I own a property jointly with my parents which we all live in together.

My name does not show on the council tax bill (but is registered on the deeds) and despite two calls to the council they still are not clear what to do.

I work, and up until now we have been paying the council tax in full.

Recently my parents have been awarded guaranteed pension credit and subsequently do not have to pay any council tax.

I spoke to the council to explain the situation who told me that I would now be liable for half the council tax which seemed feasible.

The bill has just arrived and it says we don’t have to pay anything which does not seem right.

I made a second to the call the council and they are completely flummoxed as what to advise me.

Any ideas please?

Hi.

I've moved you to the local authorities forum, people should be along later to advise.

HB

I own a property jointly with my parents which we all live in together. My name does not show on the council tax bill (but is registered on the deeds) and despite two calls to the council they still are not clear what to do. I work, and up until now we have been paying the council tax in full. Recently my parents have been awarded guaranteed pension credit and subsequently do not have to pay any council tax. I spoke to the council to explain the situation who told me that I would now be liable for half the council tax which seemed feasible. The bill has just arrived and it says we don’t have to pay anything which does not seem right. I made a second to the call the council and they are completely flummoxed as what to advise me. Any ideas please?

Assuming England/Wales,

If it's what I suspect it is then it's a straightforward issue, not sure why they've made it complicated.

As you are resident and an owner you are jointly liable for the council tax charge. Where there are multiple liable parties who are resident then the council tax charge is apportioned only for the basis of assigning an amount for which a party can claim council tax reduction towards (this does not affect the overall joint liability under s6 of the LGFA1992 and the council tax (administration & enforcement) regs 1992 for ensuring the council tax is paid.)

Recently my parents have been awarded guaranteed pension credit and subsequently do not have to pay any council tax

They can claim council tax reduction towards a share of the overall council tax charge (see above) but they still remain jointly liable for the whole outstanding balance. This is where it seems to have gone wrong and lead to the incorrect demand notice. What needs to be done is for your name to be added to the council tax liability as joint party (so that there are 3 liable parties). The council tax reduction claim for your parents will then be corrected to only take in to account the proportion they are eligible to claim against.

Thank you for the info, which makes perfect sense. I will try again with the local council - and tell them what should happen!

Thank you for the info, which makes perfect sense. I will try again with the local council - and tell them what should happen!

If it's what I suspect then they should be able to sort it - I used to see similar issues regularly where our benefit team had not correctly recorded who was liable and so the claim was wrongly paid and had to be adjusted. Sometimes the problem is that a councils keep a separation between the council tax side and the council tax reduction side to the point where staff on either side of the divide can be unsure as to how it works.

Hi there. I contacted the council as advised and had my name added to the council tax bill. Today I received an amended bill informing me that I now have to pay the full amount for the year plus pay back the refund issued at year end, (luckily I put this money aside just in case). There was no explanation and now my parents seem to have lost their right to a reduction.

What seems rather ridiculous is that if I were to remove my name from the deeds and just live here we would pay no council tax at all as my parents are eligible for an exemption.

I am quite happy to pay, but do not want to pay more to the council which they may not have a right to.

Any suggestions please?

Hi there. I contacted the council as advised and had my name added to the council tax bill. Today I received an amended bill informing me that I now have to pay the full amount for the year plus pay back the refund issued at year end, (luckily I put this money aside just in case). There was no explanation and now my parents seem to have lost their right to a reduction.

 

What seems rather ridiculous is that if I were to remove my name from the deeds and just live here we would pay no council tax at all as my parents are eligible for an exemption.

 

I am quite happy to pay, but do not want to pay more to the council which they may not have a right to.

 

Any suggestions please?

They need to contact the council and ask for their CTR claim to be applied to the new account - the account should show all three names. In the most common software used by councils it's an easy task to re-link the claim to the new account.

Thank you for the info. I will contact them again tomorrow.

The council tax demand is now in all three names.