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Self Build Council Tax Liability


Scottie

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Valuation board banded property and issued completion notice before house  was completed or deemed habitable by building control, no temporary habitation order granted letter from building control stating that it is an offence to occupy property without completion certificate, hence the property is not lived yet am being held liable for full council tax.

Can someone explain how this works?

I am completely baffled

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Typically they write to you saying they believe your house will be complete on (date) for council tax purposes. I wrote back with the date I believed we would complete and they agreed it.

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Same happened with me, they kept visiting saying it was complete and habitable, the trick @Jeremy Harris came up with was to not connect the water supply till YOU wanted to have it complete, apparently a house has to have a potable water supply to be deemed habitable. This could also screw up your VAT claim as paying council tax can be seen as the house is complete when you are still spending money (VAT) on other works and you only have three months from completion to claim you’re VAT back.

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5 hours ago, Scottie said:

Valuation board banded property and issued completion notice before house  was completed or deemed habitable by building control, no temporary habitation order granted letter from building control stating that it is an offence to occupy property without completion certificate, hence the property is not lived yet am being held liable for full council tax.

Can someone explain how this works?

I am completely baffled

We where in the exact same position

No plaster on the walls no first fix 

They  are not interested 
I Took Jeremy's advise Told then we where no where near sign off 

No water supply or toilet 

The argument they used was 

But you could have water electricity etc 

YOU are choosing not to 

Barrett's can have a house built in 12 weeks was one of the gems 

I sought legal advise and eventually they back down slightly 

No back community charge then six weeks grace Then we would agree to 50% CT For six weeks then 100% 
Our Solicitor said they where using a law brought in to stop mainstream house builders stockpiling homes

 

 

 

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Ours said she had valued ours from the roadside Oom

 

The law they are using is to stop builders having dozens of houses complete minus a working loo 

So as to avoid paying CT

They should be using it to tax self builders

 

For the last three months of the build we where paying full CT on both properties 

Our solicitor advised against appealing as the original 12 months arrears they claimed we owed could be levied against us 

I suspect the arrears had been put in to stop us kicking up a fuss 

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  • 2 weeks later...
39 minutes ago, Scottie said:

Thank you for responses, it is good to know we are not alone but still do not understand how council tax can be charged on a property prohibited by law from living in.

We thought that 

no water connection 

But you can

no electricity But you can

It was like talking to robots 

They finished by saying 
We think your house could be livable in eight weeks 

If you don’t it because you have chosen not to

when they visited us 

we had no first fix electrical or plumbing 

Porta loo 

but only the neighbors hose pipe and good will for water 

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24 minutes ago, nod said:

We thought that 

no water connection 

But you can

no electricity But you can

It was like talking to robots 

They finished by saying 
We think your house could be livable in eight weeks 

If you don’t it because you have chosen not to

when they visited us 

we had no first fix electrical or plumbing 

Porta loo 

but only the neighbors hose pipe and good will for water 

I think that when you register your new address it seems to trigger CT interest 

I think I would leave it a bit longer before registering next time 

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Could you not send them the letter from building control stating that it is an offence to occupy property without completion certificate and tell them to sort it out between themselves? (assuming your BC is of the local council variety)

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46 minutes ago, Reiver said:

Could you not send them the letter from building control stating that it is an offence to occupy property without completion certificate and tell them to sort it out between themselves? (assuming your BC is of the local council variety)


I don’t think you have to occupy a house to pay council tax, when I was selling a previous house (took a year) I had to pay council despite it being empty. (Not sure about Haggis land).

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Unfortunately you don’t need a completion certificate to move in 

 

we instructed our solicitor to draft a letter Our solicitor informed us of the change of law they where using to justify there actions 

The letter prompted another visit 

We where told While we realise  you can not move into a house Without water or power 

We are prepared to give you eight weeks to get the house first fixed plastered and all electrics and gas finished Then you will go on 50% CT  Then full CT

Agree to this and the arrears that you owe will be cancelled 

If you haven’t completed your build in this timeframe It is because you have chosen not to 

In any case you will be liable for CT 

Wether you move into the property or not 


We tried everything 

I was told that I was missing the point 

The issue wasn’t wether the property was safe hygienic 

Certified or complete 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

we have a different issue in that we have to move in on 1st Oct (or move to another rented for 6 months, just because we are 2 months short of being done).  We will have roof on, windows in, working toilet and shower and temp rigged electrics but no CH and no fitted kitchen.  I am trying to avoid anyone telling me I cant habitate the building and if we do get told we cant am relying on getting the main stuff done (be a couple of months) before they do anything about it.  Plan is to get the next BC check once roof is on and windows in and before we move furniture to the house.  The next visit following that is when plasterboard is up, etc so we should get away with it.  Its a remote build and you cant just drive by to check on progress.

 

Don't mind paying CT however do want to avoid being told we cant occupy,

D

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12 minutes ago, redtop said:

we have a different issue in that we have to move in on 1st Oct (or move to another rented for 6 months, just because we are 2 months short of being done).  We will have roof on, windows in, working toilet and shower and temp rigged electrics but no CH and no fitted kitchen.  I am trying to avoid anyone telling me I cant habitate the building and if we do get told we cant am relying on getting the main stuff done (be a couple of months) before they do anything about it.  Plan is to get the next BC check once roof is on and windows in and before we move furniture to the house.  The next visit following that is when plasterboard is up, etc so we should get away with it.  Its a remote build and you cant just drive by to check on progress.

 

Don't mind paying CT however do want to avoid being told we cant occupy,

D

Interesting schedule of BC visits.

 

Last BC visit here was complete wind and watertight shell.  I asked when should the next inspection be and he said "completion"

 

How about getting a large touring caravan and moving into that. tell the council and you will get a few months of Band A council tax until they decide the house is sufficiently complete to give it a banding.

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1 hour ago, nod said:

Yep

Pre plaster Then sign off

yep that's what ours is basically, watertight shell so they can see all the building structure (joists, roof, etc) and then completion; sorry if I didn't make it clear.

 

No chance of getting a van on site, access not good enough.  In any case why would I when we would only be 'out of rules' for a few weeks.  If push came to shove I will put a tent up in the garden.

 

At the end of the day, assuming you are paying CT but living in a house they deem isn't habitable because we have, for example, no working kitchen BUT do have fresh water, toilet, shower, watertight shell, etc.  What would they be able to do in a 4 to 8 week period?

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