Council tax joint owner

July2017

Hi 
 Im looking for some advice on behalf of a friend. A married couple are joint owners of a property. The husband has moved out due to marriage disputes and hasnt contacted the council about living elsewhere for many years but has continued to pay the council tax due to an ongoing dispute with his wife. The named person on the bill is the husband who has moved out and has now stopped making payments.
Is the wife who is joint owner of the property and still living in the house at fault for not contacting the council of the circumstantial changes if her name was never on the tax bill and her husband controlled all the finances?
As she now needs to move the council tax on to her name and her husband is being difficult so she is having to  contact the council. Will they make her liable for her husband not telling the council he moved out. Please could you advise as she is worried she will be held a accountable of her husbands actions. 

JGB1955

I am not sure what liability you think there will be for the husband not having notified the council that he has left.  The wife is jointly liable for the tax and any arrears that have accrued..  She DOES need to contact the council, if only to claim her 25% discount and to set up payments for any arrears and current liability.

CIS

Whilst she is resident she is liable for the council tax charge - jointly when the husband was there and in her sole name now.The council may or may not pursue any arrears against her from before he vacated - there are specific processes which allow the issue of her not having been named on the council tax bill to be corrected and any liability issues to be corrected.

From the date he ceased being resident then she is solely liable for the council tax charge and she needs to contact the council to sort the issue.

She doesn't need to worry about the council not having been informed he's left, that is not an offence in any form (in council tax legislation there are very,very few requirements to notify the council of a change in situation, this is not one of them).

July2017

Thanks for your advice 

macman

It's possible that the overpayments made by failing to claim the 25% single person discount are greater than the arrears. Either way, you need to contact the LA and get it sorted.
The ownership of the property has no bearing on this: CT is based on residency.

CIS

macman said:

It's possible that the overpayments made by failing to claim the 25% single person discount are greater than the arrears. Either way, you need to contact the LA and get it sorted.
The ownership of the property has no bearing on this: CT is based on residency.

Admittedly not in this case but, although residency is usually the decider on liability, ownership can also have a bearing on council tax liability.