Paying council tax on vacant property?

NinjaD

I have a shared ownership property that I can no longer live in due to the cladding crisis and the fact we had our first child 3 months ago.  

I am currently paying for the property even though I am not living there. I now have to rent a second property (for the reasons mentioned below), which means I will be paying two lots of energy bills, water, council tax & rent now. 

My question is: do I have to pay council tax at the property that is vacant? Are there any other bills I can reduce as paying for multiple properties will not be sustainable for long.

Reasons I need to rent a second property

• It's a shared ownership property. I cannot let it out as I pay rent on half the property it would be sub-letting.
• I cannot sell the property as banks will not lend against the property.
• We cannot live there as it has scaffolding all around it, we're also on the top floor with a newborn baby and no lift.  The work has been on hold since the mid of last year with no clear date to when they will re-start repairing the building.

hangryconsumer

With regards to council tax; depends on the local authority. Some will charge 100% rate on empty properties. Although the situation you are in with regards to cladding may mean the council can exercise discretion. You have no choice because you can't live there.

Mr.Generous

It's worse than that I'm afraid, most councils now give 1 month free, then 6 months at 100% when empty. Then it rises to 150% to deter owners from leaving them empty. There will be a list of works that render it uninhabitable but I've never seen cladding or fire risk on any list, stuff like removal of weight baring walls or floor joists usually. However on the positive side I did get a council tax break for 6 months once doing a full back to brick - damp work etc renovation and it didn't strictly qualify - thanks Wigan/ Leigh council.

Some would suggest that if they surcharge you one adult (pretends) to move back in and qualifies for a 25% discount, but I would never condone such a thing.

diystarter7

Every council is different call them tomorrow.

lincroft1710

As you live in a flat, there must be others in the same situation, Can you not contact them to find out what happened in their cases or join forces in a request to the council to suspend CT payments until the works have been completed.

NinjaD

lincroft1710 said:

As you live in a flat, there must be others in the same situation, Can you not contact them to find out what happened in their cases or join forces in a request to the council to suspend CT payments until the works have been completed.

Thanks, yes, we have all been in contact for the past 2 years.  We've had meetings with leaseholders/freeholders and our MP.  Unfortunately it hasn't made any difference, 

Our building is small only 28 flats, most are rental (which can choose to move on as their contracts allow), There are only 2 other trapped leaseholders remaining. The rest sold their flat's out of desperation to cash buyers over £100k under market value.  The remaining leaseholders are able to live between their flat and with family. 

It sounds a bit like first world problems, as we could technically still live there.  But we have a new born baby in a tiny 1 bed flat, 50+ steps (no lift) every time we need to leave (this is tough when I have to go into the office and my wife has to leave the flat with the baby, pram, and bags). Also, it's dark in the flat now because the scaffolding is blocking some natural light and the potential of very noisy work recommencing at any moment (which would be a nightmare working from home and a sleeping baby in the other room).  They've been telling us for the past 6 months that it is due to recommence at any minute now.....

So the reason we needed to move was for our own mental health, and for our child to not have to endure noisy building works, if it ever re-commences.  Most importantly though, is the fact that the building is classified as a highly flammable building and we are on the top floor with no fire escape (apart from climbing down the scaffolding).

lincroft1710

The problem you have is convincing the council that your flat is uninhabitable and from memory there is no definition of uninhabitable in CT legislation. Your personal circumstances would not be taken into account and as you can technically still live there, it is doubtful the council would play ball. You could try contacting your local councillor or MP but most councils do not give in just because a councillor or MP has tried to intervene.