nbfiresprite
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Posts posted by nbfiresprite
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3 minutes ago, Paul C said:
Good luck getting the refund.
I would think they would have no choice but to refund me. If they send me a letter stating that I cannot have the £400 energy rebate because they have classed the mooring as non-residential. This letter would contradict all the letters sent by them before on the subject on the mooring being classed as residential for council tax. There cannot have both ways, its either zoned for council tax or not, that is what the bench will tell them.
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This leaves the Anglian Revenues Partnership with a problem. If they claim my mooring is not residential, this would mean they will have to refund to me more than £15000 for charging council tax on a non-residential mooring since 2006.
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Sutton Swing Bridge on the Nene, on the route of the old Midland Railway and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN), otherwise known as the 'Muddle and Get Nowhere'. First major line closure under BR in 1959.
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25 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:
Wasn't he the cabin boy?
His name was Tom, Lolloping landlubber
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29 minutes ago, rusty69 said:
Snowman, this is the bandit. You got your ears on? Comeback.
[siren blares out of Bandit's CB] You know who that is? That be the Evel Knievel. He snuck in my back door when I wasn't lookin'. You better flip-flop back here and gimme' a hand, son, or we gonna be in a heap of trouble. Please roger that transmission!
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10 hours ago, frangar said:
Whatever you think of the NBTA they seem to be doing a lot of the running on this....heres the latest update from them...Pity the RBOA and indeed CRT aren't as proactive I think.
https://www.bargee-traveller.org.uk/energy-bill-support-scheme-grants-interim-update/
Its going to be a bit drawn out by the looks of it but slightly more hopeful.
Spreading misinformation you mean, People are more prone to believe misinformation when they are emotionally connected to what they are listening to or are reading. Other groups don't keep blowing their own trumpet, instead get on with the job.
I contacted this morning, Leonie Roberts Media Officer, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. She tells me that the application portal for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding is due to open by 30th January 2023 , along with a dedicated helpline to assist people without online access. They will be able to fill out a short form on GOV.UK with a few simple details, including their name and address. Much of this data will be verified up-front to reduce burdens on Local Authorities, who will then verify the address and administer the payment. When asked about the trial zones that the NBTA claim. it was the first she had heard of this. You would think the press office would had been informed of this. The next press release is due to go out next week, information like this if true would be important yet the press office was not informed.
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7 minutes ago, Paul C said:
what does then? I suspect it’s very easy to be added, much harder to get off that list.Very easy to get on the list, very hard to get off. No sooner after a long battle to get removed, within a few days it is back on the list.My boat has been listed five times under three different names in the last seven years.
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-council-tax-band/search?postcode=Jz5p6j8tYPTX53gt-EgGhw&page=0
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13 minutes ago, Tacet said:
It is the VOA and not the Council that maintains the valuation lists - and very precious about it, they are too. And it is to the VOA that any ratepayer would turn if it takes exception.
The Council may draw attention to any issues, but no way would the VOA do the Council's becking and alter the lists without being reasonably satisfied. Not having a Council Tax bill elsewhere does not make a mooring domestic.
You are the one that is wrong. I contacted both the Peterborough and the Cambridge offices of the VOA, both told me to take the matter up with the council and that they act on the information that is given to them by the council. The Valuation Office Agency is only responsible for banding properties and entering them in the Council Tax list. It is the cpuncil that provide the VOA with the information they need to allocate a band.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understand-how-council-tax-bands-are-assessed
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2 hours ago, Tacet said:
In which case ARP is out of order.
There are numerous, legitimate reasons why one may not have a Council Tax bill with one's name on it. And the absence of such does not automatically make a mooring liable to Council Tax.
And I would be surprised if the VOA took a berth out of the non-domestic list and entered it on the domestic list on no more than a request from the collecting body.
I think ARP is trying it on!
That is how the system works, All the council has to do is inform the VOA that property has been classed as domestic and will need to have a Council Tax band allocated. Only in rare cases do they make a visit. . The council is responsible for applying relevant discounts or exemptions not the VOA.
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On 10/01/2023 at 10:09, MtB said:
I think there quite possibly are.
I certainly encounter people once in while who say they are off the system, paying cash for everything and claiming not to have even a bank account.
I'm not sure I believe them though as I think living truly under the radar must be quite difficult. One would need to not have an NI number, or conventional employment, or a GP I think. And never claim any sort of benefits. Once you are ON the system, I think it must be difficult to just vanish off it.
It is a fact that not everyone has a Bank or Building Society account, Although the percentage of people who are unbanked in the UK is relatively small, it still amounts to about 1.3 million people (FCA 2021).
