FLR M council letter question

Hi everyone,

Was hoping if someone can please help me with a question I have. We have already submitted the FLR M yesterday, it's just that there is one thing I'm worried about. I'm probably just overthinking it.

We have submitted council tax letters in joint names for cohabitation. What I've noticed is that the council letters we receive are in the following format:

My name
Wife name


Reference number: XXXX

Council tax for:
Our address

As you can see the top left of the letter does not have our address on it (normally where I would expect the address). Instead the address is mentioned in the middle of the letter to say which address the tax is for.

I queried this with the council and they said because I have an online account the letters I get are online and they just print them off and send them.

Is this going to cause any issues? Or is it fine because the address is still mentioned in the letter, just not in the usual place.

Hopefully I'm just overthinking it 

Thanks

As long as they sent them to you in the mail, you should be ok. What would not have been acceptable would be for you to have printed them at home from your online account.
The point of the correspondence  evidence is that it has come to you physically, through the post.
If I were you I would cancel your online account until your wife is finished with the visa process so that you receive regular looking bills in the future.

Thanks for your reply.

One of the letters is something that they have sent to me physically by post.

The rest of the letters are ones I printed from my online account. They look exactly the same as the one I receive by post. When I phoned the council they said they simply print them off themselves and send them to me. Is it an issue if the ones I print myself are exactly the same as the ones I would have received by post?

Basically it was going to be a hassle cancelling my online account and getting them to send us the letters. It would have delayed the submission of the application.

Thanks

Just for reference as well, the following is what we submitted. The council tax from October-2015 is the one I received by post. The rest of council tax letters are ones I printed. If you look at the list you'll see that we already have water bill letters very close to the council tax ones, I just included the council tax ones, I don't think I needed to include them in the first place. Not sure what you think. Is there any major issue with the list?

October-2015: Council tax (joint). This is received by post.

February-2016: Water bill (joint).

March-2016: Council tax (joint). Printed from online account.

April-2016: Maternity exemption card letter from NHS (applicant).

July-2016: Bank statement (sponsor).

September-2016: Council tax (joint). Printed from online account.

December-2016: NHS letter for our child examination result (joint).

February-2017: Water bill (joint).

March-2016: Council tax (joint). Printed from online account.

April-2017: NHS letter confirming screening test result (applicant).

April-2017: DVLA/Toyota letter (sponsor).

June-2017: HMRC tax code letter (sponsor).

November-2017: Nursery invoice for payment (joint).

February-2017: Water bill (joint).

March-2018: Water bill (joint).

Thanks for your reply.

One of the letters is something that they have sent to me physically by post.

The rest of the letters are ones I printed from my online account. They look exactly the same as the one I receive by post. When I phoned the council they said they simply print them off themselves and send them to me. Is it an issue if the ones I print myself are exactly the same as the ones I would have received by post?

Basically it was going to be a hassle cancelling my online account and getting them to send us the letters. It would have delayed the submission of the application.

Thanks

The instructions are quite specific that the correspondence documents have to be original. This is copied from FLR(M) it is re-iterated in the guidance notes for FLR(M) too.

Note 11 The items of correspondence should be addressed to you jointly or in both your names. Examples of acceptable items are listed below. The documents provided must be originals.
Photocopies are not acceptable.

How many out of how many of your correspondence items were not originals?

Just for reference as well, the following is what we submitted. The council tax from October-2015 is the one I received by post. The rest of council tax letters are ones I printed. If you look at the list you'll see that we already have water bill letters very close to the council tax ones, I just included the council tax ones, I don't think I needed to include them in the first place. Not sure what you think. Is there any major issue with the list?

October-2015: Council tax (joint). This is received by post.

February-2016: Water bill (joint).

March-2016: Council tax (joint). Printed from online account.

April-2016: Maternity exemption card letter from NHS (applicant).

July-2016: Bank statement (sponsor).

September-2016: Council tax (joint). Printed from online account.

December-2016: NHS letter for our child examination result (joint).

February-2017: Water bill (joint).

March-2016: Council tax (joint). Printed from online account.

April-2017: NHS letter confirming screening test result (applicant).

April-2017: DVLA/Toyota letter (sponsor).

June-2017: HMRC tax code letter (sponsor).

November-2017: Nursery invoice for payment (joint).

February-2017: Water bill (joint).

March-2018: Water bill (joint).

 They are not well spaced and the months in which you have items of mail in individual names are not always the same (they should be) but you have a fair amount  of good evidence there so I think you will be ok, as long as the rest of the application is sound. 

TBH, I have never seen anyone refused on correspondence but no-one wants to be the first!

Was all your financial evidence original (or stamped by the bank, authenticated by payroll etc)?

Okay, so you need 6 documents in each name, 1 per person every 4 months from Feb/March 2016 onwards (and if they are separately addressed they should be from the same month, preferably dated within a few days of each other).

From your list, you have 12 applicant documents and 13 sponsor documents. However, 3 each of those are printed from online and may not be considered, so that gives 9 applicant documents and 10 sponsor documents.

For the required 4-month spacing, not counting the online printed council tax, you have:

Feb/March 2016
1. Joint: February-2016: Water bill

June/July 2016
2. Sponsor: July-2016: Bank statement (sponsor).
2. Applicant: July 2016: ?

Oct/Nov 2016:
3. Sponsor: ?
3. Applicant: ?

Feb/March 2017:
4. February-2017: Water bill (joint).

June/July 2017
5. Sponsor: June-2017: HMRC tax code letter
5. Applicant: ?

Nov/Dec 2017:
6. November-2017: Nursery invoice for payment (joint).

Additional extra:
Feb/March 2018
7. February-2017: Water bill (joint).

So, for the correct spacing of months, I count:
7 sponsor documents
4 applicant documents

However, since you have 9/10 documents each (not counting the online ones), hopefully they will consider those, even though they aren't the correct spacing of months and aren't dated in the same month as each other.

Thanks all you very much for your replies.

The rest of the application is all fine, statements stamped, payslips stamped, letter from employer, etc.

It's just the correspondences that I have been worried about from the start. We unfortunately don't have single name items in the same month for both of us, so I had to submit single name items that are couple of months apart  . The only ones we were able to find was in April-2017 (NHS for applicant and DVLA/Toyota for sponsor).

It's a waiting and stress game now. Hoping for the best.

Thanks all you very much for your replies.

The rest of the application is all fine, statements stamped, payslips stamped, letter from employer, etc.

It's just the correspondences that I have been worried about from the start. We unfortunately don't have single name items in the same month for both of us, so I had to submit single name items that are couple of months apart  . The only ones we were able to find was in April-2017 (NHS for applicant and DVLA/Toyota for sponsor).

It's a waiting and stress game now. Hoping for the best.

Given that you provided extra ones covering the period, I think you'll probably be fine.

As you said though, all you can do is wait and see now (and try not to worry) .

I'll try my best not to worry, as hard as that is for me to do 

Thanks very much for your help anyway, much appreciated.