Council Tax & Building Control

AlexMac

If it's any consolation, my experience of Council Tax officers and Building Control staff (in two widely differing councils) has been that they are competent, fair and professional and in no way out to trick you. They have completely differing roles and I doubt if they even talk to each other, let alone coĺlude.

Each council sets it's own CT policy; all the staff do is implement it. I've found that they do this reasonably in the two different areas where I've applied and in both they had that rule that if a previous owner had used up the allowance,that was it, so tough. I got the max 3 months exemption during one refurb, on the strength of a couple of polite and well- informed e changes of letters, emailed photos and a single brief inspection at the end ( by which time the work was all done).

Building Control seem really helpful. Ours charge a single fee pegged to the cost of the work which meant we paid the minimum £340 or so for a conversion in the range £10-20k although they never actually looked at estimates or bills so we could have got away with this lowest fee for a bigfer project.

And why wouldn't you cough a couple of ton for a cert which wiĺl not only provide peace of mind, but also make it easier to sell on in few years time? Look at all the questions on this forum from people who trusted their builders to "sort it right"!

So panic not.

LaurenHeath123

Booksurr- I wondered this. When I spoke to the lady on the phone she agreed to send someone around to inspect the place. I asked when this would be as I work office hours so would not be able to show someone around before 6pm at night unless it was a weekend. She said she would be sending me out a letter with the date and time. Although, I am mindful of the fact she tried to fob me off throughout the entire phone call!

I don't mind paying the one fee, that is reasonable but I was slightly unnerved when I came across a table with a number of fees for different works. Either way, I shall wait and see what happens!

Thank you all for your advice!

marksoton

LaurenHeath123 wrote: »

Booksurr- I wondered this. When I spoke to the lady on the phone she agreed to send someone around to inspect the place. I asked when this would be as I work office hours so would not be able to show someone around before 6pm at night unless it was a weekend.

:rotfl:

Good luck with that with council employees of any nature.....

LaurenHeath123

marksoton - I thought as much. I have friends who work for the council and they are a big fan of 'flex-time'.

If it is an unannounced visit then how on earth are they supposed to see that the property is 'under major structural renovation'?

AdrianC

LaurenHeath123 wrote: »

If it is an unannounced visit then how on earth are they supposed to see that the property is 'under major structural renovation'?

It'd be pretty damn obvious.

Unannounced means you don't have time to hide the airbed.

booksurr

LaurenHeath123 wrote: »

marksoton - I thought as much. I have friends who work for the council and they are a big fan of 'flex-time'.

If it is an unannounced visit then how on earth are they supposed to see that the property is 'under major structural renovation'?

you are confused.

If the inspection is for council tax purposes to do with a claim for "the building deserves a discount because of the nature of works taking place" then they will (probably) arrange a fixed time appointment to meet you to look at the work themselves in company with you so they can ask questions. The last thing they would do is wonder around a potential building site unannounced/unaccompanied as that is a health and safety risk

Only where you are already claiming a discount for a certain state of the building will then make unannounced checks to see if you are being economical with the truth. for example claiming that the major building works are still underway when anyone can see for themselves that there is no sign of the building being in an uninhabitable state because it is obviously in use. Cars in drive, glance in window shows furniture in place, books on shelves, TV in a corner, food waste in the bin, washing up on the draining board.