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Council tax (sorry if I’m wrong place)

I was previously in a rented house in 2014 while I was a student and as I was a student I was exempt from paying council tax, except this was the third year so I am assuming my exemption was over by may/June. However I was never sent a bill and never thought much of it. I contacted the council today to ask if I should have paid this and they said they had no record of me living there or bills with my name on it and to not worry.

Should I worrry that they will come for me at some point in the future or not?

Comments

  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596
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    If the council themselves have told you not to worry then I'm not sure why you'd want to start!

    I'm still waiting for the council to catch up with me about council tax for a flat I moved out of in 1997.
  • 00ec25
    00ec25 Posts: 9,123
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    there are 3 possibilities:

    a) the property was a council tax HMO (a status different to housing law HMO) meaning the LL was the only person legally liable even if you ceased to be a disregard. The fact the LL has never chased you in this context suggests the council have never chased him when your exemption officially ended, which was as you surmise, sometime between June to the start of the next academic year from Sept

    or

    b) your university issued a certificate which was "generously" dated and so the council do not regard you as every having been liable

    or

    c) as you say, the council has overlooked an opportunity get some much needed cash for themselves through their own incompetence/inefficiency
  • ThePants999
    ThePants999 Posts: 1,748
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    And, to be explicit, (a) and (b) mean you're absolutely NOT liable, and (c) means there's a possibility that's about as worth worrying about as the sun not rising tomorrow.
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260
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    In respect of the council tax exemption your student certificate (usually available on-line from the uni) should show what date they have stated you are a student until. If the tenancy is due to end within a month or so of the end of the course some councils will extend the Class N exemption anyway to the end rather than chase for a few weeks council tax.

    Strictly speaking failure to contact the council regarding a change that can affect an exemption within 21 days is subject to a penalty charge but very few councils bother with the penalty.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
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