Two kitchens, two council tax bills?

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

We are going to view a house that has a self contained annex. There is a connecting door between the house and the annex but the annex also has its own front door.

The annex is basically two rooms - a bedroom with en suite, and a living/dining/kitchen all combined. We don't need an annex, we would just incorporate it into the main house. However, I have read that if you have a second kitchen you have to pay two lots of council tax. Is that correct, even if there is only one family in the property? Would we have to remove the whole kitchen, or just certain elements eg the cooker?

Does it have a separate property/house number?

I heard this years ago. Your solicitors should be able to check it out. Also does it have a separate entrance.

Maybe that has some bearing but I have lived in houses with more than one kitchen and one with an annex neither of which had two council bills so obviously not a hard and fast rule.

Has it ever been rented out previously? If it's been re banded this will have probably been done by the valuation office, they are completely separate to the council and once put in place it's very hard to undo. As a landlord of property this is becoming increasingly common.

Not sure about council tax, but easy enough to ask. But be aware that some insurance companies and some mortgage companies will charge much more for properties with two kitchens, as you're more of a risk due to potentially letting out the second annex area

Two kitchens doesn't necessarily mean the house will be treated as two properties for council tax purposes. In the area I grew up in it was common for houses to have two kitchens because there was a large orthodox Jewish community, and two kitchens are needed to separate the preparation of meat and dairy products.

The council tax assessment should take account of other factors like the overall layout of the rooms.

That said, if the second kitchen is in an annexe with its own reception room(s), bedrooms and bath or shower room as well as the kitchen then this seems likely to be treated as a separate dwelling.

Removing the second kitchen might be one option but there might be other possibilities e.g. turning it into a utility room (not sure how much you'd have to do for it to no longer be considered a kitchen though) or removing a wall to create an open plan space that's common to the annex and main house so they can no longer be used independently.

Thanks for all the replies. As far as I can tell from the property's website, it has it's own entrance but also a door leading through to the main house. I have no idea if the annexe has a separate road number.

@CasperGutman I was wondering about turning it into a utility room/boot room. As far as I can see, if you took out the oven and hob it would be the same as other utility rooms I.e. Sink, cupboards, spare fridge/freezer. Just wondering if taking out the hob and oven would be enough!

The main house is only two bedrooms so we would need to use the annexe as part of the house and not let it out. I just wouldn't want to get stung by an additional council tax bill of £1500 per year. I think the current owners built the annexe for an elderly relative so the re-valuation won't be done until they sell.

Can you check the postcode on the band check website? Not sure what it is in England, it's saa.gov.uk in Scotland. If it's list as (say) number 38 and 38a then it'll be both the bands listed. But if it's only on once then I'd be confident that it only has one charge.

The kitchen isn't the relevant point. Is it a separate dwelling?

The number of kitchens isn't relevant; its having a separate street address. Check the addresses in that postcode.

I have a good sized utility downstairs (kitchen upstairs) if I stick a cheap hob in it for the teenagers I'm not going to start paying double council tax!

@apocketfullofposies

Can you check the postcode on the band check website? Not sure what it is in England, it's saa.gov.uk in Scotland. If it's list as (say) number 38 and 38a then it'll be both the bands listed. But if it's only on once then I'd be confident that it only has one charge.

It might only have one charge at the moment, but if the property has an improvement marker against it from when the present owners carried out the work to build the annex then it could potentially be reassessed once sold - that's what the OP means by "the re-valuation won't be done until [the current owners] sell".

I think you need to get proper advice maybe a good idea to speak to the valuation office, if it's already in place it will not be v hard to have it removed. It would probably have to satisfy them that it is no longer a self contained unit.

If it's not re banded then I wouldn't worry they are unlikely to do anything unless they have evidence it's been rented out and perhaps further line would carry out an inspection

Hi everyone

thanks for all the advice. We've been to visit the house, there's definitely a separate entrance for the annexe, although it can also be accessed from.the main house.

I asked the EA about the double Council Tax so she's going yo check on that. However, the whole property needs quite a lot of work and is (I think) overpriced, so we probably won't pursue it.