Double Council Tax!!

Emmia

lincroft1710 said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwye2d44pnpo

Some interesting views here.

Not really, just a 2nd home owner trying to justify their 2nd home by suggesting it wouldn't be suitable as a 1st home. Which I'm sure has been mentioned on one of these Double CT threads

"currantbun2 said:

My partner and I (not married) own a tiny old cottage in Suffolk which we bought as a bolthole when we were living and working in London. The cottage is not suitable as a ‘family home’ and even for a single person it’s a bit too small for a permanent home - so we are not ‘depriving locals' of anything.

We spend about a quarter of our time there, taking part in community events and spend money in the local pubs and restaurant. I own no other property, the house in London is 100% my partner’s.

 The council has now doubled the council tax, as it’s considered a ‘second home’.

 We can't afford to pay double as we are too young (62) to get a pension and not working. To pay normal council tax the options are:

 1. Claim this is my ‘main home’ - I'm not working so not tied to London

 2. Put it on sale and hope it will sell within the 12 month time period they allow - selling will be tricky as it was only ever suitable as a bolthole. The plan was anyway to sell up everything and buy a place nearby together, so it would just mean sooner rather than later. Might scrape a tiny profit who knows.

 3. Let it out as a long term rental. - might be possible but a bit of a hassle as don't fancy being a 'landlady'

 My question is, if I claim the cottage is now my ‘main home’ and my partner’s main home stays as London will the council accept this? What proof would they require? 

Would they want to see that I’m registered with a doctor’s surgery? What else might they want? I’m happy to go on the electoral register there. 

Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?

I'm well aware that 'second home owners' are considered evil and this is how the authorities can get away with this. But I couldn't afford anything in London even when I was working there. I'm upset as I own no other property and I'm hammered from every direction for having a 'second home'. If my partner decided to kick me out of the London house he could. 

Is option 1 realistic? 

--------------------------------


 In fact the OP on this very thread made that argument in the first post 

ReadySteadyPop

Neil49 said:

Ideally you should change your day to day lifestyle with the aim of making the cottage your primary residence. Spending more time there and commuting to London as required would be a satisfactory solution to your problem. The local council cannot dictate how frequently you do this. 

As stated earlier on, you have no financial interest in the London property, are not married to the owner and could be thrown out tomorrow. 

 Keeping the cottage is the most sensible solution, the "commuting" could cost more than the CT uplift though?

ReadySteadyPop

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

sheramber

ReadySteadyPop said:

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

But the OP says they can’t afford the increased council tax so  keeping it may not be an option. 

ReadySteadyPop

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

But the OP says they can’t afford the increased council tax so  keeping it may not be an option. 

Keeping it is still an option if the OP lives in it as "main residence" because presumably they are paying the basic CT on the property at the moment? I would also suggest getting a job if possible as a good way to cover lifestyle expenses.

sheramber

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

But the OP says they can’t afford the increased council tax so  keeping it may not be an option. 

Keeping it is still an option if the OP lives in it as "main residence" because presumably they are paying the basic CT on the property at the moment? I would also suggest getting a job if possible as a good way to cover lifestyle expenses.

It doesn’t sound like the OP wanted to get a job as they could do that and be able to pay the  increased council tax. 

Living in it a their main residence is always an option if they want to lead separate lives, but again it doesn’t sound like they want to do thT.

They  want to ‘say it is their main residence’ without it being so.

ideally the OP wants to continue to live in London, not work, have a second home and not pay increased council tax on it. 

ReadySteadyPop

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

But the OP says they can’t afford the increased council tax so  keeping it may not be an option. 

Keeping it is still an option if the OP lives in it as "main residence" because presumably they are paying the basic CT on the property at the moment? I would also suggest getting a job if possible as a good way to cover lifestyle expenses.

It doesn’t sound like the OP wanted to get a job as they could do that and be able to pay the  increased council tax. 

Living in it a their main residence is always an option if they want to lead separate lives, but again it doesn’t sound like they want to do thT.

