advice please

mrs_motivated

My friend has split up with her husband and moved in with her mum.






Her mum lives in a council house and is a pensioner, she receives full housing benefit and also council tax . My friend works part time and only earns £126 a week, but does have savings etc.


She knows she will have to pay her way, I am assuming in terms of rent housing benefit will be reduced and she will have to pay the non dep charge, but is unsure how much Council tax she will need to pay. I am assuming her mum currently gets the 25 percent discount, which will revert to the full amount. Will her daughter have to pay the 25percent increase or how will it work.




Thank you to anyone who can offer advice.

neilvw

(Assuming your friend is in England.)

You are correct that the 25% single-person discount will disappear.

Your friend's mum will be entitled to full council tax support on half of the bill, but someone will have to pay the other half. (They might think it a good idea to put the daughter's name on the bill and make it joint.)

As your friend is on a low income they may be able to claim some additional council tax support for her, but she will have to pay at least 20-25% of 'her half' regardless of her income (even JSA/ESA claimants without a job do).

Each local authority in England runs its own council tax support scheme, with varying criteria for working-age claimaints.

TELLIT01

The mother will still be liable for the Council Tax, she will lose the 25% discount. The council won't come after the daughter for payment although she may have a moral duty to pay the difference.

bigbill

neilvw wrote: »

(Assuming your friend is in England.)

You are correct that the 25% single-person discount will disappear.

Your friend's mum will be entitled to full council tax support on half of the bill, but someone will have to pay the other half. (They might think it a good idea to put the daughter's name on the bill and make it joint.)

As your friend is on a low income they may be able to claim some additional council tax support for her, but she will have to pay at least 20-25% of 'her half' regardless of her income (even JSA/ESA claimants without a job do).

Each local authority in England runs its own council tax support scheme, with varying criteria for working-age claimaints.

Unless its different in England than Scotland?


From what you say I suspect (but might be wrong) that mum is over 65 and has some pension credit paid as she gets full HB & CTB now?


If yes then there will be no change for 6 months, apart from the 25% single persons discount which might be the difference.


The daughter is not liable as she is not a joint tenant and should not be made one any time soon.


I stand to be corrected if its different though?

emmsie123

All council have non dependent charges.
It goes on income bands.
If mum gets pension credit there should be no charge.

Podge52

emmsie123 wrote: »

All council have non dependent charges.
It goes on income bands.
If mum gets pension credit there should be no charge.

I claim pension credits and I pay 20% of my discounted bill.

neilvw

Apologies for confusing the issue, I was thinking of a joint mortgage for some reason.

Details of the non-dependant deductions for particular income bands should be on the council's website. For example here are Cornwall's:

https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/advice-and-benefits/benefits/claiming-housing-benefit-and-council-tax-support/non-dependants/

konark

Pensioners (assuming they have less than 10k savings and no substantial private pension) do not pay any council tax and get full housing benefit.

If your friend lives with her mother it doesn't matter that she isn't officially a tenant, she is still resident there and will be liable for council tax but will get 25% single-person reduction (mother is disregarded). On her income she will probably only pay the residual rate of council tax which varies by LA from 0 to 30%.. HB should be unaffected but it's wise to check with council.

mrs_motivated

Thank you everyone, really useful information.