Council tax sole occupancy

Sarah9132

Hi everyone,

I purchased a house on the 1st of May. I was out of the country at that time until 28 May. The house needed a lot of work and didn't have an indoor toilet or functioning kitchen so i couldn't move in until I'd made it habitable, which was mid August. During the period between me returning from my trip and moving into the house I was living on my mums sofa. 

I filled a form in online in June to sort out the council tax. They finally got in contact with me this week to ask when i moved in. I then got sent a bill for council tax dating back to March (when i didn't own the property). I had to query this with the council three times before they removed the months that i didn't own the property from my bill (the initial form that i completed stated when i purchased the property). 

I live on my own and asked if i'd receive single occupancy discount. They said i'd only receive it from mid August when i moved into the property, and that i'd need to pay full council tax from 1 May until mid August. 

This doesn't seem fair to me. I would have thought that the sole occupancy discount would apply for the full period that i'm liable for council tax. Nobody was living there whilst i was doing work to the property and it's only me that lives in the property now. 

They've applied the 50% unoccupied and unfurnished discount to the period that the previous owner had the property and told me I can't use it. Which is unfortunate, but I understand. It's just the sole occupancy discount that I'm bothered about. 

Can anyone give me some advice please? I don't seem to be getting anywhere with the council and they said i need to pay £366 each month during the period December to March to clear the outstanding bill. These are the most expensive months already in terms of bills, so this won't help. I filled in the council tax form in June to try and avoid having to pay a big bill in a short period of time!

Thanks

sammyjammy

You can't claim single person occupancy for the period you weren't living there you have to pay the full unoccupied property charge that applies, the council are correct.

lincroft1710

It may seem an anomaly but it is correct in law. If a council either gives 0% discount or the period of discount for an empty property has elapsed the the full amount of CT is payable. Single person discount only applies to occupied properties. Change of ownership does not reset the clock in respect of the period allowed for empty property discount.


Regarding the short time period given for payment, the council would probably argue that you knew you would need to pay CT and should have set money aside. for this. You can see if your local councillor can help, if you cannot persuade the council to allow you to carry over some of the debt into the next financial year..This would of course mean you will have to pay more CT next year to clear the debt.

Sarah9132

Thanks for getting back to me, much appreciated