To start a fire?

[PILEALLTHEPILLSONTHEFLOOR]

Just received a shock, a letter telling me my council tax will now be £300 up from £87 due to the 100% 2nd property premium.

Supposedly the charge is to fund police, fire and NHS. Perhaps I'll ring up all three every month to get my money's worth.

On a serious note, my house is already rented out at cost (no profit). The only reason I have the extra house (and extra subsequent mortgage) is because my family members died. I am not willing to pass on this cost to my tenants. I've already cut my food spending to the bone, I honestly don't know what to do.

Read. The. Thread.

The council tax needs to be paid, and you said you don't want your tenants paying extra. I'm confused af.. who is going to pay for it then?

I mean this in this nicest way but I wish you were my landlord 😂🙈 no but seriously I’ve always paid council tax on any property I’ve rented! Glad you’re sorted now x

Agree on selling up if you can - it's a complete (& expensive) minefield for LLs now.
But in the meantime, also agree on getting to grips with ALL your LL obligations, or consider an agent to manage it for you, or even help you to know what all you need to do.
SO glad we sold up 18 months ago - this thread giving me so much stress.

I became a landlord by accident OP, 20+ years ago, so pretty experienced now.

You've familiarised yourself with the new regulations, superb

Make sure to put the deposit in a protected scheme
Have an EICR carried out every 5 years or between tenants
Have PAT testing done annually (but its better just to not supply portable appliances)
Get the boiler serviced annually and a Gas Safe / Oftec certificate
Ensure your smoke detectors are up to spec and working.

Its far better to appoint a managing agent to look after it all.

If you plan to sell up, pay particular attention to the notice periods for an eviction under section 8 to sell, and the restriction on not re-letting after if no sale comes through.

I’m a landlord, I know what I’m doing and I’ve made no profit in 17 years!! Please do also make sure your EPC is valid and you have an EICR for the property.

Why are so many people on here not reading OPs posts?

Jeez Louise. You seriously thought that the tenants didnt pay council tax. Fuck me.

I am not usually one to pile in saying that all landlords are the scum of the earth as they're not, but if you are this clueless OP what other corners are you cutting for your tenants?

I thought you said the only reason you have the 2nd house is because a relative died? So did you buy the house for them? Have I mis-read?

This is why. OP is paying both council taxes rather than the tenant, so in the eyes of the council it’s empty as OP’s name appears on both council tax notices.

I am sorry to hear this OP. I still don’t get why you just can’t sell up both properties and start again without all the stress of having tenants?

Hey I have unwatched this thread but still getting spammed by histrionic renters seething at me, any way I can unsubscribe from people quoting me? Wtaf are some of these replies 😂

I'm an ACCIDENTAL landlord because my DP died horribly and traumatically in the property and it sat on the market for 8 months so I just decided to buy another place while renting it. I cannot FORCE someone to buy my home. Plsssss stop spamming me.

My question has already been answered and resolved :p

I'm so sorry, Pile, the trauma you've gone through is unimaginable for those of us who haven't been through it.

I'd get some proper financial and legal advice - I assume you've read government guidance but if not, here's a link

This. Do you have a landlord license for this property and are you renting it out officially (ie legally?). Then this really should not be an issue. If you rent out illegally…tough luck.

Harsh. The poster you responded to is only trying to help and make sure you don’t end up in a pickle which could mean you are unable to evict your tenants because you haven’t abided by the law.

If you have already covered all the things they mentioned then just say so and you won’t get a million other posters saying the same thing.

Sorry for your loss.

It’s very unusual to pay tenant’s council tax unless in a HMO with bills included. Are you sure that’s what agreement says?

Anyway, assuming tenants will be responsible for utilities and council tax, you can contact the council and ask if there is an exemption for properties advertised for sale of let. If so, you should only pay the normal council tax rate for the period it’s empty.

I am selling an empty ex-rental and have had this exemption applied, I just had to provide evidence it was advertised for sale and note who the EAs are.

Nobody is spamming you, you can’t close discussion threads, everyone is posting normally here. But yes there is a way to turn off quote notifications, I think it’s in account settings but I can’t remember exactly how. I think it applys to all quotes though, I don’t think you can do it just for certain threads

You only pay it for the few days in between tenants though.

I let houses. I paid a council tax bill of 12.44 recently for the days in between.

Op - rule 101 is people hate Tory’s and landlords on here - you were always going to get a battering no matter what… good luck with everything and sorry about your husband.

@PILEALLTHEPILLSONTHEFLOOR the later posts were only trying to help you.

You do sound very naive about what is necessary in terms of being a landlord. Having council tax included is very unusual too. If the tenants don’t pay the rent you still have the council tax to pay without the income.

The usual arrangement is that the tenant is liable for all bills including council tax themselves. That way any non payment is deal with by these companies chasing the tenant.

Who drew up your tenancy. Are you doing this yourself. The government website gives you clear guidance about what you MUST do. Otherwise you are going to come unstuck in the future and there will be large financial penalties/inability to repossess property.

I think you only pay second property rate if you are dividing your time between them both and noone else is living there? Ie, if you have a primary house and a holiday home that you use exclusively. So, as you are not resident, your tenants should be registering themselves to pay the council tax. Not you.

Also sorry about your husband. Suicide is an awful beast to come to terms well on top of the grief and loss. I understand you wanting to let the property out until the markets pick up.

Nobody is spamming you. We're trying to help

If you don't like getting replies, message MN and get the thread closed

Although there's SO much good advice on here for you that I'd have thought you'd want to read it all