student council tax question

Voyager2002

holly_vegas wrote: »

Hi all,
Sorry to jump on this thread but I am also in the same situation.
I am also a full time student from this September (ie now), have sent off my excemption certificate and received it back.
I only live with one other person also, who works and is not a student.
The council have told me that the exemption for council tax (as a student) only comes into effect from November (presumably I have to pay till then).
I was also told that the second person does not qualify for the single person discount (being the only person now paying council tax) as they do not allow two discounts to run at once.
Does anybody understand this or have any advice?
Thank-you
HV x
PS have jsut this second received my bill back, and they have not ammended the charge!

They are wrong...

For the period when you are a full-time student, you do not exist for council tax purposes. Therefore, since you are living with one other person who is not a student, that person is taxed as if they had the flat to themselves. That is, they receive the 25 per cent discount.

You cannot refuse to pay the bill you have been sent, but you should query it at the earliest opportunity and they should calculate the correct tax and credit your account with any payments made in the mean time.

freebie_junkie

my oh works full time and im a full time student, we get 25% discount and we split it so that i get the discount. he pays 2/3 and i pay 1/3. the discount started from the beginning of my academic year. during my undergrad course i also got the discount during the summer, but not this summer as im now a postgrad.

Voyager2002

freebie_junkie wrote: »

my oh works full time and im a full time student, we get 25% discount and we split it so that i get the discount. he pays 2/3 and i pay 1/3. the discount started from the beginning of my academic year. during my undergrad course i also got the discount during the summer, but not this summer as im now a postgrad.

Surely some mistake! A postgrad is still a student. In fact, an undergraduate can get a job over the summer, whereas a postgrad has to continue with study.

snapcracklepop

The council tax situation in regards to students is grossly unfair.

For example, if you suspend your studies you are counted as a full time student and must pay council tax on the property however if the house is deemed by the council to be a HMO then the lanlord will get charged FULL council tax. Also you won't be able to claim job seekers.

Unfortunately the majority of student tenancy agreements indemnify the landlord against paying this cost, which in English means you have to pay it! And you cannot get ANY council tax benefit because the bill is in HIS name not yours.

What is defined as a HMO was changed in the 2004 housing act. Unfortunately the wording of that legislation means most houses in multiple occupation are HMOs including those where there is a joint tenancy agreement.

In relation to not paying council tax over the summer well, by the governments own rules STUDENTS ARE LEGALLY REQUIRED TO PAY COUNCIL TAX DURING THE SUMMER. Why? because during the summer they are NOT full time students. A full time student (by the council's definition) is someone who does 21 or more hours of study per week.

The council simply choose to ignore the legilsation in this instance. It's a shame they don't ignore it in others.

Lavendyr

I lived with a PhD student for 10 months last year starting from July. She had to pay council tax until September, but once we sent the council a letter stating that she was starting as a full-time student in September the tax was dropped to 75%.

However she never contributed a penny of this despite earning the same amount taxfree as I was earning after tax, which I always thought was more than a bit unfair...I would have contributed were the roles reversed.

CIS

For example, if you suspend your studies you are counted as a full time student and must pay council tax on the property however if the house is deemed by the council to be a HMO then the lanlord will get charged FULL council tax. Also you won't be able to claim job seekers.

As long as you are certified as full time by the uni then you are not liable for Council Tax therefore if all the occs of the property are still being certified as F/T students by the uni then the L/l may be the liable party but he is still not going to pay CTax.

In relation to not paying council tax over the summer well, by the governments own rules STUDENTS ARE LEGALLY REQUIRED TO PAY COUNCIL TAX DURING THE SUMMER. Why? because during the summer they are NOT full time students. A full time student (by the council's definition) is someone who does 21 or more hours of study per week.

If the uni is certifying them as F/T students then I know of no regs that state they are liable for CTax in the summer - I've never heard of that in my dept of any of the councils Ive dealt with.

We have something like 5000 student properties in our areas, I would guess something like 30000 students (4 unis within close distance). Just keeping track of the student exemptions in the first place is bad enough, stopping it for the summer would be impossible to manage.

DrFluffy

Depends on the arrangement you have with your flatmate. I live with a non-student, we get a 75% discount, but there is no way that I can expect my flatemate to go from paying the 50% they covered when we were both in work to the 75% we now have to pay. It wouldn't be fair. They pay 50%, I pay 25%.

Crispy_Ambulance

snapcracklepop wrote: »

In relation to not paying council tax over the summer well, by the governments own rules STUDENTS ARE LEGALLY REQUIRED TO PAY COUNCIL TAX DURING THE SUMMER. Why? because during the summer they are NOT full time students. A full time student (by the council's definition) is someone who does 21 or more hours of study per week.

The council simply choose to ignore the legilsation in this instance. It's a shame they don't ignore it in others.

That is not actually correct. A full time student is defined in law as someone studying on a full time course. They are a full time student from the day they start the course until the day they complete or withdraw from their studies. A full time course is studying 21 hours per week or more for at least 26 weeks (from memory, so may be a wee bit out) and a full time student does not stop being one during the summer.

It is nothing to do with the council ingnoring legislation. They are applying it correctly.

CIS

A full time course is studying 21 hours per week or more for at least 26 weeks (from memory, so may be a wee bit out) and a full time student does not stop being one during the summer.

The only extra point is that the course must last 1 academic year, the 26 weeks is the weeks of study ordinarily required within that time.

snapcracklepop

That is not actually correct. A full time student is defined in law as someone studying on a full time course. They are a full time student from the day they start the course until the day they complete or withdraw from their studies. A full time course is studying 21 hours per week or more for at least 26 weeks (from memory, so may be a wee bit out) and a full time student does not stop being one during the summer.

Actually what I said is correct in law. However councils use their discresion, and it simply wouldn't be in their interests to tax students for the short time that they are not full time students.

The reason I say this is that I suspended my studies at university for a year. For the time I was suspended I was a full time student for benefits purposes. However! for council tax purposes I was not a student.
This is because the council define a full time student as doing 21 hours of study per week.

They are a full time student from the day they start the course until the day

So the above is simply wrong. I've even seen my MP about this matter.

The benefits services define a full time student as someone who has not left course they started full time. So a suspended student or one who is intercalating is a full time student for benefits purposes.

This is an absolutely nightmare!

The point I was trying to make, was that in the definition of a 'student', if the council disregard the time during the summer when most students are not studying why do they not give council tax exemption (or rather the house) to a suspended student?

You CANNOT recieve benefits as a full (suspended) time student unless you are ill for 196 days after you suspend or have kids etc. This means you have a massive council tax bill to pay.

Also, to take the pressure off me I decided to go part time. As someone who went from full time to part time, the LEA informed me I will remain a full time student until I finish my course, so I recieve a full student loan every year. The only problem is I don't do 21 hours of study a week, which means the council tax letter from my university says I'm part time. Therefore the council charge me council tax and as I'm a full time student I can't recieve council tax benefit.

I will have my day in court anyway.