Council Tax Horror Scotland

Dook996

Long story short.

Bought a derelict cottage in 2004 and place was unliveable. Went and sought advice re council tax from council service point who said it did not meet the definition of a house (no kitchen/bathroom/plumbing etc). Seemed common sense at the time. We had other properties and paid council tax on all but none were in this state.

I also put in for council renovation grants and submitted all my title deeds etc for verification and authorisation to share to all council departments (which I'd assume was finance). The council came out and completed full inspection and report. Due to lack of council funds the grants were withdrawn so I decided just to pick away at the jobs myself. I then got transferred to a Scottish island and the place has sat empty. There has never been any mail, bins, recycling or anything to suggest the initial information to be wrong.

Back in September I received 5 years worth of council tax bills for a different address in the same area. I immediately phoned up thinking there was an error. I explained the situation and then was told "Oh dear you'll be liable for 11 years". Sure enough 6 years of council tax bills came out and 5 final notice bills for the bills previously issued (wrong address now changed) giving me 7 days to pay. A separate kicker was when one of the bills (2015/16) changed to a 200% long term vacancy charge following my initial appeal.

I put in a second appeal but not holding out much hope. I have a £15k bill (includes water charges) with no time to pay. I even offered to pay it over a period of 11 years but this was refused. If I had been told at the time I was liable my whole budgeting process would have been completely different, the exemption and discounts would not be time barred and the cottage would not have been allowed to sit empty for so long.

Seems a bit unfair and has caused huge family grief.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

fed_up_and_stressed

Was a major works discount applied by the council or was the property removed from banding by the valuations office? Seems you assumed that you would get a discount ad infinitum and unfortunately you were wrong.

I'm no expert but i thought major works discounts were only for 12 months max anyway historically and now some councils offer a nil discount due to the change in legislation a few years back.

The 200% charge is something brought in to encourage owners of empty properties to bring them back into use. Nothing unfair about it when there is a housing shortage.

Hopefully someone like C.I.S (council tax guru) will be along shortly.

Dook996

Honestly didn't assume as much as that. I went in to the service point asking specifically about council tax and was given what now appears to be a bit of duff advice. I've never had one bill, ever. They gave me a plausible reason and I never questioned it.

The reason I mentioned the grant was that all my information had to be shared throughout the council. I've still got a copy of the information sharing form.

I've since contacted the Assessors and they say the property has been on the council tax register from 1993, changing owners in 1999 then to me in 2004. I just don't see why it's taken 11 years for an issue to come to light. It can't all come down to the completion of a single form?

Just before all these bills I paid £14k to builders etc to have the property completed. Timing eh?

CIS

Scotland can be different to E & W but the basic rules are the same.

Unless a property is removed from the Valuation list by the Scottish Assessors then it would be liable for council tax. You need to challenge it if you think the property should not have been listed for council tax purposes. Unless it is removed then the council tax remains due.

Where a council tax notice is issued after the end of the year in which it is due then they only have to give 7 days to pay the amount due in one instalment. Fail to pay this and the council can go down the route of issuing a summons.