House with Separate Basement Flat - council tax help please.

heidilouise

Hi
I have recently purchased a house and the basement is classed as a separate property (I own both) - the house and basement have both been rented separately over the last few years and have their own council taxes + energy supplies etc. The basement has its own front door and kitchen/bathroom - there is no staircase within the main house linking it into the basement so its 2 completely separate properties
Anyway I am living in the house and the plan is to turn the property back into 1 although due the current climate I cannot financially do this as soon as I had hoped. For now I seem to be stuck paying for 2 separate lots of council tax. 
The basement current has a 25% discount as its been vacant for a couple of months although in April it goes back up to 100% however it could go even higher where I live due to being 'vacant'. I have furniture in the basement and am using the space as an extension to the house - is there anyway until I can afford to remove the kitchen + put the stair case back in I can change the council tax arrangements as it will be over 350 a month for the 2 as separate entities which is something I really cannot afford currently.
I spoke with the local council and with the Valuations office and they said it would only be reduced if the kitchen was ripped out and the front door to the basement blocked up so that it was classed as one property for tax purposes - this is something realistically I will not be able to do now for at least 12 months.
Any advise gratefully received
Many thanks

tacpot12

Personally I think you are stuck with the decision. I don't think you can argue against it, due to the way the relevant law is written and the precedents that have been set already. Removing the kitchen should not be a big job, although the Valuations Office should have told you that it is not enough just to remove the kitchen units and worktops, you will also have to remove the plumbing for sinks and the electrical supply or gas pipes for the oven/hob. (You have to de-adapt the space).

The cost of bricking up the entrance is relatively low if you can put up with it not being made good until you can afford it. 

The largest cost is likely to be re-introducing stair down into the basement, but the only reason you need stairs immediately is so that the  Valuations Officer can descend into the basement to check that the kitchen is gone! I doubt you will persuade them to descend down a ladder due to Health & Safety. I installed a set of stairs down into our cellar myself by fixing wooden battens to the wall, and putting double thickness of plywood down as the treads. I expect a local handyman could do the same for you for a few hundred pounds. You can put in proper stairs at a later date if you want to. If you want to my solution for the long term, you need some HDPE plastic between the battens and the wall. The other big job is breaking through from the main house into the old stairwell. As you have access from both sides, you can look to see how this has been blocked up to see what is needed. Again, if you can put up the the access not being pretty, you can just remove all the materials that currently block access - as long as you can access the stairwell safely, that's all that matters.  

lincroft1710

Can't see any alternative to what tacpot12 has posted

heidilouise

Thanks - I don’t think I have any other option. I noticed on another thread someone had suggested getting the 2nd council tax in the name of their partner and then both can claim single person discount which I think may be worth a go until I can afford the works. From the small amount of research I had done during the purchase I mistakenly thought that due to it being one whole property overall it could easily be changed by the valuations office but now I realise it’s not that easy! 

Best start saving for the staircase 
thanks 

macman

One day's DIY to remove the kitchen: cooker, sink, isolate the supplies? Neither lengthy nor expensive.

lincroft1710

heidilouise said:

I noticed on another thread someone had suggested getting the 2nd council tax in the name of their partner and then both can claim single person discount which I think may be worth a go until I can afford the works. 

Councils are well aware of this subterfuge and won't accept it, at worst it is CT fraud.

I have had further thoughts on the VOA requirements and IMHO they are perhaps not all necessary, although policy/legislation may have changed since I was in the VOA.  I agree with their stance on the kitchen, but question the necessity of bricking up the current entrance and creating an internal staircase.

As it stands you have a self-contained annex. By removing the kitchen you create a non self-contained annex which would not be banded separately. I would suggest you put this to the VOA. Stress that although the annex would still be contiguous to the main house, it would no longer be self contained.

es5595

I'd also strongly advise against getting a partner in and second persons discount, as its been pointed out, it could amount to CT fraud. Remembering that if you let it out you become a landlord with all the problems that can cause too.

I'd say your best option is as @tacpot12 detailed, which would be to rip enough of the kitchen out that it cannot be used to cook in, and repurpose it as a 'utility room', brick up the front door, and reopen the access from the main house. It doesn't matter per-se if the valuation officer is not prepared to use a ladder; you can invite them to find any alternative access into the basement, which of course they will not be able to, and as such it can only be accessed from the main house. You can also provide pictures of the kitchen 'before' and utility room after. A little 'window dressing' may be helpful with this, in the first photo ensure there is a microwave, toaster, cooking implements, etc, and in the second it quite strictly a laundry room with iron, washing powder, baskets etc. 

The sooner you do this and challenge the banding the better as once it has been accepted/proved, it will be backdated to that date. 

CIS

At the moment the question is whether or not the basement is banded as a separate dwelling or a self-contained unit under Article 3  - in the latter case a 50% discount can be applied (assuming you're in England) whilst it's being used as part of the main property.