Council tax when renovating

[Chafingthedream]

Hi, can someone with experience of renovating help me with a council tax query please?

We are having to move out of our home while renovation works take place (new roof, single storey wraparound extension downstairs. No other room downstairs, so whole of downstairs will be affected/ open to the elements at the back). We are going to have to move out and rent for six months, which is an absolute killer to our budget. Has anyone else had experience of renting while work is carried out on their home? If so, did you have to still pay full council tax on your empty home? I got in touch with our council yesterday and they said the whole house would need to be unoccupied and completely unfurnished (we can’t even leave a wardrobe in the upstairs bedroom) to be considered for a tax exemption. But if the whole of downstairs is open/ not watertight and we will have to shut off utilities, surely it’s not habitable and therefore we shouldn’t have to pay full CT?

LA rules vary, check with your LA, we have always had to pay full CT whilst renovating. Good luck with your project.

You would have to request deletion from the Council Tax register and there is specific criteria that requires to be met for this to happen.

Go to www.gov.uk and search for Council Tax and you’ll get all the info you need.

In my area, if the house is uninhabitable while work is being done, you don't have to pay.

A landlord down the road from me was bemoaning the fact that he's expected to pay for his empty property. He doesn't think it's fair because he's renovating, but it's not uninhabitable - he's only putting in new windows, a new bathroom and a kitchen in between doing lucrative projects for others.

I’ve done it within two neighbourhinh councils. One gave a discount. A few years ago so can’t remember how much, I think it was a few months free.
The most recent one with a different council refused any discount on the grounds the work was not deemed substantial enough. The staircase was falling down, it had no bathroom or working toilet (we also literally gutted the entire place). We had to pay in full, on both properties we had at the time. Bonkers.

It really depends on the council.

I bought a house two years ago that turned out to need more work than expected after exchange and I could not move in for about two months.

I had to stay in my rental for e extra months while the work was going on.

The council waved the council tax on the house for these two months. I had to fill a form and send in pictures to show the condition of the property and also estimates/bills from the tradespeople who worked on it. As the house needed a full rewiring, a faulty gas stove removed and repairs to the only toilet they accepted that it was not habitable for these 2 months.

I only paid council tax for the rental property for that period.

I would check your local authority website as it should tell you about the process you need to follow to apply.

Check with your local council as it really varies.

Slightly cheeky, but If they don’t give a discount, consider you and your partner registering at one property each, atleast that way you can claim the 25% single occupancy discount on both.

One local council wouldn’t give the unoccupied and undergoing renovation discount, despite no bathroom or kitchen, or fuse board, due to a huge freestanding antique wardrobe (as it require a removal team to move, and was eventually sold with the property). Everything else was out and in storage. I couldn’t lie about it as I know they like to do random visits, and try to come in or look through windows.

Also don’t forget to let your insurance co know it will be unoccupied and undergoing refurbishment, they too will add a large unoccupied premium usually :(

Urgh, thank you all. The city where I live has one of the highest council tax rates in the country. I’ll be paying £302 pcm on our 3-bed house and £260 on our 2-bed rental. So nearly £600 pcm on just Council Tax alone 😣 And our mortgage and the rent, of course! I am so jealous of people who have option of moving in with parents/ family during building work!

Beware that a lot of councils are now charging 200% council tax for unoccupied, furnished properties. This has taken our council tax to over £1000 a month 😫