Second home council tax

[Trydan]

Thought it was a good idea 25 years ago to buy the flat above my flat because it was wooden framed and built with terrible soundproofing.
I then once I bought the flat got plans approved to convert them to a house.
We couldn't get a mortgage because of them being wooden framed.
So we asked the council if could we still call it one property as we had converted the inside - they asked if I had stripped out the kitchen, bathroom and utilities from one of the flats - thought that was daft at the time and carried on paying the two council taxes.
No discounts at the time were ever given because we were married.

So move on to these fantastic premium taxes in 2025 so councils can get the money shortfalls they must have especially with all the empty properties lying around!!
We do live in a holiday “Not spot” & it is next to an annoying rail system in an industrial area.
The flats are used as a house downstairs and upstairs.
So our second home now needs twice as much council tax money which we don't have
Wondering what to do

•put flat in someone else's name
•get divorced
•put flats up for sale
•demolish flats and live in a caravan.
Kindest regards

Have you asked the valuation office agency to classify it as one dwelling?

One of you register as living upstairs and one register as living downstairs.

I was told one flat needed its utilities ,bathroom & kitchen stripped out, before they would look at it.

Ok if you are not married.
They don't accept this when being a married couple.

Doesn’t sound like it’s the sort of place that you could rent out as a FHL ? ( furnished holiday let ) apologies if I’ve misunderstood.

FHL are exempt from council tax but they have to be let for 70 days a year. Only you know if this will be achievable.

sell up / accept the double whammy / strip out the kitchen and bathrooms from one flat and just sleep in it ?

must be very frustrating for you

What rooms do you have now as it seems a little unclear as to whether you removed one of the kitchens. If you didn’t remove a kitchen why not.
married people living in separate flats - there was a grand design where the married couple had separate living quarters and then an area where they came together.

One of you needs to move upstairs! 25% discount on council tax.

Change everything (Dr's, bank account etc) of one of you to upstairs. Tell council you've split up! Sod them!

Your post is confusing. If both flats have got a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom each with separate entrances then the council will class them as two dwellings not sure how you say they are now one house have you changed the internal layout now to combine the two properties? If so contact the council and they will carry out an inspection. If the two flats are completely separate then yes council tax on 2nd property will be payable you can register separately into both flats to get the single occupancy discount. I would be careful though if you needed planning permission to combine them and the work hasn’t been carried out in line with the permission council can take enforcement action.

I used to work in council tax, why do you need a second kitchen? You can easily have more than one bathroom in a house but 2 kitchens is where the problem lies.

I would remove the kitchen and block off the original flat door entry even if it is just plasterboard from the inside. Then contact the VOA again and get it reassessed. Yes it might have separate utilities but without that kitchen and having to access it through your flat you couldn't rent it as a separate dwelling. That is the argument I would use.

As to everyone being flippant and I get it, this is tax, government tax, collected at a local level as each area has different needs. The powers that the council tax department has to collect monies in ie attachment of earnings where your payroll take the money out of your pay packet and give it directly to the council means you don't fuck around.

Obviously due to changes in legislation the temptation has always been to pretend that the property is let by a single tenant for a 75% charge but this is fraud and the council tax department has investigators that visit properties, talk to neighbours etc.

It's either one dwelling or two dwellings. Your mistake in hindsight was to accept it was separate dwellings. It used to be all to do with how many kitchens. And whether there was separate entrances. You will need to convert it to have it re--assessed.

Some years ago we bought a house (no longer live there) which had been converted into a house with a separate basement flat. IIRC To have it registered as a single house we had to have the 2nd kitchen taken out and there had to be internal access between the two - ie proper stairs. This may have been easier because the house was originally one dwelling. I do know that some councils don't like people converting 2 separate properties into 1 because it reduces the housing stock. So you need to speak to the council again & ask them exactly what you need to do for them to recognise it as a single dwelling. & as others have said I really can't understand why you don't just remove the 2nd kitchen.
Personally I would try this before the rather more drastic options in your OP - although I presume you were being tongue in cheek 😂

If you have an empty property premium added to the 2nd flat then that’s incorrect as it’s furnished. You need to contact your council and they’ll send out an investigator to check both are furnished and if so they can remove the premium. So still 2 bills to pay but not the additional charge.

otherwise do as @snafflezoom said you need to do some work and as the valuation office to reband as a single property

Im confused...what is stopping you from stripping the bathroom and kitchen out of one of the flats?

You use both flats as you would a house? So say living areas downstairs and bedrooms upstairs kind of set up?

I'd just do whatever was needed as cheaply as I could to satisfy that flat number 2 cannot be classed as a second property.