Council Tax within Licence Fee?

[Chagall]

Does anybody know what proportion of the licence fee goes towards councils?.... or at least who to ask? C&RT I realise but which area or who?

 

I'm paying full council tax (band A for a shared jetty) in a non residential marina, a portion of the mooring fee is towards the council emptied marina bins and a portion of the licence is I believe paid to councils? It's that I'm usure of.

[dor]

I think you are being conned by the marina if you really think you are contributing to a Council Tax. It is only applied to boats that are on formal residential moorings, and may be included in your mooring fee or paid to the council directly as would a house owner.

 

The CRT license fee does not include any element for Council Tax.

[Chagall]

Yes but the Valuation Office have now decreed boats to be a dwelling if we live full time on them, despite not being classed as a residential mooring, the boat attracts the council tax.

 

I had assumed the licence fee included some fees to councils, it was that aspect which confused me.

[GUMPY]

None of the licence fee goes towards council tax.

You can be charged CT on a non residential mooring if you live there.

There are links on the vaulation offices website explaining CT and who and what is liable.

Just be worried that if the CT dept of the council talk to planning you may find youelf with no mooring

Edited August 28, 2015 by Loddon

[Higgs]

Your licence fee does not include anything for council tax. If you are paying full band council tax, you should also have a postal code to use at the marina. Your mooring should be yours only. It does sound a bit fishy. Your mooring fee should include waste disposal charges, and usually an electricity card/meter supply, water supply, and Elsan.

 

If you are paying council tax, it would include the collection of domestic waste, as any householder would expect for the council tax payment. Don't really understand why the marina makes a charge as part of your mooring fee to pass onto the council for the collection of waste. It would seem that you have a duplication of billing for waste collection.

[Chagall]

Yes the mooring is 'mine' (although terms and conditions say I can be moved but in reality they actually dont) the jetty is shared. I only have the marina postcode, and a portion of the mooring fee is to cover waste removal, I may not have personal bins. So yes it was the aspect of paying in triplicate that puzzled me but if the Licence fee does not include such then I am indeed merely paying twice for my singular bin bag! ...woopee!

 

Thanks, dont know where I got the idea the licence covered some council payments.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Chagall

[Higgs]

Yes the mooring is 'mine' (although terms and conditions say I can be moved but in reality they actually dont) the jetty is shared. I only have the marina postcode, and a portion of the mooring fee is to cover waste removal, I may not have personal bins. So yes it was the aspect of paying in triplicate that puzzled me but if the Licence fee does not include such then I am indeed merely paying twice for my singular bin bag! ...woopee!

 

Thanks, dont know where I got the idea the licence covered some council payments.

 

 

Maybe you should contact the local housing authority an ask them a few questions about your status as a council tax payer and what exactly are you paying for, in terms of refuse collection and the like. It seems you are on a non residential mooring, which is due a refuse charge according to the marina's billing, but you are forced to pay council tax that entitles you to refuse collection.

 

If the council are treating you as residential, I wonder how difficult it could be, or why your mooring cannot have full planning permission to become residential. You are in the middle and are getting shafted.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Higgs

[kevinl]

I don't get this, I've never heard council tax mentioned other than on a council approved residential mooring where either a boat or a jetty pay. The marina will pay business rates so a proportion of my mooring fee will go towards this. If you pay council tax you should get a bill and have a council tax number. You shouldn't be paying if you're (in breach of the marina rules) living on your boat, if the choose to turn a blind eye that's up to them but it the council find out the marina will be in trouble for breaching their planning permission.

Do CRT give any money to councils? Again a new one on me, why should they?

K

[David Mack]

CRT licence fee does not include council tax.

 

A residential mooring with planning permission will pay council tax - usually at the band A rate as it is based on the value of the mooring, not the value of the boat. Councils usually turn a blind eye to council tax that may theoretically be payable on a residential mooring without planning permission, as acknowledging that opens a whole can of worms.

 

A marina should be paying business rates and paying the going commercial rate for rubbish disposal, which may be included within your mooring fee or be charged separately.

[Jerra]

Could it be due to a mixture of residential non residential moorings? I have a holiday let in a development which has both types but all the refuse is in business bins and all pay for the bin emptying.

 

Obviously as mine is commercial it is no problem but bins are part of the Management Fee paid by all properties and there is no collection other than at the communal wheelie bins.

[StarUKKiwi]

If you paid council tax, it woukd be in one two ways. Either you pay for the mooring direct to the council or the marina has residential status and you pay the marina and they pay a rate to include residential moorings. Your local council websites normally detail the charges

[MtB]

Does anybody know what proportion of the licence fee goes towards councils?....

 

 

Yes. Zero.