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9 minutes ago, MartynG said:
I am sure the marina where I keep my boat would not disclose any personal information.
Isn't there a data protection act that prevents this sort of thing?
For collecting council tax, they can require that the landlord hands over the details of the tenant.
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3 hours ago, MartynG said:
Its worrying that the council knew you were staying on the boat 3 nights a week but maybe you prefer not to go into that .
You could say that of any boat which has living accommodation.
The council or rather the Anglia Revenues Partnership (ARP) used its powers to force the marina owners to hand over the name and address of every boat owner in the marina. The ARP then sent a letter to every moorer to inform them that they are liable to pay council tax on the mooring unless they could produce a council tax bill with their name on it.
People with homes is outside the UK will not have a council tax bill. We had one pissed off Aussie who left his boat in the marina over the winter while he flew home to spend the Summer down under. He was sent a council tax and a court date.
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49 minutes ago, Paul C said:
So its like a second home, or a holiday home?
Simple a place to sleep, while at work. Otherwise I would be spending 7 hours a day traveling to and from Dorset to Cambridge four days aweek.
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3 hours ago, MartynG said:
That only applies if the boat is your main residence?
But only after a long battle with the council, and it comes down in the end to you producing a council tax bill with your name on it. I been engaged in battle with Fenland council charging council tax on my mooring since 2017. I only liveaboard three nights a week, the other four days at my home in Dorset.
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1 hour ago, waterworks said:
Not sure about " evasion" since if you went to the council and offered to pay CT for a leisure mooring at any time in the past they would not accept your claim as there would be no known address .
That depends very much on the council in the area, Council Tax is charged on leisure moorings in the Fenland if you can not produce a council tax bill with your name on it. As for the address they would add it to their database and the Royal Mail address database.
South Cambridgeshire charge 50% council tax if the boat on the mooring is unoccupied
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4 minutes ago, Paul C said:
Thanks for the insight nbfiresprite.
I think the "residents of houseboats on registered moorings" is a bit of a red herring; most liveaboard CCers and those on an unofficial mooring will need to claim under the "off-grid households" category. The above list is pretty much the same info as a month ago. I suspect the devil is in the detail on this one - whether NBTA have had any influence on the qualifying criteria so that boaters can be included within off-grid households with not much administrative hassle, or whether they'd be denied as soon as its checked that its not a "houseboat on a registered mooring" remains to be seen.
Not my insight, I ask a old school friend who is a senior member of staff in the payments department of the council in her area, what info they had been given by Whitehall.
As for registered site, this simply means that it had planning permission to be built or used. A number of databases will be used to crosscheck a claim, including the RM address database and the council tax database.
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43 minutes ago, pearley said:
I think may depend on what time you travel. I'm a 'twerly' with a bus pass so find the first few buses after 9.30 very full, even people getting on at Fen Drayton Lakes which is really just for those visiting the nature reserve.
And of course, the college is on a break at present, it may have gone back yesterday.
I have found that the buses before 9.30 are often less than half empty, the same between 5 and 6. The first few buses after 9.30 will be busy with the free bus pass holders. The inflated figures qouted by the council would mean that every bus on the busway is full with people siting on the roof and hanging off the sides. Yet services have been cut in half by Stagecoach with the routes now going round the houses replacing the town services and Whippet removed its services from the busway, in the days of the Huntingdon and District bus company the travel time between Huntingdon and Cambridge via the A14 was only a hour. Yet most of the council bus funding is thrown at the busway, In north Cambridgeshire are routes have been chopped to bits and whats left only runs after 8am and stops before 6pm with long waits between buses. The last bus from Peterborough to March leaves at 5.20pm. last bus from March to Chatteris 3.15pm with no services at the weekend. Ely to Chatteris 5.10pm, March to Wisbich via the station 5.10pm.
Yet with a max fare of £2 you would expect a increase in useage, yet it is the long travel times to cover a short distance that puts people off not the fare. Hence I use the train between March and Cambridge (30 minuites) and not the now chopped X8 March Cambridge bus service whih took two hours at half the fare.
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4 minutes ago, Lady C said:
Aren't they covered by off grid households? I think the people not included will be unofficial liveaboards in marinas who do have access to mains electricity not least because this will be seen as included in the business/commercial arrangement.
