hello. hope some one can advise.

i have recently claimed and been granted a CLUED ( certificate of us and existing development ) on a small commercial building.into a c3 dwelling. which i was liable for the business rates.

now the council want to speak to me about not paying council tax for 7 years.

most of that time i was on benefit and would have claimed housing allowance anyway.

i did not keep it a secret i lived here even told the benefit advisor / my MP and most of the neighbours knew, as per the proof in my CLUED application. thanks in advance.

gn

Hello and welcome to CAG.

People should be along over the course of the day with advice for you, please bear with us until they're able to get here.

My best, HB

Hello again.

I've moved your thread to the forum that deals with council tax and left you a link to follow from General Legal. You should get more replies on this forum.

HB

thank you

cant answer specifically but if you were unlawfully occupying the property due to it not being a dwelling then they cant tax you on this criminality. If you asked for retrospective consent then there is a cut off for action anyway that is I belive 5 years for planning consent so that would limit the number of years they can hope to get. I would have thought that common sense should prevail and the liability would start when the approval was granted or you may have to appeal to the local govt ombudsman if they wont play along. However, if you go down this road they can still collect the money by whatever means, inc court, and then just pay you back when you win your arguments.

thanks for the advice. but from what i understand, the ocupation isnt unlawfull untill a cease and desist order has been issued, im trying to arrange a meeting to discuss the matter, seeing that i never kept my ocupation a secret. benefit people / MP / HMRC / medical / neighbours everybody except the planning department were notified. they did write to me at this address though ( no other addres available ). also i was liable for any business rates reqiered. so hopefully sense will prevail ( didnt get much with the planning authorities though ) ,

thanks gn

As far as Council Tax is concerned there is no limit on the backdating - the key aspect would be at what point the Valuation Office Agency determine there was a change of use from Business Rates to Council Tax. From this date it will be banded and Council Tax would become due as Council Tax cannot be legally due on a property until is banded and an effective date for the entry in to the list determined.

For any period it is deemed to be a dwelling then legal occupation does not come in to it. The relevant legislation (Section 6 of the LGFA92) does not require legal occupation - if there is no-one with legal permission it falls on to the resident - the resident is an adult aged 18yrs or above who has their 'sole or main residence' in the property.

The local government ombudsman cannot rule on legislation - they can only make comment on how the local authority acted. If the Valuation Office had not banded the property then the local authority could not legally do anything at an earlier date.

Craig

a big THANK YOU, yes it was banded busuness rates, which i was liable for, now ive got more amunition go go into a meeting with. thanks again , gn

just another thought, can they back date the valuation, therefore back date the council tax.

yhanks agaian, gn

just another thought, can they back date the valuation, therefore back date the council tax.

yhanks agaian, gn

The valuation office can do so - they have procedures in place for doing so, depending on the exact situation, so it would be wise to ask them regarding the situation.

Craig

thanks for that reply, sadly not really want i wanted to hear. got a meeting on the 19th, hopefully some sense and reasoning will apply. from experience that is a tall ask. thanks again, gn