Council tax query re: 200% charge on furnished unoccupied home job related dwellings

ghol26

Flugelhorn said:

will you be coming back during vacation periods?

will it still be your address for just about everything?

Yes, most holidays so around 13 weeks minimum per year. Most of our belongings will be here in the house

ghol26

gwynlas said:

Obviously you will have to take the accommodation that  goes with the job but I would imagine that this places you in the same category as any other contract worker based off shore.
Your current home remains your sole home in the UK and presumably you will return on a regular basis pay utilities etc.
The only problem I see is it being empty for long periods affecting insurance.

It will be under 'holiday home' insurance as it could be unoccupied for more than 30 days at a time intermittently throughout the year. However, in the longer holidays such as Christmas, Easter and the 8 weeks in the summer it will be fully lived in.

k12479

grumpy_codger said:

gwynlas said:

...
Your current home remains your sole home in the UK and presumably you will return on a regular basis pay utilities etc.
The only problem I see is it being empty for long periods affecting insurance.

I think it's empty (unoccupied) that matters, not sole. If my memory doesn't fail me, I recall a recent thread about a person renting a property abroad and facing 200% council tax on their sole property in UK. 

If so, the question is the definition of unoccupied.

Think it was this one: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6595880/council-tax-second-home-premium/p1

ghol26

It's all very confusing. I will have to contact the CT directly no doubt, and I'm hoping that the accommodation provided by the school will mean that  I can pursue the 'job related' unoccupied property line

k12479

ghol26 said:

...I'm hoping that the accommodation provided by the school will mean that  I can pursue the 'job related' unoccupied property line

Sound very tenuous, to be honest.

You mention "accommodation for the first year...existing rental portfolio...thereafter...housing allowance'".

Providing initial accommodation when moving to a new country is not uncommon and the fact it subsequently changes to a housing allowance suggests there's no requirement to live on-site. Secondly, if the initial accommodation/housing allowance wasn't provided, arguing you'd live in your existing property for the job is rather a stretch.

One council describes the job-related exemption as "There must be a direct link between your work and the property, such as caretaker, landlord of pub, schoolmaster".

lincroft1710

I would argue that the UAE property is your "second home" as your UK home is the one you will return to and will be occupied by you during the holidays. It is not as if you had bought a home abroad, lived there most of the time and just used the UK home as a pied-a-terre.


However I do agree with others' comments that the UAE property is not a job related exemption