Council tax

[Gring]

Had an empty flat in Camden for 9 months. Just got a bill for council tax for £400 (3 months of the 9).
At the time we were living at our house in Kent. At the time we informed the council that the property was empty. We phoned the council and have been told that you can have a property empty for 6 months without paying tax, but after that you have to pay. They never told us this when we initially contacted them. Is this right, as we were paying council tax on our property in Kent at the time. It really bugs me as we got zero services from the council whilst it was empty. I dont want to pay the £400 out of principle.

[Gareth79]

Yup, after 6 months you are liable. They could have told you it's free for life when you called but it doesn't change the fact that you will have to pay. If you don't pay it will go to court, they don't dilly around with council tax collection.

edit: There is a 10% discount for second homes or unoccupied properties after this date. Absolutely insane given that if one person is living there the discount is 25%!

Edited by Gareth79 on Tuesday 6th October 21:00

[ShadownINja]

... and if 10 people are living there, there's no discount but no extra charge...
</single guy>

[Wings]

Or a student no council tax,should be a 50% discount though on an empty property

[klimakool]

up here in scotland the period of grace is only six weeks from new owner if paying elsewhere, other than that its 35% off if its empty and unfurnished (why that matters i dont know) but if your claiming a discount on another property you get jack. discounts only apply to the person not the properties

[Gring]

Makes me so angry, sold this flat over a year ago, just got a letter from them asking me to prove it! You would think that they could see that it has been sold and is now occupied by someone else. Might as well just throw money on a bonfire.

[klimakool]

biggest joke of it all is where the money goes, our schools are poorer than ever, bins only collected one a fortnight, we get fined for not recycling, a machine picks our bins up, only a driver required, hospitals closing, streets a mess yet council workers get loads of pay for doing jack while we get tax rise after tax rise

[ShadownINja]

klimakool said:

biggest joke of it all is where the money goes, our schools are poorer than ever, bins only collected one a fortnight, we get fined for not recycling, a machine picks our bins up, only a driver required, hospitals closing, streets a mess yet council workers get loads of pay for doing jack while we get tax rise after tax rise

Duck ponds. Oh, and we're paying off Gordon's gambling debts.