Single Person Occupancy Discount

Hammo45

Hi 

I recently applied for the Single Person Occupancy discount on my Council Tax as my daughter has gone backpacking/working in Australia. She will be away for at least one year put possibly two. My local council turned down my application as my address is her main residence. While I sort of understand their stance, I have seen cases where older teenage children go away for college and will come back from time to time, my daughter will not be coming back for at least a year. Information for this on the internet is minimal therefore I would like to know if there is a minimum amount of time that someone is away for this to be awarded?

Thanks

poppy12345

Hammo45 said:

I have seen cases where older teenage children go away for college and will come back from time to time,

Full time students are exempt anyway. https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/discounts-for-full-time-students If your home is classed as her main residence they are correct not to apply the 25% single person discount.

Hammo45

I put the student part in as that is debatable if you read Tameside Borough's website but I don't want to get into that discussion.

My point is my daughter is out of the country and may be away for up to two years and possibly won't come back to my residence due to her age.

p00hsticks

I think the difference is that your daughter is out of the country, so doesn;t have any other residence on the UK.

Alice_Holt

Hammo45 said:

My point is my daughter is out of the country and may be away for up to two years and possibly won't come back to my residence due to her age.

         Put the point to your ward councillor, and ask for clarification on your council's ruling.

wolvoman

Hammo45 said:

Hi 

I recently applied for the Single Person Occupancy discount on my Council Tax as my daughter has gone backpacking/working in Australia. She will be away for at least one year put possibly two. My local council turned down my application as my address is her main residence. While I sort of understand their stance, I have seen cases where older teenage children go away for college and will come back from time to time, my daughter will not be coming back for at least a year. Information for this on the internet is minimal therefore I would like to know if there is a minimum amount of time that someone is away for this to be awarded?

Thanks

Why don't you just remove her as a resident at your address?

Hammo45

Thanks for the replies.

I've had already accepted I'm not going to win but wanted other points of view. I will put the point to my local councillor as it does seem like a closed shop due to the lack of public information available.

CIS

The council are correct in that, if she had her main residence at the property and there's the intention to return, then she remains resident in the property for the purposes of council tax. That's well established case law and the council have no power to override case law or legislation.

A councillor will know nothing about it as it's getting in to the inner workings of council tax legislation and case law. All they will do is to ask the council tax team...

Hammo45

Yeah I've worked for a local council and know how the Councillors work!!! I've appealed but I know it will be rejected. I had to give the appeal a go though.

What really annoyed me was they sent me a revised bill with the discount awarded and then a couple of hours later they reversed it.

Technically, my daughter has two residences in the uk, She could go to her mothers when she gets back but mine is her last registered address,

Nevermind.

p00hsticks

Hammo45 said:

Technically, my daughter has two residences in the uk, She could go to her mothers when she gets back but mine is her last registered address,

So is her mother getting a single persons discount or does she already live with others ?

If she isn't getting the discount then it would have saved you some money if your daughter had made sure before she left that she was included on the council tax bill there rather than with you, but it''s a bit late now. I believe in determining which address they should use the council will look at things like the billing address used on any bank accounts, and what address your daughter woudl actually say first if asked where she lived....

Silvertabby

Similarly, perhaps, when a friend's husband worked with BAE in Saudi she applied for the single person's CT discount.

Her claim was rejected on the grounds that this was his perment UK address.