Council tax empty property

[Buddieboy87]

Recently purchased property council says i am liable for property being empty for 2 years previous and have to pay higher rate is this correct

[bizzybob]

Re: Council tax empty property

Recently purchased property council says i am liable for property being empty for 2 years previous and have to pay higher rate is this correct

Hi Buddieboy welcome to LB :beagle: That's a new one on me, as I understand it, you CANNOT be held liable to pay a debt accrued by a previous occupier or owner prior to YOUR occupation and/or purchase. If that was the situation, the water and power utilities, and other creditors holding debt at that address would be able to force a new owner to inherit the debt also. Council Tax billing is in the name of the occupier at the time of the occupation, liability ends when they leave, but the debt remains with them, and cannpt be tagged to a new occupier, or backdated for any period empty awaiting sale etc to the new occupier.


Are they claiming that the property has been revalued and is now in a higher band? Are they saying you must pay extra as it was empty like a surcharge on your bill?

Your liability dates from the date of occupation only. Other Beagles will no doubt be able to help further

What crazy council are saying this?

[enquirer]

Re: Council tax empty property

Recently purchased property council says i am liable for property being empty for 2 years previous and have to pay higher rate is this correct

As Bizzybob says, you are liable only from the time you took control of the property. What are the 'higher' and 'lower' rates to which they are referring, and why?

Do not deal with them by email or telephone. Everything in writing.

[bizzybob]

Re: Council tax empty property

Is this a commercial or residential property, there may be a bearing if it is business premises and it is business rate we are discussing rather than council tax.

The council may be charging a higher rate of business rates to try to recoup losses on an empty property, still naughty if that is the case imho.

[atendoftether]

Re: Council tax empty property

I used to work in ctax benefit and there is no way in which you would be liable to pay back tax if you had no interest in the property before you bought it ( ie. unless you lived there or had a financial interest in it). You could refer them to the person /company you bought it from in any case they would be on the land Registry, which is cheap and easy to access. As for the extra tax some Councils can and do charge multiples of the basic tax for empty/part time occupied properties. The discount on a house I inherited , which I part own lost its discount about 2 years ago and there is talk about charging more for those type of properties. I hope this helps. Again get everything in writing, also they may try to take you to Court, but it would be thrown out, especially if you attend with evidence ( they did this to me, even though I had paid in full and they ended up with a load of court costs!)
good luck, also get in touch with your local Councillor as they have to respond promptly to them.