Empty flat broken into and turned into cannabis farm, appealing council tax deband rejection.

lincroft1710

Why did it take so long for your electricity supplier to reconnect and what exactly did they do to enable reconnection? Ditto the gas supply?

Woodstok2000

bertie1979 said:

no gas or electric, no way to heat or light the home to make it habitable for 18 months. Due to issues with UKPN.

as said i've read their criteria/guidelines, but was replying to lincroft and their experience of VOA.

looks like for the sake of a few hours, i'll have to try it on the basis of no gas or electric or other means to heat & light the property.

a quick AI result:

For Homeowners
If you own the property, there is no law that strictly forbids you from living without mains gas or electricity, provided you can maintain a safe and healthy environment. However, the property must still be safe, and you would need alternative means to provide essential services like heating and hot water (e.g., wood-burning stoves, solar power, generators) which must comply with building regulations. For a property to be sold or secured with a mortgage, lenders usually require it to have safe, functional, and permanent utility services. 

Don't just rely on the gas and electric, include everything so it's clear as a whole the property could not be lived in.

bertie1979

lincroft1710 said:

Why did it take so long for your electricity supplier to reconnect and what exactly did they do to enable reconnection? Ditto the gas supply?

after they made the property safe by disconnecting the illegal connection, i then had OVO come out to install new gas & electric meters, but they said they couldn't do it and reported to UKPN.

UKPN then proceeded to say the whole incoming supplies into each flat's (8 in total) meter needed to be replaced as it was old wiring (nothing to do with what happened to my property), they couldn't decide how to do the work spent several months coming out, changing their mind on needing to dig up the garden or change the supply in the bottom of the incoming supply cupboard.

After trying to get quotes from several electricians for doing said work (costing upward of £15k), i then asked if I was to get a brand new supply to my property, would anything need to be done to the existing other flats, UKPN then changed their mind and said no, nothing needed to be done to all the other flats.
then a further 2-3 months of to'ing & fro'ing, having to mess around with the suppliers then messing around with removing the meter number from the database.

i then eventually was able to get Octopus out and they installed the meters and I now have gas & electric supply.

lincroft1710

I don't know how a Tribunal would view utility supplier incompetence. The VOA will probably take the view that your problems were caused by your utility supplier(s) and in the normal course of events your gas and electric supply should have been restored fairly quickly.


I personally know of no precedent so cannot advise anything other than to present a concise timeline of events and let the tribunal make their decision. As has previously been mentioned the disrepair cannot be taken into consideration

Emmia

OP you might find this VOA blog helpful, as it sets out what makes a property eligible for no council tax.

https://valuationoffice.blog.gov.uk/2024/02/21/council-tax-properties-in-disrepair/