Council Tax 100% Premium HELP!!

Crashy_Time

AdrianC said:

Woah, calm down, Moderne!

Local authorities in Wales have been legally allowed to charge CT premiums of up to 100% on periodically occupied properties  since the start of 2016.
https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-06/council-tax-on-empty-and-second-homes.pdf
(England's no different, btw.)

If you're paying £300+/mo, £3,600+/year, I guess the property is in one of the higher-precept Band D areas?
https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/1020/Council-Tax-Charges-by-area
But, as we've already discussed, it should be 50% not 100%, assuming it's furnished, so that £300+ would be for a Band E property?

I'm still not quite sure what the pandemic has to do with this. Perhaps you could clarify why you've been "forbidden" from visiting, as opposed to personally unwilling? Unless, of course, it's because of restrictions wherever you live the rest of the time?
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/health/coronavirus-covid19/2020/07/09/police-urge-visitors-to-stay-safe-and-respect-wales-as-travel-ban-is-lifted/
Or, indeed, why you think that should somehow exempt you from the running costs of the property?

It isn`t really running costs though is it, more like a revenue/tax grab?

AdrianC

Crashy_Time said:

AdrianC said:

Or, indeed, why you think that should somehow exempt you from the running costs of the property?

It isn`t really running costs though is it, more like a revenue/tax grab?

"Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilised society"
Oliver Wendell Holmes, US Supreme Court justice in the early 20th century.

Yes, council tax IS part of the cost of running a property.

Crashy_Time

AdrianC said:

Crashy_Time said:

AdrianC said:

Or, indeed, why you think that should somehow exempt you from the running costs of the property?

It isn`t really running costs though is it, more like a revenue/tax grab?

"Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilised society"
Oliver Wendell Holmes, US Supreme Court justice in the early 20th century.

Yes, council tax IS part of the cost of running a property.

It shouldn`t be though, not in it`s present form.

AdrianC

Crashy_Time said:

AdrianC said:

Crashy_Time said:

AdrianC said:

Or, indeed, why you think that should somehow exempt you from the running costs of the property?

It isn`t really running costs though is it, more like a revenue/tax grab?

"Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilised society"
Oliver Wendell Holmes, US Supreme Court justice in the early 20th century.

Yes, council tax IS part of the cost of running a property.

It shouldn`t be though, not in it`s present form.

Whether you would prefer a local income tax, rates, LVT, or something else is completely beside the point.

There is always going to be some form of property taxation, and it is inherently and inevitably part of the running cost of a property.

Now, please, run along and go back to monomaniacally telling people every property is overpriced. It's what you do so well. Meanwhile, please get back into my Ignore list.

Moderne

Wow, there are some learned people contributing to this thread! No, it’s band B - I’m being a bit disingenuous, comparing the likely council tax after the 100% premium has been levied (May next year) with the fact that I have been forbidden from visiting my house for much of this year (I did go there once during a brief visit to undertake some voluntary work delivering lunches to self-isolating residents - and got reported to the police by one of my ‘friendly neighbours’). There’s no answer to this - it just seems a bit unfair. We fell in love with the cottage, bought it for £130,000 (we’re not in the “something big in the city...£2m house on the North Cornwall coast” category of second home owners) and having been banned from visiting it for much of 2020 (we might manage a couple days at Christmas) are now smarting from the news that the ‘periodically occupied premium’ is likely to be increased to 100%. Now we’re going to sell it. 

theartfullodger

Moderne said:

Well that didn't take long, did it?! I thought this was 'forums.moneysavingexpert.com', not 'one-nil-to-me.smartalectrollsofthe worldunite.com'! When I was considering purchasing the property, there was no evidence of a proposal to raise the council tax premium to 100%, Mr artfullodger. ...........

Thank you Moderne for your kind words.  Great example of how to encourage getting help from a free, open to all, forum.

Best wishes to all

AdrianC

Moderne said:

Wow, there are some learned people contributing to this thread! No, it’s band B - I’m being a bit disingenuous, comparing the likely council tax after the 100% premium has been levied (May next year)

You mean the rise from 50% to 75% for furnished periodically-occupied properties.

So that'll take the most expensive Band B from £1434 to £2509, or £209/mo, instead of the current £2151, or £179.

So we're talking about a £30/mo increase at most. The majority of local precepts put the normal Band B to just under £1,300/yr, so going from 50% to 75% will take them up £27 or so per month.

with the fact that I have been forbidden from visiting my house for much of this year

Except you weren't forbidden, were you? Not since the start of July, except for the two week firebreak.
And that was by the Welsh Assembly, not Powys CC.

Perhaps your home area in England has restricted you, though?

...now smarting from the news that the ‘periodically occupied premium’ is likely to be increased to 100%.

Not likely - definitely. From the 50% you should have been paying since 2016, to 75%. You read the link I gave you, right?

Note the date on this...
https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/15836352.man-feels-punished-as-powys-hike-up-council-tax-on-holiday-homes/

Now we’re going to sell it.

Such is your prerogative, of course, but it seems a bit of an over-reaction to a £27-30/month increase.

Moderne

theartfullodger said:

When you were considering purchasing the property you had the time and opportunity to establish probable council tax costs, but presumably decided not to bother...

I think your definition of 'helpful' and mine are two very different things. 

theartfullodger

Thanks so much!

CIS

Whether or not the premium is agreed with the simple answer, from the legislation, is that it takes no view on whether or not you can access the property - it is simply concerned with whether or not the property meets the statutory conditions for the premium, and no more.