Empty Property - Council Tax

lauraj27

Hi there, 

Looking for advice. 

We had to flee/abandon/evacuate our home which is mortgaged due to violent behaviour and threats against us from a person living on the same street. 

For about 4 months we were sofa-surfing with friends/family and paying for air bnbs and the council refused to provide any kind of exemption as the home was not unfurnished. 

We have recently completely emptied our home, there is nothing left in there as we have secured permanent alternative accommodation and we are looking to sell. 

The council have given us an empty property exemption, but this is only for 28 days. As such we are going to have to pay two sets of council tax to the same council despite not making use of one of the houses at all and the only reason we left was because of fears over our safety, as such I wondered if anyone had any advice or could offer any assistance in how we could go about obtaining a longer empty property exemption. 

Thanks, 

fatbelly

I'm not aware that there is any exemption that would cover your circumstances.

If you are on a low income you could make a claim for council tax support

You could see if someone would be interested in occupying it until sale as a Property Guardian. They would then be the liable person for ctax

elsien

I think this is discretionary for the council so basically up to them. Is there a half decent local councillor you could get involved?

lauraj27

fatbelly said:

I'm not aware that there is any exemption that would cover your circumstances.

If you are on a low income you could make a claim for council tax support

You could see if someone would be interested in occupying it until sale as a Property Guardian. They would then be the liable person for ctax

Thanks for this, I've never heard of a property guardian - is there any reputable service you know as on googling it there seems to be quite a few companies who offer the service but I'm just a bit worried.