Not paying council tax

[johnnyD]

I am a recently graduated Student, living in a shared house with 4 other people who are still students.

Up untill August 2006 we were all students and were not required to pay council tax. Since I started working in August I should have been paying council tax (with a 25% discount), but have not received a bill.

I'm not sure what i should do.. keep quiet or let the council know?

If the council were to bill me i'd be happy enough to pay what I owe. My question is: am am I commiting an offence by not informing the council that I'm working? And if so; if i were to let the council know now, would I have to only pay the tax i owe them from the time I started working, or will there be an additional fine to pay?

Thanks for your help

[lizzydrippin]

I'd keep quiet if I was you. They'll soon contact you when they have a bill for you. Its not like you're refusing to pay it. Why go looking for bills that havent arrived yet? Im sure someone will eventually tell you the legal side of it on here.

[Law Man1856]

Hi Johnny ,

Council tax is one of the bills that you can go to prison for not making the required payments.

Contact your local council and make arrangements to pay over time if cash is an issue.

Don't try and avoid payment they will issue a summons.

Come clean they will take reduced payments if necessary.

Usually they don't fine people who own up and don't go to court.

[themas]

You should definitely get it sorted asap. If you leave it they will eventually find out and you will have a large bill going right back to when you started work.

You will need to agree a payment arrangement for the arrears. If you don't they will go to Court to get a liability order and the Court costs are added onto the amount you owe. Once they have the order they can get an attachment of earnings order, and you would then find quite a substantial % of your wages was taken to pay the bill.

[buildersmate]

As thr above advice. You won't get a bill automatically because they simply don't know anyone in the house is not now a student. They aren't psychic - you're supposed to tell them about a change in circumstances.

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Some people would tell them the exact date and then some people may take a few months off to make it sound plausible and save themself some money. ;-]

[yummymummy]

There is usually some kind of review process for all student properties (probably annual) so it would get picked up eventually. The proper way would be to let them know and make arrangements to pay, but I guess it is up to you!!

[brachiopod]

There are a number of things to take into account;

Where do you live? (poor, innerr city borough, or leafy suburban council) - this may have a bearing on the efficiency of the Council Tax department.
Does your Local Authority have a connection to your housing or is it privately rented?
Do you all (the occupiers) have individual contracts or do you rent the house as a whole and 'divvy up' the rent, or is it a House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO)?
Are all the others still bona fide students?
Did you take time out and travel when you finished your studies? (A. - Yes, you did)

My suggestion, since you are concerned about the situation, is to write to them and say that;
"as of ....<date> (make it a week or two previous to the date of writing).... I have commenced full-time employment, and, as such, am eligible to pay Council tax. However, as the sole person liable.. (ie. the others are exempt)... I am entitled to the Single (Liable) Occupant Discount of 25%....

Most Councils will be amazed about receiving a request to pay that they will not question it further than the date you state (and is it not unreasonable starting a new job in the new year?), and if they do, you went travelling for six months, didn't you?

Here's my LA's FAQ page

Besides, aswell as joining the tax-paying masses, you can now moan at you house-mates when they surface at midday to watch Neighbours and Going For Gold (whoops! showing my age!) - about how you support them with your taxes!!

Best of luck.

[johnnyD]

Thanks for all your answers.. although it seems people have different oppinions on this issue!

The house is privately rented from a landlord, and we all have individual contracts and pay individually, although it does state on the contract that council tax is exclusive of rent.

If I were to write/phone and say that I am now working, would they then investigate all the householders? One of my other housemate is currently unemployed, since he graduated a year before me, so I belive he would also be elligeble. He spent a few months working last year and also was not paying council tax.. don't really fancy dropping him into paying a years worth of council tax, although it may be inevitable. Yes, all the others are bonefide students.

Don't really fancy lying and saying that I went travelling.. wouldn't this just land me in a bigger mess if they found out!?

[themas]

"we all have individual contracts and pay individually". I think this means that each of you pays for his/her own accommodation and that none of you is liable to pay rent on the whole of the dwelling. If that is the case (and you need to check your tenancy agreement carefully) then, for council tax purposes, it is a "house in multiple occupation" and the liable person for council tax is your landlord and not you or any of the other tenants.

What this means is that you should make sure your landlord knows you are working. He should then notify the council, who would bill him for the tax. He would then pass this tax on to you (and the other occupant who is not a student, because the 25% discount would not apply) because your tenancy agreement says the rent excludes the council tax.

I agree you should not say you went travelling if you didn't - you could be found out and be in serious trouble.

[johnnyD]

On top of the agreement the title is 'Fixed term assured shorthold tennancy agreement'. We each have our own agreement, and none of the other tennants are listed on each other's agreement. I can't find anything that actually stares 'house of multiple occupancy', but if we have individual agreements is this the case?

If so, is it the landord's duty to inform the council that I am working? (he knows that I am no longer a student). And would the councill tax bill go direct to the ladlord (and the costs passed on to ourselves)?

I've read other websites with information about HMOs, but none seem to be very clear on the deffinition of a HMO is, and what the implications are with regards to council tax.. is it a bit of a gray area or something?

Cheers for your help, it's much appreciated

[themas]

I assume that each agreement is different in that each should refer to a specific room or rooms as being the one(s) you have sole occupancy of.

If so, then - for Council Tax purposes - none of you tenants is occupying a dwelling which can be separately assessed for council tax. Therefore the assessment will be for the house as a whole and the landlord is the liable party. The Council will send any bill to him/her and it is his/her responsibliity to notify the Council of any changes in the occupants which might lead to a liability.

If the agreement is vague about the part(s) of the house you can occupy then the position may be a bit less clear, but I think the same would still apply unless it could reasonably be argued that the tenants as a group have a joint right to occupy the whole house. If there is/are room(s) which are in the exclusive occupation of any one tenant I don't think this could be argued.

Perhaps you should talk to the landlord about this.