Council tax

[nimbusgb]

Some may well be 'taking the piss' but it's not as if we are talking multimillionaires living aboard 90' gin palaces and saving 100's of thousands in taxes is it.

My friend moved to live aboard a boat precisely because of the economics. He's a single dad and works for 'the man' putting together deals of over £1/2 billion on a regular basis. He gets paid very little for doing a bloody good job of it. He's passionate and enthusiastic about what he does. He sits in meetings where the private sector blokes on the other side of the table probably make in a day what he makes in 2 months and who scrape commissions and bonuses out of these deals, one of which would see him through retirement in an instant!

Coming after a guy who lives aboard a 20 grand boat, making ends meet is, I suppose just about the sum total of things these days. Just one city directors bonus would pay for ALL of the liveaboards 'council taxes' around the entire UK I suspect.

 

[chinita]

Coming after a guy who lives aboard a 20 grand boat, making ends meet is, I suppose just about the sum total of things these days. Just one city directors bonus would pay for ALL of the liveaboards 'council taxes' around the entire UK I suspect.

Unfortunately

"The meek may inherit the earth but, until they do, they exist to be sh@t upon"

 

[ukmctc]

If your claiming benefit and use your boat address as home, then you pay the tax, don't see the problem, if your boat don't move the pay the tax, if like me you only moore for the winter working for 4 - 6 months don't claim anything, then move on, then no to council tax.

BUT it is the marina who report that you are a permenant liveaboard, and the benefit office when you claim mooring as rent. So if you do then pay the tax, the marina should reduce your fees though as they won't be paying on your berth as you are!

I have heard that some marinas charge a premium on berth rental if your a liveaboard, but dont tell the council if your employed and quiet.

 

[lenseman]

Properties exempt from council tax

Some property is exempt from council tax altogether. It may be exempt for only a short period, for example, six months, or indefinitely.

Properties which may be exempt include:

property which is empty. This means it has to be unoccupied. The property also has to be substantially unfurnished. The exemption applies for a maximum of six months and the property has to be vacant for the whole of this period (although up to six weeks of occupation during the period is allowed)
property which is vacant because it needs major repairs or alterations to make it habitable. The exemption applies for a maximum of 12 months whether the work is actually finished or not by then
condemned property
property which has been legally re-possessed by a mortgage lender
property unoccupied because the person who lived there now lives elsewhere because they need to be cared for, for example, in hospital, in a care home or with relatives
property which is unoccupied because the person who lived there has gone to care for someone else
any property that only students or Foreign Language Assistants on the official British Council programme live in. This may be a hall of residence, or a house
a caravan or boat which is used as a main residence but which is unoccupied. This exemption lasts for up to six months. A holiday caravan or boat is exempt if it's on a property where council tax is paid
a property where all the people who live in it are aged under 18
property which is occupied only by people with severe mental impairment
a self-contained ‘granny flat’ where the person who lives in it is a dependent relative of the owner of the main property.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/tax/council_tax.htm

 

[Zanziba]

Properties exempt from council tax
property which is occupied only by people with severe mental impairment

I think that this covers me

 

[lenseman]

I think that this covers me

In fact I think it covers everyone who owns a boat?

 

[wotayottie]

This is a nightmare, when you say you know someone who is living aboard and got a letter, how would the council know they were living on the boat and where did they send the letter.
I live aboard and unless I was daft enough to write and tell the council exactly where I was they would never know.

But you have just told them Paul Crawford - or at least given them a good starting point as in:

"Trade Wind Sailing...Yacht SurveyYacht EquipmentOrders

Contact Us Please email p.crawford@ukonline.co.uk and I shall get back to you as soon as possible.

Trade wind sailing Ltd
31a Mount Stuart Rd
Rothesay
Isle of Bute
PA20 9EB"

 

[nimbusgb]

Apparently someone let the authorities on to site. They then walked around looking at all the boas with fixed telephones and the like. There was some talk that the marina was somehow involved.

 

[Roaring Girl]

I haven't read all this thread, but the key issue here is not whether your property is exempt, but whether your boat counts as a hereditament on which tax is payable. If you seek to claim benefit for rent then it will be counted as such.

Otherwise, there are some tests of what counts as a hereditament which includes eg post delivered straight to the boat, can the marina change your berth at will, does it leave the marina on a reasonably regular basis? It is up to you to argue this toss with your local authority depending on your individual circumstances. The situation of an ocean-going yacht spending the winter in a marina is completely different from a houseboat with a permanent mooring, even if the former has decided to fix up a phone line.

