tax dodging + council flat??

pinkshoes

I know a guy who lives in a 1 bed council flat, and drives a rather expensive new-ish car, always buying expensive bottles of wine, eating out, spends £200 on a night out, and pays £350/month in child support to his 2 children (from 2 different partners). He's only a technician, so I presume he earns around £15k PA...

Something just doesn't add up. I'm sure there's a queue for council flats, so not sure how a single bloke who seems to have so much money got one! And he was talking about getting a new car, paying in cash, which costs £16k!!

This morning I heard him talking about how he makes £1000 a month buying and selling stuff on ebay, and he has 7 bank accounts! At least that would explain all the free cash and extravagant life style.

Is that legal? I have no idea about child support costs either, but I do know he pays around £350 a month for the 2 kids, so I suppose that would be right for just a technician salary??

I read all these stories about people who desparately want a council flat, and yet here's some guy living in one, with all this cash to splash... hardly seems fair. His family all live in council flats, so does that mean he has a better chance of getting one?

liz105

Perhaps he got the flat before he was earning all this extra cash and now they have no grounds to evict? If he's paying his rent then what can they do? It depends on his type of tenancy really.

And no, its not fair.

sprob

He should be VERY careful as HMRC would be interested in his UNDECLARED income:rolleyes:

pinkshoes

liz105 wrote: »

Perhaps he got the flat before he was earning all this extra cash and now they have no grounds to evict? If he's paying his rent then what can they do? It depends on his type of tenancy really.

And no, its not fair.

He lived in his girlfriend's council flat with their 2 year old child until a couple of months ago until they split up, then directly got his own flat.

I'm 99% sure the £12k per year extra "cash" is not known to the tax man.

relay

This might surprise you but you don't have to drive round in a ford Cortina to live in a council flat.

How do you know he wasn't in the queue for a flat anyway? People with nice cars and money are allowed to go on the waiting list too, they are also allowed to be single & have an income and buy bottles of wine. In fact the fact he is a single man makes it even easier to get a council flat.

Why does it bother you enough to post about it? Is it envy by any chance? You seem to know an awful lot about his personal business & outgoings.

Don't take it personally but having been a council tenant for 36 years you come accross a bit narrow minded. We all know people who manage to do quite nicely for themselves but you seem to have a rather dated idea about how council tenants should live.

Did you know that some council tenants can pay thier own rent & even get credit cards these days? Shocking, how dare they be financially secure! lol

sprob

IMHO it will be classed as INCOME, that is £12000 TAX FREE add back the tax he should be paying and his total income is over 30K - that 12k is more than some people EARN before tax, but I suppose if he is not a benefit cheat/scrounger that does not count - he's just as bad

sprob

Forget the fact that it is a council flat - that is irrelevant, its this undeclared income that is the problem

relay

sprob wrote: »

Forget the fact that it is a council flat - that is irrelevant, its this undeclared income that is the problem

Precisely my point sprob - i doubt the OP even realises how many council tenants she has probably just insulted with her idea of what behaviour & lifestyle council tenants should conform to.

sprob

relay, we've all got to live somewhere - my point is that its a big deal if you are caught cheating the benefit system , but its not an issue if you can defraud HMRC in this way, at the end of the day all taxpayers ( including those on low incomes) end up paying more, rent / buy is defo not the issue - but he should be stopped IMO.

Zara33

pinkshooes you sound like a bitter ex tbh.

relay agree totally with your posts and there is no point in me basically saying all that you said already

relay

Don't get me wrong, i agree totally that if he is cheating the benefit system he deserves all he gets, but there was no mention of his being on benefits (unless i missed that).

I just find the degree that the mans income & outgoings is being discussed (to the nearest £1) a bit out of line really, if i found one of my neighbours on here discussing my personal affairs like this i'd be making a formal complaint about them by now.

There's a very fine line between doing your bit for society and being a busy body with a bit too much time on your hands.