Bought house, still not sold the other - 2 lots of Council Tax...

Cpt_Kenrow

As per the title. Am paying two full lots of council tax although only living in one house. Had one month exemption but this has been going on for 4 months.

One thought I had was to say that I was living alone in the more expensive house, which is actually empty. This would (perversely) net me a 25% discount.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

booksurr

if you wish to commit tax fraud I'm not sure what you expect to get as an answer from a forum, either you are that way inclined or you aren't.

you own 2 properties, both are now liable for CT. Only one can be the main residence, the other by definition must be a second home.

your reference to SPD implies you have a partner. If questioned about your living arrangements you can either lie and say you are separated or you can accept that you live together in one property and do not live in the other, QED that latter is liable to whatever rate that council applies to second homes.

Of course if your finances are so stretched that you really can't afford a few £ per month on CT then drop the price and sell the thing instead of holding out for a price no one evidently thinks it is worth.

Jim_Jupiter

That's just not true.

https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/second-homes-and-empty-properties

For example my old council of Telford & Wrekin actively discourage empty properties and charge 100% council tax, rising to 150% after 2 years:

http://www.telford.gov.uk/info/1007/council_tax/78/council_tax_exemptions

Before calling people fools I'd check if you're correct first. In this case booksurr was definitely not the fool.

seven-day-weekend

I have been paying two lots of CT for over six months.

We bought a bungalow, and remained in our home whilst we renovated it. Now we have moved into the bungalow and our house is sold subject to contract, but the sale has not yet completed.

So... two houses, two lots of CT, I would not expect to pay any less.

Cpt_Kenrow

booksurr wrote: »

if you wish to commit tax fraud I'm not sure what you expect to get as an answer from a forum, either you are that way inclined or you aren't.

booksurr wrote: »

Of course if your finances are so stretched that you really can't afford a few £ per month on CT then drop the price and sell the thing instead of holding out for a price no one evidently thinks it is worth.

You sir are a sanctimonious ...... At a guess you are retired and probably comfortably retired on your final salary public sector pension.

Whilst an extra £200 pcm may not be much to you, I'd rather not be spending it on something I do not believe I am getting full value from, i.e. a service tax on a temporarily empty house.
From what I know the gist of the changes to CT policy in 2013 were aimed at people with long term empty properties or holiday homes, not those in my position.

As for how I price my house; please try not to be patronising - although I suspect that would be difficult with such as sense of moral superiority.

Money_maker

You might want to check your insurance is still valid if you have not already done so, seeing as the house is empty.

bebewoo

Have you thought about renting out the empty house

Cpt_Kenrow

Money_maker wrote: »

You might want to check your insurance is still valid if you have not already done so, seeing as the house is empty.

Hmmm. That would seem like a perfect reason why I may have to move in by myself!

DaftyDuck

In the case of the (current) post #3, seldom has a user so well described themselves with their userID.

Many councils charge a premium for empty properties. I also know many mathematicians who will state 0 is not less than 2 ...

(Post #3 has now been deleted...)

Cpt_Kenrow

bebewoo wrote: »

Have you thought about renting out the empty house

Thanks for the suggestion but the empty one still has the builders in.

mumps

booksurr wrote: »

if you wish to commit tax fraud I'm not sure what you expect to get as an answer from a forum, either you are that way inclined or you aren't.

you own 2 properties, both are now liable for CT. Only one can be the main residence, the other by definition must be a second home.

your reference to SPD implies you have a partner. If questioned about your living arrangements you can either lie and say you are separated or you can accept that you live together in one property and do not live in the other, QED that latter is liable to whatever rate that council applies to second homes.

Of course if your finances are so stretched that you really can't afford a few £ per month on CT then drop the price and sell the thing instead of holding out for a price no one evidently thinks it is worth.

I don't see any reason why a couple can't live one in each house for a while. When we moved 200 miles I moved quickly with children, start of term and all that, husband stayed at the other property while sale completed and he tied up everything at that end.

A couple living in separate houses isn't that unusual, particularly while a move is going on. I had a friend who bought an old house and husband moved in to do renovations while his wife stayed to sell the old place.