 

[V1701]

This post was resurrected after Lenseman's post of 20/3 and coincidentally there's another one on Scuttlebutt about council tax at Brighton Marina. I don't really see why people have to start bringing in the issue of benefits, nearly all of us liveaboards here are either working or retired, I know of one person who has a BT landline, I know of no-one who has post delivered directly to their boat. We are nearly all of us not liable in law to pay council tax for living aboard at Brighton, because our berths are not residential moorings with planning permission, even if they were we would have to have exclusive access to them (we do not have exclusive access to our marina berths) and our boats are not permanently moored (i.e. we go out in them). Why do I feel as if am having to defend myself, especially on these forums???

 

[nimbusgb]

Checked with my Brighton liveaboard mate just this morning and it's 'all gone quiet' was his update.

 

[Roaring Girl]

This post was resurrected after Lenseman's post of 20/3 and coincidentally there's another one on Scuttlebutt about council tax at Brighton Marina. I don't really see why people have to start bringing in the issue of benefits, nearly all of us liveaboards here are either working or retired, I know of one person who has a BT landline, I know of no-one who has post delivered directly to their boat. We are nearly all of us not liable in law to pay council tax for living aboard at Brighton, because our berths are not residential moorings with planning permission, even if they were we would have to have exclusive access to them (we do not have exclusive access to our marina berths) and our boats are not permanently moored (i.e. we go out in them). Why do I feel as if am having to defend myself, especially on these forums???

Agreed

 

[haydude]

http://www.premiermarinas.com/downloads/view/304

see para 12.

This forbids liveaboards. If there are no liveaboards, how can they be charged council tax?

They close both eyes because they need livaboard too to fill their spaces and pay berthing fees.

 

[Candellara]

Interesting read. There's two boats close to my berth that had recently been moved from one end of the marina to the other. The owners (liveaboards) cited that their original berths were too far away from the showers / toilets hence the move. I understand that as they're unemployed, the Council / Housing benefit pay their Marina fees? That being the case, i'd assume that any Council tax due is also paid as part of their benefits?

 

[macd]

That looks rather like a presumption based on a supposition pinned to a guess.
'Council Tax Reduction' is available to people on low incomes but, if I may also hazard a guess, any liveaboard paying £0 p.a. would probably not qualify. Equally ineligible, I imagine, would be anyone exhumed as often as this thread.

 

[Lucy52]

Interesting read. ....... I understand that as they're unemployed, the Council / Housing benefit pay their Marina fees? That being the case, i'd assume that any Council tax due is also paid as part of their benefits?

A five year old thread is resurrected.

My goodness! How dare they! What impudence! Living on a boat, whatever next, it shouldn’t be allowed. At least, not if you are unfortunate enough not to have a proper job.

If the Council does pay there Marina Fees, then it is cheap for the price, saving the poor old Council Tax payers money. If the Council didn't pay for them they might have to house them at much greater expense elsewhere.

Always "assuming" that is, that the Council does in fact pay their Marina Fees, which is something we don't know.

Shouldn't this stuff be in the lounge?

 

[Candellara]

A five year old thread is resurrected.

My goodness! How dare they! What impudence! Living on a boat, whatever next, it shouldn’t be allowed. At least, not if you are unfortunate enough not to have a proper job.

If the Council does pay there Marina Fees, then it is cheap for the price, saving the poor old Council Tax payers money. If the Council didn't pay for them they might have to house them at much greater expense elsewhere.

Always "assuming" that is, that the Council does in fact pay their Marina Fees, which is something we don't know.

Shouldn't this stuff be in the lounge?

I think you miss my point. I was purely stating that if due to their circumstances that their Marina fees are paid for - surely any council tax liability is also covered? There was no mention of the rights or wrongs of living on boats, employment or tax payers money?

 

[macd]

Shouldn't this stuff be in the lounge?

Did The Lounge even exist when this thread began?

And what's not liveaboard about living on a boat?

 

[Lucy52]

.......if due to their circumstances that their Marina fees are paid for - surely any council tax liability is also covered?

Candellara, I am so sorry if I missed your point.

Whether Council Tax is paid or not, I do not know the rules as I haven't had to claim it but I would expect a rebate to be available for those in need. Macd has given a better answer there.

It is not my nerve that you touched, as I own my own home and have no need to feel got at.

It is the case though that there are some who seem to take every opportunity to knock those who are less fortunate and who gain some benefit which others have to pay for.

Not in your case, I am encouraged.

Macd, I agree living on a boat most certainly belongs in the Livaboard thread.

 

[chinita]

Interesting read. There's two boats close to my berth that had recently been moved from one end of the marina to the other. The owners (liveaboards) cited that their original berths were too far away from the showers / toilets hence the move. I understand that as they're unemployed, the Council / Housing benefit pay their Marina fees? That being the case, i'd assume that any Council tax due is also paid as part of their benefits?

If their Marina fees are paid as housing benefit they will also not be paying council tax under the reduction rules.

Anyway, please confirm this is true. If it is, I am off to buy a skanky old wooden 60ft MFV and have it towed to Salterns.