the year is april to april not january to january
you only need to pay council tax from the official exchange date did you let them know the exact date

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we are all ------------------still learning

Where we are me pay other 10 month's and the we have feb and march off, why I dont know

because the finacial year begins april so they want the money in in time for the end off year audit so that gives them 6- 8 weeks to do the full audit avoiding having to guess who will default on the last 2 payments

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we are all ------------------still learning

Well it is actually done to ensure there is sufficient income to meet budget spending within a financial year. If it were paid over 12 months by the time income is realised it would be too late to cover service costs for those last months. The 10 instalments has its roots back in the old rates system and it was taken forward to Community Charge and then Council Tax. As I mentioned earlier the rights of the payer to spread payments over 10 months is dependent on regular timely payments. If you default the Council are entitled by law to recover the whole lot due in one go. This was the point that I was trying to make to Apprentice in that if he is out of step with payments, irrespective of missing cheques and Direct Debts not being taken they can easily issue a summons and get a Liability Order from the Magistrates' court. This is not namby pamby County Court action, it is quite tough and can result in 90 days prison.

Check with the Council at your old address and ascertain if the bill was apportioned up to the date you moved. Sometimes solicitors can make an allowance on the house price if the sale is February/March as the CT has been paid by then so they increase the house price by the respective amount which the buyer settles making them liable from April. Check also that the new bill runs from your completion date.

It is possible to pay part of the CT twice if you have two properties at the same time. However, only 50% would be due on one of them as you would not be living in two homes simultaneously. Holiday homes is an example and many holiday home areas are reducing the empty exemption as they lose too much revenue from empty holiday homes only yielding 50% CT.

I hope this clarifies the situation for you.

DWD