Crossover in moving dates - council tax liability

ging84

when i moved i had to pay for the cross over
i moved from 1 council area to another, i discovered after the one i moved into allow an exemption for up to 1 month
so i could have kept the new house empty and stayed put until the old tenancy ended
but it wouldn't have been worth it to save £40 or so

aldredd

ging84 wrote: »

when i moved i had to pay for the cross over
i moved from 1 council area to another, i discovered after the one i moved into allow an exemption for up to 1 month
so i could have kept the new house empty and stayed put until the old tenancy ended
but it wouldn't have been worth it to save £40 or so

I'm within the same council area, so hoping it'll be fairly straight forward (£60 at stake ) )

aldredd

00ec25 wrote: »

the discount policy should be clearly displayed on your council's website.

You'd hope.

https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/benefits-council-tax/council-tax/exemptions

Exemptions

C Properties unoccupied and unfurnished. This exemption has been replaced by a discount from 1st April 2013.

but no details I could find on what the discount is. I found the 1 month bit from a 3rd party website

http://nsputilityconsultants.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/changes-to-council-tax-discounts-and-exemption/

Empty Properties
Class C exemption is where a property has been empty (unoccupied and unfurnished) and it currently attracts a 100% exemption for a maximum period of six months. From 01 April 2013 the exemption will be removed and will be replaced with a 100% discount for a maximum period of 1 month, then a nil discount (100% charge) for remaining period.

jjlandlord

This is all up to your council.
I suggest you enquire to them and be clear once and for all.

The webpage from Milton Keynes' council you quoted (I assume that this means that you are in Milton Keynes) has both a phone number and an email address for the council tax team on the left side.

AndyGuil

Notify the council if you are no longer living at a property. I did this and got my bill reduced to £0 for that property for the few weeks overlap.

donfanatico

when we last moved within the same council, we had an overlap of a week. I went online and filled in the form for moving , we had to pay only for the new property.

aldredd

Ok, so I've spoken to them - had quite a lengthy conversation.

Turns out that yes they do offer 1 month of 100% discount whilst the property is vacant - but there is a bit of a catch.
Because we rent, and are vacating 2 weeks before the lease is up, they need approval from the landlord before they'll apply this to the account - on the basis that the LL themselves may want to take advantage of the 1 month themselves to find new tenants.

The LL mentioned he thought he might have someone lined up, so hopefully he'll let us. Worse case we're out of £60 I guess.

CIS

Because we rent, and are vacating 2 weeks before the lease is up, they need approval from the landlord before they'll apply this to the account - on the basis that the LL themselves may want to take advantage of the 1 month themselves to find new tenants.

Load of rubbish from the council - whilst you hold the tenancy you are able to claim any applicable discounts, the fact it's a rented property has no bearing on the matter and needs no approval from the landlord.

The council cannot add extra requirements outside of legislation when assessing discount eligibility.

aldredd

Thanks CIS - I'll bare that in mind when I hear back from them.

aldredd

Update - the LL confirmed he was happy we utilise the exemption, so looks like we'll be all sorted (though because of the time of year we'll basically pay twice, and then have the overpay refunded over the remaining year)

Thanks for all the replies