Council tax

[Housingcraze]

My place is vacant empty and only 4/52 weeks free council tax

AIBU to think this is ridiculous
My DF gets 26/52 weeks

Basically I’m caring for someone and got my own medical issue at moment but it is having jobs done to it slowly

It’s mt first and only home.

@KonekoBasu but you making a decision to leave a property empty rather than selling/renting out at the time of you moving is still the crux of the issue and contributes to the housing crisis.

I don't wish ill on people, but it is not up to the council to subsidise your decisions, good or bad. Surely a hit of £5k to get set up to rent the property until the negative equity is resolved or as a longer term solution is better than defaulting and obliterating your credit rating and mental wellbeing. Sometimes shitty things happen and you just have to handle it in the least damaging way. Best of luck in any case.

I was thinking exactly the same, Sumito.

How many months' rental income would that £5k represent? If it would bring in £1,000k a month, you could stick it on a credit card, especially if you can get a zero interest one. You'd clear it in a very short period. And do you really need "landlord training" if you're having the property managed by an agent? Sounds like keeping a dog and paying for barking lessons to me.

And wouldn't moving back in and paying the extra travelling be offset by the saving in rent where you are now?

I’m caring for someone and got my own medical issue

Not the councils concern.

Re Negative Equity
One of my tax clients is still paying off his negative equity from his repossession
in 1993

Agree councils should charge more than the council tax on empty properties. Luckily alot agree now. I grow up in a tourist area and saw the effect empty properties had on local area. In one case the school closed so no children in the village but alot of second homes. Losing the school, the shop went next. Its a dead large village now with people living in it for a few weeks a year. Bin still need emptying etc. Very sad to see a village that had a busy village life die and all because the houses were pretty.

@CondomsLubricantAndFlapjack

I’m caring for someone and got my own medical issue

Not the councils concern.

Given how much money carers save the country it kind of is. If anyone should be exempt it should be carers, without them the social care system would be in an even worse state than it already is - and it's already collapsing - and who provides social care services? Councils. So carers are saving councils phenomenal amounts of money. A discount on Council Tax is hardly unreasonable.

Did you leave the property to provide care for someone? If so you may be eligible for the providing care elsewhere exemption.

Koneko
Different councils.
Social Care is the responsibility of the County Councils
Housing benefit is the responsibility of the District Councils
and neither has any control over NHS cuts

@Talkinpeece

Different councils.
Social Care is the responsibility of the County Councils
Housing benefit is the responsibility of the District Councils
and neither has any control over NHS cuts

I never said they had anything to do with NHS cuts, though cuts to social care are placing a greater burden on the NHS. And this is nothing to do with Housing Benefit either.

My County Council (or County Borough Council) is who I pay council tax to and, as you say, they provide social care. Penalising carers seems daft. Imagine if every carer in the country went on strike, they save the country billions.

Yup, there is a lack of joined up thinking
but empty properties are a HUGE drain on the economy and need to be taxed much more harshly.

Ours is zero allowance. It's all payable, always. Even when vacant for long periods.

If one person lives at the property they pay 75% tax but if it is empty they pay at least 100% when they are not using any of the services. Sorry to disagree with the majority, but how is that fair? It is up to the government to try to solve the housing crisis.

Single person discounts are on the way out - good thing too.
Why should the rich get subsidised for under occupying their properties when the poor get penalised

It is up to the government to try to solve the housing crisis.
No, as per Tory doctrine, the market will sort it out.

A single person is not necessarily rich or under occupying their property by choice. They could just be, you know, single, or a single parent. Why should a single person pay the same as a family of four or more individuals? Why should a single person be penalised?

Quite. I'm single and occupying a 1 bed house - an old terraced one up, one down type place. The only way I could be underoccupying would be if you insisted I should put someone up in a tent in the garden. Or maybe bunk beds upstairs? (but the ceiling is quite low...).

I occasionally have people sleeping over downstairs, and I literally have to step over them if I want to leave the house before they're awake

So if I happen to be single and working... I managed to buy My own home ... I pay my taxes. And even if I have a 2/3 bed home I would consider myself neither rich nor under occupying my home.

There is a housing shortage in the UK, most councils charge more for unoccupied houses to discourage people from leaving houses empty. I think after a while you will find your council tax will go up to 150% or similar.

If the property was left empty because you are providing care for someone elsewhere you can claim a class J exemption