Second home council tax reduction

lordbadger

I am having to sell my holiday home as I cannot afford the enormous surcharge the Council have put on second homes. The one advantage of putting it on the market is that the Council tax surcharge is lifted for 12 months. If it does not sell is there any reason I cannot take it off the market after 12 months and then put it back on again some time later to benefit from a further 12 months saving?

user1977

I would expect them to have thought about that one. Can you point us towards the rules? We don't know which country / council you're talking about and it's not the same everywhere.

ReadySteadyPop

lordbadger said:

I am having to sell my holiday home as I cannot afford the enormous surcharge the Council have put on second homes. The one advantage of putting it on the market is that the Council tax surcharge is lifted for 12 months. If it does not sell is there any reason I cannot take it off the market after 12 months and then put it back on again some time later to benefit from a further 12 months saving?

Not sure, they might take an interest if you were "selling" for many years. You are getting out at the right time, it looks like property is going to become a main tax target going forward.

lincroft1710

Does your council impose a 100% surcharge on unoccupied properties?

ReadySteadyPop

user1977 said:

I would expect them to have thought about that one. Can you point us towards the rules? We don't know which country / council you're talking about and it's not the same everywhere.

There will be a clause maybe that says you can`t re-list for sale for so many months after taking it off the market and you would probably pay the double council tax during that period? They couldn`t interfere in your sale though, encouraging you to drop the price for example, although this is obviously what councils want so locals can buy property.

Bigphil1474

It's good to see a council's holiday home tax policy having a positive effect. Any relief is normally a one off, so I suspect the answer will be no. 

ReadySteadyPop

Bigphil1474 said:

It's good to see a council's holiday home tax policy having a positive effect. Any relief is normally a one off, so I suspect the answer will be no. 

So "holiday homes" only for the rich is the future? 

MeteredOut

ReadySteadyPop said:

Bigphil1474 said:

It's good to see a council's holiday home tax policy having a positive effect. Any relief is normally a one off, so I suspect the answer will be no. 

So "holiday homes" only for the rich is the future? 

No, only for those that can afford to pay for the services available to those homes. Not necessarily the same thing.

artyboy

MeteredOut said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

Bigphil1474 said:

It's good to see a council's holiday home tax policy having a positive effect. Any relief is normally a one off, so I suspect the answer will be no. 

So "holiday homes" only for the rich is the future? 

No, only for those that can afford to pay double for the services available to those homes. Not necessarily the same thing.

Fixed that for you. We can argue the rights and wrongs but the reality is that it's a higher charge than any 1st home resident would be paying for the same level of service.

user1977

artyboy said:

MeteredOut said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

Bigphil1474 said:

It's good to see a council's holiday home tax policy having a positive effect. Any relief is normally a one off, so I suspect the answer will be no. 

So "holiday homes" only for the rich is the future? 

No, only for those that can afford to pay double for the services available to those homes. Not necessarily the same thing.

Fixed that for you. We can argue the rights and wrongs but the reality is that it's a higher charge than any 1st home resident would be paying for the same level of service.

It's no more "a charge for services provided" than any other type of tax.

artyboy

user1977 said:

artyboy said:

MeteredOut said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

Bigphil1474 said:

It's good to see a council's holiday home tax policy having a positive effect. Any relief is normally a one off, so I suspect the answer will be no. 

So "holiday homes" only for the rich is the future? 

No, only for those that can afford to pay double for the services available to those homes. Not necessarily the same thing.

Fixed that for you. We can argue the rights and wrongs but the reality is that it's a higher charge than any 1st home resident would be paying for the same level of service.

It's no more "a charge for services provided" than any other type of tax.

Well yes, we can go even further I guess on the subject of hypothecation (or not...)