Living in a touring caravan on private land and being charged council tax

[dashwood]

My daughter has been living in her friends garden in a touring van and has now had a council tax bill. Does this mean that it is legal to be living on the land? My concern is that she pays the council tax bill then she is then asked to move off the land. Reading previous articles it seems that she is not legally allowed to be there without the planners permission so how can she now be charged for council tax?
Can anyone help with information, please.

[New Judge]

I would suggest that the two matters are not connected.

Local Authorities levy council tax based upon a set of rules which rely on the occupancy of a property. For example, squatters may receive a Council Tax demand, even though it may eventually turn out that they have illegally occupied the property and are evicted. So it is with your daughter.

She may find she is obliged to pay Council Tax regardless of the legality of her occupancy of the land, which will be dealt with under a separate process. If she is forced to leave after paying her Council Tax in full, she can always apply for a rebate.

[webbo3]

as council tax is judged on the value of your property then she should only pay about £10 per month, or she could just tell the council she is a member of the traveling community, and we all know they pay council tax, road tax, income tax ect ect ect.

Dave.

[Drisgirl]

Nice one webbo ^^^

O for a scabby caravan to lash on my property and then try to evade any responsibilities :)

[buildersmate]

As New Judge says, the 2 matters are unconnected.
What the planning department are concerned about is the potential splitting of a plot into 2 - however the situation that you have is a single plot with two separate 'front door' entrances to a single property - the same situation as if you had a granny annex attached to the house. It is therefore perfectly correct that Council Tax (almost inevitably at Band A, the lowest), is assessed on the additional accommodation.
Depending on where the property is, the site may not receive a request to make a retrospective planning application.