craig25

Can anyone tell me if i leave a house empty for more than 6 months while i am living in canada do i still get charged council tax ?,i have searched but all i can find is if the house is empty you get a discount of 50 per cent.Is this correct ?.I thought you would have to pay nothing ?

christmasoompa

From my understanding, you get six months exempt (unless it's for a specific reason i.e. it's being substantially renovated, in which case you can have up to a year) and then after this you have to pay 50%, even if it's still empty.

Each council may vary though, so do check with yours, but that was certainly that case with ours.

Winston Green

In Suffolk you can only apply if you can give them another address where you are paying council tax. Ie a second home. They will not give you a discount if you are just out of the country.

Ozzidoc

Same for Cambs.

craig25

I think i have found out that if you leave it empty in manchester you can get 50 per cent off,the council tax wont be that much anyway but i am aiming to rent it out but i am thinking of the worse case scenerio.I have no experience in leaving my house with a letting agent and if there is any problems with it i will be miles away but nothing i can do.
I only recently just bought this house as an investment knowing i was leaving for canada but i was advised it would be a good investment even though i was leaving for canada.I am just nervous i think as this is my first house and first mortgage(very small mortgage) and i am leaving the country on top of that.

MandyStock

I can confirm what has been said above. We had a property which was empty for more than 6 months. The first 6 months was council tax free, then we had to pay 50% for the following months.

JET747

Same here, free 6 months then 50% onwards.

JET

Jingsamichty

When the gypsies move into your empty house, maybe they'll pay it for you?

JET747

looking at some of the Gypsy Caravans I think they wouldn't bother - - where do they get that money

JET

shelley748

my only concern for you would be the house insurance- if your property is empty for a certain period of time, the insurance company will not keep you insured.

Aviator

It may not be empty for six months
http://www.squatter.org.uk/

helcat12

I have heard that the house has to be EMPTY.
By that I mean no furniture or appliances or anything else in there at all to qualify for Council Tax exemption.

If I leave my house unoccupied for a few weeks, I will want to leave the furniture here in case I decide to rent it out furnished after a while, so if this is true, I will have to continue paying CT at the normal rate until I have either sold the place or rented it.

Has anyone else been told this?

Ozzidoc

Yes.

I realise that this is probably a stressful time for you, however IMHO this is the least of your worries.

Be prepared for the electrics to go, kitchen to burn down and other dramas, and have the cash to pay for this, or at least access to cash via a credit card.

(I/we have rented out four properties that we lived in first, so places that were our home first. Now have three.)

helcat12

I am a little confused by this reply.
Firstly, was the "Yes" in answer to my question regarding CT rebate and the property needing to be empty of furniture?

Secondly, why on earth should perfectly good electrics "go" or the kitchen burn down just because there is no-one home?
If your system is not well maintained and checked, this is just as likely to happen when you are out at work or on holiday as it is any other time.

I am not worried at all about the CT - I am paying it now so I can continue to pay it while I am abraod if need be (although I would rather not of course)

There are sensible precautions that can be taken to guard against issues arising to do with maintenance or solving them if they do.

Many people leave their property empty or rent it out very successfully.
If it didn't work out for you on one occasion then that is sad, but you say you did it FOUR times and your tense suggests three are current, so whatever went wrong in one case it doesn't seem to have put you off that much!

Ozzidoc

Sorry for the confusion. I've had NO problems, but some people on here have. I did have to upgrade my electrics at a cost of nearly 1000 pounds prior to me renting it out, as I didn't know how long I'd be renting it out for and it needed doing in the then foreseeable future. The kitchen fire thread was started in the last month or so.

I was trying to say something along the lines of "if you are so worried about 100 quid or so a month, how will your stress levels deal with the actual occurrence of one of the potential disasters", and "if you are worried about this 600-1000 pounds now, are you actually in a financial position to immigrate".

Is that any better?