liable for council tax or not?

wese007

newbie here,so firstly,hi all.


hers my situation,friend has moved into rented house,but after 5 weeks,wants to move out,

she as signed 6 month contract with an estate agents,so i guess she will have to pay the rent for 6 months,or as stated in contract,until some one moves in,she will be liable till her contract runs out,

shes not arguing this fact,her worry is, will she be liable for council tax or any other bill as she is paying the rent on the property,but of course not living in it

hope that makes sense

thanks

Doozergirl

If the house is empty and unfurnished then there is a zero rate council tax for up to 6 months, so on that front she is fine.

On the other bills she wil be liable until someone else moves in.

She is liable for council tax as well, just that you are allowed a free period if the property is uninhabited and largely unfurnished.

olias

Not true in my experience I'm afraid.

I had a very similar situation. Paid 6 months rent up from (had to, as I had no references having just come back from abroad.) After 3 months I bought a property and moved out. I tried and failed to get a rebate on the rent (long storey regarding maintenance/rain leaking in etc etc which is not relevant to this thread).

Anyway, regarding the council tax on this rental, I rang/wrote/badgered the local authority, the upshot being that they would not budge on their position that I was liable to pay council tax with only a 10% reduction as a second home. I even suggested removing the rental furniture leaving the house empty and argued that the main reason I moved out was that I considered it uninhabitable due to the damp and rain leaking in, but they stated this would make no difference.

I had returned the keys to letting agents and stated that I had abandoned the property etc etc, however they threatened we with court to recover the money and I had no option but to pay up in the end.

Olias

hayley11

Not sure about your situation olias but in the OP's friends case, I think she is exempt from paying. (changed it so it made more sense!)

This is from the CAB Advice Guide website, "property which is empty. This means it has to be unoccupied. The property also has to be substantially unfurnished. The exemption applies for a maximum of six months and the property has to be vacant for the whole of this period (although up to six weeks of occupation during the period is allowed)"

Doozergirl

olias wrote: »

Not true in my experience I'm afraid.

I had a very similar situation. Paid 6 months rent up from (had to, as I had no references having just come back from abroad.) After 3 months I bought a property and moved out. I tried and failed to get a rebate on the rent (long storey regarding maintenance/rain leaking in etc etc which is not relevant to this thread).

Anyway, regarding the council tax on this rental, I rang/wrote/badgered the local authority, the upshot being that they would not budge on their position that I was liable to pay council tax with only a 10% reduction as a second home. I even suggested removing the rental furniture leaving the house empty and argued that the main reason I moved out was that I considered it uninhabitable due to the damp and rain leaking in, but they stated this would make no difference.

I had returned the keys to letting agents and stated that I had abandoned the property etc etc, however they threatened we with court to recover the money and I had no option but to pay up in the end.

Olias

I think you got a bad one Olias. It has been the case on nearly every property we've owned that it has qualified for relief at some point in our ownership; I've never had so much as a quibble or anyone even ask to check. The key is to make it clear that it is unoccupied and unfurnished. It is not a second home if you spend no time there.

If they won't have any of it, the person you are speaking to doesn't know their job frankly. You put the phone down, ring again and speak to someone else. Sometimes I've been sent a tick box form, other times they've taken my word for it but I have never had an issue with it.

If the property is uninhabitable then this is also a case for a relief period however uninhabitable would normally invlove a lack of connected services and rather important things like kitchens or bathrooms missing or derelict.

olias

I think you will find there has to be one of a number of government criteria for it being empty

'Certain properties are not chargeable if they fall within one of the categories prescribed by the Secretary of State.

There are currently 23 prescribed classes (Class A to W). They may fall within one of those categories if they have a particular characteristic (e.g. they are uninhabitable), be occupied/unoccupied for a prescribed purpose (e.g. held for a minister of religion) or be occupied/owned by someone of a prescribed description (e.g. occupied solely by students).'

Unfortunately deciding you've changed your mind about living there is not a prescribed reason

Believe me, I spent months trying to get out of paying for it, went to CAB, spoke to a solicitor in property law, even went direct to the senior financial descision maker in the local authority council tax dept, and I couldn't get out of it.

Olias

hayley11

I'm interested in whether the OP's friend is exempt because I am so sure she must be. Let us know how she gets on OP

I've checked on other websites, for various councils and they are all saying the same. You can be exempt for upto 6 months. It doesn't say anything about special circumstances.

Doozergirl

olias wrote: »

I think you will find there has to be one of a number of government criteria for it being empty

'Certain properties are not chargeable if they fall within one of the categories prescribed by the Secretary of State.

There are currently 23 prescribed classes (Class A to W). They may fall within one of those categories if they have a particular characteristic (e.g. they are uninhabitable), be occupied/unoccupied for a prescribed purpose (e.g. held for a minister of religion) or be occupied/owned by someone of a prescribed description (e.g. occupied solely by students).'

Unfortunately deciding you've changed your mind about living there is not a prescribed reason

Believe me, I spent months trying to get out of paying for it, went to CAB, spoke to a solicitor in property law, even went direct to the senior financial descision maker in the local authority council tax dept, and I couldn't get out of it.

Olias

Yes, it is a Class C exemption! It's written there in black and white. It doesn't matter what your reason is for not living there, if it is uninhabited and unfurnished it is exempt for up to six months. That is six months in total so it doesn't start again with a new tenant/owner - there has to be a period of occupation between to periods of exemption. Perhaps your diddn't meet the timing criteria?

olias

Doozergirl wrote: »

I think you got a bad one Olias. It has been the case on nearly every property we've owned that it has qualified for relief at some point in our ownership; I've never had so much as a quibble or anyone even ask to check. The key is to make it clear that it is unoccupied and unfurnished. It is not a second home if you spend no time there.

If they won't have any of it, the person you are speaking to doesn't know their job frankly. You put the phone down, ring again and speak to someone else. Sometimes I've been sent a tick box form, other times they've taken my word for it but I have never had an issue with it.

If the property is uninhabitable then this is also a case for a relief period however uninhabitable would normally invlove a lack of connected services and rather important things like kitchens or bathrooms missing or derelict.

Doozergirl wrote: »

Yes, it is a Class C exemption! It's written there in black and white. It doesn't matter what your reason is for not living there, if it is uninhabited and unfurnished it is exempt for up to six months. That is six months in total so it doesn't start again with a new tenant/owner - there has to be a period of occupation between to periods of exemption. Perhaps your diddn't meet the timing criteria?

Class C exemption is exactly what I argued with them about, unfortunately I couldn't speak to anyone else as I got to speak to the highest person on the local authority regading it. I did intend telling them 'stuff it, and I'll see you in court', however I got to the stage where I just paid the damn money to get them off my back.

I'm sorry, I wasn't having a go at you DG, I'm just annoyed that I knew I was right, but you know how it is when they grind you down so far you just give up! If it was a huge amount of money I would have fought, however, I just had too much on my plate at the time to deal with it (which is probably what they count on!)

To the OP, all I would say, is you may be in for a fight to prove the exemption, and if it is a furnished rental, then I don't think you have much hope

Olias

wese007

thanks everyone,it is unfurnushed,well theres one bed and wardrobe which was left by landord,so will get it moved to be on safe side,doozergirl you say(On the other bills she wil be liable until someone else moves in) well gas and electric should be nilas she wont be using any,so just water rates i guess to pay,but i would of thought that should be zero if shes not using any,will enquire all the same,

but great news on the council tax,nearly 100 pound a month is alot to pay out for nothing

big thank you from my friend and myself for your help,will keep you posted on outcome.