Unoccupied Annexe - Council Tax

jfk_2

Hi

Since we moved in to our house many years ago we have had to live with the council's dual standards over the "Granny Annexe" which came with it. It is actually a separate building, but joined via an enclosed sideway, and shares a utility room and its gas/electric supply with the main building. I originally needed this for my home office, but more recently gave it over to my daughter when she returned from university and wanted her own friends around, and this arrangement kept us all sane.

The problem is the way it is deemed by the council.

On the one hand, they insist that our annexe is a part of the main house, and cannot, by virtue of the planning permission granted by same said council, be rented out or used in *any* way as a separate dwelling.

On the other hand, they send bills to "Annexe at ....... insert main address here" and have on previous occasions refused to re-evaluate the two dwellings as a single abode. The reason given, some 15 years back was that the annexe had a functioning kitchen.

Now, this was not too much of an issue until this year, when my now grown-up daughter moved out. It is now empty, and I am still paying council tax approaching £100/month on it.

My question is, given that the council's own planning permission rules prohibit us renting out this space (or, by the letter of that document, even "treating it as a separate dwelling"), but the same council insists on billing it as a separate dwelling, what would happen if I return the bills marked "no occupant"?

The annexe is now clear of all important fixtures/fittings, and contains nothing which any bailiff could deem of value. There is still a cooker, but the gas and electricity are now off.

Can anyone on these forums offer a legal, or practical opinion from experience perhaps?

Thanks in advance.

noh

If there is no occupant then the owner is the liable person.
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/tax_e/tax_council_tax_ew/council_tax.htm#Whohastopaycounciltax


It is the VOA not the council who assess properties for CT purposes.

Remove the kitchen from the annex and request a re-assessment. They may then decide it is all one property but could put it in a higher band.

xylophone

Could it not be properly integrated into the main house?

System

The rules are set out here:
http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/Publications/selfContainedUnits.html

It might be worth getting professional help to challenge the rating assessment on the grounds that it has very little value if it cannot be sold separately or rented out.

patanne

Take care - some councils are charging 150% on empty property, although in this case you could probably fight this, but maybe not, due to their already ambiguous attitude.

00ec25

patanne wrote: »

Take care - some councils are charging 150% on empty property, although in this case you could probably fight this, but maybe not, due to their already ambiguous attitude.

agreed
OP - you would be better off removing the kitchen and then following noh's advice to get the annex delisted by VOA and a revised banding applied to your whole dwelling. I suspect that a move up of 1 band on the whole would be cheaper than 150% charge on the annex.

In these straightened times very few councils have not already adopted the 150% charge for unoccupied and those still to do so can't be far behind

jennifernil

I don't think you would need to remove any bathroom or toilet, after all, many bedrooms have en-suite facilities, and many houses have several bathrooms.

System

But not in self-contained annexes.

lincroft1710

You only need to remove the kitchen, cap off water and gas pipes, plaster over. If the cooker is electric, then the 30 amp socket needs removing and replacing with a blanking plate.

lincroft1710

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

It might be worth getting professional help to challenge the rating assessment on the grounds that it has very little value if it cannot be sold separately or rented out.

As the annex will no doubt be in Band A, which has a start value of zero, there is no point in taking this course of action. Virtually every annex has a no separate sale and possibly also no renting out condition, so it is no different from any of the thousands of annexes with their own CT band.

John_Pierpoint

What goes around comes around. We have reinvented the window tax - it is time to brick up the front door.

Window Tax

When the united kingdom of Great Britain came into being on May 1, 1707, the window tax that had been introduced across England and Wales under the Act of Making Good the Deficiency of the Clipped Money in 1696.
2 shillings plus a variable tax for the number of windows above ten windows: Properties with between ten and twenty windows paid a total of four shillings, and those above twenty windows paid eight shillings.


[Needless to say those rates soon went up though complex exemptions were introduced]