I pay Council Tax on a property that I live in and receive a single person’s discount. Have bought a property in a different area and will move into this once various work has been completed. Property has no furniture but I’ve been sleeping there regularly.

Am aware that Council Tax needs to be paid so contacted the Council accordingly but they’ve told me that I’m not entitled to a single person’s discount as I’m not yet living there. We’re not talking about a property that’s been or likely to be empty for years and it’s not a second home either, I’m not a BTL landlord.

Not had any luck with Googling nor on the Government website but I fail to understand why I shouldn’t be entitled to this discount. I really need to find some small print to pick apart.

Thanks. 🙂

In what way is it not a second home?. I’m pretty sure you only get one discount.

no idea about your council but when i was faced with this i managed to get a 3 month exemption while i was renovating my house and living offsite.

do not tell the council you have been sleeping there. although they did tell me they would do site inspections i never saw a sole – and tbh it was obvious no one was living there and my sleeping bag used occasionally after late nights working in one corner of the upstairs bedroom lived under dust sheets anyway 😀

How ever – if the previous owner used the 3 month exemption prior to selling then your stuffed as they dont allow another 3 month exemption for quite some time…..

There is no requirement for councils to offer any discount on second homes so it will be charged at 100% unless they choose not to. You might be abke to get an exemption if it is undergoing significant refurbishment and is unlivable but that doesn’t sound like the case.

Thanks chaps. We’re talking about a month or so of it being ’empty’. CT exemptions in England have gone the way of the dodo, I know I have to pay CT on two properties but where can I find this in writing:

There is no requirement for councils to offer any discount on second homes so it will be charged at 100% unless they choose not to.

LMGTFY

Actually works surprisingly well in this instance – several councils in england still appear to offer exemption for first month….. and several others state your exact quote.

pick your council it seems.

You can’t claim single person discount on 2 properties, as a second home you need to apply for a different discount scheme if you’re refurbishing what you get will depend on the state of property and how your council view it.

Look here for the details, maybe send this to your council in writing but if you’re only talking a month then it’s probably not worth faffing with, enough to stress about refurbing a property… http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN02857/SN02857.pdf

We bought a house last year and had a month or so of double council tax because of the overlapping dates for sale completion and end of tenancy. The council said all exemptions relating to this kind of situation had been abolished.

Wrong thread

I pay Council Tax on a property that I live in and receive a single person’s discount. Have bought a property in a different area and will move into this once various work has been completed. Property has no furniture but I’ve been sleeping there regularly.

This can be read as “I’ve two properties and vary which one I sleep in”.

So why not just apply for the single person discount for both, especially if they are different councils I can’t imagine anyone (except you, and all of us) will know.

Realise it means you’re paying two lots of (discounted) CT, but then you also own two properties so really should be paying CT on both.

Yes it’s a second home. You can get a 6 month holiday if the property is empty / unoccupied. My understanding is empty means no furniture. A usable but unoccupied property has a penalty these days of 150% I think. Also I have a recollection you cannot claim the single person discount if you have another property somewhere, I believe this is due to fact that second home discount is 10% and single person is 25%. Note council tax discounts vary by council.

Complicated

You can get a 6 month holiday if the property is empty / unoccupied. My understanding is empty means no furniture

You can but in my experience councils have tightened up the qualification criteria. Previously all you had to do was tell them the property was empty, now you need to provide either an invoice for van hire/removal company or an invoice from a storage company. Although you could just hire the smallest storage container for a couple of weeks and send that invoice

OP so to recap you may be able to get 6 months of no council tax on the place with no furniture, Eastleigh gave me such a discount. After 6 months empty they then charge 150%.

EDIT: Gary when I did this I didn’t need any proof but it’s reasonable they ask for some, you could always invite them round for an inspection.

I recall in Eastleigh the single person discount is only available if you do not have another home somewhere else – I think this was introduced to stop the very obvious dodge of a couple with 2 homes claiming single person discounts on both.

After 6 months empty they then charge 150%

Thats a great deal 🙂

trail_rat and nickdavies – thanks for those links.

Just to be clear, I don’t own two homes. The one I live in is rented and have bought the other one. It would have been impossible to live in a property whilst electrical work was undertaken, no heating or hot water as all radiators have been removed and no working kitchen. Nothing structural though.

By being honest and telling the Council that I wasn’t living there was clearly the wrong thing to do. If I’d said nothing then I would not have been financially penalised. I’m happy to publicise this fact in case anyone else ends up in this situation. Honesty is not always the best policy it would seem.

Council tax isn’t a charge on owning a house, its a charge on using services. So, you pay on the one you live in and don’t own, and on the one you own but don’t live in.

CG, you could be paying zero on the un-inhabitable property – that was the case a few years ago. I was paying zero in Eastleigh as I emptied the property of furniture. You can’t tell them you are sleeping there though. As you are now aware actual policy varies by authority

Yes but you need to prove it’s empty of furniture, photographs of empty rooms won’t suffice. I emptied a property I own but don’t live in, took all the furniture to the tip/charity in my estate car so had no ‘proof’ the property was empty. I understand to an extend why the council have that rule but van hire or storage invoice doesn’t fix all scenarios.

Just to be clear, I don’t own two homes. The one I live in is rented and have bought the other one.

so are you just moving from the rented one to the one you’ve bought? If that’s the case won’t you stop paying CT on the rented property?

It would have been impossible to live in a property whilst electrical work was undertaken, no heating or hot water as all radiators have been removed and no working kitchen. Nothing structural though.

You need to tell the council it’s uninhabitable. You might get some leeway there but it’s up to the council to decide – we moved out for three months into rented accommodation whilst our house was getting renovated and despite several long conversations with the local council we ended up paying both council taxes.