Council Tax ?Unfair

crackle999

Consider the following scenario:

You purchase a property, don't move in for 6-7 months (it remains empty), during this time the council tax is still under the old owners name and remains unpaid.

After 6-7 months, when you do move in, are you, the home owner, liable to pay the outstanding council tax or is it possible to negotiate a discount as you weren't living in the house? thanks.

Doozergirl

No idea. It's common sense to tell them it belongs to you when you buy a house

You'd have to grovel. I suppose you could play dumb, tell them you moved in on whatever date and that the house was empty and unfurnished between x and y dates. If they don't know it's you that owned the house then they probably haven't been able to chase you properly for the debt so you might get away with it.

CIS

The home-owner is still liable for the Council Tax - the previous owner would have been billed incorrectly and the bill would be amended by the council as soon as they found out.

I'm assuming that empty means unfurnished and unoccupied.

If the 6 month exemption had been used up then you would be liable for the empty and unfurnished discount (between 50% and 0% discount depending on council). If the 6 month exemption had not been used in full then the new owner would get what remains of the 6 month and then be given the appropriate discount until they moved in.