Advice on rent and council tax

flickering_light

I was wondering if someone could give me some advice. When I was 18 I finished my A levels in June 2004 and I then proceeded to take a gap year before uni.

In my gap year I worked as a full-time medical receptionist from 17 September 2004 to 29 July 2005. I earned less than £4, 000 and so I filled in a form and got all my tax back.

Here is the question...during this time, I carried on living with my mum. My mum is unemployed (on income support) and so she recieves full council tax benefit and housing benefit.

The council have written a letter to my mum saying that since I was working she must pay council tax and rent.

I was wondering if someone could tell me if this is right since I was a gap year student who earned less than £4,000. Futhermore when I was searching for a job I cleverly forgot to claim job seekers allowance....so from june 2004 to october 2005 my income was less than £4,000

- should my mum have been paying council tax and rent?

guardianangel

I think your best bet would be to contact The Citizens Advice Bureau, go to their website and search for your local one and give them a call tomorrow morning. I've found them really useful especially when I was a student away from home. IT's worth a try - good luck!

Blacksheep1979

you weren't a gap year 'student' - you were on a gap year and technically not still in education. So unfortunatley the answer is possibly yes. Best bet is to explain the situation and see what happens.

Broke_Student

Hi.

You are supposed to have paid council tax in your gap year from the day you turned 18 or the day your course ended (whichever is later).

If you recieved any benefits then you could look into getting relief/rebate but as you did not claim JSA I doubt there is anything you can do now.

The bill is not for your mum to pay council tax! The bill is for your house and the new charges are for you to pay! It should still not be very high if there is nobody else in the house paying council tax. It might seem like your mum is being charged if she was overpaid any council tax benefit for the entire house for periods you were supposed to be paying your part.

As your mum does not/was not paying council tax she probably got a new bill sometime in the year with your status updated. paid council tax benefit for the part of last tax year where you were no longer a stIt will have you down as an adult for the entire council tax year (even after September). It may also show that your mum was overudent. If this is the case then the bill might seem high as you will be being charged any backdated council tax and also speculated payments for next year. Just carry on paying bills and then in September time go down to the council tax office and give them a photocopy of your final acceptance letter.
They will then print another bill adjusted to stop charging payments for you from the date you are a student again (or the day you move out). If your house has overpaid anything then it will be refunded. Hope that makes some sort of sense.
The billing is complicated as it is done in tax years and not academic years, and lag times inbetween your staus being updated doesn't help. As long as you do everything right you will end up paying the correct amount overall.

CIS

The bill is not for your mum to pay council tax! The bill is for your house and the new charges are for you to pay! It should still not be very high if there is nobody else in the house paying council tax. It might seem like your mum is being charged if she was overpaid any council tax benefit for the entire house for periods you were supposed to be paying your part.The bill is not for your mum to pay council tax! The bill is for your house and the new charges are for you to pay! It should still not be very high if there is nobody else in the house paying council tax. It might seem like your mum is being charged if she was overpaid any council tax benefit for the entire house for periods you were supposed to be paying your part.

Assuming that the mum is the person named on the tennacy or the owner then she is liable for any council tax due as she is higher up the scale of liability, even if it was due from the action of another occupant.

The billing is complicated as it is done in tax years and not academic years, and lag times inbetween your staus being updated doesn't help. As long as you do everything right you will end up paying the correct amount overall.

little point but Council Tax doesn't work in tax yrs - tax yrs work from 6 april to 5 April,Council Tax years run from 01 april to 31 march.

Broke_Student

Assuming that the mum is the person named on the tennacy or the owner then she is liable for any council tax due as she is higher up the scale of liability, even if it was due from the action of another occupant.

Thanks. I did know that, being in exaclty the same situation myself, but omitted that fact as I though it was irrelevent and would confuse thing.

little point but Council Tax doesn't work in tax yrs - tax yrs work from 6 april to 5 April,Council Tax years run from 01 april to 31 march.

Yes. If you read closer I did infact refer to it as 'council tax year' before I started to refer to it as the 'tax year' for the tax in question.