look elsewhere for an all student house if I didn't like it.

I quickly came to agree that this was fair, and as I liked living there paid up.

Cerisa

"Student exemption should only apply where all tennants are students."

I think people forget how poor students are.

shoesandsocks

I am a working person and have lived with a full-time student for 3 years. It was made clear before this person moved in that this was a working household and not a student house and therefore if she moved in she would need to agree to pay an equal share of the council tax.

The student was, and still is, happy with this as she wanted to live in a nicer quality house rather than student style accommodation.

Recently, we had another student move into our house. Again, we made it clear that council tax would be split equally, regardless of student status. This person agreed at the time, but 6 months later, when she was moving out, she turned on us and said she shouldn't have to pay council tax and that she was only doing so to 'be polite'.

I think, if you move in with non-students, into a non-student house, you have to accept an equal share of all bills. (and this should be made clear to the student moving in before they agree to moving in).

Since the last girl - who, as well as council tax, also didn't want to pay her gas share of the gas & electricity as she believed she didn't use as much as the other two of us - I have written up a small 'household bills' contract for housemates to sign, stating that they are happy to accept equal responsibility for all bills.

This way, if anyone tries to avoid paying their fair share of bills again, at least I have written evidence for a small claims court )

Sorry, not sure if that all really helps with the original question but I thought I would share anyway!

shoesandsocks

Cerisa wrote: »

I think people forget how poor students are.

We all have our own money and commitments to deal with. 'Poorness' is relative...a student may not have much money but they are likely to not have as many financial commitments and ties...

If a student doesn't have the money to pay council tax then I agree with what someone else said above - move into a household with other students!

Augustus_the_Strong

These are benefits to which you are personally entitled - student, unemployed. Therefore there is no good reason why you should contribute to someone else's bill if you can't afford to.