My rented home is falling apart and more like a shak! I want to get a reduction in Council Tax.

Greenhenry

The rented property I live in is tiny.  It has no central heating, double glazing or insulation.  It is falling apart around me and full of damp.  I would like to apply for a reduction in Council Tax, especially since I have had no income since the first lock down and cannot claim any benefits as I have been self employed for one year.  (Although I paid tax for over 35 years.)  My problem is, that I cannot find any similar properties in my area to compare it to for a valuation.  I live in the grounds of a very large property worth over £3 million.  Most of the houses in this area are worth over £1 million.  How can I go through the process of reducing my Council Tax, when there are no properties in the area in such a bad state as mine to compare prices with?  I cannot  ask my landlady to do anything to update the property, as my Lease has run out.  She allows me to stay thank goodness, as I could not rent anywhere else at this difficult time.  Tricky!

jonesMUFCforever

Council tax bands are based on valuations by the Valuation office agency (VOA) - last done I think in 1991.
This has nothing to do with the state of the property or whether it has central heating, double glazing or insulation.
Check what band you are in - see if there is anything you can do to appeal if you think the banding is too high - or plan B - move?

Emmia

Really you should ask your landlady for a rent reduction to take account of the state of the property.

tacpot12

When you say "Lease" do you mean "Tenancy Agreement"? 
If your lease has run out, you no longer have a right to occupy the property and should move out before you are evicted.
Are you or were you paying rent or ground rent for the property? 

Greenhenry

I had a Lease which has run out and the Tenancy Agreement too.  The landlady is agreeable to me staying but does not want to renew as she has put her house and mine up for sale.  I am paying rent out of some savings I had.

tacpot12

So lets say you are correct, and you had a lease on the property from the freeholder and when this expired you started to rent the house on a Tenancy Agreement, which has also "ended". Without seeing the tenancy agreement, it's not possible to be sure but you might have a Statutory Period Tenancy. This Tenancy gives you rights to have your home repaired and for it to be fit to inhabit. You should ask your landlady to make essential repairs, which she will certainly recoup when she sells the property. You can ask your local council to enforce these repairs. It won't make you popular with you landlady though, so you need to consider whether to ask her to do anything. There is no way you will get a reduction on your council tax for this. 
As the property is being sold, it would be better to move to a property that is in a good state of repair - you are going to have to move soon anyway. 

lincroft1710

Council Tax bands are based on property values as at 1 April !991 (Eng and Scot) or 1 April 2003 (Wales). Anything which would affect a house's value can be reflected in the CT band. However you will not get a reduction in your CT band because your home is in a poor state of repair as the basic assumption of valuing for CT purposes is that the property is in a good state of repair. Although lack of modernisation can be reflected in the CT band as can lack of CH, it would not necessarily automatically lead to a band reduction.

As it appears you have lived in the property for more than 6 months, you cannot appeal the band, you can only ask the VOA (E & W) or Assessor (Scot) to review the band and they will require you to supply evidence to support your request.

Robin9

@Greenhenry   Do you live alone ?  Have you claimed the single persons 25% discount.?

MalMonroe

Emmia said:

Really you should ask your landlady for a rent reduction to take account of the state of the property.

I totally agree with this. Without you, your 'landlady' would have no income from this falling down property. Have you put your name down on any list, such as council housing? At least council properties (most of them anyway) are warm and waterproof. I live in such a property which is one of a block of two flats and is in the countryside. No offence to anyone but it doesn't even look like a council property. If I were you, I might just be cheeky enough to ask if there were a couple of rooms I could pay to use in the 'worth over £3 million' property for a while. Your landlady must be rattling around in there. As winter draws on, things will surely only get worse for you with your Cinderella-like existence.

[Deleted User]

tacpot12 said:

As the property is being sold, it would be better to move to a property that is in a good state of repair - you are going to have to move soon anyway. 

OP doesn't have to move out, if he doesn't want to - and if the courts haven't ordered it.   Even if the property is sold, all it means is that the new owner will become his landlord.  And maybe they will make the repairs that the current owner has avoided doing.

OP might ask his landlady to buy him out of his tenancy, so that she can sell the property with vacant possession.  It might be worth getting advice on how much to ask for, but given the current ban on evictions I would suggest as a starting point a figure not less than 6 months of the rent for the property.   

That would give OP a nest-egg to help them if they do decide to move somewhere else.  Though it wouldn't help if they needed a reference!

[Deleted User]

This might get more attention on the Housing forum.