MILs empty property - now have to pay 200% council tax on it!

[FrenchandSaunders]

Has anyone experienced this? MIL died just over a year go. We are doing it up with a plan to sell it and had a council tax reprieve for 6 months. We now have a bill for double the yearly amount and a quick look at the council website confirms that. Sounds so odd!

It’s a second home, you’ve had a year to get it sorted and sold. Maybe this will incentivise you to get it on the market.

Yes I have heard of this, is it habitable? If not (ie no working kitchen yet) the property may be eligible for an exemption. I guess it’s there to deter people leaving properties empty for a prolonged period, which I understand during a housing crisis.

Yes it's normal. It's to encourage homes back into use as there is a national housing crisis. But it's difficult for people dealing with a bereavement.

They penalise people now for having second homes or leaving properties empty which I do understand.

Yes this.

Yep, it's a thing. Vacant for more than a year in lots of places now attracts a considerable surcharge.

Quite right. Why bother doing it up to sell it, just sell it and let the new owners renovate it how they want it.

It's to encourage people to sell their second homes as we are in a housing crisis. Too many people, not enough homes. It's been in the News almost daily for years, perhaps you can use it as an incentive to get the house ready for market a bit quicker. Or just sell it as it is. The six month reprieve is down to (mostly likely) having to sort probate.

Quite right. It's to stop people sitting on empty houses. They kindly gave you 6 months and that's plenty

My local council doesn’t even give you six months free. It isn’t obligatory. When my dad died I had to pay council tax from the off until I sold it. And his 25% single occupancy reverted to the 100% full cost.

This policy varies among local authorities, some adopt 100% levy after 12mths, some after 24mths. When we last renovated a property my DH had it all done in 8wks! Really surprised they gave you 6mths free tbh. Get it finished and sold OP. Good luck.

You are very lucky, we got one month free and then 100% council tax!

This.

Just put it on the market.

Yes it’s normal. You’ve had a year.

If the reason that you are doing it up to sell, then I assume you believe that you will make more money from it, in it's renovated state. The 200% council tax should be built into your estimated costs when working out where your 'break-even' point is. Treat it as another cost of renovating.

Thing is, selling properties that elderly people have lived in for decades can be a slow process. If they had work done in the 1970s, there probably won’t be building regs as they generally didn’t exist then, to give an example. A lot of buyers’ surveyors and lawyers get worked up about perfectly legal and safe work. Or about roofs that might need replacing st some point in the next decade. Better surveyor education re older property would speed things up.

My buyer has wasted a month of time faffing about his survey (and choosing the wrong lawyers on his own property sale).

I had all the paperwork ready in October, when the house went on the market, just to set the scene. But people aren’t used to buying older properties and panic when the documents don’t look like they would for a 2025 property.

We have had a generous six-month period of no council tax from the borough council and I am grateful, but if our buyer can’t sort himself out, we will be paying a lot each month from April. Dreading it.

A year really isn't that long when you're dealing with bereavement, funeral, probate, estate agents, solicitors, land registry and selling a house takes long enough in the UK at the best of times.

@FrenchandSaunders this is normal. council can charge whatever they want up to 100% times the usual council tax applicable for empty properties. this also applies to landlords having to pay.

if you want a very quick sale and not bothered about the price, have it sold by auction.

where my late dm lived it was no council tax due until 6 months after probate had been granted and they would then possibly extend the exemption provided the house was completely empty.

I was told by by my mums social worker that now my mum is in a home and it is empty she doesn't have to pay council tax is that correct.

however you can’t sell the house without a grant of probate and last year HMCTS were spectacularly slow at dealing with applications so sometimes it’s not within your control to sell the house as quickly as possible.

I would check with the council.

Yes of course you have that bill, it’s a second house.

I hope you have had advice regarding CGT if you are “doing it up” before you sell.