Welcome to The Letting Vision Blog! We will be providing you with the most recent letting agent, landlord, and tenant news and views. This week we are going to talk about the changes in council tax and how that affects landlords.
From this week landlords are reminded that, local councils now have the option of charging full Council Tax on empty properties.
The changes will have an effect on properties that until now have been given assured exemptions and discounts, including properties for rent that are furnished or unfurnished.
Owners who have a property that is empty due to building work will lose the assured right to be let off Council Tax for up to a year. From day one many councils have decided to charge the full amount.
Here are the specific alterations:
- Exemption class C (properties that are empty and unfurnished for up to six months) has been abolished and each council can decide whether to award a local discount in its place.
- Councils can decide to charge an additional premium of up to 50% on homes that have been empty and unfurnished for two years or more.
- Exemption class A (properties requiring or undergoing major repairs for up to 12 months) has been abolished and each council can decide whether to award a local discount in its place.
- The minimum discount that councils can give for furnished homes that are no one’s ‘sole or main residence’ – i.e. second homes and unoccupied furnished lets – has been reduced from 10% to 0%.
Local councils vary with their approach to the changes. For instance, some councils are charging full Council Tax from day one, whereas, others are allowing a short period of about a month and then either charging full Council Tax or an amount of it for the next five months.
For more information please feel free to contact us at:
http://www.lettingvision.co.uk
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