srowe

That's a point we hadn't considered. The current house is band D, possibly influenced by it being detached and four bedrooms. We're actually planning to build a three bed as a replacement (although increasing the area a little). More research required to get an idea of what band the new property might be. I suspect that there's always a risk that a new house would be revalued in a higher band even if we didn't deband the current one.

It all comes down to this magical concept of "rateable hereditament" https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rating-manual-section-2-maintaining-the-rating-list/part-2-hereditaments-valued-by-the-central-valuation-officer In section 6 a hereditament ceases to exist when We have a surveyors report that says the property is beyond economic repair so perhaps it comes down to the Valuation Officer's take on the final sentence?

I thought this was decided by the Valuation Office Authority? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/removing-a-property-from-the-council-tax-list#deleting-a-property-from-the-council-tax-list-because-it-is-derelict-or-in-disrepair Once they've delisted then the Council have to stop charging CT, no?

We're in the process of purchasing a house with the plan to demolish and rebuild. While it's less than ideal, it's looking like we may have to complete without having PP (we do have an agreement that the property can be demolished subject to plans being approved). Given the "fun" we've already had with the Planning Dept. we're concerned about the time it will take for planning approval and the amount of Council Tax that would be owed during that time. My understanding is that houses can be removed from the CT list if they are deemed uninhabitable. If this is true, is it possible to do one or more of the following immediately after purchase and before PP is granted? remove the roof (it appears to be asbestos sheeting and needs to go anyway) remove the windows (they're so rotten they might do so spontaneously...) disconnect services (gas, electricity, water) Does anyone have experience of a similar scenario? Thanks.

I wasn't aware that it was actually possible to skip paying the VAT in the first place, thanks for the heads up.

We started off assuming that (although our AT warned that he could be a bit of a stickler). Our opinion of him took a downward spiral when he announced at the start of the site visit that he'd already written the report saying "no"...

Photos lifted from the Estate Agent listing.

Something we hadn't considered. I think, given our house (no. 60) is right on the boundary, that might not be a goer. The CO has made it clear he'll be particular about what the front elevation looks like. From my experience of him he doesn't appear to have a reasonable side to get on to... There are a couple of mature trees in the rear garden, which we intend to keep. There are laurel bushes that we certainly want gone, will paperwork be required for those?

The cottage we're in the process of purchasing will be demolished and we'll build a new dwelling. Even to an amateur like me I can see that the whole of the rear roof consists of sheeting that probably contains asbestos. The surveyor also indicated the "slates" on the front were probably asbestos too. Given the age of the property (c. 1840), this suggests that a proper asbestos survey is necessary. Should we look to do this before completion? We're expecting to have to pay a sizeable sum to have anything nasty professionally removed so this will be more for us to be aware of the impact on the wallet rather than a deal-breaker for the purchase. Once we do own the property is there any advantage to having the removal & demolition done by a single contractor, or could we get a cheaper overall price by having the asbestos handled separately?

This is very relevant to us: the roof on the rear is certainly asbestos sheets and the surveyor suggested the front "slates" were too. I'll raise a new thread in the appropriate subforum shortly.

I'm also fortunate to be able to work from home 4 days a week. Once things get busy I'll try and go down to a 4 day working week, that way I'll have a day set aside solely for this mad adventure.

He's local and was recommended by a retired builder and a friend, he's done hours of work so far and doesn't seem inclined to bill us a great deal yet. I think he regards our battle with the CO as a challenge and is determined to beat him 😀. Yes, reclaiming VAT is really going to be a financial bonus.

It seemed to be a no-brainer, especially when we learned about being able to reclaim VAT. The existing house is also too close to a main road, our AT is confident that we can push back the front wall to level with our house, which will give us a small front garden.

Greetings all, my wife and I are just embarking on our first self-build and would be grateful for any advice as the process seems loaded with pit-falls! We are in the process of purchasing the house next door to us. It's in a very dilapidated state and not suitable for renovation, but the plot is quite long so demolishing and building a new building will give a very nice home. We're in a Conservation Area so we've already had a protracted battle with the CO just to get agreement in principle to demolish. We're fortunate to have a local Architectural Technician who's very experienced with the working of the Planning Dept, and he's now started with some outline plans. We're lucky in that we will be financing this ourselves, and we'll be next to the site to keep an eye on things. We're looking to manage individual contractors ourselves, we know a number of tradesmen (active and retired) that we can call on for some advice. There will undoubtedly be surprises (mostly of an unpleasant sort) but we've done many crazy things in our 30+ years of marriage I'm sure we'll be able to conquer this one.