Council Tax "free months" when moving in February

byb3

I am hoping to move into my new house from rented accommodation.

I pay 10 months per year as most do, so as I see it I will be leaving my rented house with about 6 weeks of council tax paid. Will I be able to apply for this refund?

I assume the new council will be charging for council tax the day I move in so I just wanted to clear this up.

Thanks,

00ec25

YES
How the tax is collected (lump sum, 10 instalments, 12 instalments) has no bearing on your liability, ie you are liable for it on a daily basis so in your case you are entitled to a refund

laurad85

I was going to ask about this but my circumstances are different, I'm hoping to move in feb but will be staying with the same county council, would I just get a refund or not start paying until April?

Many thanks

00ec25

laurad85 wrote: »

I was going to ask about this but my circumstances are different, I'm hoping to move in feb but will be staying with the same county council, would I just get a refund or not start paying until April?

Many thanks

is the new place in a different band?

Yorkie1

I moved from a Band B property to a Band C property in mid-March 2010; same council tax area.

I filled in the forms with all the relevant dates, including the few days when the new house was vacant before I moved in but after the previous owner had left. Because of the closeness of the new council tax year, the council issued the calculations for the old and new properties for the old year, and the new calculation for the new year, and rolled them all together for the new year.

I hope that makes sense! Of course, other councils might do it differently, particularly if you're closer to the start of Feb than end of March.

laurad85

00ec25 wrote: »

is the new place in a different band?

No it's in a lower band

laurad85

Thanks yorkie

Saffagal

We moved within the same borough a couple of times now and each time after I've notified them of dates, including any dates when we responsible for the property but it was still unoccupied, they've given me a new bill (for each address) showing a refund from what I had overpaid at the old address and crediting it to the new address.

00ec25

CIS is a poster on here who works in CT and may well correct this if its wrong, but I too would expect them to credit your new account with any refund due from the old account, so no you will not get a cash refund from down banding

Red_dog_Sam

If you've paid in full and move to a lower band in the same authority before the end of the year, you can ask for the overpayment to be refunded.
The Council might refund it anyway but they might hold on to the credit and take it off your new bill for next year - which they will probably create and send out early to mid March.

If the credit is knocked off next year they will have a rule on whether they knock it all off your first instalment or whether just to take it off the new bill total and split the balance over the ten new instalments.

If it's a reasonable amount you may as well ask for the refund then it's in your pocket (e.g. take £50 now or save £5 a month for 10 months - which would you choose?)

Hope that makes sense.