House fires & council tax

Stefo14

So, in March we had a house fire which meant we were rendered homeless and about 6/7 weeks later the insurance company finally found us somewhere to live. Cut to now we still haven’t moved back into our home and the work only started in august so there’s no hope of us returning anytime soon. During our stay at this temporary accommodation we have had a couple of final notice council tax bills and the property owners obviously haven’t been paying and have decided it needs to be paid by us and not whoever owns the property or whoever it is that’s even paying the bills while we’re staying here. Is this right? Because we’ve now been told we have two weeks to get out the property and we assume that’s the reason for the eviction. 

I’d quite like to do a thread on the fire, insurance company and all those involved in this absolute s*** show but I don’t think MSE is the right place for that?
Thanks in advance!

HampshireH

If the agreement was that the insurers would pay the council tax bills then you need to pass them on ASAP and make them aware.

What type of tenancy do you have there?

Have you told the council your own property is currently not being lived in?

Usually council tax is the responsibility of the occupant in their temporary property (you) just like other bills. Some councils offer a discount or even full discount on the fire stricken property whilst it is being renovated/rebuilt. If not it would be part of the insurance claim

lincroft1710

If you and your family are the sole occupiers of the property, then I don't think you can be evicted with only 14 days notice. If you were lodgers, then that would be different.


There is a hierarchy of liability for CT and as occupiers of the property you would be top of the tree. Your insurance company has no legal liability for paying the CT. 


You should inform the council (if you have not already done so) that your own home is seriously fire damaged and cannot be lived in. The council should contact the Valuation Office Agency (who deal with CT banding) and ask them to temporarily delete the property from the CT Valuation List.