Buying a property with an annex

It is likely that the annexe should be banded individually for council tax as it stands from what you have said.

Is it England, Scotland or Wales ?

Niv wrote: »

I understand that if you remove the 'hallway kitchen', it would no longer be an annex for council tax purposes as it would not be able to be used independently from the main house.

It doesn't have to have a kitchen to be regarded as separate property - the VOA will look at the wider position of the property to make a full determination but it's unlikely it won't be subject to its own banding.

The multiple dwellings relief for SDLT would be dependent on the annex being "suitable for use" as a separate dwelling. That sounds doubtful from what you have said.


Anyway, the relief would be "clawed back" if within three years of completion you made alterations so that the property as a whole is no longer suitable for use as two separate dwellings.

Niv wrote: »

Ok fair enough. So how would you go about making it not an annex? A separate entrance means little in the grand scheme of things, i.e its an additional back door and is still connected to the main house. I don't see how an area of a house that has a bathroom and a couple of reception rooms automatically becomes an annex. I have seen numerous houses where there is a door to separate such a set up and it is not considered an annex by the owner / mortgage company / council.


I am genuinely asking, i am not questioning your knowledge in the area.

It's difficult - there's a lot to consider.

When a property is looked at for banding there are two main ways - that if forms a dwelling under the LGFA92 or that it forms a 'self-contained dwelling' under the chargeable dwellings order 1992 - only where it is a 'self-contained dwelling' can it be considered as to whether or not it is an annexe for the purposes of council tax (an annexe for council tax purposes has specific requirements). 'Self contained' doesn't actually mean that it has to be entirely self-contained when it comes to facilities (the name is a bit of a misnomer).

The fact that a residence has entry in to another property or not, or where the door is located, isn't in itself a major factor in deciding whether or not it is dwelling. The VOA will take a look at the overall situation to make a determination and it depends on what their assessment of the residence is as to whether it is a dwelling, a 'self-contained dwelling' or not a dwelling. There is an acre of case-law on the matter so without seeing the residence you cannot say 100% however in 95% + of cases if it is capable to separate occupation, even if not all facilities are present, it would be banded.

The only way to know for a particular dwelling what would be needed to remove the capability for separate occupation would be to ask the VOA to inspect the property and then ask them. They should then be able to confirm what the factors they have identified for that property are and this what then needs done. The situation in the OPs case may be remedied by ensuring that there is clearly no food prep facilities etc present but again the VOA may not be satisfied that that is sufficient to do so.