Off grid refers to not connected to any of the main utilities
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/off-the-grid
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13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
And think of Congestion charges Consultation launched on proposals to transform how people travel around Greater Cambridge - Cambridge City Council
The plans for a increase in buses is a joke, there is a large shortage of bus drivers for the current routes now. Even £2 max fare are going to get more people on buses while they go round the houses, stopping at every lampost. Cambridge to Huntingdon via the busway 1 hour 40 minuites to cover 22 miles. On Saturday, I counted only 17 people getting on and off the bus between Cambridge and Huntingdon. Yet the council useage figures claim that every bus is full
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The length of the waiting list for Cambridge is said to be 12 years for a broad beam mooring and 7 years for a narrowbeam mooring. a former neighbour had to wait 9 years before he reached the top of the list for a mooring.
Buses in Cambridgeshire are very hit and miss due to the shortage of bus drivers, More so on the weekend as many of the replacement bus routes for the ones chopped last October by Stagecoach only run Monday to Friday or run only in the early morning aand late afternoon with a 7 hour gap between. I had to get from Cambridge to March last Saturday. As no trains were running to March thanks to the RMT sponsored National Holiday, I had to use buses taking aroundbout route of nearly 70 miles with long waits between buses. Normally it would take 30 minuites to cover the 32 miles to March by rail. I left The Royal Papworth at 10.30am and did not arrive in March until nearly 7pm. Before Stagecoach cut 18 of its routes, I could take a bus from Cambridge to March taking 2 hours.
As for the moneypit that is the accdent prone busway which is falling apart, with one section that has been closed for months since a bus killed a person on the path with its wing mirror. Ticket machines don't work, services have been reduced, one company has pulled out. The ride is rough and you feel every joint that you go over.
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Just now, Goliath said:
Who’s Jackie?
Sorry this thread has got so long and gone off tangent enough times that I’ve skipped a lot
Someone I went to school with long ago.
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More than half of the class of 83 attended the funeral in Broadstone, So he had a good sendoff and the funds left over were given to the local food bank to help with energy costs.
Getting back on subject, I had a chat with Jackie about what her council had been told by Whitehall. She has since got back to me with the information that she has.
Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) Alternative Funding.
The criteria for this funding is:
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The household that support is being claimed for is the main or only home address of the person to receive the support.
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The resident or applicant is responsible for paying the household energy bill. This means either as part of a service charge, rent, or other arrangement and may have had the impact of increased energy bills costs passed on to them between 1 October 2022 - 31 March 2023.
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The household is not already receiving EBSS payments in whole or in part.
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The household is not a business premises or other form of non-domestic premises. It must be used solely or mainly for domestic purposes.
following people are eligible:
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care home residents
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residents of park homes
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tenants in certain private and social rented homes
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homes supplied via private grid
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residents of houseboats on registered moorings
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residents of caravans on registered sites
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farmers living in domestic farmhouses
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off-grid households
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Travellers on registered sites
The Council will make the support payments to applicants bank accounts once appropriate checks have been made. First payments expected to be made by the emd of the month.
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2 minutes ago, MtB said:
Point of Order.
Rats and cockroaches are generally the responsibility of the occupier and their living habits. When owner-occupiers get rats and cockroaches they don't generally blame the building, so why with a rental should a landlord who owns the property be considered responsible?
Further, there is nothing stopping a tenant with rats and cockroaches giving notice to quit and moving to a cleaner property.
Landlords must comply with the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. Pests such as rats, mice, cockroaches and pigeons pose a risk to human health and are covered by the Act.
Pests can gain entry to a property through small cracks, drains, pipes and air vents. If you have a gap bigger than a biro pen, a mouse can fit through it. If such gaps exist and the tenant reports a mouse problem, the responsibility will lie with the landlord.
Where a new tenant discovers an infestation of cockroaches, or bedbugs soon after moving in, it is likely they were already in existence prior to the beginning of the lease period and therefore the landlord is responsible.
This landlord has infect a monopoly of the lower end market for rented housing in the area. His properties tend to be the only ones within the price range of low paid. Many of the other landlords will not take tenants who claim housing benefit.
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22 minutes ago, Feeby100 said:
And the landlord should be taken to court
The landlord is a very nasty price of work who has been getting away with it for years. He well in with local councillors. He been investegated before by Channel 4’s Dispatches and others who have produced a dammning reports of broken windows, rats, cockroaches, damp, dirt and leaking toilets in his 2700 plus properties in Bourthmouth and Boscombe. He exploits the spiralling demand for housing and the money to be made from tenants’ housing benefit. His tenants live in fear, not one tenant has been prepared to speakout in court in the [ast 40 years, yet many have died in his properties.
Boat dwellers to be able to claim the £400 energy allowance.
in Living Afloat
Posted
That's where it will prove interesting in my case as it will with others in my marina, as planning list my mooring as non-residential, yet Council tax is charged on it.