Moving abroad - council tax discount

[Steff]

Re: Moving abroad - council tax discount

Update - I have a cousin who works for Milton Keynes Council and she asked at work for me as to my best course of action, she says as I have already filled a form in to try and get single person occupancy discount and then rang them up that this would be logged and any subsequent claim would be questioned as they will know I am just trying to get round their refusal. When looking at the form that says I am moving away I have to give a forwarding address and I have to say if there will be any of the original occupants still remaining in the house....which will bring me back to the same dilemma I suspect, them agreeing that I am away but also them refusing to budge on this being my main residence.
The only thing that I can see that I can do is appeal. This is when the system is wrong and unfair...how can I be charged for a service that I cannot access? How can that be legally correct?

[Snoopy1948]

Re: Moving abroad - council tax discount

Update - I have a cousin who works for Milton Keynes Council and she asked at work for me as to my best course of action, she says as I have already filled a form in to try and get single person occupancy discount and then rang them up that this would be logged and any subsequent claim would be questioned as they will know I am just trying to get round their refusal. When looking at the form that says I am moving away I have to give a forwarding address and I have to say if there will be any of the original occupants still remaining in the house....which will bring me back to the same dilemma I suspect, them agreeing that I am away but also them refusing to budge on this being my main residence.
The only thing that I can see that I can do is appeal. This is when the system is wrong and unfair...how can I be charged for a service that I cannot access? How can that be legally correct?

Absolutely unbelievable! All I can say is that it's all down to jobsworths gone mad. It seems to me that they are saying that the property remains your main UK residence and therefore the account must stay in your name. On that basis, you cannot claim a single person discount as you are the one who won't be there and you are the account holder. It seems to me that you're daughter needs to phone up the council, state that you have left who work abroad with no fixed date of return, and request a new account in her name with the appropriate single person discount. That would automatically close down any existing account. Parallel it to you renting the property to a single occupier when a new account plus discount could not be argued.

As as far as I see it, you have gone ( with no fixed date of return .. Two years is a long time ) and your daughter becomes the main resident for council tax purposes. What on earth is wrong with that? The only reason I can see why this council wants to dictate the terms is that they want to maximise their income. You are the customer here, paying for local services. I might have this all wrong but I believe the councils response is simply not correct.

[Steff]

Re: Moving abroad - council tax discount

I have written my letter of appeal quoting the 2004 Court of Appeal ruling so will let you know how it goes. I will take this as far as I can because I believe it is unfair treatment, but I do have a horrible feeling I will not win. It seems that councils can claim the UK property is your main residence simply because your have a stronger right of tenure in the UK than you do abroad and on that basis can charge full council tax. I always assumed that you pay council tax to cover the cost of services provided by the council, but if you cannot access these services then why should you pay? I live on an island that is currently still managed by the developer in terms of roads, lighting and landscaping and pay an island tax for that, so it is not like I even get those services from the council. The whole thing is terribly wrong and unfair and not something the ordinary person should be confronted with. I am out of the property, only one adult remains, single person discount should apply...it should be that simple. Sorry, rant over!

[des8]

Re: Moving abroad - council tax discount

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