Council tax question

momo1975

Hi all,

I have 2 houses, one i live in and pay tax to the local governement and the other house is up for sale and has been for 8 mths (it has been 6 mths empty) i have now recievd a bill from that council saying that i have had my first 6 months free cause it is empty but now i have to pay the rest of the years ata 50% discount.

Is this fair? I dont live there, dont utililse the councils services so should i have to pay anything??

What is the thought here...?/

1echidna

Not entirely fair I suppose, but probably the law and no way around it. I guess the cost of council snoopers to detect is someone was lying about not using a house would outway the advantages. In any event you own the house and some would say that people who own a second house, empty or not, should contribute.

princeofpounds

It's probably not *entirely* fair, but fairness is a very dodgy concept when it comes to tax... After all, it's not strictly fair that as a single person I would pay the same council tax as a family. Or that I pay the same as someone who uses services all the time like an disabled immigrant welfare mother of five (nothing against such people, just an example!).

Taxation is not related to utilisation, otherwise we might as well just pay directly for all our services.

ILW

If you do not want to pay the tax, sell the house. Simple really.

barnaby-bear

momo1975 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have 2 houses, one i live in and pay tax to the local governement and the other house is up for sale and has been for 8 mths (it has been 6 mths empty) i have now recievd a bill from that council saying that i have had my first 6 months free cause it is empty but now i have to pay the rest of the years ata 50% discount.

Is this fair? I dont live there, dont utililse the councils services so should i have to pay anything??

What is the thought here...?/

So there's no pavement or street lighting outside this house....
If it starts being vandalised or catches fire is there a special list it is on so the fire brigade and police know to ignore it.... anyone buying this house will need to know there is no provision long term for the residents in this particular house to have access to hospitals or schools or bin collections.....

00ec25

you are actually very lucky
1. you had the empty house exemption
2. your council gives 50% second home dicount, many only allow the legal minimum discount which is 10%

yes it is fair, you own a second house and until it sells you are stopping someone from living there who would have to pay full CT. You still use services as baranaby-bear so eloquently states, and so should contribute.

In recognition of the fact that you use slightly fewer services than a household actually in occupation you get a discount.
:rotfl:What is not fair is that I only get a 10% discount on my 2nd home while others get 50%

momo1975

thanks for your replys i will still contact the council and ask them why they think i should pay, and for the person who sais well sell the house, did thery not read my post. MY HOUSE IS FOR SALE!!!! (mentioning no names!)

Thanks to those more mature comments.

pinkshoes

00ec25 wrote: »

2. your council gives 50% second home dicount, many only allow the legal minimum discount which is 10%

How on earth does that work?? A couple or more pay 100%, a single person pays 75%, and an empty house pays 90%??

Surely you'd just say one of you was still living there, thus paying 75% not 90%.

Momo, 6 months free then 50% discount is MORE than fair, as the property is still using facilities such as street lights, and police/fire (if someone broke in, or it got struck by lightening and caught fire...)

00ec25

pinkshoes wrote: »

How on earth does that work?? A couple or more pay 100%, a single person pays 75%, and an empty house pays 90%?? ...)

quite agree hence I said how is that 10% fair!

but its also too simplisitic as single people can own second homes also, why not 25% SPD on each property!

pinkshoes wrote: »

Surely you'd just say one of you was still living there, thus paying 75% not 90%.

in the OP's case even if it is a couple then it is an empty house, the OP has moved (away) and to say one or the other of them is still living there would need to be backed up with physical evdience: ie furniture needs moving back in, electoral rolls need updating, post needs to be delivered, bins need to be put out, garden needs tending, neighbours need to see cars/people coming and going each day and many have a good idea where someone works and can say if the "apparent" single occupant commutes each day etc etc

All councils employ at least one member of their CT staff to physically inspect homes claiming discounts (except the 25% SPD). I should know as I used to audit the lady who does so for my council to make sure she did and that's some of the things she asks/looks for.

daisygrabber

All fair and all correct. Sorry but you won't get far complaining to the Council and I have a feeling the discount is discretionary anyway so might do more harm than good complaining.
We bought our new house and had the sale of our old house fall through unfortunately so had two houses. We didn't move into the new house until we had owned it for seven months and kept it empty of furniture for this time. We claimed the 2nd home exemption of free for 6 months. Pretty smart on the ball, they sent a bill for the 50% of the bill after the first six months.
A week after we moved in, and fortunately a few days after I had informed the Council of our move, there was a letter through the door saying an inspector had been round and it looked like we were living there so to expect a bill for Council Tax. Pretty hot I thought.
We took a house as part payment for our old house. While we did it up for renting, we kept it empty and claimed second home exemption. Tenants moved in before the 6 months was up but had they not, the ongoing exemption there was only 10%.

Worth noting though, I did discuss with the council, if you moved in and out again quite quickly, you can trigger the empty discount again (I was worried if tenants moved out after 6 months would I be picking up 90% of the bill but the discount would start again).

Sorry, haven't been succinct here but a subject close to my heart, LOL!
Daisy x

ILW

momo1975 wrote: »

thanks for your replys i will still contact the council and ask them why they think i should pay, and for the person who sais well sell the house, did thery not read my post. MY HOUSE IS FOR SALE!!!! (mentioning no names!)

Thanks to those more mature comments.

It was me that said that. I would suggest that if you have not sold in 8 months the house must be overpriced or something wrong with it. On that basis it is not truly for sale.