Help! I've not been registered to vote at a property for 3 years and am worried about a big council tax bill for me and my partner

[AmberFish]

Before I go into detail I would like to be clear that I have been naive on this scenario and totally accept my wrongdoing! My intention is to fix the situation but I'm looking to find out what I can expect in case it's likely to cause huge financial problems.

Around 3 years ago, I moved in with my partner who lives alone in a flat they own in london. Originally this was a temporary move while I was flat hunting, so while I moved my bank addresses to make sure I still got my mail, I didn't register to vote or join the council tax.

Another factor in this is my partner is on UC and therefore gets a council tax discount, plus the single person discount, so it didn't make sense to me at the time to put extra financial strain on them by putting me on the council tax, just for a temporary move. (even though we'd split the full cost 50/50, this would work out more expensive for my partner than their current discounted rate. Perhaps not relevant but while I do pay the majority of other utilities and food costs, we don't share finances and I don't intend to change this). For context, I do have a salary and while I don't have savings I would not be classed low income.

So now it's 3 years later, the relationship got more serious and therefore I never moved out, and honestly I hadn't put any thought into council tax since the initial move.

With elections going on I looked into registering to vote recently and basically became shit scared at my situation, and worried that if I do register now that will alert the council to my situation and we could be hit by a 3 year bill or fine or something which we can't afford. Also from looking at my credit score, I'm aware not being on the electoral role has affected it so I don't want to continue avoiding the problem.

Has anyone else gone through anything like this and had experience in registering to vote after a long period of not being registered at a property? For example could I just register at the property as if I moved in now, or would they look into where I've been for the last 3 years?

Another option to delay the inevitable is I could register to vote at my parent's address since that won't affect their bill - I'd be intrigued to know if there are consequences to this but in reality I'm looking to just put things right and be registered to the correct property.

I've tried looking for information on this online but haven't found anything so would love to hear from your experiences/ what you recommend I should do 😓

I don’t think they will look into where you’ve been living. They may start issuing a council tax bill from now on though. It’s probably best your partner contacts council tax and says you’re now living with him.

I don’t think you should register to vote at your parents house.

Surely if you have combined finances then his UC claim is affected not just Council Tax? You’ve already got financial links to the property if your bank details are registered there.
Your partner needs to update his UC claim to say that you are living there; I’m not sure of the legal problems he may encounter. It’s best to stop lying, be honest about dates etc. and be prepared to repay any overpayments.

Is your partner claiming uc without declaring that you live there?

Where does your post go? Has your partner declared your income for uc as it looks currently like you're both committing benefit fraud.

Registering to vote at your parents house won’t help your credit file, unless you’re going to take all your credit out from there…

Your partner needs to tell council tax that you live there. They may well ask for a move in date. Lying to them would be fraud, and not a good idea. You will owe whatever discount he’s been getting back, but they’ll accept a payment plan.

Registering to vote is a different thing, albeit in the same system and it’d be silly to presume they’d never notice a mismatch in dates…

Essentially as much as you don’t want to incur a bill, and did so accidentally, you have; and your partner has committed fraud to continue claiming the discount while you lived there, and paying it back is the wisest move. Or at least preparing to, and if they don’t ask him when you moved in when he calls, it’s a bonus.

Gosh I think the CT discount is the least of your worries. He's been fraudulently claiming UC as a single person for three years. He'll be lucky if he only gets a fine frankly.

3 years plus of fraud, its not a great look, why not do something about it before?🤷‍♀️

This. Your income should be taken into account on his claim.

Well you've both been fraudulent for the past 3 years.

You won't get a 3 year bill if you don't tell them it's been 3 years. But your partner needs to update their UC claim too

I’d be far more concerned if he hasn’t updated his UC claim to account for your income.

When did your partner update their benefits claim? If they haven’t done that already I’d be far more concerned about that than council tax.

"We've been fraudulently claiming benefits but wish to continue doing so, please help"

🙄

Your partner has been commiting benefit fraud, with you aiding and abetting.

If the two of you stop immediately and make a truthful declaration of your real circumstances then yes your income will go down, because you will.no longer be taking money that you aren't supposed to. And there's a good chance you won't be found out.

If you carry on then you will get caught sponer or kater and the consequences will be worse.

You need to come clean to council /UC before you’re found out or you risk your partner getting charged with benefit fraud.

You never bothered to “join the council tax”, he claimed the single person discount fraudulently and his UC didn’t take into account your income for a period of three years?

And now you’re bothered because you want to vote?

Bloody hell.

You think you have been naive. I think you have been the opposite of that.

I dont think you're that concerned since you're trying to find a loophole of registering at your parents house.
If you called now to update that you've moved in for council tax this will have to be done for UC also so that would result in his claim being switched to a joint one where your income is taken into account when assessing how much (if any) should be paid.
You've been lucky to get away with this for 3 years I think you should at least notify them now that you've moved in, at the very least they will ask the date you've moved in so you'll either have to lie and say very recently or be honest.
I dont know if they'd ask for your previous address or not.

So he’s been claiming UC all this time too? If so then you’ve got way worse problems than council tax. You need to update everything now to avoid worse problems. Council tax, UC, anything else he/you’ve been claiming.

Your Partner would have known,(as should you) that ANY change of circumstances HAS to be declared.I know this and I've never been on benefits in my life!

He's got himself into an awful mess then as he's fraudulently been enjoying the single person discount and an amount of UC he's not entitled to. Being able to vote is the least of your worries.

All benefits use credit refence agencies for checks, so you will eventually be found out, they just take a while, so it would be better to notify benefits agencies and council tax of your move in date yourself before the fraud investigators call, as the penalties can be high

You and your partner have committed benefit fraud for 3 years. It’s not naive, it’s downright criminal.

How much have you fraudulently claimed in that time, by the time you take into account the council tax and the Universal Credit claim? Can you pay it back?

and yes. You need to sort this asap

Just declare yourself as living there from now on. Is your partner working now?

Usual judgmentalism about people that seems to infest this place when some aspects of benefits come up.

@AmberFish if you're living together as though you're married then you should have been added to his UC making it a joint claim. You're working and earning which would affect a joint claim. Does he have Limited Capability for Work or Work Related Activity in UC?

The fact you keep your finances separate is neither here nor there in that context.

His council tax would change too as he's (a) no longer a single occupier and (b) eligibility to Council Tax Reduction will end.

You need, as a minimum, to do a Change of Circs on UC and add yourself to his claim. You also need to, jointly, come clean to the Council.

You have a number of issues - not being registered to vote is the least of them. Is the property rented or owned? Put simply DP needs to update UC claim to include you, CT single person discount needs removing. For UC purposes you are a single unit however you choose manage finances. You can both either be honest now or continue to lie by legally stating the change is from a very recent date. I would start saving, whichever option you go with there's a chance that thousands could be owed, even if you aren't honest now about the last 3 years you could still be found out.