Council Tax Overlap

Wassa123

Hello,

I should hopefully be completing on a house as an FTB in February.

I am also currently renting a place in the fixed term part of an AST until April. As is standard I have to pay council tax up until the end of the tenancy.


Either I'll move into the house and leave the rental empty, or live in the rental and do some minor DIY on the house (kitchen cabinets, carpets, decorating, etc) until the end of the tenancy.

Can I get any reduced council tax payment on the one I wouldn't be lived in? Would the 75% single occupancy still apply, or is there even a further one for an "unlived in" property?

Thanks in advance .

G_M

Ask each of the councils involved for their policies.

Unoccupied Property discounts vary.

lovehackney

As above, check with your specific council.
But as an example, Hackney council offer 100% council tax discount for one month for an empty property (empty as in no one living there AND unfurnished)

AlexMac

Whereas the Isle of Wight Council offer 100% discount for up to 3 months if "unfurnished and unoccupied", subject to inspection to verify; but don't advertise this on their website.

So as practice varies, it may cost you the price of a phonecall or stamp to enquire, as for some things the interwebby fails you!

mgarl10024

A couple of years back we bought a house and whilst living in the old place spent 3-4mths renovating the new place. To stress, we weren't living or sleeping in the new place - just spending most of the day working on it - and so qualified for a whatever discount was available at the time.

One day, we caught a council officer peering in through the windows of the new place, trying to ascertain whether it was furnished or not.

Wassa123

Ok thanks for the info.

It seems I can get 28 days free of tax every 6 months if it is vacant/unfurnished. Only problem is I have to give them 21 days notice which I won't know until exchange and then it's only likely to be a weeks notice .

System

I've just had this exact situation. I completed earlier this month, but my tenancy doesn't end until the middle of next month. I've now moved in to my new property and left the rented property empty. The council have thankfully granted me an exemption for the overlap period. I did stay in the same area though, so it was only 1 council I was dealing with.

dirty_magic

We've moved during our fixed ast and our council won't budge. :mad: They won't reduce it at all and they won't even give us single person occupancy. Apparently it's fraudulent as we're both on their records despite the fact that there's nobody living there.

I think it's disgusting, we're with the same council so I don't understand why we're paying for two lots of services we're not using. The law was much better when unfurnished properties were exempt.

Argghhh

ours gave us a 6 month redemption whilst renovating the house AS LONG as there was no toilet in the house - so we took it out

Mallotum_X

dirty_magic wrote: »

We've moved during our fixed ast and our council won't budge. :mad: They won't reduce it at all and they won't even give us single person occupancy. Apparently it's fraudulent as we're both on their records despite the fact that there's nobody living there.

I think it's disgusting, we're with the same council so I don't understand why we're paying for two lots of services we're not using. The law was much better when unfurnished properties were exempt.

They do it because they can.

Strictly speaking you are using some services twice, street lighting, police and fire cover, refuse collection etc. Many more councils used to offer discounts but have scrapped them where possible.

You have to tell them who lives in the place so just tell them 1 of you has moved in. If no one is living there then they cant prove you have 2 people there.

lincroft1710

dirty_magic wrote: »

I think it's disgusting, we're with the same council so I don't understand why we're paying for two lots of services we're not using.

Council Tax is not a payment for services, it is a tax on residential property which goes towards funding council spending.