Call for council tax relief on empty landlord properties

11:38 AM, 24th April 2020, About 5 years ago 93

Text Size

The NRLA are calling on Ministers to instruct local authorities that they should not charge council tax on rented homes left empty because of the coronavirus.

A significant number of rented homes have been left empty because tenants have been unable to take up tenancies, or have chosen to move out to be closer to family during the lockdown. During this period landlords will become liable for the council tax on the property and have no realistic prospect of finding new tenants.

The National Residential Landlords Association is asking the Government to tell councils that they should exempt houses have been left empty as a result of the virus from council tax demands.

A recent survey by the NRLA found that 41% of landlords are concerned about having to cover the unexpected costs of utility bills and council tax.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the NRLA, said: “It is manifestly unfair for landlords to be asked to pay council tax on properties which are empty, and likely to remain so, because of the impact of the pandemic. Whilst we remain supportive of the measures taken so far by the Government, landlords are being asked to absorb more costs at a time when they are least able.

“Unlike most small businesses and the self-employed, there has been no direct support package announced for landlords. Removing this unnecessary burden would at least help those landlords who are struggling to cope with drastically reduced income.”

Share This Article

Comments

Dixie

20:45 PM, 5th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Paul Shears at 05/05/2020 - 20:42
Thank you Paul

Report Comment Reply

Reluctant Landlord

20:48 PM, 5th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Paul Shears at 05/05/2020 - 20:44
Star Man Paul - cheers...my email pinging off to my MP now.. 🙂

Report Comment Reply

Adrian Jones

10:51 AM, 6th May 2020, About 5 years ago

The official line from Bath and North East Somerset Council is that Covid 19 laws do not stop people moving in to properties and full Council tax is payable from the day it is unoccupied.

I did say that potential tenants or buyers could not view properties because it was considered non-essential but was advised that did not prevent them moving in!

Report Comment Reply

Paul Shears

10:53 AM, 6th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Adrian Jones at 06/05/2020 - 10:51
Get those scatter gun Emails to your MP's sent!

Report Comment Reply

Fed Up Landlord

11:17 AM, 6th May 2020, About 5 years ago

All the councils have got together in a cartel to trot out the party line.

I will be working on a full submission to the Valuation Tribunal in the next few days which will be non-specific to a property and include a stated case which may assist once I have manipulated it to our cause. I will post it on here so you can all cut and paste it into a word document, add your details and send it on. to your own VTs and MPs. Remember I am not a solicitor and don't profess to be one but I have been to numerous First Tier Tribunals against freeholders and the odd leaseholder and won.

Report Comment Reply

Clint

11:33 AM, 6th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Gary Nock at 06/05/2020 - 11:17
Thanks Gary for your very hard work. Are tribunals open for such services or is that also having to wait months?

Report Comment Reply

Fed Up Landlord

11:43 AM, 6th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Unsure Clint. I think they are working "remotely"

Report Comment Reply

Fed Up Landlord

12:15 PM, 7th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Dear All,

Just received this morning- a response via my MP stating the response from MHCLG:

"Local authorities are responsible for the administration of council tax and therefore I cannot comment on individual cases. The Department is also unable to offer legal advice. However, I do hope the following information will be useful. A property will be eligible for a Class G council tax exemption in situations where occupation is prohibited by law. It is for local authorities to look at the particular circumstances of each case in assessing whether any property might be eligible for an exemption or discount. While the Government is encouraging moves to be delayed where possible in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no ban on advertising or listing property, provided that any marketing activities undertaken are in line with public health guidance including on social distancing.
Further guidance on home moves is available at: http://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-advice-on-home moving during-the coronaviruscovid-19-outbreak. The Government is keeping this guidance under review as the pandemic unfolds.

The Government has also published broader guidance for landlords and tenants who may be affected by current events, which is available at:
http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-and-
renting-guidance-for-landlordstenonts-and-local-authorities."

It is very carefully phrased. It says we can advertise etc but is referring to guidance in relation to occupation. What it does tell us is that there will be no help from government in relation to council tax on landlords unoccupied property.

So now it's a decision. To appeal to the Valuation Tribunal or not? I think I may have a bash.

Report Comment Reply

Paul Shears

12:41 PM, 7th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Gary Nock at 07/05/2020 - 12:15
So yet another "democratically" elected bureaucrat utterly devoid of any capacity of leadership and hiding behind an irresponsible Email forwarding exercise.
What is clearly needed here is an MP who is willing to spend some committed time & effort raising this in parliament. What's required here for society's benefit, is a directed change of process unless the priority is to shut down the small private rental sector......... (Perish the thought!).

Report Comment Reply

Fed Up Landlord

12:44 PM, 7th May 2020, About 5 years ago

Exactly Paul. Still might have a bash at the Valuation Tribunal as it will cost me nothing except time and will provide me with some entertainment.

Report Comment Reply

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

Continue with Facebook

Continue with Twitter

Username/Email Address

Password

Remember Me

Forgotten your password?

Don't have an account? Sign Up

“Account”	means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of Our Site;
“Cookie”	means a small text file placed on your computer or device by Our Site when you visit certain parts of Our Site and/or when you use certain features of Our Site. Details of the Cookies used by Our Site are set out in section 13, below;
“Cookie Law”	means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003;
“personal data”	means any and all data that relates to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified from that data. In this case, it means personal data that you give to Us via Our Site. This definition shall, where applicable, incorporate the definitions provided in the EU Regulation 2016/679 – the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”); and
“We/Us/Our”	Means Property118 Ltd , a limited company registered in England under company number 10295964, whose registered address is 1st Floor, Woburn House, 84 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, NR2 4AB.

Name of Cookie	Purpose	Strictly Necessary
JSESSIONID	Used only to collect performance data, with any identifiable data obfuscated	No
__cfduid	This cookie is strictly necessary for Cloudflare's security features and cannot be turned off.	Yes

Name of Cookie	First / Third Party	Provider	Purpose
__utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmt, __utmz	First	Google	Helps to understand how their visitors engage with our website
_fbp	First	Facebook	Helps to understand how their visitors engage with our website