60,000 liable for household charge, county council reveals

The 60,000 Meath residents liable for the government's new €100 household charge will not have the facility of paying by instalment and will have to pay over the total amount in an over-the-counter transaction at County Hall in Navan, Meath County Council said this week. An instalment facility will only be available to people paying online, by post or by quarterly direct debits, it added. However, Tommy Curran, co-ordinator of the Money Advice & Budgeting Service (MABS) in Meath, has said there would have to be a staggered payment available to people over 12 months. He said it was not fair, in the present economic circumstances in the country, to demand the full amount of the charge all at once. Mr Curran added that this was not advisable from the government's point of view because a demand for a one-off payment like this would only push some people into arrears. He said he would be raising the matter with the MABS committee this week and they would be making representations to the relevant government department. Clarification about methods of payment, penalties for late payment, and a list of exempted premises has been issued by the council this week in response to a flood of queries about the new charge. Reports that a €10 fee would be imposed for over-the-counter payments have been ruled out by the council. Owners of residential property will be liable for the charge on each residential property they own as of 1st January but tenants in rented accommodation will not have to register to pay the charge. The payment must be made to the local authority by 31st March next. The council will not be sending out bills or invoices and the charge will be on a self-declaration basis. It said that the definition of a residential property includes a house, maisonette, flat, apartment or bedsit. The owner of a building split into five bedsits, for instance, will be liable for five household charges. A building is liable if it is occupied or suitable for occupation. An empty house will not be exempt, according to guidelines issued by the county council. People can register online at www.householdcharge.ie or via a registration form which can be sent direct to the Household Charge Processing Bureau. Certain buildings not defined as residential property would be exempt and would not have to pay the charge. An owner of a residential property is also exempt from the charge if, on the liability date, the residential property is comprised in discretionary trust, owned by an approved charity or vacated by the owner by reason of long-term mental or physical informity. There are also waivers for households in receipt of mortgage interest supplement and those in certain unfinished housing estates. Following a query by FF Cllr Wayne Harding at a meeting of Meath County Council on Monday, the council clarified that unfinished estates in Meath are exempt from the charge. These include Academy Square, Fitzherbet Woods and Beaufort Place, Navan; Brackinrainey Wood, Longwood; Churchfields, Ashbourne; Clos na Croise, Kilballivor; Fairlands, Dunboyne; Knightsbrook, Trim; Ledwidge Hall (phase 1), Slane; Loughcrew Hills, Oldcastle; Loughmore Square, Dunsany; Maudlin Vale, Trim; Poynton Place, Ballivor; Regent's Hall, Ashbourne; Slan Duff View, Kentstown; The Maudlins, Main Street, Duleek; The Old Forge, Dunshaughlin; Tubberclaire Meadows, Navan, and Whitefield Manor, Bettystown.