Council Tax in a shared house with students jsa and workers

nad1611

As the heading says, I am wondering if someone is going to be claimimg council tax benefit and is living in a shared accomodation (7 people shairng a house), where there are 5 students and one JSA claimant and one person working, how does that work. I understand that students are exempt, but not sure how it works apart from that.Thanks

paddedjohn

AFAIK the 2 non students share the bill.

SuziQ

I think the one worker would need to claim the 25 % single occupancy discount, as the students need to get an exemption from the university, and the JSA claimant would be exempt once his paperwork is seen by the Council tax dept. The worker unfortunately would pay 3/4 of the normal yearly charge. If his income is low enough he may get some CTB.

Torry_Quine

SuziQ wrote: »

I think the one worker would need to claim the 25 % single occupancy discount, as the students need to get an exemption from the university, and the JSA claimant would be exempt once his paperwork is seen by the Council tax dept. The worker unfortunately would pay 3/4 of the normal yearly charge. If his income is low enough he may get some CTB.

The JSA claimant isn't automatically exempt, if its contribution based they could well still be liable.

CIS

and is living in a shared accomodation

The first question I would ask is whether the house has been adapted for use a 'house in multiple occupation' or if you pay only rent for a room/part of the property. If so then then the landlord is responsible for payment of the council tax charge.

where there are 5 students and one JSA claimant and one person working, how does that work. I understand that students are exempt, but not sure how it works apart from that.Thanks

Assuming its not a council tax HMO then the JSA claimant and the worker would be jointly liable for the full charge but the JSA claimant would get help towards paying via council tax benefit (up to 50% of the total charge) however they would remain jointly responsible for all of the council tax charge .

The JSA claimant isn't automatically exempt, if its contribution based they could well still be liable.

A benefit claim does not remove a person from being jointly liable for a council tax charge, all it means is they receive some help towards paying part of the bill.

CIS

I think the one worker would need to claim the 25 % single occupancy discount, as the students need to get an exemption from the university, and the JSA claimant would be exempt once his paperwork is seen by the Council tax dept.

As there are 2 non-students there would be no 25% single person discount.

A person on JSA is not exempt from council tax or council tax liability they merely get help with paying the bill via council tax benefit.

nad1611

Thanks for the responses
To answer the first question I don't think we've established if the house comes under the multiple occupancy rules, the house is owned by the University and they have allowed 5 students to share with the claimant and worker. The house has seven bedrooms and all occupants share all the bathrooms kitchen and living facilities. So we obviously need to check that out. Having said that every other house my daughter's lived in as a student has been a similar set up, but they've always been liable for Council Tax allbeit they have been exempt as they were all students at the time.

I believe that if there's a reduction for my daughter of Council Tax in the form of benefit, for the claimant that would be paid directly to the Council, would that show up as a reduction on the Council Tax bill that the household gets? Then the worker would be liable for the rest of the bill?

CIS

but they've always been liable for Council Tax allbeit they have been exempt as they were all students at the time.

That happens a lot where properties are HMO's but because they are exempt through the students the property status has not been delved in to.

the house is owned by the University and they have allowed 5 students to share with the claimant and worker

With 7 individual occupiers it would likely fall under HMO regulations for licensing and by virtur of that under council tax HMO regulations.

I believe that if there's a reduction for my daughter of Council Tax in the form of benefit, for the claimant that would be paid directly to the Council, would that show up as a reduction on the Council Tax bill that the household gets?

The 2 non-students would be shown on the bill but your daughter would get a credit of up to 50% of the council tax charge paid via council tax benefit. She still remains jointly liable for the whole charge though (claiming benefits does not remove her from liability)

CIS

That's odd. My daughter recently returned from Uni and is on income based JSA yet second adult rebate has been awarded for her. Should I double check with my local authority that this is correct?

Second adult rebate can be applied only if your daughter is resident with another person and she is not herself liable for the council tax charge on the property - this is to compensate the liable party , at least partially, for them not being able to claim the single person discount.

If she was jointly liable for council tax she would be able to claim council tax benefit in her own right.

CIS

Well she is resident with me, lol, and I currently get full CTB so does that explain it?

That would - your liable for the council tax so she is taken in to account in your claim.

nad1611

One last thing(hopefully) we have just looked at the application form for HB/CB we aren't sure about the description my daughter needs to use in regard to her other house mates. She will basically have a bedroom to herself and will share all other amenities.On the form it asks if the people living with you are joint tenants, to which we would probably have answered yes, but we then noticed that she would be expected to have all their N.I numbers and their income from earnings (some of the students have part time jobs). She doesn't know all of the others she'll be living with and certainly not well enough to be asking these personal questions.I believe all of their names are on the same agreement, which may make things less simple.
Under the same question it says
"Now tell us about all the people who usually live with you and your partner. Do not tell us about people who just share a hall, bathroom or toilet with you".
Examples of people living with you does include joint tenant.

What should she be answering in thissection?