Council Tax

[KPritchard]

My friend who is working away from home at present can not get access to the internet and has requested I ask this question.

My friend owns his house in the West Midlands and is the sole occupier claiming a 25% discount off council tax.
He will be working in London for about 6 months and is staying at a friends house 4 nights a week ( likely to be less on average as he will be taking some annual leave and spending a few days working in the Midlands during that time ) who is also an only occupier.
The London Council has picked this up and have stated his friend in London is not eligible for the 25% discount while he is there.
He has approached the Birmingham City Council to try and obtain a rebate for the time he will not occupy his house and they have stated the London Council should still give the single occupier discount to his friend as my friend is paying council tax in Birmingham.
Is there anywhere we can check which council is right.

K Pritchard

[Old_Geezer]

My suspicion is that each council has it's own set of rules to benefit them rather than the citizens.

[DrFilth]

maybe your local cab office could help

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

[Canary42]

I doubt that the rule on multiple occupancy makes any reference to the status of occupants (i.e. whether any of them are paying council tax elsewhere) so probably down to how local council interpret it.

[buildersmate]

It's a tricky one. The source of the legislation is the Local Government Finance Act 1992. I had a quick look at this but it is written in the way that it is very unspecific about how local authorities should apply discounts.

I suspect that the best opportunity to avoid the charge is via the London Council, not the W Midlands, on the grounds that the second occupant maintains a permanent home elsewhere on which CT is paid, and he is only staying at the London property with his friend on a temporary and non-full-time basis.

If you tell us which London Council is involved someone will be able to check what they specifically about discounts - council policies do vary.

[tonywiltshire]

As mentioned by BM I agree your best chance for a Council tax rebate is to concentrate on the London Authority on the grounds that he is paying Council Tax elsewhere and it is a temporary arrangement; he may also be staying in London less than 50% of the time from what you say. Check the CT rules within the London LA.