To think this is really unfair and be in tears over the extra cost?

[dilemma456]

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I'd definitely push this further - you shouldn't be responsible for what has happened previous to your ownership, surely?

I think there is a slight difference here and you should be okay.

The landlord will have been entitled to a six month free period because it was empty.

You can have six months free in any twelve month period.

You are now asking for an exemption because the property is uninhabitable.

The first exemption should have no bearing on the second.

And as the new council tax year starts in April you can argue the new twelve month period starting from then anyway.

I always through Feb and March were free effectively, if you paid for the twelve months over ten etc?

Have you checked the exact wording of your Council's terms?

sounds really unfair. I can see that given you have bought the house, they might charge you even if not living there - but if you are already paying council tax to same council, that surely should be enough>? You can't use their facilities twice as much can you? As moodlum says, push further. If you are prepared to say which area you live in, you never know, someone on here might work for said council. But will understand if you don't want to say. Good luck

sounds like madness to me!

Which Council is it? We've bought in Wandsworth and are claiming an exemption because our house is unoccupied/unfurnished (whilst we have building work done).

All Councils differ but this sounds really unfair to me - YANBU

info here

So its YOUR property that you now own? Are you already paying the mortgage/rent?
If so, then isn't council tax part of the regular expenses? Are the builders using the bins etc?

I would get advice on this from CAB or similar (i don't know if shelter do council tax advice).

Even if you are not entitled to the discount for property being not fit for occupation surely you'd be entitled to second property discount (presuming you own the property you are in now)?

You would only be exempt if it is unhinhabitable. For instance if there were no bathroom and kitchen.

Not all councils give a 2nd property discount. I think it's discretionary. I'm not sure about 6 months relief per owner - open to abuse, maybe, by transferring ownership evry 6 months?

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I think cece is correct and that exemption category can last for 12 months.
Pull out the kitchen - we did this, although I cannot remmeber if anyone came to check.

Similar thing happened to me. After I bought the house I pulled out the kitchen, bathroom, central heating and wiring. The previous owner had claimed the last 6 months he lived there as 'empty and unnoccupied' even though he lived there and all his furniture was there. I told the council he was living there and had claimed fraudulently but they claimed they had visited and the property was empty. He had left loads of furniture (which I had to pay to have removed) and I had photos, witnesses, correspondance from him trying to sell me his furniture etc but the council wouldn't budge. Our council weren't bothered about the house being uninhabital.

We are renovating a house. We can't live in at the moment and are renting another house. We pay council tax on the rented property, but are exempt from paying on the house we are renovating.

I just phoned the council, and filled in a form which stated that it was unoccupied and uninhabitable.

A man from the council came round to have a look and agreed that it was exempt due to the amount of work we were having done and the fact that we weren't living there.

(We didn't have a kitchen either, although I think there was a bathroom in there when he came to visit)

I feel your pain as this happened to me. Had just signed a further 6 month lease on a rental when a long standing house offer on a place needing work was accepted, conditional on 6 week completition. The council explained that the non-occupancy period of 6 months applies to the house and not the owner. In my case, this was the previous owner, a large bank who had purchased from an employee to enable re-location. Obviously what triggered their acceptance of my offer was them wanting rid at the end of the 6 month period.

Don't give up though, it would appear that there is some room for the council officer to use their discretion. When the bloke from the council came round to assess for fitness for habitation and I explained my situation, he agreed to waive the CT for a couple of months if we promised faithfully not to take the p. for months. This was discretional as we didn't meet the criteria for 'uninhabitable'. As it happened we managed to get someone to take on our rental place and moved in to the new place and started paying the CT for there pretty quickly. We had no heating or kitchen so it was a tough few months but we were grateful for the council officer's cooperation.

So, advice for you is to try to stay calm when dealing with the council, claim the property is non-inhabitable, await inspection then appeal to the reason of the officer. Here's hoping it works for you too.

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