Kirklees Council belittling my minimalist lifestyle

[Wizardry24]

AIBU to think Kirklees Council is being completely unreasonable over Council Tax?
Moved into my property in May, but Kirklees Council started charging me double Council Tax from April, claiming the house is empty—because I haven't used enough electricity.
I've submitted:

• Bank statements
• NHS letter
• Electoral register confirmation
• Yorkshire Water bill
• Payslip
• Mobile data upgrade (1GB → 50GB)

Still, they say:

• “You don’t even have a TV licence at your new property.”
• “You’ve only used £60.77 in electricity.”

Is that not completely invasive? It genuinely feels like my lifestyle is being picked apart and dismissed for being low-impact. I do live there—and I’m paying Council Tax. Yes, I know the council’s struggling financially (they’ve got a massive budget hole and millions in unpaid Council Tax), but this just feels unfair. Targeting people who do pay seems like the wrong way to balance the books. Has anyone dealt with something like this? What documents finally worked to prove your property was occupied? Thanks for reading—and sorry for the long post!

There is a website which shows very good guesses at energy bills. I assume they use that.

I think this is it ... Ah don't think it is... Will keep looking
https://www.comparethemarket.com/energy/

you're seriously thinking OP is lying (for what? what would she hope to gain from making a random story up on an anonymous forum?) because she uses less electricity than you? despite knowing nothing about her particular circumstances in order to compare it to yours?

I'm going to blow your mind and explain that smaller households (i.e. OP seems to be living alone, whereas you refer to "we") and smaller houses use less utilities than big ones. My g&e is less than £60 p/m, I can assure you I do indeed live there (and even wfh full time).

Some people really can't envision anyone leading even slightly different lives to them, can they?

And yet we have a government who wants people to fit solar panels to their roof which lowers the bills… 🙄

We’ve had really sunny weather the last month and a bit. Friends with solar panels and battery used only 1kWh of electric from the grid in June, most of their usage came from solar topping up the batteries which they used when the sun went down. Their bill, all £16 of it, was 98% standing charge.

Luckily they don’t live in Kirklees!

That’s a good point. What happens if you have solar panels. People can fit it themselves rather than the ones you return excess electricity to the grid

@Wizardry24 Kirklees carers count service should be able to help you with this - 03000120231

Do they check the electoral roll? You legally declare who is in the house surely this proves you reside their and from when..

We had a tax investigation 30 years ago where we had to eventually ‘admit’ to pocketing some cash from customers because they wouldn’t believe the wood fired Rayburn heated the whole house and we grew most of our food. Apparently we were using this undeclared cash to subsidise our ridiculously low bills.

Still rankles.

My dad pays £51 a month and is several hundred in credit they have never questioned it.

This is ridiculous. Definitely complain and appeal.

Even if you spend a lot of time at your DMs to care for her, it sounds like the house you own is legally your main residence.

You're also not registered as living at your DMs house for council tax purposes. Does she also live in Kirklees? Does she live alone? Following their logic, if she lives alone and gets the single adult discount, she should lose that because you live there.

Which does raise an interesting question. Your situation is clearly different to someone who owns two properties, after all you're not on the deeds or rental agreement at your DMs house. Perhaps tell them that.

But surely Kirklees Council needs more proof you live elsewhere before imposing double council tax?

Lots of people don't spend a lot of time at home, eg if they work away, so wouldn't use much electricity.

It's also reasonable to not use much at this time of year because its light 18 hours a day and people might not be cooking much.

Do you live in an area of Kirklees that might have a lot of second homes or holiday properties like Hebden Bridge or the South Pennines/Peak District?

Send them the bills from before you moved in to show the difference. And point out that not everyone watches TV!

Oh my. My son moved in in late March. A B rated property and the weather's been boiling ever since with long, light, days.

Apart from the standing charge and a basic level of background electrics like the fridge and freezer, he's used hardly anything!

The council are crazy!

This doesn't make sense

I was only charged £54 for electricity the last month. £45 the month before.

It's never raised suspicion with anyone!

And all my other months are similar

We're on holiday and have solar panels so the energy company has been paying us for electricity for the past week. Our electricity bill for a family of four last month was <£60.

How do they know how much electricity you've used. They shouldn't be privvy to that information.

OPs story isn’t quite clear and it does seem like she wasn’t in the house from the moment she bought it. She’s come to an anonymous forum to try and get the best answers of how she can deny deny deny, are you really that naive?

Yes similar in my last house! OPs story doesn’t really add up.

It must seem suspicious from the council's perspective. After the house was empty for a year, it became apparent that the council tax should have been double. Miraculously, OP "moved in" to the house the following month, and thus reducing the bill immediately.

As has been asked, has your electricity usage increased at all since you moved in, or is it the same as when it was unoccupied?

Just checked my own bill. My usage in the May/June month was £55.19 including standing charges.

That's for two of us in a four bed who don't scrimp with the washer, the dryer or dishwasher.

Thanks again to everyone who’s shared advice—it’s been genuinely appreciated.
Thanks@1offnamechange.

@navigatinglife - ditto. No heating since May and I avoid cooking as much as possible, so shower, fridge and coffee machine for me. 😀 I don't work from home.
@party4you. I originally alerted the council of the change in circumstances myself because I wanted to start paying council tax and paid the Premium until I moved in. And now I’m in this situation…
Honestly, I could just bump up my electricity usage—leave the heating on while I’m out, run appliances unnecessarily—and that would tick the box. It would meet the criteria.
“However, once you receive your next utility bill later this month – if it is showing more significant usage then please forward this to myself & I will relook at my decision. So yeah, I could do that and get a TV licence (while I'm at it!) It’s not illegal (check?), but it is not something I am prepared to do. I didn’t reach out to game the system.

Citizens Advice pointed me to my local councilor so that's where I am headed ...

Isn't that worse?

A holiday accommodation would have low use and then higher use!

They really are not thinking critically are they?

I had similar with the power company when I lived in a place with no central heating - bizarrely there was gas but only to the old gas fire which looked too dangerous to use & to a water heater, my usage was so low they wouldn't believe me despite explaining so many times that there was no gas heating. They supplied electricity too so could see usage there which was high because of electric heaters! I had to formally complain and escalate to the ombudsman as they wanted me to pay a made up 'estimated' bill that was way higher than my usage.

@Wizardry24 I think you unfortunately landed on the desk of a ‘blinkered jobsworth’. I work with one of them (tear my hair out daily) and until they are hit with reality like a sledgehammer to the face, they do not change their mind for anyone. Definitely escalate to a councillor or even your MP. (Maybe even newspaper
with obligatory sad face thumbs down picture.)

Good luck.

No because the whole point is that people lie in multiple ways reduce their council tax bill.

The OP may live there as a single occupier with low electricity usage but the council think she’s pretending to live there while actually living somewhere else - probably with someone who is lying about being a single occupier to also get a council tax reduction.

Okay Sherlock....

what's wrong with not being in the house from the moment you buy it? Lots of people have overlapping contracts with their previous rental, or want to redecorate while the place is empty?

You really think OP has gone to the effort of setting up utility bills with multiple different companies, changing her address with her bank, her phone provider, her employer, her GP, the council itself, several of which would get her in trouble if she lied, let alone fraudulently listing herself on the electoral register, for what exactly?

And if she was this criminal mastermind, intent on using her cloak of anonymity to consult with the devious hive of mumsnet how best to carry out her wicked scheme, you'd think she could have posted the exact same scenario without naming the specific council and the date she moved in, in order to keep her, you know, more anonymous?

It's always the people who think they are cleverer than others and have caught things the "sheeple" missed, who reveal their own deep stupidity.