Buying an empty property

3card

Right.....i have a little update on this saga

I have just rang up the relevant council and made out i was buying a long term empty property and had a detailed discussion with the person involved

She informed me that the 50% premium was only payable while the property remains empty and as soon as 'i' occupy the council tax payable is the normal 100%

On this basis my daughter is now ringing the council to tell them to send her an amended bill showing she occupied the property on the 6th Sept when she took ownership.
The main problem in all this was that my daughter told the council that she would be occupying the property on 1st Oct and yet they sent her a bill showing the 50% premium on each of the months for the remainder of the tax year

Hope this thread helps anyone looking at buying a long term empty property

Thanks for any input on this situation

maas

Interesting.

As I mentioned earlier I had always assumed that if I bought a house that had been empty for say 10 years, then I would only incur that CT premium from the point where I had owned the property and had been empty over the allotted time (its 2 years with my council).

I might clarify this with my local council although their website just states empty properties, not distinguishing between when you became owner!

3card

maas wrote: »

Interesting.

As I mentioned earlier I had always assumed that if I bought a house that had been empty for say 10 years, then I would only incur that CT premium from the point where I had owned the property and had been empty over the allotted time (its 2 years with my council).

I might clarify this with my local council although their website just states empty properties, not distinguishing between when you became owner!

The lady at the council i spoke to told me there are no discounts for empty properties as of April 2013 if they had been empty for longer than 3 months
I think the idea is to 1) cut down on long term empty properties and 2) make some additional money to help make up for any central govenment cuts

maas

Yeah that's true, I had always intended on buying a couple of empty do-em-up properties to develop over a few years as the CT was nominal, but with these recent council tax changes it kind of put paid to that idea with having to pay full rate council tax and then after a couple of years a premium on top. I'd have no money to do them up!

Each council has implemented their own version of new rules. Mine is that you get 1 month free with empty properties, and then you pay the full 100%. Then after 2 years if its still empty you would pay an extra 50% on top of that.

Therefore I assumed that the 2 year clock would start from the day I purchased the property, not from the councils opinion on when the property was empty!

dimbo61

Not sure if your daughter is single and moving into the property on her own or a couple.
Now if single she can get 75% single person discount when she moves in or occupies the property.
Now if she is already paying council tax at another property she needs to inform them that she has moved out ! and if her other half is still in the property for the time being they will get the 75% single person discount

BitterAndTwisted

I wish it was 75% single-occupancy discount but it isn't, it's only 25%

maas

That's another thing I was curious about, why do I pay 75% and not 50%!

But apparently Council Tax is broken down

50% Property
50% Person

So you get half the Person allowance back if you're on your own but still need to pay the full Property part

ognum

3card wrote: »

The lady at the council i spoke to told me there are no discounts for empty properties as of April 2013 if they had been empty for longer than 3 months
I think the idea is to 1) cut down on long term empty properties and 2) make some additional money to help make up for any central govenment cuts

Your daughter should be pleased about this change in council taxation, this is pushing many houses like the one your daughter has bought back onto the housing market.

Previously there could be no cost to keeping a house empty for many years, now the 150% tax rate is focusing the minds of many of these owners.

I for one am happy about the new council tax regulations and I have rental properties so also have to pay council tax if there is a void.

3card

dimbo61 wrote: »

Not sure if your daughter is single and moving into the property on her own or a couple.
Now if single she can get 75% single person discount when she moves in or occupies the property.
Now if she is already paying council tax at another property she needs to inform them that she has moved out ! and if her other half is still in the property for the time being they will get the 75% single person discount

Hi

Thanks for the heads up but shes buying it with her b/f and will be moving in with him

Cheers

3card

ognum wrote: »

Your daughter should be pleased about this change in council taxation, this is pushing many houses like the one your daughter has bought back onto the housing market.

Previously there could be no cost to keeping a house empty for many years, now the 150% tax rate is focusing the minds of many of these owners.

I for one am happy about the new council tax regulations and I have rental properties so also have to pay council tax if there is a void.

I can see your point but if a property is empty for a number of years it will take longer to make it habitable and the longer it take the more CT the buyer will have to pay.

CT in itself isnt cheap and then to find after taking the keys you have to fund an additional 50% of the CT is a bit of a kick in the teeth.

While i understand the reasoning behind the madness i feel that the buyers situation should be looked at by the council involved and each case assessed.

It was obvious that there would be no major structural work required on this property and as she stated the council they would be loving in within 4 weeks of taking ownership!!

Just hope this has help warn anyone that may fall into a similar situation