COUNCIL TAX Exemption

Wig

You can have council tax nilled if the property is unoccupied for upto 6 months and a further 6 months if it is unfurnished

Correct?

Can this be applied for now, retrospectively to October 2015
as it was unoccupied since then.?

ellie27

All councils are different but ours is exempt if it is UNOCCUPIED AND UNFURNISHED for up to 6 months.

dc197

They are a lot stricter than they used to be. Many are only 1 month now. Check with you council, we cannot as you don't say which authority.

booksurr

Wig wrote: »

Correct?

it is 100% at the discretion of YOUR COUNCIL - so ask them rather than us

the rules changed back in 2013 so each council is now free to set its own criteria and its own limits/discounts in case you missed it.....

Hoploz

I've heard councils can impose a surcharge of up to 100% if you leave a property empty .... so yes do check with your own council!

HappyMJ

Wig wrote: »

You can have council tax nilled if the property is unoccupied for upto 6 months and a further 6 months if it is unfurnished

Correct?

Can this be applied for now, retrospectively to October 2015
as it was unoccupied since then.?

I no longer get exemptions for unoccupied and unfurnished. They now give me a 50% discount between tenancies and they will apply that for up to 12 months whilst I am carrying out renovation works.

poppy10_2

Yep, depends on the council. Some will charge extra council tax for unoccupied properties - Edinburgh council charge double the council tax if a property is unoccupied for more than 12 months.

The_Earl_of_Streatham

When I was selling my flat and it was unoccupied for a few months, Lambeth council tried to argue that I should lose my single occupancy discount because nobody living there wasn't one person living there and it's one person living there that attracts the discount.

I just carried on paying the discounted amount until completion and they never pursued me for the rest. So not only is it at the discretion of the local council, it can be arbitrary and stupid as well.

AdrianC

The_Earl_of_Streatham wrote: »

When I was selling my flat and it was unoccupied for a few months, Lambeth council tried to argue that I should lose my single occupancy discount because nobody living there wasn't one person living there and it's one person living there that attracts the discount.

I just carried on paying the discounted amount until completion and they never pursued me for the rest. So not only is it at the discretion of the local council, it can be arbitrary and stupid as well.

Actually, no, that's perfectly sensible.

The whole point of charging full CT on an unoccupied property is to discourage you from leaving it unoccupied.

Ellen016

Looks like every council is different. We are under Sefton Council and they told us that we get one month at 100% discount and then full price thereafter whether it is unfurnished or not. They also said if the property is still unoccupied after 2 years they put it up to 150% of the normal price.
Definitely check with your specific council on this one

booksurr

Ellen016 wrote: »

Looks like every council is different. We are under Sefton Council and they told us that we get one month at 100% discount and then full price thereafter whether it is unfurnished or not. They also said if the property is still unoccupied after 2 years they put it up to 150% of the normal price.
Definitely check with your specific council on this one

the empty rate penalty of 150% after 2 years is a penalty clause established in law at the same time as councils were given discretion to vary the terms of certain discounts which are also established in law. Patently in the current public sector funding climate no council can possibly not apply a penalty to its fullest force as they would be criticised for both failure to implement policy and loss of income.

the discretion under which they can now choose how much discount they actually give on those classes of discount where this is possible is obviously a different matter as local factors can mean there is some sense in doing things vastly differently to how others do - however, national law does still set upper and lower parameters