council tax

[Gnan]

hi

i am being stung for council tax... basically my house was in a state of disrepair for a long time while i did some major work on it for about 6 months.. it was unfurnished and we didn't live there.. i presumed that i could claim an exemption for the period but the miserable barstewards are saying someone "claimed for an exemption in 2003-2004" which means i can't claim?

they want the full amount for this year which i've paid but now would like to claim back as i think i've been robbed!

[Richie]

did you have a carpet down or running water... ?
I read somewhere that without these it uninhabitable

[Rog]

sounds like a load of old chuff to me. So what if someone claimed on it before, this is your house now so you can either get a discount becuase it wasnt occupied or, as has been said, it was uninhabitable. :x

Cheeky bloody Councils

[Iansv]

Yeah you should be able to appeal that, anywhere not lived in can be exempt or may be a small percentage fee, I read it somewhere i'm sure

[kwak zzr]

council tax it one big legal rip off! better than poll tax tho if a few live under the one roof.

[tinpants]

I'll ask my missus. She deals with this for the local council so she knows the legislation pretty well. Won't be 'til sometime on Sunday tho'. HTH.

[Gnan]

cheers Nick, can you PM me with the details?

[tinpants]

Let me know the exact details of your problem, via pm, and I'll get the wife to reply in kind.

[wheelnut]

Can she check mine as well please :P

I work in Holland and live in my lorry, I come home for about 3 days a month, no one empties my bins because they are already empty. I dont have street lighting, and I have never seen a copper for 3 years, although that could be a good thing :P

Its an unfair tax, the locals in Normanton with the sun tan have an advantage because there is 18 of them sharing the cost :D

[JakeRS]

appeal it, I work for Ashford council customer services, now I dont sort out peoples council tax bills but we deal with peoples council tax queries (usually moaning!)

you can have an empty and unfurnished exemption for 6 months only, and it goes on the property not the owner, so its only a one off in i think its 5 years, thing.

go for something like a discount/exemption for unihabitable if it had no running water, and see what they say.

[Gnan]

the property has already had the 6 months empty claimed on by the previous owner. which is fair enough - however my argument is there is a specific exemption that pertains to major structural alterations, which is 12 months and THEN 6 months after the repairs are complete - what do you think?

(i think a new roof and new DPC/concrete flooring amongst many other things like pointing, wall ties, etc counts as a major repair?!)

[JakeRS]

yes that should count as structural!!

get in touch asap cos being the new council tax year in about 2 weeks, they're overwhelmed with work at the moment!!!