council tax check

[cloudburst]

How can I double check that I satisfy the council tax requirement for BC?

I've lived in five different places since I moved to the U.K. My name was on the council tax bill at two of the places. At one place, council taxes were included in the rent. At the remaining two places, I reimbursed my flatmate or housemate.

Unfortunately, I didn't keep copies of all of the council tax bills.

For personal reasons, I would prefer not to contact my old flatmate, housemate, and landlords to ensure that they paid all of the council taxes.

For criminal convictions, you can run a CRB check on yourself. Is there something similar for council tax? Can I contact the councils that I've lived in and ask them to verify if they see any debt in my name? Will I need to provide them with the account number for the council tax bill?

[John]

How can I double check that I satisfy the council tax requirement for BC?

So what is that requirement?

Are you in danger of inventing a requirement that does not exist?

[cloudburst]

Here is the requirement.

"8.8 Non-payment of Council Tax
8.8.1 Payment of the Council Tax is a legal requirement, and non-compliance is a punishable offence. Failure to pay Council Tax means that an applicant fails to meet the good character requirement. Applicants who also provide a false statement or fail to declare their full circumstances in order to avoid paying a higher rate of Council Tax should also normally be refused citizenship."

[skymoon]

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[cloudburst]

Please click on the below link, pull up Annex D, and scroll down to page 24.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... chapter18/



Does anyone know how UKBA checks that you satisfy this requirement? Do they refer to your addresses for the past five years and check that you paid council tax for every month?

[barnaby]

For criminal convictions, you can run a CRB check on yourself. Is there something similar for council tax? Can I contact the councils that I've lived in and ask them to verify if they see any debt in my name? Will I need to provide them with the account number for the council tax bill?

It might be worth getting a statutory credit report from Equifax and Experian. £2 each. Equifax one can be viewed online immediately. Experian takes a few days. No idea whether council tax debt would show up there, but it seems possible.

[skymoon]

If you are paying council tax now for your current address where you are living then no need to contact council as they have updated there record to your new address. I am agree with barnaby that better to have a credit check to make sure your credit history is OK.

[John]

8.8.1 Payment of the Council Tax is a legal requirement, and non-compliance is a punishable offence. Failure to pay Council Tax means that an applicant fails to meet the good character requirement. Applicants who also provide a false statement or fail to declare their full circumstances in order to avoid paying a higher rate of Council Tax should also normally be refused citizenship.

I think that is extremely badly written, so cloudburst, no wonder you are worried!

I think there are some words missing, and would redraft to something like :-

8.8.1 Where you have a liability to pay Council Tax then payment of that Council Tax is a legal requirement, and non-compliance is a punishable offence. Failure to pay that Council Tax means that an applicant fails to meet the good character requirement. Applicants who also provide a false statement or fail to declare their full circumstances in order to avoid paying a higher rate of Council Tax should also normally be refused citizenship.

For example, look at :-

Council tax liability (who should pay the bill?)

-: and other Councils will have a similar webpage.

So cloudburst, for example, for when "I reimbursed my flatmate or housemate", clearly the Council Tax bill was not in your name, therefore you had no liability to pay Council Tax direct to the Council.

[mlove]

From what I've read, it is when a warrant pertaining to council tax is issued ( triggering bailiff action ) , that a threat to your BC comes into play.

I imagine UKBA has access to some database to check this.

I was concerned about the council tax at one of my previous addresses when I discovered gas bills coming out of my bank account several months after I left. Since the landlady left the gas in my name, I thought there was a chance she did the same with the council tax bill.

I just called up the council, selected the options to get through to "overdue accounts" and asked them about the closure of my account. They checked, told me the balance was at £0.00 and even emailed me a copy.

This was shortly before my application for BC - so the call took care of that worry also.

I had a bill for my other address I left and checked the whole thing out online - it was clear also.

[cloudburst]

If I contacted each council, provided them with the account number and corresponding address even if the bills weren't in my name, and verified that there are no outstanding payments, do you reckon that I would be O.K. to satisfy the council tax requirement?

Suppose, for example, my flatmate / housemate paid one council tax installment late. Do you think that as long as there are currently no outstanding payments, I will be fine?

[John]

You are continuing to miss the point. That is, even if the flatmate had not paid, that does not make you liable.

Stop inventing a problem that does not exist.

[madhumesh]

As suggested by previous posters, if you have any bailiff action pending in you name it will be reflected in your credit report. Worth getting it checked if you have any doubts.

If I contacted each council, provided them with the account number and corresponding address even if the bills weren't in my name, and verified that there are no outstanding payments, do you reckon that I would be O.K. to satisfy the council tax requirement?

Suppose, for example, my flatmate / housemate paid one council tax installment late. Do you think that as long as there are currently no outstanding payments, I will be fine?

[Amber]

I was digging through some old documents to prepare for my naturalization application, and I found a summons for non-payment of council tax from 2009. My flatmate at the time was the one who took care of all the bills. I reimbursed him for the bills. If I remember correctly, he sorted the issue out with the council. I have heard nothing else about this issue since 2009.

I no longer live at that residence. I tried to contact my flatmate several months ago about council tax at that residence, but I couldn't get through to him.

Do I need to mention this summons in my application form? Shall I contact the council and ask them to confirm in writing that this issue is now resolved? Shall I include this written confirmation in my application form?

I ran a report on this address on Trust Online, and the report is clear.

[Amber]

If the summons was in your name then ring the local authority that was responsible and ask then if the account is satisfied.

[cloudburst]

Hi Amber,

If the council confirms that the issue is resolved now, do I need to mention this in my application form?

[Amber]

No.