Council tax -single person discount when unoccupied for sale?

oldbikebloke

moneysavinghero said:

oldbikebloke said:

moneysavinghero said:

Highest council tax in the country is in Northumberland £1848 (up north) and the lowest is Westminster £449 (down south)

link please?
https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1337161/council-tax-uk-map-highest-bills-area

https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/analysing_inflation_busting_council_tax_rises

wonderful, that page lists only Westminster's rate. It fails to include the GLA precept £332.07 (I have ignored what appears to be a Few £ difference)

the page I linked to is the TOTAL TAX payable for the location in which you live, and is therefore the correct statistic to use

getmore4less

When we had a spare house we installed a student relative in it for the period needed.

Herbalus

getmore4less said:

When we had a spare house we installed a student relative in it for the period needed.

Very good - did they actually use it? I’m not going to invent one as I don’t have one. Seems a bit disruptive for the student.

ElephantBoy57

Herbalus said:

I live with partner in nearby city so full council tax paid here.

I guess I was thinking that one person has 75% cost and 2 or more people would pay more. On that logic, as I’d be the only person with the keys to this cambridge flat, it’d make sense to pay for a single persons council tax. Seems odd that it costs more to have nobody living there whilst up for sale than one person.

Council tax is a tax paid by the owner of the property, that makes it much easier for the council to collect the tax.

It would make sense to tax based on the number of people living there, but that would make it more difficult and the authorities don't like difficult.

You yourself are trying to cut your payments by telling porkies, people would just say that they didn't live there. I do agree with the gist of your argument, the basic council tax fee should start at zero occupants and go up in increments of 20% per person.

But it comes down to politics, they increase tax when they want to discourage a behaviour, hence some councils charge more for empty houses.

ElephantBoy57

davidmcn said:

No, councils get most of their funding via central government.

Pre-lockdown Government funding to local councils was cut drastically, from 2010 onwards.

getmore4less

Herbalus said:

getmore4less said:

When we had a spare house we installed a student relative in it for the period needed.

Very good - did they actually use it? I’m not going to invent one as I don’t have one. Seems a bit disruptive for the student.

It was local enough for them to still get to school, they had a car.
We used it when visiting the area. 

oldbikebloke

ElephantBoy57 said:

Council tax is a tax paid by the owner of the property, 

technically that is incorrect, 
council tax is paid according to the Hierarchy of Liability (except for HMO) which starts from who is resident (ie. the occupier), not who is the owner.
Owners may not be the liable person, eg: tenants are not owners, but it is the tenant who must pay 

Herbalus

ElephantBoy57 said:

Herbalus said:

I live with partner in nearby city so full council tax paid here.

I guess I was thinking that one person has 75% cost and 2 or more people would pay more. On that logic, as I’d be the only person with the keys to this cambridge flat, it’d make sense to pay for a single persons council tax. Seems odd that it costs more to have nobody living there whilst up for sale than one person.

You yourself are trying to cut your payments by telling porkies, people would just say that they didn't live there. I do agree with the gist of your argument, the basic council tax fee should start at zero occupants and go up in increments of 20% per person.

But it comes down to politics, they increase tax when they want to discourage a behaviour, hence some councils charge more for empty houses.

Not sure where you read that I was trying to tell porkies? The question was quite simple - property is under single ownership so could I apply for single person discount whilst it’s up for sale? After all, it’s my property so if I moved in, I would qualify. It seems not, so I won’t.