Council tax banding

Joel_Goodsen

Hello there 

I was wondering if someone could help me please, as I am getting zero answers from the council.

My bungalow property, number 10, had an annexe flat built that was rented out for years, 10A. It has its own door and gas/electric supply.

Due to life changes, 10A is no longer being rented out and never will be. It is used as an upstairs to the the main house, number 10.

As it stands, I currently play 2 lots of council tax, which doesn’t make sense now as we are not renting it out any longer. I’ve asked my local council what I need to do to get my council tax re-banded so I only have 1 council tax bill per year and not 2 and they basically will not give me any advice or answers. Doesn’t surprise me since they want as much as they can get out of us all!

Does anyone know what I need to do to get this resolved please? 

Thank you 

ThisIsWeird

This annex was always an annex, always separate - it was built for this, and not as an 'extension' which then became separated, with its own supplies and kitchens and stuff? There are no existing interconnecting doors between the two?

If it was once a single dwelling, and then became separated, the rules seem to be different, and should be easier.

I think the only way you can have them both under a single CT regime is to officially make it a single property. This may require planning permission - should be a formality in most cases - and I'm pretty sure you'll need to remove everything that 'makes' it a separate dwelling; that'll be the kitchen, and possibly the separate power supplies (not sure about that).

Lots of good info out there - this is just the first Google 'return'; https://urbanistarchitecture.co.uk/converting-flats-into-one-house/

Joel_Goodsen

Hi

It was always built to be rented out, but this is no longer the case. It will never be rented out again.

There is an interconnecting door. Does that make any difference? 

Thanks! 

Andy_L

Which council is it?

AIUI its not a case of having it re banded, you would have to "de-annex" it so the flat no longer exists. eg not have its own seperate door, not be separate from the rest of the house, not have a kitchen

ThisIsWeird

Joel_Goodsen said:

Hi

It was always built to be rented out, but this is no longer the case. It will never be rented out again.

There is an interconnecting door. Does that make any difference? 

Thanks! 

I don't know.

Having been intentionally built as being separate could make it more tricky. Having an interconnecting door could make it more easy.

Tbh, there is a process for this, and I doubt very much you'll be prevented from amalgamating the two. No idea what the process is, tho'...

Andy_L

This suggests that you need to speak to the VOA (the people who do valuations for Council Tax)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understand-how-council-tax-bands-are-assessed#council-tax-bands-and-annexes

Joel_Goodsen

Thanks both for the replies.

I actually spoke to the VOA and was told they “couldn’t give me advise on what I need to do”

haha. I wish I was joking! 

p00hsticks

Joel_Goodsen said:

Thanks both for the replies.

I actually spoke to the VOA and was told they “couldn’t give me advise on what I need to do”

haha. I wish I was joking! 

I think that will be because, as others have indicated above, this is a broader issue than whether you get one council tax bill or two. At present you seem to officually have two separate dwellings, and so are not only getting two separate council tax bills, you are also presumably getting two sets of utility bills, have two different postal addresses etc.

You therefore need to address the whole issue of turning it back into a single property, which is not something the VoA would be able to advise you on.

You can't just look at the council tax bill in isolation.    

Joel_Goodsen

Understood. I think it would be more hassle than it is worth if the kitchen has to be removed, gas and electric re-done etc, as I presume this would be the only way it would be classed as a single property?

Looks like I will have to bite the bullet and keep paying 2 lots of bills. Not ideal with cost of living today, but such is life.

ThisIsWeird

Joel_Goodsen said:

Understood. I think it would be more hassle than it is worth if the kitchen has to be removed, gas and electric re-done etc, as I presume this would be the only way it would be classed as a single property?

Looks like I will have to bite the bullet and keep paying 2 lots of bills. Not ideal with cost of living today, but such is life.

That would be my assumption, but the planning department might be ok with it.

It would be understandable for them to be suspicious of someone keeping it as two fully-functioning individual properties, but wanting to pay only one CT :-)

I suspect - but don't know for sure - that you would be expected to gut the second kitchen at least. The separate utilities? No idea.

Eldi_Dos

The assumption that the kitchen would need to be removed seems shaky ground to me. What is to stop people having two kitchens in their home.
Someone running a home baking, chutney making business would benefit from such a set up, indeed there may even be cultural preferences for two kitchens.