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Moving from Bought House to Long-Term Rented

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Kieran2001
Kieran2001 Posts: 24 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Hello,

Me and my parents currently live in a 3 bed room house in a town on the outskirts of County Durham. We are planning to move to a 3 bed room rented house in the same town, which has a smaller footprint, as my parents don’t want to deal with the possibility of anything going wrong in the house as my parent has a low income and has recently split from my other parents permanently after 25+ years.

My parents have had a mortgage on the house for about 20 years, and the mortgage still has a few decades left and the price of the mortgage isn’t going down, pretty much just paying the interest. My parent has received a 25% reduction as she is the the only adult living in the house.

My parents concern is that if they move from mortgage to rented, they will have to pay council tax until the mortgaged house sells which could be 3-6 Months. Is there any additional reduction schemes she can use, as she is on low income and divorced? She is unable to pay 2 council taxes, however she also can’t afford to pay for repairs if there’s faults in the house, such as a pipe bursting, two breaking etc.

Thanks fo any advice, and let me know if you need any further information to assist me.
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  • freeisgood
    freeisgood Posts: 549 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    A mortgage for 20 years with a few decades left? What sort of mortgage was that!?
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
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    My parents concern is that if they move from mortgage to rented, they will have to pay council tax until the mortgaged house sells which could be 3-6 Months
    Some local authorities offer a reduction on unoccupied property but the rate is set locally so you'd need to check.

    A section 13A discretionary council tax relief could be applied for but it's very unlikely it would be grated on a second property.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • Kieran2001
    Kieran2001 Posts: 24 Forumite
    edited 8 February 2018 at 7:15PM
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    CIS wrote: »
    Some local authorities offer a reduction on unoccupied property but the rate is set locally so you'd need to check.

    A section 13A discretionary council tax relief could be applied for but it's very unlikely it would be grated on a second property.

    Thanks for the advice. Anyway to find out without my parent having to go to the council offices? Nothing listed on their website. Also the house would be unfurnished, during the time it is unoccupied.
  • Kieran2001
    Kieran2001 Posts: 24 Forumite
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    freeisgood wrote: »
    A mortgage for 20 years with a few decades left? What sort of mortgage was that!?

    A Pretty Bad mortgage, common issue in my county, people have barely paid the price of the property, and have instead only paid the intrest.
  • Kieran2001
    Kieran2001 Posts: 24 Forumite
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    Penitent wrote: »
    Sorry, I'm a bit confused. It sounds like you have several parents.

    You and your father have already moved into a rented property?

    No, I don’t communicate with him,
    Your mother was living alone in the owned house (and getting the 25% single person discount on her Council Tax) and is now moving into another rented property

    Yes, however I also live with her but I’m in education currently.
    and selling the house while it is vacant because she doesn't want to pay for broken pipes?
    There isn’t any, it’s the point she wouldn’t be able to afford repair bills IF it occurred.[/QUOTE]
  • newbutold
    newbutold Posts: 752 Forumite
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    Just phone and ask the local council if they offer a Council exemption on a property whilst it!!!8217;s empty and unfurnished. You don!!!8217;t need to give them your name and address etc just to make an enquiry.

    It really varies from Council to Council what discounts are on offer, some offer no discount for an empty property, others do.

    Also another point to look into, if the water bill is rates and not metered, you!!!8217;ll need to speak to them about an exemption whilst it is empty otherwise you will need to keep paying the water rates too. My water board only used to exempt you from water rates on an empty property if you had a Council tax exemption certificate, so again it may vary area to area.
    If my posts have random wrong words, please blame the damn autocorrect not me :D
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    As pp suggested moving out and paying for 2 properties is ridiculous. she would surely still be paying the mortgage as well as rent? Why not stay in the house until it sells?
  • Kieran2001
    Kieran2001 Posts: 24 Forumite
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    tessiesmummy wrote: »
    As pp suggested moving out and paying for 2 properties is ridiculous. she would surely still be paying the mortgage as well as rent? Why not stay in the house until it sells?

    She was planning to communicate with the mortgage company to agree to not pay the mortgage (obviously no mortgage value decrease) whilst she sold the house, as based sale of other houses in the street are roughly twice the remaining mortgage.

    Also, she wants to remain in the same town, as she has lived here for 50+ years and worked in the same job in the town for 20 years, and there’s limited properties available in the area.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    If it is only you and her why does she need a 3 bed rented house? A two bed would be cheaper and there are usually more of those available so she could wait until she sells her house before she needs to find one.
  • Kieran2001
    Kieran2001 Posts: 24 Forumite
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    Cakeguts wrote: »
    If it is only you and her why does she need a 3 bed rented house? A two bed would be cheaper and there are usually more of those available so she could wait until she sells her house before she needs to find one.

    Her other son who currently studies full time at university, comes home to stay for up to a week at a time during the holidays.
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