Second home tax?? 13 February at 10:34AM in Reclaiming mortgage fees, council tax, etc 1 reply 68 views

Stockyard_blues

When I met my wife who at the time was a widow with an only child, it was decided that I would sell my house move into her house and I would renovate her property. I understood right from the beginning that I would have no claim on her property as in her will it would go to her daughter as per her fathers wishes should my wife die before me.  As time went on we realised that I would be homeless if and when that time came, I would not present any problems for the wishes of her father. So 8 yrs ago I bought my own property  which we use for the sake of using it, it is fully furnished and soley in my name and my only property. The local council insists it is a second home / holiday home and I pay full council tax, the problem I am going to have is if the Council decide to start charging double tax in 2024 because they believe it is a second /holiday home. So my question is if I register for the electoral  roll at my address and change all my details, as in driving licence, car insurance, DWP pension and so on, almost as if I were single. Will I be breaking any law if I do all that and carry on living at my wife’s address as I should be allowed too? regardless if I have my property or not. I do stay at my property for a good number of weeks at a time and we both spend time there as it happens to be in a nice part of the SouthWest. I only bought the place to protect my future for when I might be on my own. Being a pensioner I simply could not afford to pay double tax on the house I struggle now and I would be reluctant to sell because of the circumstance I mention. Your thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

lincroft1710

I think you may fall at the hurdle of your home not being your main residence (i.e. not the place where you live for the majority of the year), so would b counted as a second home. However, I understand that this interpretation of a second home has been challenged.