are we paying too much council tax

daz121181

Hi

me and my partner share a 1st floor flat and the neighbours live upstairs. We both have seperate council tax bills but i think they are unjust. because we both share the same front door and they have to walk through my hall way to get upstairs to their flat. surely this should be classed as 1 address but the council reckon they are 2 band A properties. does anyone know who is right .

rosysparkle

Do you have separate lockable doors to each flat?

daz121181

when we get through the door and go upstairs there is my hall to my left is my living/kitchen area to my right is my bedroom/bathroom and in front of me is access to my neighbours all doors are normal interior doors with just a standard lock but i think this is classed as multiple occupation which is an exception to council tax. i dont mind sharing a bill with my neighbours but its like being charged twice.

chunkboy

If they are seperate self contained units then you should be charged separately.

I take it that you have no access rights to the other flat, in which case why would you want to be joint and severally liable for paying for that part of the property?

jennifernil

It sounds like an unusual situation. The OP has no access to the upstairs "flat", but it is accessed through his/her "flat", so he/she has no privacy.

daz121181

if they were self contained i wouldnt have a question to ask would i chunky? as it is my flat is used as a throughfare so how can it be self contained i know we all have to pay it but i cant see how ours is classed as two seperate properties when clearly its one property with tenants upstairs and tenants downstairs. how do i go about getting somebody to reassess it?

tarinilie

nothing to do with self contained - basically have you got your own cooker point ie do you have separate cooking facilities - if yes then it attracts a separate CT band.

there are many many annexes that perhaps a relative lives in that are not strictly self contained and they still attract a separate CT band. even if you had a lodger who say had their own bathroom it would not be separately assessed but if thet had own bathroom and cooking facilities it would attract a separate CT assessment / band etc