Hello there,

My partner (we don't live together) recently got a new housemate and in sorting out all the things you have to sort out queried his council tax banding.

It transpired that he was paying more tax on his unit (live work space in a large block) than his neighbours in a block 3 times the size with better facilities, and a lot more than I am banded for my lovely, fully functioning house in a nicer area. So he asked the council and they found that they had just guessed at what band his unit should be without looking inside the building. Result!

They assessed the unit and have knocked the band down, I think by 3 bands! So he is due a refund which is great but where the problems start.

The council want a letter from the previous housemate to say that he consents to a refund being offered. In normal civilised society this should not cause a problem but this particular guy can be rude and out for himself and very difficult to get in contact with let alone get him to write a letter. On top of this he was listed as the sole payer of council tax as my partner was a full time, post grad. student for most of the time. They had a 25% reduction which meant the old housemate was supposed to pay all of the bill (single person liability I think) but my partner being a nice guy paid part of.

So that in terms of the original amount the previous housemate paid 50% and my partner paid 25%.

Ideally my partner thinks he should get most of the refund as he shouldn't have been paying any of the bill, but is happy to settle with getting half. The previous housemate will probably want half, if not all of it cause his name was on the bill.

How can this be negotiated?!

The best situation would be if the cheque was written out to my partner (the refund being down to him sorting the whole thing out) and he can then pass on the amount due to the other person.

Does anybody know how the council will issue the refund?

Morally it seems my partner should get all the money he paid back but is there any way to ensure this?

Any tips on getting difficult ex-housemates to cooperate?

Thank you!

Refunds are paid by cheque after you have signed an indemnity form.

Regards

Leon