Coventry OAP jailed for refusing to pay council tax

[dutchman]

A Coventry pensioner demanded to be jailed rather than pay council tax on an empty house.

Henry Edwards, aged 67, of Crosbie Road, Chapelfields, is currently serving 42 days over an unpaid bill of £1,856.

The demand was for an empty home the self-employed carpenter is currently renovating in the Stoke area of the city.

A source close to Edwards told the Telegraph he was a “stubborn” man who was adamant he should not have to pay council tax on an empty property.

The law says homeowners do not have to pay council tax for the first two weeks a property is empty.

After that the full amount is due, despite single occupants receiving a 25 per cent discount and students paying nothing.

Official paperwork from the day of the hearing at Coventry Magistrates Courts on August 19 said JPs had no alternative but to send Edwards to jail because he was in breach of a suspended sentence given in July over the same unpaid bill.

It says: “No other method of enforcement is appropriate as the defendant has shown a complete disregard for outstanding debt and the previous suspended sentence imposed by the court.

“He has informed the court on a number of occasions this morning he will not pay and has no intention to pay.

“Magistrates gave the defendant time to think about the court’s options, but the defendant was still adamant he will not pay and that he wants to go to prison.

“He says the council is not entitled to this money and he will not pay them anything.”

Coventry City Council uses council tax to spend on services such as education, bin collections and road repairs.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: “Everyone has to pay what they owe or the whole system falls apart and in point-blank refusing to pay this gentleman has given the authorities little choice in the matter.

“That said, we need to constantly look at the exceptions currently in place to ensure that they’re all fit for purpose, and used as flexibly as possible.

“In the long run, we need the council to reduce the tax burden for each and every resident by reducing unnecessary spending.”

It is expected that Edwards will serve up to half his sentence - about three weeks - before he is released.

In June we revealed that 19,000 people in Coventry were summoned to court last year for not paying council tax or business rates.

There are around 140,000 houses in Coventry and 8,000 businesses.

Figures released for 2013 showed the city council was owed more than £13million in unpaid council tax.

At the time that was the equivalent of £100 for every household in the city.

[rebbonk]

He knows the 'rules' he left the court with no choice.

Mind you, there is a definite anomaly in the law there: how can an empty property being renovated be charged more than one with single occupancy? - I know the theory behind it, but in practice it seems very wrong to only allow 2 weeks grace.

[dutchman]

There's a house near me which has been undergoing renovation for months now, the skip parked outside has has become an almost permanent fixture in the street. I dread to think what the council tax bill for that will be?

[dutchman]

Rebel Coventry pensioner jailed over unpaid council tax insists he still won't pay



A Coventry pensioner who spent six weeks in prison over unpaid council tax remains defiant, saying: “I won’t pay.”

Scout leader Henry Edwards, 67, was jailed for 42 days in August for refusing to pay an £1,800 bill on an empty house in the Stoke area of the city.

He was reunited with his partner Pearl at their home in Crosbie Road, Chapelfields, on Tuesday but, despite serving the full sentence, he still has to pay the outstanding amount.

But he told the Telegraph: “I won’t pay. I am standing up for my rights.

“It’s non-productive. It’s cost the ratepayers £22,000 to put me in prison for six weeks for an £1,800 bill.

“Now the whole process will start again unless the councillors get involved.”

The council tax bill was for a derelict property that the self-employed carpenter is renovating.

He did not have to pay anything for a year after an inspector from Coventry City Council declared it was not fit for council tax purposes.

But he started receiving bills after the 12 months was up, even though the property was still uninhabitable.

Photographs taken at the time show damaged foundations and cracks in the walls.

Mr Edwards said: “You couldn’t live in it. There was no kitchen or bathroom and the back wall was falling down.

“There was one tap and no hot running water.”

A Valuations Office Agency inspector then visited and ruled that the house’s state of disrepair meant Mr Edwards should not be taxed for it, but that it couldn’t be backdated.

That meant Mr Edwards was summonsed to Coventry Magistrates Court for the period of non-payment up to the re-evaluation.

Already subject to a suspended sentence for the offence, he said he was denied the right to defend his actions and sought drastic action to make his point, demanding to be sent to prison and going on a four-day hunger strike.

Mr Edwards said: “The court didn’t allow me to give evidence in my defence

“I had all the information with me to prove that it was not fit to live in.

“I pinned up photos to show the state of the property but was told to take them down or be charged with criminal damage.”

Mr Edwards told how he was taken straight from the court to prison, and was given no time to ensure his partner, who has Alzheimer’s, was properly cared for.

“There was no one here to look after her and the court knew this,” he said.