[Graham Davis]

Yes but the Valuation Office have now decreed boats to be a dwelling if we live full time on them, despite not being classed as a residential mooring, the boat attracts the council tax.

 

I had assumed the licence fee included some fees to councils, it was that aspect which confused me.

 

Have you had that in writing form the Council?

 

Yes the mooring is 'mine' (although terms and conditions say I can be moved but in reality they actually dont) the jetty is shared. I only have the marina postcode, and a portion of the mooring fee is to cover waste removal, I may not have personal bins. So yes it was the aspect of paying in triplicate that puzzled me but if the Licence fee does not include such then I am indeed merely paying twice for my singular bin bag! ...woopee!

 

Thanks, dont know where I got the idea the licence covered some council payments.

 

Quite possible, as few business get free waste collections from Councils nowadays.

 

Post Codes are not "dependent" on the property being "rateable".

Edited August 28, 2015 by Graham Davis

[nigel 2dogs]

My marina berthing fees includes corporation tax and the marina pays for refuse collection to a private company.The pontoon lighting and water is supplied and maintained by the marina and I am not connected to mains sewage , so therefore not liable for council tax.

Should the council wish to become involved I suspect my home is not up to their minimum standard for inhabitation.

[Rickent]

I pay a mooring fee and am fully residential . Refuse collection is included in that fee but pay no council tax.

[Chewbacka]

I pay a mooring fee and am fully residential . Refuse collection is included in that fee but pay no council tax.

Is that a residential mooring with planing permission etc, or just a mooring you live at?

[Rickent]

Its a residential mooring i liveI on full time , I have a post code and receive post . My driving licence and insurance etc are all registered at that address.

[Phil Ambrose]

Its a residential mooring i liveI on full time , I have a post code and receive post . My driving licence and insurance etc are all registered at that address.

I'm in exactly the same position except our mooring fees are broken down into 2 parts, the second part being utilities, Elsan is emptied by private company as are the dumpsters.

Post code is provided by Royal Mail, nowt to do with council.

Oh and we pay no council tax as the marina is on a private island (gated access)

Phil

[Chagall]

 

Have you had that in writing form the Council?

 

 

 

Yes. ... or more accurately, from the Valuation Office Agency.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Chagall

[MtB]

Its a residential mooring i liveI on full time , I have a post code and receive post . My driving licence and insurance etc are all registered at that address.

 

 

You may live there and have a postcode but unless you have residential Planning Permission on your mooring, you are in breach of planning law.

 

If you don't have residential PP, and If the local council get wind of this they are required to respond by serving you with an Enforcement Notice, so I'd just keep quiet if I were you.

[rgreg]

Personally I think if a great deal of fuss is made about this it could result in the council putting pressure on the marina owners re planning regulations, and the marina owners may be forced/decide to take a less cooperative view of living on your boat.

[Rickent]

Hi mike, pretty sure it's all above board . We are also a caravan park with lots of tourers and a high number of statics . I couldn't say if the owner turns a blind eye to people living in their vans but he does tell them they shouldn't . They are not allowed to receive post either, it is only boats that are allowed to live aboard and receive post.

[Higgs]

Personally I think if a great deal of fuss is made about this it could result in the council putting pressure on the marina owners re planning regulations, and the marina owners may be forced/decide to take a less cooperative view of living on your boat.

 

 

That would depend on the likelihood of the marina being able to replace the moorer. Turning business down is not a marina's most natural choice. And anyway, it seems the council have already come to some agreement with the marina. Marinas like boat business, but the moorer is not usually party in forming agreements between itself (the marina) and other authorities.

 

In my experience, the moorer is used in these agreements and the deals are done anyway. I do not agree that put up or shut up is doing the boater any favours, in the long run. It merely makes the boater's case insignificant.

[Paul C]

I think he meant marinas in general. Ie wider that the specific case mentioned. Some marinas have an agreement with the council, in other words their planning consent/use of land has either residential berths or is a composite hereditament; or the council perceive the anomoly between planning permission and council tax collection as a non-issue. But its true to say there's more liveaboards in marinas than there are planning consents.

[Higgs]

I think he meant marinas in general. Ie wider that the specific case mentioned. Some marinas have an agreement with the council, in other words their planning consent/use of land has either residential berths or is a composite hereditament; or the council perceive the anomoly between planning permission and council tax collection as a non-issue. But its true to say there's more liveaboards in marinas than there are planning consents.

 

I'm residential, by way of hereditament agreement/valuation. It costs a fraction of the full band. It also means that we cannot consider the mooring permanently ours, but it is residential and official. Full band council tax should give the resident some form of exclusivity and permanence. This the OP does not seem to have. He lives in a no man's land between authorities.

 

It is an agreement between the marina and council, one of convenience, but seems not to confer official residential benefits to the moorer.