Council tax

[Mandofred]

Moving into another house in the next couple of weeks. First council tax payments start 1 Oct and go 6 months. They want £293 a month (band E). The yearly amount is £2734. Anybody have any idea why I'm paying that much? If I divide the total by 10 months it should be £273 a month. Divide by 12 months and it's £227. We currently own 2 homes....we will be selling our current home in November....is there a penalty? Nothing on the Council tax paper that states any details at all.

 

[jim8flog]

I live in South Somerset that figure is about the same for a band E here.

Whether or not there is a 2nd home discount depends on the Authority, some give it some do not.
You can only get full discount if the 2nd home is totally empty.

 

[Mandofred]

I live in South Somerset that figure is about the same for a band E here.

Whether or not there is a 2nd home discount depends on the Authority, some give it some do not.
You can only get full discount if the 2nd home is totally empty.

My wife called the Council a month or so ago and said they don't do discounts any more. My question is more along the lines of why is the Council asking for £293 and not £273 or £227 based on 10 or 12 months.....just a basic math question. I was hopefully going to call tomorrow and see if there is a good reason they are asking for more than what it looks like we should be paying.....maybe there is a good reason, I just don't see it. The second has been empty since we got the keys 9 Aug. We are just cleaning and slowly fixing things. Waiting for a guy to come raise the kitchen floor where the joists have sunk.....can't get anybody in to do work until that is fixed.

 

[Springveldt]

My wife called the Council a month or so ago and said they don't do discounts any more. My question is more along the lines of why is the Council asking for £293 and not £273 or £227 based on 10 or 12 months.....just a basic math question. I was hopefully going to call tomorrow and see if there is a good reason they are asking for more than what it looks like we should be paying.....maybe there is a good reason, I just don't see it. The second has been empty since we got the keys 9 Aug. We are just cleaning and slowly fixing things. Waiting for a guy to come raise the kitchen floor where the joists have sunk.....can't get anybody in to do work until that is fixed.

Is it because you are moving in in the middle of September so you actually have 6.5 months of council tax but they are taking it in 6 payments?

 

[ExRabbit]

Is it because you are moving in in the middle of September so you actually have 6.5 months of council tax but they are taking it in 6 payments?

Probably something like that - we get ours taken over ten months and have two free months early in the year, so they would have to collect the extra in those months before the gap, which might be later in the year for you.




....after a bit of research I see that it is the norm for 10 months - which will probably explain your situation because you need to catch up before the gap if you are on the 10-month rota.

https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/paying-your-bill

 

[backwoodsman]

Simple maths suggests that 6 payments of £293 totals £1,798 - which equates to approx 64% of the annual bill. 64% of a year is approx 7.7 months. You took over the house on 9 August - which is about 7.7months before the end of the Council tax year.

 

[Neilds]

I agree with comments above. Your liability starts from the day you bought the house and not the day you move in

 

[Mandofred]

I agree with comments above. Your liability starts from the day you bought the house and not the day you move in

Yep, I figured that was what they were doing......the way the paperwork/bill was presented didn't explain anything. Gave them a call yesterday, got right through to a lady who said the same thing.....it was just easier for them to make it 6 monthly payments of £293 (I just paid it lump sum). Come the start of the new year it should be a good bit less per month (12 instead of 10), but I think I might just pay that upfront as well.

 

[Springveldt]

Yep, I figured that was what they were doing......the way the paperwork/bill was presented didn't explain anything. Gave them a call yesterday, got right through to a lady who said the same thing.....it was just easier for them to make it 6 monthly payments of £293 (I just paid it lump sum). Come the start of the new year it should be a good bit less per month (12 instead of 10), but I think I might just pay that upfront as well.

Why would you pay it up front, do they give you a discount?

 

[Mandofred]

Why would you pay it up front, do they give you a discount?

Nope, I asked about that. The amount of interest I'd get for keeping the money in my Lloyds account and paying monthly is minuscule. Not sure what I'll at the beginning of the new council rates season......either up front or 12 months since they are offering that now. I was also kind of thinking if they did some kind of discount....it would be just another thing that people with more money would get a break on.

 

[Springveldt]

Nope, I asked about that. The amount of interest I'd get for keeping the money in my Lloyds account and paying monthly is minuscule. Not sure what I'll at the beginning of the new council rates season......either up front or 12 months since they are offering that now. I was also kind of thinking if they did some kind of discount....it would be just another thing that people with more money would get a break on.

There is no way I’d be paying it all up front if no discount and the 12 months are interest free. It’s never even crossed my mind to pay council tax up front, I begrudge giving them £294 a month for 10 months as it is with their yearly 4.99% increases.

 

[Neilds]

There is no way I’d be paying it all up front if no discount and the 12 months are interest free. It’s never even crossed my mind to pay council tax up front, I begrudge giving them £294 a month for 10 months as it is with their yearly 4.99% increases.

We pay a lump sum up front to take it down to £100 a month ('only' about £2000 py for us) as it makes it easier to budget each month rather than having to pay a large sum very month. The interest on this would be minimal but we never considered this as a factor anyway. People like to budget in different ways, who is to say which way is right?