DD not been paying council tax and didn't know

[Phancy]

DD lives in a flat that's owned by a family member and she pays the family member rent. She graduated 3 years ago and we only just had a conversation about council tax and she was bloody clueless and said she doesn't pay it as she gets an exempt letter and I explained that's because she was a student at the time she moved in. If she updates it now, is it going to be found out she wasn't actually a student for the last few years and is she going to be billed over 3k? I'm aware she should obviously have to pay it but I really don't know how she will.

They do in England too. We send each council a list of students living in their area do they know they're exempt. Any students who are missed can come onto campus abd request a letter to send to the council themselves. This has to be done at the start if each academic year (e.g. a student on a 3 year course will need to notify their council 3 times for exemption)

Honestly I don't really know why you're surprised she's clueless if her dad did the bloody form for her! Presumably he pretended to be her and the form will also have had some sort of declaration to say "she" understood she needed to report any chance of circumstances, that he's agreed to on her behalf.

Why on earth did he do it for her? She's an adult and you needed to seriously cut the apron strings about 3 years ago by the sounds of it.

She needs to contact the council asap and she'll have to pay it back in installments. They won't just write it off - nonpayment of council tax is legally quite serious compared to nonpayment of most other bills.

I think you have to contact wirh any change of circumstance.

Its not really the councils responsibility to check up.

Oh I didn't know this.

I don’t think she’s as clueless as she seems. She got annual reminders.

Tbf there is nothing wrong with somebody to help fill in forms,I know when my dc moved out we helped to do stuff it's just pointing them in the right direction imo.

It’s surprising that she hasn’t been billed as student exemption should only be applied in accordance with the certificate provided or info provided from local uni. But she needs to contact asap and apply for single person discount and make an initial payment of as much as she can afford. A direct debit can be set for current year and then it’s a case of paying as much as she can when she can towards previous years. Only paying on full will prevent it from going through the recovery process but worth contacting each time receives reminder, 2nd reminder as if she’s paid most they may suppress it going for summons and costs being added.

if it does go to court and they grant a liability order then it won’t affect credit rating just means she can set up a special arrangement alongside her current year or if she doesn’t set up an affordable arrangement they can attach to wages or sent to a bailiff.

Its a tax, so therefore different from other utilities. Ultimately yes the tax has to be paid by someone for the property.

Does the tenancy have anything about the council tax being paid?

What she can do is start paying this years council tax and then ask them to make an ongoing arrangement called a SPA to pay the previous 3 years. The SPA can be set at a smaller amount and effectively if it takes 4/5 years its better than the court system and bailiff etc

If dd was in the property alone then she will get 75% off from when she stopped being a student.

The onus with council tax is its a tax and you need to know to be paying it and it has to be paid. Most offices will sit down and make a payment plan and explain.

Where confusion lies is the 3 years in the past being paid and then the future bill each year - making sure both are being paid is really important and if a SPA fails its escalated quickly.

There is no way that the council office would know that your dd would have a change of circumstance, they will have several thousand people to be collecting council tax and thus the responsibility lies with the householder.

Can you lend your dd the money to pay? and then she pay you back each month?

Yeah she's at it she knew .

if it does go to court and they grant a liability order then it won’t affect credit rating just means she can set up a special arrangement alongside her current year or if she doesn’t set up an affordable arrangement they can attach to wages or sent to a bailiff.

This is correct but you need to understand that if it goes to court from a second reminder - then there will be additional charges which could range from £80 - £120 depending on which council you are living in. Also if it goes to court and your dd misses the letter and then bailiffs get involved the costs escalate to £300+ onto of the court costs, this can happen very quickly.

I got into a pickle with our CT years ago - moved house, new baby, etc. Once I noticed I picked it up with the council, they produced an affordable repayment plan and all was fine. She needs to contact them and sort it x

I think you need to have a discussion with her about bills and how things like CT, gas, electric all work incase she is behind or misunderstands other stuff too.

so many youngsters don't get it. they will have a degree but don't understand about life

Dd stayed in same house when she started working. She was only non student in the house so was responsible for the whole house rates. She did manage to get the single occupier discount but it was still nearly £200 a month

Your DD isn’t stupid. She knew full well she wasn’t exempt anymore. She ignored the reminders on the council tax letters and now has to pay the consequences.

Partner used to work for council tax office.. they will ask her when her studies ended and will require proof. Unfortunately she'll be liable for the years she hasn't been a student but they will apply a single person discount and can arrange a payment plan with her.

It's likely she will be asked when her circumstances changed so she will need to tell the truth or lie

So she knew she was exempt because she was a student but didn't know as soon as she wasn't a student she wasn't exempt anymore.. 🤔

Does her rent include council tax? The council need the student enrolment letter, something doesn’t add up.

This. If she's been a uni student she isn't thick is she. She must have read the letter and thought great! She's going to have to phone them and cough up. She will have saved loads from not paying it when she should have so she can just use that.

Is there any need to be so harsh? and the assertions the OP daughter was trying to evade the payment. Mistakes do happen. She was looking for advice not judgement! Honestly I despair of this board sometimes

Okay well why did she think she had an exemption then? After being a student finished what criteria did she think she was being exempt under the last three years?

So this is a critical time and where this can have the danger of becoming fraud.

Tell them asap and say that it was an error and that a payment plan will be needed.

Any attempt to lie would then be a fraud case.

All councils have retrospectively checked records and it could be a matter of time before she is caught. If so then they would be looking at her making false statements (in claiming the exemption).

She needs to get in front of this otherwise she could be in serious trouble. A fraud conviction would not look good on a CV.

They didn’t contact her because it’s HER responsibility to notify of a change in circumstances