Council tax on empty property

dave76

Since my mother passed away at the end of last year her house has been empty. The council said it was exempt from council tax for 6 months and we have not been charged.

I am down as administrator of the estate but the house is also now split 50/50 between me and my sister - currently on the market for sale.

I recently received notification from the council that we must start paying council tax on the property - unless is it unfurnished when it may be entitled to the remainder of "empty unoccupied/unfurnished" exemption. The property is not currently unfurnished.

There is no second home discount available any more but the council does offer single person discount of 25% if applicable (why an empty property should be liable for 100% but when occupied by 1 person only 75% of the charge is a mystery!?).

Can I claim to be a single occupant of the house to get the discount? Any other way to avoid some of the costs other than remove all the furniture (and how much would need to go to be classed as unfurnished??)

molerat

Are you going to live there and move all your belongings ? If not then no.

Completely emptying the house of all furnishings is the only way to go - in any case who wants to buy a house full of furniture.

I am sure CIS will be along to comment later.

LittleMax

Remove all the furniture - and consider yourself lucky your council still offers a discount on empty unfurnished, many do not.

martinsurrey

dave76 wrote: »

(why an empty property should be liable for 100% but when occupied by 1 person only 75% of the charge is a mystery!?).

the 2 posts above deal with your issue well and I'll attempt to answer that.

there is a little bit of a housing shortage at the moment, anything that encourages empty houses to become occupied houses is to be applauded.

Also empty houses are often neglected, a magnet for crime, and contribute nothing to the local community or economy.

agrinnall

Address your comments to The Rt Honourable Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the department responsible for setting the rules on what CT rates can be charged.

https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-communities-and-local-government

CIS

A 25% discount is applicable only where the property has at least one person who has the property as their 'sole or main residence'.

There's council could refuse to offer any further reduction after the 6 months (it depends on how they interpret the rules).

getmore4less

The smart move is to delay probate as the 6 months starts from then not date of death.

Class F exemption.

Gives loads of time to get the property on the market to assess interest.

Probate is only really needed for completion although many will want it before exchange