Council Tax Single Person discount. Applying BC Soon. help

[bunti716]

Hi There,

Me and my wife are soon applying for BC. We are worrying abt good character requirement. Because, we are claiming single person discount on Council tax. Coucil tax bill is on my wife's name. My wife lives in London (Main home) and I live in Manchester. I come every weekend to London. All my correspondances are with London address. As I am staying with Friend in Manchester, I dont have any proofs of living there.

If I keep my current address as London in the application, will it be a problem for our applications. Because, our applications show that we both are living at the same address. When they track Council tax bills, they can find that we are claiming single person discount. In reality, only my wife is living. I come on weekends.

Could someone please advise ASAP. We are planning to apply before the end of this month.

Thank you so much,

[bunti716]

39 views but no replies

[tinux]

I don't understand the question really
do you live there in London or not? if yes then you must pay CT in full register etc...and if not then there is no problem. if you live in manchester as you say you do then living with friends is never an issue. No law says that you must be living at an address. You can even claim benefit with no fix address and you can even obtain a driving licence with no fix address and be go to court and say no fix address etc...as long as you are homeless there is no issue. if you are worried about possible fraud then explain as to why you have no address .
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for the purpose of residence : Residence is not defined in law, but it has been held by the courts to entail a ‘considerable degree of permanence’. Based on this criteria, it is possible for a person to be registered to vote in two different electoral areas. A person with two homes who spends about the same amount of time in each can be lawfully registered at both addresses.
A single occupant discount is dependent on a person residencey - the two are interwined. See section 6 onwards of the Local Governemnt Finace Act 1992.

A 25% Single Person discount can only be awarded where the property is the 'sole or main residence' of one person or there are more one occupier and the other occupiers are all disregarded for Council Tax purposes.

The main gist of whether a person is resident in a property in the Council Tax legislation is 'Sole or Main Residence' which , although not definitively defined in legislation, has been clarified in case law.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/sho ... ?t=1708565
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It seems clear that if you are away from home but still consider your home as in London then you must register there and pay full Ctax. if your main home is in Manchester than all your mails must be registered there. (even if you have no contract to prove you live there)including driving licences tax etc.... that is what people look for. Let's say that the Police wants to find you they would look at your registered address and approach you. unless you own 2 properties you can then decided which is which. basically your bum can only sit on one cosey place and not two unless you are married to 2 women and each have her own place

[ban.s]

if you are planning to submit a joint application with your wife and paying a joint fee, then you confirm that you are living together and sharing the same address. but then your wife also claims single persons discount - isn't that conflicting?

[bebe2011]

I suggest that in order to ensure a smooth application, your wife stops claiming single person discount - at least until after your application is approved.

Like the previous respondent said, it is conflicting that you say you are living somewhere else but at the same time claim to be living together with your wife in london and all your documents are going there! How are you going to explain all this to home office? Write a detailed letter? Please no.

so my advice is pay full council tax for this period whilst your application is there.....dont complicate matters....it is very easy for home office to verify information from local councils....so..play it safe!

Good luck

[t0mmy]

regarding council tax. Currently I live with a friend and he takes care of all the council tax matters i.e. its on his name. Just wondering for citizenship application is there a requirement to pay council tax?

[tinux]

Look guys life is simple dont complicate it. you want to make life simple for everyone. imagine i process application and i get yours. my mind would tell me hold on i smell 2 things either a lie or fraud so delay delay delay .
Like the others said
if you have a rental agreement. you pay CT if not you say that you are only staying there with friends etc,.. while you are searching for a permanent home. some people live in a caravan while their home is being built and others stay with family etc.... no issue here.
For the first OP

you make a join application you must declare that you are living together hence contact council and say I am moving in with my wife for a 4 or 6 months. they will send you a revised bill pay it and tell the HO that you live there. simple. no lies no cheating no confusion simple simple
for the above OP
like i said if your name is not on Rental agreement then you do not pay CT so when you write the address on form say that you live with friends.

[bunti716]

Thank you all. Sorry, I was having trouble to login this forum. Though I have been watching all these replies, I could not say thank you all these days.

As you all suggested, I have paid full council tax for all period. I will be submitting my application soon. Hope this will be ok.

Thanks all again.