Updating post from Reddit.
I moved into a new place in London back in August as a student and never got sent a letter from the council about paying council tax. Turns out the whole time my landlord had his daughter (who is not a resident or a student) listed as the only tenant so all of the letters had been addressed to her. It’s gotten to the point now that the bailiffs are knocking at the door looking for her even though we have now confirmed with the council that we are students and therefore don’t need to pay council tax. Any ideas about what’s going on?
That is not "tax evading" its just not paying the billed tax.
However, no. The daughter has not told the council they have moved out (or its a admin error, happens a lot) and you as students have failed to inform the council that you are their. Which is a common mistake of "oh its free, i dont have to tell them" when really you have to apply for it.
It will all come out in the wash but I woudnt worry about it. Get the baliffs head office contact details and tell them to stop harrassing you if you wish.
You're right, If you don't apply for it you will get billed for it, there's plenty people ended up in court not knowing they'd to apply, they didn't get off with it either, they were made to pay
The councils are their own judge and jury when it comes to council tax. It's a very weird setup, not seen elsewhere. Not something you want to mess with; however, with persistence, they have always sorted out my issues.
No, it's your job to fix your council tax and set that up with the council.
Who's name are the bailiffs after? If the daughter, show them your current tenancy, and they'll leave & not come back.
Students are council tax exempt
Yes, that's already been stated.
You need to talk to the council to fix your council tax, and they then don't charge you any.
so from the down votes, students are not exempt ?
The downvotes are because the comment appears unhelpful.
Students are exempt from council tax.
But you need to talk to the council so they can validate your student status.
It's like not bothering to road tax your zero-rate electric car. You may be on a £0 tax band, but you still have to go through the process and declare that it's on the road.
That same logic applies for council tax and you still need to action the tax request and tell the council what the house is being used for. You cannot ignore it like you're insinuating.
When you move in to a property you are meant to tell the local authority you’re living there now, so they send the bill to you instead. Perhaps the daughter was living there prior to yourself.
Sounds like these bailiffs may be for you?
EDIT: Depends on whether you’re paying all inclusive bills or not though.
We have sorted it all with the council and are confirmed to be exempt from council tax now but the bailiffs are still after our landlords daughter. She was not previously a tenant either as far as I’m aware
Should have mentioned that the bailiff that came today was still under the impression that she was a resident for some reason
Have you updated the electoral register, and returned any mail to sender for anything not addressed to yourself? Maybe others can chip in with places to update too.
It's a bit late now with bailiffs at the door using as up-to-date information as they can (their job is to reclaim money, not to annoy unrelated people), but you need to be informing the wider world that you are the only valid resident, starting when you move in.
yeh, seems more likely she USED to live there and moved and then you moved in and didnt make any declaration that you did. Also she might have moved to a new place and is not paying the council tax.
Yes students are exempt but you still have to make the declaration
Bill evading not tax evading
Are you in a HMO? As in several random people all living in this house? If so, it has to be registered as a HMO and the land lord pays the council tax. If you are on your own / your family live with you, then the tenant(s) are responsible for the council tax.
Just to add to this, students are Tax exempt.
That's true if all of the people are renting individual rooms. If it's a group of friends on a joint tenancy then they would be responsible for sorting out their own council tax.