They  want to ‘say it is their main residence’ without it being so.

ideally the OP wants to continue to live in London, not work, have a second home and not pay increased council tax on it. 

Life isn`t always ideal, especially now that property is marked as a soft target for tax gathering, plenty of relationships last a bit of distance though, that isn`t going to be a massive problem?

sheramber

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

But the OP says they can’t afford the increased council tax so  keeping it may not be an option. 

Keeping it is still an option if the OP lives in it as "main residence" because presumably they are paying the basic CT on the property at the moment? I would also suggest getting a job if possible as a good way to cover lifestyle expenses.

It doesn’t sound like the OP wanted to get a job as they could do that and be able to pay the  increased council tax. 

Living in it a their main residence is always an option if they want to lead separate lives, but again it doesn’t sound like they want to do thT.

They  want to ‘say it is their main residence’ without it being so.

ideally the OP wants to continue to live in London, not work, have a second home and not pay increased council tax on it. 

Life isn`t always ideal, especially now that property is marked as a soft target for tax gathering, plenty of relationships last a bit of distance though, that isn`t going to be a massive problem?

It is not an issue if both parties are happy with the arrangement but the OP did not indicate that would be the case for her  family unit. 

She wants the status quo to continue. 

Emmia

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

But the OP says they can’t afford the increased council tax so  keeping it may not be an option. 

Keeping it is still an option if the OP lives in it as "main residence" because presumably they are paying the basic CT on the property at the moment? I would also suggest getting a job if possible as a good way to cover lifestyle expenses.

It doesn’t sound like the OP wanted to get a job as they could do that and be able to pay the  increased council tax. 

Living in it a their main residence is always an option if they want to lead separate lives, but again it doesn’t sound like they want to do thT.

They  want to ‘say it is their main residence’ without it being so.

ideally the OP wants to continue to live in London, not work, have a second home and not pay increased council tax on it. 

Life isn`t always ideal, especially now that property is marked as a soft target for tax gathering, plenty of relationships last a bit of distance though, that isn`t going to be a massive problem?

It is not an issue if both parties are happy with the arrangement but the OP did not indicate that would be the case for her  family unit. 

She wants the status quo to continue. 

The OP hasn't logged in since the day they started this thread, so all of this is speculation, and the thread should be closed. 

ReadySteadyPop

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

sheramber said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

"Are they going to root through my bins? Spy on me? And what is the definition of ‘main home?’ are they going to ask me how many days in the month I’m there?"

Highly highly unlikely, many councils can`t pay for the basic services they are supposed to provide by law (hence the tax grab on property) let alone have Philip Marlowe types on the payroll, plus "spying" and "rooting through bins" could break the law, they will rely on nosey neighbour types with too much time on their hands (or maybe a genuine desire to see that second homes are taxed properly in their community) to phone in and report you, saying you have not been at the property for 12 months etc. but the council would still have to prove that, and that would be very difficult I think. The main thing is that you keep your home just in case, you can`t treat a relationship like a landlord or a mortgage, you don`t have the same "rights to remain" at all.

But the OP says they can’t afford the increased council tax so  keeping it may not be an option. 

Keeping it is still an option if the OP lives in it as "main residence" because presumably they are paying the basic CT on the property at the moment? I would also suggest getting a job if possible as a good way to cover lifestyle expenses.

It doesn’t sound like the OP wanted to get a job as they could do that and be able to pay the  increased council tax. 

Living in it a their main residence is always an option if they want to lead separate lives, but again it doesn’t sound like they want to do thT.

They  want to ‘say it is their main residence’ without it being so.

ideally the OP wants to continue to live in London, not work, have a second home and not pay increased council tax on it. 

Life isn`t always ideal, especially now that property is marked as a soft target for tax gathering, plenty of relationships last a bit of distance though, that isn`t going to be a massive problem?

It is not an issue if both parties are happy with the arrangement but the OP did not indicate that would be the case for her  family unit. 

She wants the status quo to continue. 

Looks like the only way it continues is to pay the extra CT.