lodger in my Annexe

CIS

I recently had a Tribunal over the VOA adding a separate Tax band to the Annexe and upping our main property Tax. (I won on the main property but the Annexe ended up seperately banded).

The Annexe is joined on to the main house via a door and they aren't seperately billed for services. Equally I am responsible for Council Tax and not my lodger.

Which district council does it fall under ?

If it's banded as an individual property and someone is living in it then most likely they are liable for the council tax charge as the occupier - they don't need to be a tenant to be liable for council tax on a property.

As far as council tax is concerned an annexe is only relevant in a tightly defined area - other than within that council tax definition it's a dwelling like any other.

Craig

lincroft1710

Valuation Tribunals do not have "judges", just a chairman, a second tribunal member, and a clerk. Chairmen sometimes will offer an opinion which is neither relevant nor correct. The chairman should never say that removing the kitchen is akin to tax avoidance, he should not comment on what you would need to do so that the annex no longer met the criteria for a separate dwelling for CT purposes.

The vast majority of annexes have planning conditions which do not allow the annex to be sold separately from the main dwelling and some will only allow the annex to be occupied by a relative of the occupier of the main dwelling.

The chances are that if you carry out the necessary works to render the annex incapable of separate occupation, although you will lose the CT band on annex, the band on the main dwelling will increase.

Unfortunately "helping out" a friend has put you in an awkward position, as you are now a landlord with an unprotected deposit, possibly facing declaring previously undeclared income to HMRC, your tenant has an unexpected CT bill (which you may feel obliged to pay) and you may be in breach of a planning condition.

dariune

It's Mid Sussex District Council.

Ok thankyou all. I have tried my best to tell the Council and check with the council before I do anything (Including get my friend in) but it sounds like I am in a mess when all I wanted to do was rent out my annexe to a lodger / tenant to help pay the mortgage. Appreciate the info.

I will do what I can and worst comes to the worst I sell the house, take the hit on the Stamp Duty and buy a cheaper house with what money I have left after this is resolved.

michael1234

Easy for others to say you should demolish your own kitchen, pay for additional council tax, pay taxes on income, jump through further landlord redtape etc etc.
I would pay nothing to anyone, not allow anyone into your property and continue as you are.

Soot2006

dariune wrote: »

It's Mid Sussex District Council.

Ok thankyou all. I have tried my best to tell the Council and check with the council before I do anything (Including get my friend in) but it sounds like I am in a mess when all I wanted to do was rent out my annexe to a lodger / tenant to help pay the mortgage. Appreciate the info.

I will do what I can and worst comes to the worst I sell the house, take the hit on the Stamp Duty and buy a cheaper house with what money I have left after this is resolved.

Ah. Those who have said the Council have better things to do probably don't know Mid-Sussex. There is basically nothing else to do.



Having read the whole thread it really does sound as thought integrating your annex into your main dwelling would be the easiest solution here. "Tearing out" a kitchen is brutal but if the annex could be turned into a large double room with a nice en suite bathroom (with use of your kitchen via the open utility room), then surely that would have commercial value for a lodger still and also means you have a "bigger" house in the long run (more connected). The issues you are having problems with aren't going away now and so even if you split and sell they'll cause trouble on that front too. x

AnotherJoe

In case anyone's missed it Michael woke this one year old post up at post 35. No mention from OP what happened and they haven't been back for a year.

Soot2006

AnotherJoe wrote: »

In case anyone's missed it Michael woke this one year old post up at post 35. No mention from OP what happened and they haven't been back for a year.

Thanks - totally missed that one!

Slinky

Oh dear I wonder if the OP and/or tenant/lodger ended up buried under the kitchen in the annex.

00ec25

michael1234 wrote: »

Easy for others to say you should demolish your own kitchen, pay for additional council tax, pay taxes on income, jump through further landlord redtape etc etc.
I would pay nothing to anyone, not allow anyone into your property and continue as you are.

and sadly easy for you to dig up a 1 year old thread for no reason whatsoever and contribute rubbish to it

no one suggested the Op should "demolish your own kitchen"

What was suggested was that the OP remove the separate kitchen in the self contained annex. Try reading threads properly.

michael1234

00ec25 wrote: »

and sadly easy for you to dig up a 1 year old thread for no reason whatsoever and contribute rubbish to it

no one suggested the Op should "demolish your own kitchen"

What was suggested was that the OP remove the separate kitchen in the self contained annex. Try reading threads properly.

I "dug up" this thread because it was the most recent I could find that addressed this topic. Despite it now being of historic interest only to the OP, additional comments maybe be useful to anyone reading in the future.

I did not like to read comments that were largely unhelpful and appeared to be made by many with little experience of owning an Annex but quite a bit of experience in telling others how things ought to be.

You clearly disagree with my assessment but I would suggest perhaps you could be more polite when you engage.